ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Railroad Corp. can’t run ultra fast trains along its tracks now, and never intends to in the future, according to the Journal of Alaska Business and Commerce.
Still, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, says the state-owned railroad is due a portion of the billions of dollars proposed annually for building networks of high-speed trains across the United States.
Stevens on March 5 introduced an Alaskaspecific provision in the National Defense interstate Rail Act, legislation that would provide $1.55 billion each year to develop highspeed rail corridors to lessen the United States’ dependence on automobile and air travel.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., also provides $4.6 billion annually for Amtrak, the nation’s federally subsidized rail service that has seen huge cuts in service and employment recently.
Stevens said in a statement that the Alaska Railroad would use its share of the annual high-speed rail funds not to build fast trains but to improve infrastructure and streamline operations.
“This bill recognizes the national importance of the Alaska Railroad, America’s only railroad serving both freight and passengers,” Stevens said.
Only a few brief paragraphs concerning the Alaska Railroad are included in the National Defense Interstate Rail Act. Alaska is not named specifically, but the legislation clearly points to the state under a “special transportation circumstances” clause.
“…the Secretary (of Transportation) shall allocate an appropriate portion of the amounts available … in any state the rail transportation system of which is not physically connected to rail systems in the continental United States; and may not otherwise qualify for high-speed rail implementation assistance due to the … unique characteristics of the geography of that state…”
“That would be us,” said Patrick Flynn, spokesman for the Alaska Railroad.
Flynn and aides to Stevens said the Alaska railroad’s inclusion in the legislation is a matter of equity.
If the federal government wants to invest heavily in networks of high-speed trains to link major cities, then Alaska should be included if not by rail, then by money, of which the railroad hasn’t gotten its fair share over the years, Flynn and Stevens’ aides said.
“We are not and never will be a high-speed railroad,” Flynn said. “Me (legislation’s) intent is to destress the automobile and air transit system, which are overburdened. It’s a national policy, so for us, it’s a fairness issue.”
The railroad has a backlog of infrastructure and equipment needs, and the money from the new legislation would be welcomed, Flynn said.
“It would be nice to get it and it certainly would help if and when it goes through,” Flynn said of the legislation.
Aides to Stevens said if the legislation is passed, money could be available by as early as next year.
How much Alaska would receive in the high-speed rail money is not clear.
“Even if it were 1 percent, that would be $15 million more than what the railroad has now,” said an aide to Stevens, who refused to be identified because Alaska’s senior senator forbids his aides to be quoted by the media.
By definition, high-speed rail features trains that run at 120 mph or more, speeds achieved by special tracks, locomotives or systems that allow trains to tilt through curves so they don’t jump the tracks.
The Alaska Railroad’s trains are snaillike by comparison. Meandering, often-bumpy tracks caused by frost heaves and an unstable rail bed call for speeds of under 50 mph, Flynn said.
Most times the pace is much slower.
It’s not uncommon for a train to wait a half hour or more for a moose to get off the tracks, Flynn said.
Already the railroad has hit 31 of the ungulates this year, and if speeds were increased, “our moose-kill rate would go way up,” Flynn said.
While high-speed rail may work in Japan, Europe and elsewhere in the United States, it is simply not practical in Alaska, Flynn said.
Passengers, mostly tourists in the summer months, also do not want to see scenery smeared by triple-digit speeds, Flynn said.
Also, the railroad does not want to be hauling gravel or fuel its main freight – at speeds twice the national speed limit, Flynn said.
“The Alaska Railroad is not the fastest way to get around Alaska, but we believe it is the best,” Flynn said.