(The Canadian Pacific Railway issued the following news release on May 19.)
PHILADELPHIA — It is time for North American governments to invest more in the continent’s rail infrastructure through public-private partnerships to address such major public-policy issues as border security, traffic congestion and air pollution, Rob Ritchie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Pacific Railway, said here today.
He said railroad public-private partnerships, or P3, can save shippers, the public and governments billions of dollars in return for relatively small investment, citing a report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The report said public investment in freight railroads of $4 billion a year over a 20-year period would save shippers $401 billion, highway users $635 billion and highway costs of $27 billion.
“Rail has solutions to some of the biggest public-policy issues that our federal, state, provincial and local governments are grappling with today,” Mr. Ritchie said in a speech to the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s annual conference. “Big issues like: the traffic congestion that is plaguing our cities; the deterioration of our overburdened highways; post- 9/11 border security; air pollution; and the efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of the North American economy.”
In the past decade alone the rail industry has invested over $100 billion to modernize itself. Today, railroads move over 40 per cent of all freight shipped between cities in the U.S.
However, he said “given the projections for economic and freight-tonnage growth, there is also a need for a level of investment that is greater than the railways are capable of funding on their own”.
Mr. Ritchie’s P3 model calls for the public sector and the railways to jointly invest in projects that require government investment as a catalyst to provide services with public benefits. “I am saying that where there is a public benefit – like reducing road congestion and increasing economic productivity – public participation is appropriate.”
Mr. Ritchie said there are many viable P3 proposals already on the table that will give the rail industry the opportunity to do more for the North American economy.
He said one example is the discussions between the railroad industry and the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois on a proposed $1.2-billion infrastructure project to speed freight and passengers to, through, and around Chicago. “If an agreement is reached, the freight railroads would pay for the benefits they receive and the public for the benefits it receives.”
Mr. Ritchie said the report by AASHTO, which represents highway and transportation departments in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, shows some policy makers appear to be coming around to his way of thinking.
AASHTO said in its groundbreaking Freight-Rail Bottom Line Report that “relatively small public investments in the nation’s freight railroads in the United States can be leveraged into relatively large public benefits for the nation’s highway infrastructure, highway users, and freight shippers”.
Mr. Ritchie said he knows that many state governments are supportive of rail and he hopes the AASHTO report will encourage them “to invest more in modernizing the rail infrastructure through P3s, just as they have funded the growth of our over-burdened highway systems. The time is right for P3.”
Canadian Pacific Railway, recognized internationally for its scheduled railway operations, is a transcontinental carrier operating in Canada and the U.S. Its 14,000-mile rail network serves the principal centers of Canada, from Montreal to Vancouver, and the U.S. Northeast and Midwest regions. CPR feeds directly into America’s heartland from the East and West coasts. Alliances with other carriers extend its market reach throughout the U.S. and into Mexico. For more information, visit CPR’s website at www.cpr.ca.