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Rapid-rail plan off the tracks

Rapid-rail plan off the tracks

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Rapid-rail plan off the tracks

If our memory serves us correction awhile back there was a considerable amount hoopla over the possibility of a high speed rail system running from Texarkana to West Memphis and Memphis as part of the South-Central High Speed Rail Corridor.

The promo piece on this exciting news back then was that it would enhance tourism and have a positive impact on reducing some of the vehicle traffic on busy Interstate 40 between Little Rock and Memphis.

We could just imagine a high speed train screaming through West Memphis at speeds up to 110-miles-per-hour and how exciting it would be to jump on board for a quick day trip to Little Rock and enjoy lunch or even an evening supper somewhere.

Well, it now appears that after our politicians in Little Rock spent almost $900,000 on a study, with $100,000 coming from the state, and the remainder split between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration, the train has been derailed.

That’s because of the enormous capital costs, ranging from $171 million to $402 million, which the study says far outweighs the benefits. Furthermore, the study found ridership would not justify the investment based on the projected 130,000 passengers per year, or about 356 people per day, by 2040.

The real eye-opener was the estimated travel time between Little Rock and Texarkana would take 2.2 hours versus the 2.9 hours it takes the Texas Eagle now. And, travel time between the same two points takes about two hours by vehicle during off-peak travel times.

So, the question is that why does it take about the same time when the higher-speed alternative is 110 mph? Well, the current Texarkana-to-Little Rock Amtrak trip includes three stops, in Malvern, Arkadelphia and Hope, adding to the time the trip takes, which basically makes it simply not worth the investment.

There simply isn’t enough benefit from a time-saving standpoint for people who would use passenger rail or from a reduction in traffic on existing highways to outweigh the cost of implementing.

It was also interesting o learn the current passenger rail service between Texarkana and Little Rock, part of he Amtrak Texas Eagle route, “slow, inconvenient and basically unreliable.” Also, there is no passenger rail service between Little Rock and Memphis.

Critics of the study said it only looked at ridership within the state when the segments would connect Dallas to Little Rock and Memphis. And, the ridership projections are largely intrastate ridership, which is the smallest component, making the expensive study flawed, critics say.

The point is that when this study was first thought about ten years ago the brains behind it should have realized that the ridership in Arkansas is paltry at best and the fact that to make this worth the investment will require routes that include such cities as Chicago, St. Louis and even Dallas.

It is funny that it took a decade and $900,000 to finally come to the conclusion that it did.

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