[JohnnyMac]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122645311762919469.html

NOVEMBER 12, 2008 Mass-Transit Projects Fared Well at Polls
By CHRISTOPHER CONKEY and PAUL GLADERArticle
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more in Politics »U.S. voters approved billions of dollars for mass-transit projects, highlighting a growing desire to overhaul the nation's aging transportation systems.
The increasing political support for transportation investment comes as Democratic leaders in Congress are pushing for a second economic-stimulus bill that could include tens of billions of dollars in additional spending on infrastructure projects. It also signals a potential boon for companies that provide everything from locomotives to collision-avoidance technology.
Some 23 initiatives were approved nationwide last week that will inject $75 billion into transportation systems, according to the Center for Transportation Excellence, a nonpartisan research group that promotes mass-transit service. Among the winners: Nearly $10 billion in bonds to start building a high-speed rail network in California, and $18 billion to expand mass-transit service in the Seattle area. The vote on another measure, which would raise the sales tax in Santa Clara County, Calif., to fund an extension of Bay Area Rapid Transit service, remains too close to call.
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California High-Speed Rail Authority
Voters backed nearly $10 billion in bonds to start building the California High Speed Rail System. The outcome of another measure, to raise sales taxes to fund an extension of Bay Area Rapid Transit, remains too close to call.
Overall, more than 70% of the major transportation-funding measures on ballots this year were approved, about double the rate at which initiatives are usually passed, the CFTE said. This rate of success came as a surprise to many transportation advocates, who were expecting a less enthusiastic response to tax increases and public debt at a time of economic and fiscal turmoil. Of the measures approved, the CFTE noted, 14 will increase sales taxes, four siphon funds from property taxes and three authorize bonds.
"Before the election, we wondered what was going to weigh most on voters...the recent memory of $4 per gallon gas or concerns about the economy," said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association. "It was pretty clear people voted for the future. The page has turned on transportation in America."
The election results are good news for companies that are big players in the mass-transit business, such as Siemens AG, Bombardier Inc. and Alstom SA, and for hundreds of small suppliers to bus and railcar makers.
Siemens, which makes train equipment for both light rail and high-speed rail, plans to bid on many of the recently approved projects, and expects its annual revenue from light-rail projects in the U.S. to grow 50% to $300 million in coming years. It has a three-year backlog for railcar orders and is hiring 200 additional workers in coming months.
"When you go through an election cycle like we just went through, it confirms the strategy we put together," said Robin Stimson, vice president of business development for Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. "It's related to the outlook that the rail renaissance will continue to grow."
Executives at niche locomotive builder Brookville Equipment Corp., say it has expanded employment 25% to 200 workers in the past year, and has added 24,000 square feet to its production facility in Brookville, Pa. The company expects sales to double this year to $50 million and has order backlogs until 2011.
To be sure, last week's votes won't guarantee a prolonged boom for rail and transit systems -- or for companies supplying the equipment. Gas prices could stabilize at lower levels, diminishing growth prospects for bus and rail service. The impact of the economic slowdown on budgets may constrain funding for transportation. And big undertakings like California's prospective high-speed rail system will depend on equal participation from the federal government and private sector.
"The clear risk is...can California go out and raise $10 billion to do this at a cost that makes sense?" said Art Hatfield, an analyst at Morgan Keegan in Memphis, Tenn. "Is the appetite there to invest in these projects from private money?"
Mr. Hatfield noted that companies such as Bombardier and Siemens need to show they can step up production as they bid on projects. "That is a huge risk these companies run," he said. "They build up expectations on infrastructure spending, and then either these things move forward or don't move forward."
Bidding on enormous projects like the high-speed rail network in California is also complicated by uncertainty over the multidecade time frame, and which technologies the state will want. "In California, they aren't clear themselves on which packages they would like," said Roelof van Ark, president of Alstom Transportation Inc., a subsidiary of France-based Alstom. "At the moment, we are only in the courting phase."
Mr. van Ark said that the many uncertainties attending this growing market will spark consolidation. "There's got to be a shake-out in this industry," he said. "We're in the market to be able to acquire."
Rail and transit services are experiencing a renaissance thanks to the spike in gas prices earlier this year, and continuing concerns about the environment and highway congestion. Congress passed legislation earlier this year that would authorize record funding for Amtrak, the nation's quasi-private intercity rail network, and establish grant programs that would provide more than $3 billion to states to expand rail service in the next five years. There has also been a push to boost federal spending on mass-transit service, and some lobbyists are hoping to snare additional funding for rail service if a stimulus package moves forward this month.

[Denny]

Meanwhile your newly empowered Democratic Party leaders are behaving in Luddite fashion, seeking to pump more cash lifeblood into a domestic autmobile industry that has lost its way finaically along with its will to innovate.

Meanwhile, our Chinese friends across the ocean are looking at a $500 billion investment in rail.

See Report on Business - Chinese package a boon for rail projects

"In the wake of the stimulus announcement, China has also unveiled an expanded plan for railway construction in the near future.

The Chinese government says it will spend more than $500-billion on railway investment in the next three years, creating millions of new jobs, according to state media reports.

...
The Chinese government says it will create six million new jobs by investing $87-billion in railway projects next year. It also plans to invest a similar amount in urban mass-transit projects"

I wonder how many jobs the USA will create with its $25 billion or soon to be $50 billion auto industry handout? (And, face the likelihood of many more requests in the years to come, if Britain's experience of the late 20th century is any indication.)