Statistics show less need for Trans Texas Corridor than claimed and Greater use of mass transit in USA

By Faith Chatham - Aug. 4, 2007
Statistics from the FHWA on growth in number of containers shipped from Mexico focuses the question on the premises used to try to sell Texans on construction of the Trans Texas Corridor, one of the major legs of the NAFTA Super Highway.

Statistical evidence shows that traffic in rail containers from Canada has exploded more rapidly than growth in containers from Mexico during the past two decades. The increase in international truck traffic at the US Mexico and US Canadian borders has increased 25% from 1995-2005. During the same period, the increase in international truck traffic at the US Mexico and US Canadian borders increased 25% from 1995-2005. There was about 13% increase in truck traffic from Mexico and about 12% increase in incoming truck traffic from Canada.

Mexican truck traffic increased from 2,860,625 in 1995 to 4,675,887 in 1995; Canadian trucks coming into the US increased from 5,135,010 in 1995 to 6,783,944 in 2005. In 2005: 1,815,262 more trucks came into the US from Mexico than in 1995 and 1,651,934 more trucks came into the US from Canada than in 1995 than in 1995, yet over three times more containers entered the USA from Canada in 2005 by rail than entered from Mexico.

Although the number of miles of border between Canada and the USA is about the same as the miles of border between the USA and Mexico, a significantly larger number of rail containers and trucks enter the USA from Canada than from Mexico each year.
The need for improved freight shipment corridors from the Mexican border through Texas appears to be less critical to the economic welfare of Texas than linking Texas cities by rail and improving Texas’s internal traffic congestion.

INVESTMENTS IN MOVING PEOPLE
More transportation dollars are invested in highways and bridges in the United States than in any other mode of transportation. Statistical evidence proves that an increasing number of Americans who own automobiles are becoming users of mass transit. With air pollution escalating, local, state and national transportation planners and legislators need to devote more resources toward moving people than moving vehicles.

The safest mode of transportation per passenger mile traveled in the USA is shown statistically to be rail. A larger percentage of local, state and federal transportation dollars should be invested in passenger rail. Passenger rail in this nation needs to improve its on-time efficiency and infrastructure should be created to service more citizens, offering additional service between places where significant numbers of commuters currently travel by automobile.

PROBLEMS WITH EFFICIENCY
Efficiency in passenger rail in the USA is hampered by host railroads. Host railroads control the tracks. Statistics from 2000-2005 from the US Bureau of Transportation shows that the number of hours of delay for AMTRAK passenger trains rose from 70,396 annually in 2000 to 95,259 annually in 2005. Most of those delays (43,881 hours in 2000 and 64,097 hours in 2005) are attributed to operation delays of host railroads, such as track and signal related delays, power failures, freight and commuter train interference, routing delays, freight train interference, and track repair/condition delays. In 2005 25,549 hours of delay for AMTRAK passenger trains were attributed to AMTRAK's operating problems on AMTRAK's own tracks (delays for equipment or engine failure, passenger handling, holding for connections, train servicing and mail/baggage handling when on tracks of a host railroad). Problems caused by the host railroad resulted in 64,097 hours of AMTRAK passenger train delay during 2005. That same year, 5,613 hours of delay for AMTRAK Passenger trains were caused by weather, immigration, law enforcement or waiting for scheduled departure times. [SOURCE: 2000-2005 - AMTRAK, personal communication, November 2006 - U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics - Reported Dec. 2006]

Host railroads have decreased in efficiency. In 2000, 2001 and 2002 about half of the delays were caused by problems with the host railroad. The percentage of hours of delay for AMTRAK passenger trains attributed to host railroad problems escalated by 75% between 2000 and 2005.

AMTRAK TRAINS ARRIVING ON TIME - 1995-2005
In 1995 AMTRAK's system on-time performance was 76%. Shorter distance routes are more frequently on-time than routes over 400 miles. In 1995 long distance routes (over 400 miles) were only on-time 57% of the time while shorter routes were on-time 81% of the time. Performance has declined. In 2005 AMTRAK's on-time performance system-wide was 70%. Trains were on-time 74% of the time on routes under 400 miles and were on-time 42% of the time on routes over 400 miles. [SOURCES: 1995-1999 - National Railroad Passenger Corp. (AMTRAK), Amtrak Annual Report (Washington, DC annual issue). 2000-2005- Amtrak, personal communication, November 2006. US Bureau of Transportation Statistics Dec. 2006]

AMTRAK ridership increased about 25% from 1995 to 2005. From 1994 to 2004 the number of passenger miles for all modes of mass transit increased about 20% (from 39,585 passenger miles in 1994 to 49,073 passenger miles in 2004). Passenger rail ridership (all modes - heavy rail, commuter rail and light rail) increased over 25% from 1994 to 2005. In the early 1990ies buses carried more passengers than rail; by 1996 the number of rail passengers had exceeded the number of miles traveled by passengers on buses. Bus and rail ridership continues to grow. Passenger train ridership has grown more rapidly than bus ridership.

