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Support of High Speed Rail Service has a strong position in the Spartanburg Area Chamber’s Program of Work. The Chamber is a member of the 16-city, 6-state Southeastern Economic Alliance (SEA) that is working for the rapid implementation of competitive, reliable and safe high-speed passenger rail service across the region. SEA commissioned an independent consultant's study on how business can best organize to make high-speed rail a reality in the Southeast. The study identified several key first steps that relate to the financing of high-speed rail corridor improvements and to the upgrade of existing passenger rail service.
The United States, over the past 50 years, has a historically low level of public investment in rail infrastructure. Public financial support, on a per-capita basis (1995), is less than $4.00 in the United States. As a reference, investments by other developed countries (and some of our economic competitors), are much higher. For example, Japan’s per-capita spending is about $6; Canada, $7; Spain, $34, Britain, $58; France, $77; with several other European countries investing in excess of $200 per person per year.
The United States has no dedicated long-term source of federal funds to support investment in rail infrastructure. Most capital improvements come from Amtrak’s annual appropriation. In 1999 alone, government spending on transportation saw $80 billion go to roads, almost $20 billion for air and less than $1 billion for rail.
High-speed trains traveling as fast as 150 mph are now operating in the Northeast Rail Corridor. The federal government has designated a number of other high-speed rail corridors throughout the nation for future development. One of the essential ingredients for implementation is the funding of needed infrastructure improvements to allow trains to operate at the higher speeds. Currently, Amtrak is a capital-starved operation attempting to make its operations self-sufficient. It has little funds for expansion of high-speed service outside of the Northeast Rail Corridor.
The Board of Directors of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce supports the establishment of a long-term dedicated funding source for federal funding of high-speed passenger rail service. The South Carolina Congressional Delegation is encouraged to work for passage of legislation to assure the maximum possible investment is made into the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor.
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