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Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

LaHood to Airlines: Get Onboard the High-Speed Train


By Scott McCartney
Wall Street Journal
3/9/2010

http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2010...h-speed-train/


The airline industry was left fuming last year when some $8 billion on federal stimulus money was appropriated for high-speed rail while air-traffic control modernization got no new funds.

Airlines see high-speed trains as competition that could further erode their customer bases, and they were left befuddled how rail projects decades away could be “shovel ready’’ when the next-generation air-traffic control system that airlines say will reduce delays and boost air-travel capacity didn’t get any action from the Obama Administration.

And so when Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood addressed the Federal Aviation Administration’s annual forecasting conference in Washington, D.C., the first question from the airline industry audience was about trains. Why so much for trains and not for planes?

Mr. LaHood gave a politician’s answer about how important the NextGen air-traffic control modernization effort is to the Administration. Then he paused and went off-script.

“Let me give you a little bit of political advice: Don’t be against high-speed rail,’’ Sec. LaHood said. “It’s coming to America. This is the president’s vision, this is the vice president’s vision, this is America’s vision…. We’re going to get into the high-speed rail business.’’

In two or three decades, Mr. LaHood said, U.S. cities will be connected by high-speed rail – whether airlines like it or not.

“People want alternatives,’’ he said pointedly. “People are still going to fly, but we need alternatives. So get with the program.’’

Airlines shouldn't see HSR as competition. HSR routes will serve shorter trips which many airlines don't turn a huge profit on any way. Airlines make their money on the long haul routes, which HSR will not draw many passengers from. If these airlines were smart they would reinvent themselves as "transportation" companies rather than just "airline" companies, and they would start looking for opportunities to invest in HSR themselves. Most if not all of the HSR lines in the works are looking for private investment money and they will probably need an operator... I see no reason why Amtrak should automatically have the right to operate new routes without competitive bids from other potential operators. Those are opportunities for airlines to use HSR to expand their business instead of just seeing it as competition.