COST OF OWNING A VEHICLE
Operating an automobile has become more costly. Before the rapid rise in gasoline prices, the cost of operating a car had already increased. Data from 1994 shows the average cost per mile for owning and operating an automobile was 39 cents. In 2004 it had risen to 56 cents per mile. Gasoline price (regular) rose from $1.15 per gallon in 1995 to $2.30 per gallon in 2005. The increase in mass transit fares (all modes - domestic air, commuter rail, city and intercity buses and intercity rail) only rose 20% from 1995 to 2005 while the cost of operating a vehicle increased about 33% during the same period.

MASS TRANSIT RIDERSHIP INCREASED AMONG HOUSEHOLDS OWNING A CAR
While 2% fewer households were without a vehicle in 2005 than in 1993, mass transit ridership increased about 20% nationwide (1993-2005). [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey for the United States, H150 (Washington, DC: Biennial issues) and US Bureau of Transportation Statistics Dec. 2006 Report.]

MOST DEADLY MODES OF TRANSPORTATION
During the decade 1995-2005 fatalities in passenger cars and light trucks in the USA totaled 261,068. During that same decade 411 bus passengers died, and there were 72 fatalities on trains. (This does not include deaths at rail crossings). In the decade 1995-2005 there were 6,737 air carrier fatalities.

Injured passengers from air accidents numbered 4,146 during the 1995-2005 decade. On surface modes of transportation, rail passengers were less likely to be injured than bus or passenger car/light truck passengers. During the 1995-2005 decade a total of 108,871 rail passengers were injured in the USA while 191,000 bus passengers were injured. During that same time frame a total of 31,499,000 passengers in automobiles and light trucks were injured in the United States.

Federal, state and local governments continue to invest heavily in roads and bridges while statistics shows that all modes of mass transit are safer than personal automobiles. The safest mode of surface transportation is rail. During the decade (1995-2005) 31 million more passengers were injured in passenger cars and light trucks than were injured in all the air and mass transit accidents combined in the USA. (31,499,000 injuries in passenger cars and light trucks compared to 304,017 total injuries in the decade from air, rail and bus passengers combined). These statistics do not include injuries to non-passengers in the transit station or at rail crossings or airline terminals.

CONCLUSIONS
Greater investment in passenger rail and mass transit should produce greater safety per passenger mile traveled than investments in highways.

Although there has been less growth in the number of containers shipped from Canada in the last decade than those shipped from Mexico, shipping out of Canada into the USA exceeds that from Mexico. There has been a total 25% increase in trucks entering the USA (13% increase from Mexico and 12% from Canada) during the decade, yet the number of trucks entering from Canada each year far exceeds the number of trucks entering the USA from Mexico. Examining traffic flows from the USA to Mexico and Canada would give a fuller picture. Examination of the data shows that the Mexican/ Texas border is less critical to international shipping than the Canadian/USA border.

There appears to be greater need for increased investment in Texas to move people and goods within Texas than to move people and goods in and out of the Texas/Mexico border.

Greater investments should be made in rail infrastructure to link major Texas cities and trade centers. Investments in commuter rail, light rail and heavy passenger can minimize the need for highway expansion. Commuter rail between cities and light rail for inner city passenger transit service could relieve highway congestion, assist non-air quality attainment areas improving air quality, while reducing deaths and injuries per passenger mile traveled.
The cost per passenger mile traveled on mass transit has risen less rapidly than the cost per passenger mile traveled in personal automobiles and light trucks during the past decade. Without adding “surplus toll revenue” to fares to pay for toll road corridors, the cost per mile traveled by automobile has escalated rapidly during the past decade. Investment in efficient passenger rail can improve air quality, reduce the number of injuries and fatalities per passenger mile traveled in the USA, and help the economy by slowing the rate of inflation caused by transportation costs.

Faith Chatham is a retired policy analyst/ newspaper woman, who edits and publishes DFW REGIONAL CONCERNED CITIZENS, The Arlington Texan, Grassroots News U Can Use, Texas Rail and People, Power, Profit – Healthcare & Insurance. A graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington, she studied in a the UTA School of Business, Graduate School of Political Science, UTA Urban Institute and Center for Post Soviet and European Studies. She has researched policy at the Hoover Institute of War and Peace and in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics..

Minneapolis bridge collapses, seven dead - cuts freight train in half

REUTERS - The WEST.com.au - World news - 2nd August 2007
A bridge carrying a major highway in the US state of Minnesota has collapsed during rush hour, plunging vehicles into a river and killing at least seven people.

Many more are feared dead in the disaster in the city of Minneapolis, with up to 50 cars and other vehicles on the bridge when it suddenly buckled and plunged 20 metres.

