Lexington's Future Should Be On Track?

By now everyone has heard the news, the Oracle of Omaha has bought himself a railroad. Warren Buffet has bought the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. I am so jealous that he gets to play train--with real trains.

I have known several model railroaders over the years and many of them have had elaborate set-ups and layouts. Each one had a different goal in mind when they started their design phases. Some wanted be able to run their railroad in a manner best fitting their interests; operating a train using the historical methods and rules of bygone days, bringing their favorite prototype into the present using an alternate reality or using some specialized equipment related to a facility that they were familiar with. The common thread in all of these is a remembrance of days gone by and the thoughts of what might have been.

Mr Buffet is now going to tread where few railroaders have dreamed to go--he is going to march proudly into the future, with the idea of renewing the promise of what rail transportation can do and creating new possibilities of fond memories in younger generations. And he is not going alone, one of our local rail professionals is moving into the future right there with him, R.J. Corman.

Corman, with his recent acquisition of the Railpower Co. and their industry leading GenSet locomotives is working with other railroad companies to make rail transportation services once again the best in the world. Some of us have watched in wonderment as the Corman Railroad group has steadily built a reputation of excellence and said that he is just doing it to please his own ego. His purchase of a steam locomotive and rumors of excursions/dinner trains have fueled dreams of more tourist attractions, but I think that it is much more than that. I am just waiting for the next hint of the wonderful things to come.

With such railroad visionaries as that, why is it that the State of Kentucky and the City of Lexington don't see more possibilities for rail in the future? Why are we finding more ways to remove ourselves from any remote possibility of re-establishing rail service to our downtown. We still herald the removal of the downtown tracks and the redevelopment of rail related industries as though they will no longer be needed as our fossil fuels depletion drives up transportation costs.

Warren Buffet did not buy a railroad on a whim or as a way to play with trains. $34 Billion is a lot of money to play with but Buffet does not like to lose money and if he thinks it is a good bet, then maybe the city, state and the rest of the country should listen. Buffet thinks that this a bet on the country and I'm following him.

The MPO's Relationship with Freight Rail

As much as I love talking about passenger rail, I can also get into discussions on the other aspects of railroading and by that I mean, its freight hauling reason for being. Railroads from the very beginning have been in the business of moving goods from one place to another, with the conveyance of people as a side benefit to augment revenues. It is from this perspective that I have taken a look at the freight portion on the latest Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP).

Freight is a method or service of transporting goods, according to the dictionary but it is also the name of the goods being hauled. In the realm of a complete transportation system, freight should be carried by all the modes of transportation in the same way as "complete streets" efforts now underway to make streets work for all modes of movement.

The freight portion of the earlier 2030 plan was found to be lacking and was recommended to be expanded in a stand alone plan for freight in the next plan. The 2035 MTP states this very clearly in the inventory section of Chapter 3, yet Chapter 6 then states:

The adopted highway plan is intended to serve truck carriers for the efficient movement and supply of goods. To relieve conflict between truck traffic and other modes, it is recommended to continue the existing methods which explained in MTP Freight Plan. ... These methods include: Sign restriction of truck movements; enforcement; established truck route systems (by city ordinances); on and off-street loading/unloading zones, facilities, restrictions and regulations.

Oh, and there is the mention of the Freight Plan being available on the MPO website See it here. I wouldn't look too hard because there is not much there. A brief description on how goods are shipped and why it matters to the public, an overview of the highways used for freight, a description of the trucking industry and a review of the accidents involving commercial vehicles in the Lexington area.

I hope that that is not the complete plan.

I was hoping to see an estimate of the trucks that use our Interstates on a daily basis(and an estimated tonnage), an accounting of the rail traffic through the two county area daily and what get picked up(delivered) daily from(to) whom. I wanted to see recommendations on how to shift some of our shipping or delivery points from truck to rail or vice versa.

The MTP document's stated recommendation is to "relieve conflict between truck traffic and other modes" and "to continue to existing methods" to do so. If the subject is freight, I cannot tell where the conflicts exist between trucks and other modes of freight movement, because there are no other freight modes mentioned.

It may be that all other modes of transportation discussed in the various plans use the publicly owned, built or controlled facilities, except rail. America's railroads are all run by private corporations on privately maintained rails, with the exception of AMTRAK and a small portion of the Northeast Corridor. If the reason that rail is not mentioned in the consideration of freight transportation is because they take no public money and submit to no local government control, then the plan should explain this.

There should be a clear delineation of what the MPO can and cannot influence or control.