'Invest' act provisions would undermine Texas freight railroads
July 28th, 2021
July 28,2021 - Opinion -
As Congress hammers out an infrastructure deal, it should omit divisive policies that would undermine freight railroads, a transportation mode critical to freight flows and emissions mitigation in the Galveston Bay area.
Freight railroads, like the 54 across Texas, are the only transportation mode covering their costs through private investment — about $70 million a day on average in recent years. This spending has made them the safest and most efficient way to move freight on land. It also meant they were the only transportation mode not to require government assistance during the pandemic.
Taxpayers subsidize all other transportation modes — and, ironically, that creates an incentive to move freight by modes other than rail. Requiring all modes to cover their full costs would level the playing field, so each mode could compete and pull its own weight.
Also critical is that policymakers scrap several of the misguided operational mandates for railroads included in the Invest in America Act.
As local representatives on the relevant infrastructure committees, Reps. Brian Babin, Troy Nehls and Randy Weber (transportation committee) and Sen. Ted Cruz (commerce committee) should heed the freight rail example and push for a "user pays" approach.
Brett Sebastian, Houston (Clear Lake)
As Congress hammers out an infrastructure deal, it should omit divisive policies that would undermine freight railroads, a transportation mode critical to freight flows and emissions mitigation in the Galveston Bay area.
Freight railroads, like the 54 across Texas, are the only transportation mode covering their costs through private investment — about $70 million a day on average in recent years. This spending has made them the safest and most efficient way to move freight on land. It also meant they were the only transportation mode not to require government assistance during the pandemic.
Taxpayers subsidize all other transportation modes — and, ironically, that creates an incentive to move freight by modes other than rail. Requiring all modes to cover their full costs would level the playing field, so each mode could compete and pull its own weight.
Also critical is that policymakers scrap several of the misguided operational mandates for railroads included in the Invest in America Act.
As local representatives on the relevant infrastructure committees, Reps. Brian Babin, Troy Nehls and Randy Weber (transportation committee) and Sen. Ted Cruz (commerce committee) should heed the freight rail example and push for a "user pays" approach.
Brett Sebastian, Houston (Clear Lake)