Rail Doesn't Work - Again!

Citizens of Georgetown were lucky that Union Pacific would not let Lone Star Rail use their tracks, or, we would eventually be suffering the same fate as the Austin and other taxpayers with respect to Metrorail, only at a much greater cost.Statesman

As for the original $60 million projection (or $90 million with the cars), the cost of getting MetroRail up and running grew to what the agency eventually acknowledged was $140 million, for a lot of reasons. The cars cost $36 million rather than $30 million. The agency had to add an expensive rail bridge over an intersecting Union Pacific rail line. And the original track control systems turned out to be more complex and expensive than expected.

Ridership projections have also been wildly optimistic. They promised 6,900 riders per day by 2017 and here we are.

They got ridership up to that initial 2,000 a day projection, then, with further tweaks, to the 2,500 to 3,000 a day level. 

That is basically where ridership still sits. The weekday average boardings between July 2016 and this June was 2,900 a day, most of them commuters making two boardings each day. 

Sharp-eyed readers will note that is a smidgen below the original 2017 projection. In fact, it is about 42 percent of the projection. 

Read the entire article to fully appreciate how our politicians and rail advocates "lie" to us, the taxpayers, about the cost and ridership of rail systems.

We must guard against any more costly rail transportation systems being foisted on us, no matter what studies like the MoKan corridor promise.