Many countries offer subsidies to their railways because of the social and economic benefits that it brings. The economic benefits can greatly assist in funding the rail network. Those countries usually also fund or subsidize road construction, and therefore effectively also subsidize road transport. Rail subsidies vary in both size and how they are distributed, with some countries funding the infrastructure and others funding trains and their operators, while others have a mixture of both. Subsidies can be used for either investment in upgrades and new lines, or to keep lines running that create economic growth. Show
Rail subsidies are largest in China ($130 billion), Europe (€73 billion) and India ($35.8 billion), while the United States has relatively small subsidies for passenger rail with freight not subsidized. Social and economic benefits of rail[edit]Railways channel growth toward dense city agglomerations and along their arteries. These arrangements help to regenerate cities, increase revenue from local taxes, increase housing values, and encourage mixed use development. By contrast, a policy of highway expansion, which is more typical in the U.S., promotes the development of suburbs at the periphery, contributing to increased vehicle miles traveled, carbon emissions, development of greenfield spaces, and depletion of natural reserves. European development economists have argued that the existence of modern rail infrastructure is a significant indicator of a country's economic advancement: this perspective is illustrated notably through the Basic Rail Transportation Infrastructure Index (known as BRTI Index). Subsidies by country[edit]European rail subsidies in euros per passenger-km for 2008 Total EU rail subsidies amounted to €73 billion in 2005. Note that several operators that do not receive subsidies also exist, including virtually all long haul and high speed services in France and Germany.[citation needed] In 2015, total domestic rail spending by China was $128 billion and is likely to remain at a similar rate for the rest of the country's next Five Year Period (2016-2020). A planned 8,000 kilometres (about 5,000 miles) of track will be added domestically, with a goal of better connecting existing domestic track with other foreign railway systems. The Indian railways are subsidised by around Rs 2.4trillion ($35.8 billion), of which around 60% goes to commuter rail and short-haul trips. United States[edit]Current subsidies for Amtrak (passenger rail) are around $1.4 billion. The rail freight industry does not receive direct subsidies. In total, Russian Railways receives 112 billion rubles (around US$1.5 billion) annually from the government. The privatized rail network in Japan requires few subsidies. The three biggest companies, JR East, JR Central and JR-West (which account for 60% of the passenger market) receive no state subsidy. To find other documents in Loc.gov relating to this topic, use the term railroad with such other terms as land grants, construction and construction camps, transcontinental, and Railroad Strike of 1894.The second half of the nineteenth century was the era of railroad land grants. Between 1850 and 1872 extensive cessions of public lands were made to states and to railroad companies to promote railroad construction.[18] Usually the companies received from the federal government, in twenty- or fifty-mile strips, alternate sections of public land for each mile of track that was built. Responsibility for surveying and mapping the grants fell to the U.S. General Land Office, now the Bureau of Land Management. Numerous maps of the United States and individual states and counties were made which clearly indicated the sections of the granted land and the railroad rights-of-way. Land grant maps were frequently used by land speculators to advertise railroad lands for sale to the public. As early as 1868 most western railroads established profitable land departments and bureaus of immigration, with offices in Europe, to sell land and promote foreign settlement in the western United States. Consequently, the Library's collections also include some foreign-language maps aimed at both the immigration already on the East Coast and the prospective one in Europe. Competition between speculators may have led to the idea of the distortion of railroad maps to emphasize one state, area, or line to the advantage of the advertiser. This idea, derived from the government land grant maps, may have been perpetuated by the mapping of the Illinois Central Railroad after it was granted land along its path in 1850. In John W. Amerman's book entitled The Illinois Central Rail-Road Company Offers for Sale Over 2,000,000 Acres Selected Farming and Wood Land (New York, 1856) appears an "Outline map of Illinois" which emphasizes the Illinois Central Railroad by a heavy black line, with stations placed evenly along the line to give the illusion of proximity of towns along the lines. This practice of manipulating scale, area, and paths of railroads became common practice in advertising maps of the 1870s and early 1880s and in railroad timetable maps. How did the government support the expansion of the railroad?Between 1850 and 1872 extensive cessions of public lands were made to states and to railroad companies to promote railroad construction. [18] Usually the companies received from the federal government, in twenty- or fifty-mile strips, alternate sections of public land for each mile of track that was built.
How did the US government help railroad builders Why?Railroads, as private companies, needed to engage in profitable projects. So the federal government passed the Pacific Railroad Act that provided land grants to railroads. This provided public lands to railroad companies in exchange for building tracks in specific locations.
Who supported government ownership of railroads?In 1892, the People's Party formed a national organization. The party selected James Weaver as its candidate for the presidency of the United States. The Populist platform called for government ownership of the railroads and the telephone and telegraph networks.
Why the government attempted to regulate the railroads?The law sought to prevent monopoly by promoting competition, and also to outlaw discriminatory rate-setting. Its most successful provisions were a requirement that railroads submit annual reports to the ICC, and a ban on special rates the railroads would arrange among themselves.
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