Economist Alain Enthoven On How Costly High Speed Rail Can Be

See Bullet-Rail Program Is Costly Blank, a letter in th 6-13 WSJ.

"Thomas J. Umberg, the new chairman of California's High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) board, says such rail systems are profitable (Letters, June 6). That flies in the face of multiple sources of evidence. In May of 2009 Iñaki Barrón de Angoiti, director of high-speed rail at the International Union of Railways, said, "Only two routes in the world—between Tokyo and Osaka, and between Paris and Lyon—have broken even." In December 2009 the U.S. Congressional Research Service said: "Typically, governments have paid the construction costs, and in many cases have subsidized the operating costs as well." In July 2010 a World Bank report cautioned that governments planning high-speed rail systems "should also contemplate the near-certainty of copious and continuing budget support for the debt." In May 2011 the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, said: "There is no high-speed passenger rail system in the world that operates without significant government assistance."

It's not clear where Mr. Umberg gets his information, as the CHSRA Business Plan doesn't say that, and proponents' statements don't refer to data sources independent of the industry. Mr. Umberg might ask the authority's staff why the latest (2009) Business Plan asked for a "revenue guarantee" (aka subsidy) five times.

Alain Enthoven

William Grindley

William Warren

Atherton, Calif."