Many of the vehicles were thrown into the Mississippi River when the 150-metre section of the structure collapsed.

"At this point we have seven confirmed fatalities, and we expect that number to go up as well," said Jim Clack, the Minneapolis Fire Chief.

Hospital officials say at least one of the dead drowned.

Clack said more than 60 people had been rushed to hospital. Earlier reports said at least six survivors had sustained critical injuries.

Rescue operations were called off when darkness fell, because it was simply too dangerous to continue.

"We have moved from a rescue mode ... to a recovery mode," Clack said, suggesting emergency crews did not expect to find anyone else alive.

Survivors have told of realising in horror that there were cars in freefall as the 40-year-old bridge - which was under repair at the time - came crashing down in a thunderous roar.

The structure plunged about 20 metres into the river and onto concrete embankments. It also fell across a rail line, cutting a freight train in half, WCCO television reported.

The collapse sparked fires among the debris of the bridge, and left trucks and cars clinging precariously to sections of the structure, which protruded from the river at alarming angles.

A group of school children managed to escape after their bus literally bounced along a section of the bridge before hitting a concrete barrier. The children fled to safety through the rear door, but news reports said some of the students had been injured, two critically.

Ryan Watkins, one of the children who was on the school bus, said the bus bounced twice and stopped, its front door wedged against a concrete traffic barrier. The students fled through the rear door.

Melissa Hughes, 32, who was driving home across the bridge in bumper to bumper traffic, said she experienced a moment of pure terror when she realised her car was falling.

"You know that free fall feeling? I felt that twice," said Hughes, who was not injured. A pickup truck ended up on top of her car, partially crushing the top and back end but she was able to escape.

Peter Siddons was also heading home when he heard "crunching" and saw the bridge start to roll and then crumple, he told the Star Tribune.

"It kept collapsing, down, down, down until it got to me."

His car dropped with the steel arch bridge but stopped when his car rolled into the car in front of him.

"I thought I was dead," Siddons said. "Honestly, I honestly did. I thought it was over."

Truck driver Charles Flowers, who saw the collapse from banks of the river, said he watched helplessly as water began to fill floating cars, and people - injured and dazed - yelled for help.

He and several others ran down the riverbank and he pulled a woman from the water, but he did not believe she survived.

In Washington, Department of Homeland Security officials said there was no sign that the eight-lane bridge's collapse was the result of terrorism, adding that it appeared to be linked to engineering problems.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said the bridge - which the state transport agency said carries 200,000 cars a day - was last inspected in 2006 and no significant structural problems were found.

"They notified us from an engineering standpoint the deck may have to be rehabilitated or replaced in 2020 or beyond," he said.

There was, however, construction taking place on the bridge "relating to concrete repair and rehabilitation and replacement, guard rail replacement, righting replacement and work on the joints," he said.

It was a disastrous scene as injured people crouched on bent and crumpled concrete with parts of the bridge submerged in the brown river as smoke and flames drifted from the wreckage.

Rescue workers tied with yellow rope waded through the water and used boats to reach people stranded in the middle of the river.

Sarah Fahnhorst, who lives in an apartment a block away from the bridge, heard a huge thud and then "the entire building shook. It shook the ground," she said.

Dr Joseph Clifton told reporters that his hospital, Hennepin County Medical Centre, had taken in 22 injured, six of them critical.

One man was dead on arrival, having drowned.

"Most were blunt-type injuries, in the face and extremities," Clifton said, adding many suffered internal injuries.

More patients, and deaths, were expected, he said.

There have been no reports of Australians involved in the horrific bridge collapse in the United States, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says.

"My condolences go to the Americans," Downer told reporters in Manila where he is attending a regional forum.

Some 8km of the Mississippi River on either side of the collapsed bridge have been shut to river traffic, the US Coast Guard said.

The river, the longest in the United States, is a major transportation route.

Trains involved in Minnesota Bridge Collapse - Timeline

Channel 4000 -August 1, 2007 - Updated August 2, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS -- 6:05 p.m. -- The entire span of the 35W bridge collapses where the freeway crosses the river near University Avenue. Tons of concrete collapse, and people are injured. Survivors are being carried up the riverbank.

6:08 p.m. -- Some people are stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water. A tractor-trailer is on fire at the collapse scene. Dozens of rescue vehicles arrive. Divers are also in the water.

6:10 p.m. -- A school bus had just crossed the bridge before it collapsed. The bus did not go into the water, and broadcast reports indicate the children on the bus exited out the back door. Christine Swift's daughter, Kaleigh, 10, is on the school bus, returning from a field trip. Swift says her daughter called her screaming, "The bridge collapsed."

6:15 p.m. -- Aerial shots from local television stations show the entire span of Interstate 35W had crumpled into the river below.
Read entire timeline and see map
See slideslow at above link