High-speed Ground Transportation, Hearing, 89-1, June 14-16, 1965

Our company has an investment of about $400 million in the line between New York and Washington. There is, however, little inducement to add to this investment. The amounts required and the prospective low rate of return, particularly in view of the continuing probability of ever-increasing Government expenditures for paralleling highway and airline facilities, make the venture too speculative for private enterprise.

In this connection, I may say that while this project is too large for any particular railroad to undertake alone, I am convinced that it will be a great success, that it will show that high-speed rail transportation can make a real contribution to the solution of our mass transit problems, and that the Government and the public will receive substantial benefits from the expenditure of the relatively small amount of money here involved.

The Pennsylvania Railroad between Washington and New York was constructed at a time when the Government was not subsidizing our competition. Such subsidy has enabled this competition to siphon off a large proportion of our rail patronage. The railroad today represents what we could preserve under private enterprise and despite the economic disadvantages of operating against massive aid to our competitors.

Federal funds of almost $4.5 billion have been apportioned in the northeast corridor States for the Interstate Highway System alone in the 10 fiscal years since the program began. Highway expenditures in these States are now running at a rate in excess of $3 billion annually.

Last year the Pennsylvania operated its passenger service at a loss of more than $34 million, and a half of this deficit was incurred in connection with operation of intercity trains.

The Pennsylvania is prepared to cooperate fully in order to assure the success of the demonstration project and of the entire program. We already have worked closely with the Department of Commerce in formulating the high-speed test project for which funds are requested. If the project is approved, we will continue to render staff and administrative assistance. In fact, we will cooperate in every way we can. We will agree to provide the right-of-way, tracks, and supporting facilities in which we have invested millions of dollars, and to upgrade these for the proposed tests. This will include substantial improvement of our trackage, revising the signal and catenary systems, and strengthening bridges.

Likewise, we will participate in the acquisition of a fleet of as many as 50 self-propelled electric passenger cars of a design satisfactory to both the Government and the railroad.

With these cars, we can within a relatively short period of time inaugurate safe, comfortable, and reliable Washington-New York service at 100-mile-per-hour speeds, with a maximum elapsed time of 3 hours, making four intermediate stops. Thus, the demonstration project will produce beneficial results very quickly.

The new cars will be the finest passenger equipment in the world, electrically powered and capable of accelerating to 125 miles per hour in 150 seconds, and of operating in the future at speeds up to at least 150 miles per hour. They will embody the latest concepts in propulsion systems, structural design, and passenger comfort.

Four high-performance motors in each car will provide uniform power throughout the train and assure maintenance of schedules even if a unit should fail.

for example, has increased to an average of more than 166,000 vehicles daily. With the projected 40-percent increase in automobiles in the next 10 years, it is extremely doubtful that new road construction can keep up with demand.

Airspace is already in short supply at major airports. Between Washington and New York alone, there are 155 scheduled flights daily, each requiring the same amount of conrolled-approach airspace as the longer distance transcontinental and intercontinental flights. Moreover, both highway and air travel are subject to disruption because of weather conditions. On eight occasions in a 2-month period last fall, the New Jersey Turnpike was closed to traffic for substantial periods ranging from 2 hours to half a day. During one day, during the Christmas holiday season last year a major airline was able to complete only 18 of 126 planned shuttle flights in the Washington-New York-Boston area.

Instances of this sort underscore the suitability of the northeast corridor as a laboratory in which to examine transportation problems and seek their solutions. But there is an even more compelling reason why it is the ideal location for conducting the Government's study and demonstration of high-speed passenger service.

The Pennsylvania Railroad's main line between New York and Washington is one of the Nation's greatest transportation assets. It provides a readymade base on which to develop the operation of fast, high-volume passenger service quickly and economically.

The existence of this railroad minimizes the costly necessity of doing in this area what the Japanese Government had to do in constructing their new Tokaido line for a distance of 320 miles at an expenditure in excess of $1.5 billion. The tremendous cost of starting from scratch where rail lines do not exist is also illustrated in the case of San Francisco. There a metropolitan transit system only 75 miles in length is being built at an outlay of $1 billion, or an average of $13 million a miles.

The Pennsylvania's line between New York and Washington could not be reproduced today for less than $1 billion.

By way of comparison, it would cost $1.6 billion to build a new highway between New York and Washington, with all supporting facilities.

Furthermore, our line is in good physical condition for the type of service currently performed. On the New York-Washington roadway alone in the past 4 years we have laid 25,000 tons of new rail, renewed 400,000 crossties, and rebuilt most of the track, requiring some 850,000 tons of stone ballast. These projects represent an expenditure of $15.5 million in this short period.

During that time we also spent $4 million on the rehabilitation of main line bridges and $6 million on repairing the catenary system. In the past 2 years, we have added 70 modern stainless steel coaches to the New York-Washington service at a cost of almost $10 million. Between terminals at New York and Washington, this line intersects five major cities-Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. It is directly available to serve some 25 million people. Here, if anywhere, the market potential exists to prove that high-speed intercity rail passenger service can provide the safe, reliable transportation that the eastern corridor and the Nation will increasingly require.