High-Speed White Elephant

High-Speed White Elephant
by

Mike Scinto

     Last week President Obama, with his trusty sidekick Joe Biden close by on his leash, announced plans to pump eight billion dollars into high speed rail systems across the country. Four hundred million of that will be earmarked for Ohio. The administration might as well flush it down the West Wing lavatory. At least it might serve a useful purpose; at least it would be in good company there!


     In my 34 years of hosting a radio talk show, I have heard the dream of high speed rail come, and go. I can’t count the number of groups who supported it, telling listeners it was the future of intercity and interstate travel. Most of those train peddlers are selling vacuum cleaners or encyclopedias door to door now. Shows my age; I meant selling them via the Internet.

     During the same three decades I watched Amtrak fade into almost total oblivion. I saw Ohioans growing more and more independent with individual travel means. We, unlike commuters in the Northeast Corridor who do use trains, prefer to have our own cars at our disposal. A drive from Cincinnati to Cleveland will take 3½ hours at the most. It tends to be a scenic, leisurely drive and even at today’s gas prices is not cost-prohibitive.

     I admit this is anecdotal (mainly because I got so many conflicting answers) but I have been told that “high-speed” in Ohio doesn’t mean the same as in Japan or Europe. Because of our population density, the top speed under current law would be 79 MPH (plus stops). Ask any State Trooper between Cincy and Cleveland on I-71 and they’ll tell you that would be slower than most drivers……… and non-stop too!
Contrast that with purchasing a ticket, waiting for a train that’s likely to be behind schedule, sitting in an uncomfortable seat next to a guy who snores or didn’t take his weekly bath and you question why you didn’t just drive.

     There have been no definitive studies that say we want high-speed rail, or need it; or would use it for that matter. And while it would create jobs, if we HAVE to use that money stolen from taxpayers called “stimulus”, you mean there aren’t better things to spend it on?

     If this system is the panacea that’s being hyped, why hasn’t some money individual, or team, jumped on board (no pun intended)? Why is taxpayer money being used to build this white elephant?

     I’ve got a better idea. If Obama feels compelled to spend that stimulus money, try this. There are approximately eleven million Ohioans. Our cut of this project is 400 million. That would be about 37 bucks per Buckeye. Send us each a check and we can all use it to buy a half tank of gas to drive to Columbus next year for John Kasich’s and Mike DeWine’s swearing in as Governor and Attorney General, respectively, of Ohio. Now that’s money well spent!