Railroads need $148 billion investment over 30 years

Railroads need $148 billion investment over 30 years About $148 billion must be invested to expand the nation's freight rail infrastructure over the next 30 years to keep up with future demand for freight haulage.
   'Without this investment, 30 percent of the rail miles in the primary corridors will be operating above capacity by 2035, causing severe congestion that will affect every region of the country and potentially shift freight to an already heavily congested highway system,' said the study, conducted by Cambridge Systematics for the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
   'These investments will help the freight rail industry ease highway congestion, reduce stress on highways and bridges, significantly lower transportation-related energy consumption and emissions, and maintain existing capacity for Amtrak and local commuter rail,' said Edward R. Hamberger, chief executive officer of AAR, in a statement. 'If these investments aren't made, everyone in the country will feel the impact.'
   The study found that most of that investment — $135 billion — will be needed on the rail networks operated by the nation's major freight railroads.
   Railroads anticipate that the marketplace will allow them to raise most of the needed investment, or about $96 billion, but said a gap would remain of about $1.4 billion per year, an amount to be funded through railroad infrastructure tax incentives, public-private partnerships, and other sources.
   Hamberger used the study to bolster a call for approval of an infrastructure tax credit pending in Congress.
   'Its passage would significantly reduce the $1.4 billion gap that exists between what the railroad industry needs to spend each year to meet future demand and what it can raise on its own,' he said.
   'This legislation would provide a 25 percent tax credit to any company — not just railroads that invest in projects to increase the rail network's capacity,' Hamberger added. 'Passage would be a strong move in the right direction.'