Traffic going off the rails

The Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: June 7, 2008

As we look at rail service to solve some of the nation’s transportation problems, we’d better look far ahead. In just about 20 years, the nation’s rail lines could become as congested as a gridlocked freeway.

“It’s literally chaos in the supply chain,” says railway executive Matthew Rose.

America needs its goods and products to move smoothly from one point to another.

Efficient transportation boosts quality of life for everyone and is one of the hallmarks of our economy. For the supplier, it improves access to markets and provides increased opportunities for sales. For the consumer, it delivers an increasing array of products and produce that could not be obtained otherwise.

With gasoline prices climbing skyward, increased interest has intensified — and rightly so — for shifting as much transportation as possible from truck to rail. This is true in Virginia, where ef-forts already are under way to increase rail freight capacity to relieve congestion on highways, especially Interstate 81.

The state is expected to step up these efforts, while pursuing ways of improving passenger rail service as well.

These dual efforts will increase traffic volume on rail lines.

Virginia isn’t alone. Rail traffic is picking up across the country. And already there are slowdowns and gridlocks, with trains forced to sit on sidings and wait for hours until traffic ahead clears.

“It’s not rocket science to see we have a calamity coming down the road,” Paul Bingham, a transportation analyst with Global Insight, told the Associated Press.

When chaos arrives, those trains will be waiting for days. Factories won’t get needed parts on time, produce headed for grocery stores will spoil, department store shelves will grow bare, lumber for new homes will become scarce.

And the problem is widespread. The rail system is so tightly scheduled al-ready that a delay in Chicago can have a ripple effect on trains in Baltimore or Los Angeles.

Efficient transportation keeps costs down. Inefficient transportation sends costs up. Rail gridlock could add thousands of dollars to the price of a new car, for instance.

Experts and analysts see the problem now. The question is: Will voters and politicians accept it?

Solving the problem — and preventing chaos — will require major initiatives to improve and expand rail infrastructure, including improving existing lines or building new ones. That will cost money, including tax money. It also could inconvenience property owners who may be impacted by construction of new rail lines, raising a host of not-in-my-backyard issues.

But the work has to be done, and it needs to start now.

Unless, of course, we’re prepared to tolerate chaos.