COMMERCE DEPARTMEN T TRANSPORTATION RES EAR CH

Addendum to hearings held May 19, 25 and June 29, 30, 1965, on

H.R. 5863, a bill to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to undertake research and development in high -speed ground transportation, and for other purposes (and identical bills).

_ >

(Note.—The following statements were inadvertently omitted when 

the above hearings were printed.)

5 2 - 4 9 2—6 5
•1 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

S ta te m en t of H ughes A ir craft C o.

An enormous number of design decisions must be deduced to establish the configuration of a high-speed, public transportation systenamf 

the future for safe, reliable, and efficient operation. The anah*W?3 

which produces these decisions must show that the system configurft-1

tion achieved is the best available in terms of the demand stru ctur e^ 

and our technical knowledge, and .appropriate criteria of economy,* 

user convenience, safety, and fimthtfial atid jailitical reality. It should 

be recognized by the Congress and administration tha t a program of 

advanced research to illuminate the social, economic, and technical 

issues, must be a major and early step in the program to provide 

high-speed, public transportation between cities.

Hughes Aircraft Co. endorses such a research program and is convinced tha t the Nation’s vast reservoir of systems analysis skill, 

developed through many years'-

 pf work on the complex systems 

problems of NASA and the Depar tbieiit-of Defense, is readily applicable to it. The following paragraphs present comments on several 

of the pertinent issues:

n t.

I. T H E N E E D FO R R E SE A R C H IN H IG H -S P E E D G RO UND T R A N SPO R T A TIO N

A. The technology of public ground transportation has stagnated 

in this country for five decades or more. We have remained wedded 

to the crushed-rock roadbed, the wooden tie, closely spaced steel 

rails and wheels, the separately coupled car, the separate traction 

unit (in general), the downtown union station and yards (in general), 

and the like. Tracks have been smoothed and sometimes welded, 

the traction has been improved in cleanliness and economy, the cars 

on some lines have been brightened and air conditioned, but for the 

most part we are providing only a bette r version of the old service, 

and the bette r version is not good enough to command a sufficient 

public patronage to pay for itself or to facilitate our achieving our 

lull potential in economic growth.

The Japanese (Tokaido) high-speed train is judged to represent 

nearly the ultimate of convenience and performance attainable by the 

evolutionary “product improvement” route, but its performance, at 

speeds under 150 miles per hour, and its economics, render tha t 

approach possibly inadequate for the future transportation needs 

of the northeast corridor. Only competent analytical comparison 

of it with alternatives to fill the demand can decide. A new basis of 

development is required; this new basis can be found by a recourse to 

modern technology and the synthesis of new modes for the fast 

movement of people and bulk masses.

B. Adequate transportation is one of the key requirements for 

economic growth; when transportation approaches saturation, or the 

transp ortation efficiency is poor, growth ceases. As an example, it 

has been informally estimated at Hughes that the demand for public 

transportation in the northeast corridor would almost triple by 1980, 

in comparison with the present demand, if the convenience to each 

traveler could be kept at the present (rather poor) levels. However, 

we believe tha t no economically feasible enlargement of superhighway, 

airway, and airport facilities along current patte rns could “hold the 

line” on convenience and hence tha t this potential demand (representing net growth) will be incompletely realized unless new departures
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH 3

in transportation modes, or new patterns of employment, are devised. 

By any accounting, growth which might have been achieved but is 

not achieved is an irretrievable economic loss.

In this regard, we take note that since 1945 some $3 billion of 

investment, in the northeast corridor area, in superhighways, airlanes, 

and airports, has failed to keep pace with rising transportation 

"congestion.

C. Consider briefly the direct economic payoff of research which 

optimizes the efficiency of systems. It is very conservative to assert 

tha t an optimum ground transportation system would be more than 

1 percent cheaper to build than a new system designed without 

research-based optimization, and that its annual operating cost would 

be improved by at least 1 percent. It has been publicly estimated 

tha t the capital investment in the northeast corridor program might 

ultimately be in the neighborhood of $2 billion; in tha t event the 

1-percent capital saving by user demand and technical research is 

immediately worth $20 million.

Furthermore, if annual operating cost before revenue offset is $100 

million, the 1-percent operating saving would amount to a further $1 

million a year or a further $20 million in 20 years, not counting 

interest. Thus one can assert on these crudely constructed but 

conservative arguments tha t research which improves the northeast 

corridor system by only 1 percent is worth some $40 million in the long 

run—and we expect that the research will do very much better than 

provide a 1-percent improvement.

Transportation by all modes is a major element of the gross national 

product—roughly 20 percent of it. Steps toward more nearly optimum design and utilization of this resource, taken on the basis of 

appropriate research, will measurably increase the productivity of the 

Nation as a whole.

D. The technical position of the United States in public ground 

transportation lags behind tha t of Japan, Germany, Sweden, and 

France, at least. An effective American research and development 

program would provide the basis for an export trade in ground transportation equipment which in recent decades has largely been lost to 

foreign sources. There is little doubt that there are enormous future 

sales of efficient transportation systems to be made in Africa, Latin 

America, Asia, and even Europe; these sales will flow to the supply 

source which best fills the need. It is not the argument here tha t 

the specific systems found to be preferred in any particular American 

application are those which will be needed in the seventies and 

eighties in the markets mentioned, but it is maintained that the research 

which underlies the U.S. program will point the way to reacquisition 

of leadership in the export trade with new designs. The implications 

of this leadership for the U.S. balance of paym ents and U.S. prestige 

need not be elaborated.

II. TECH N O LO G IC A L T R A N S F E R FR OM A E R O SPA C E SK IL L S TO GRO UND 

T R A N SPO R T A T IO N

The aerospace industries are skilled in systems analysis and synthesis. These words mean tha t we have developed the capability to 

analyze and solve exceedingly complex technical problems through 

many years of effort on the requirements of the D epartment of Defense
4 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

and NASA. The se skills are applicab le to ma ny issue s found in the 

problem of high-speed ground pub lic tra nspo rta tio n. A few exam ples 

of problems amenable to system s analysis may be useful at this po int:

A. For selection amon g the prim e modes of ope ration of vehicles on 

any link, it will be necessary to work o ut in rather generous detail the 

rou tings, propulsion, economics, and perform ance of alt ern ati ve 

inodes, to represent these cha rac teristics in ma the ma tical language, 

and to perform extensive trade off and co mparison studies by electronic 

com puters. 'Phis problem is of the same order of com plex ity as the 

design of the U.S. supersonic transport. By revie wing the SST program, the public has become familiar with the great difficulty which 

attend s finding the preferred configu iation of a com plic ated tech nical 

sys tem in which large numb er of variables are interrelated .

B. When, in time, the preferred tra ns po rta tio n mode and vehicle 

configuratio ns have been discovered, a hos t of sub sidiary tech nica l 

problems will come forward. A no tew orthy one is the safety, control, 

and com municatio n sys tem which the high-speed carrieis will require. 

It has come to be recognized th at safe ope ration and control of the 

new vehicles will create dem and s th at surpass huma n opera tor skill. 

Recourse to com puter-c ontrolled operation is essen tial. Such a 

sys tem would achieve balanced service frequency, load dis trib ution, 

and least ope rating cost; it would man age bo th normal service demands and the irregular transie nts of h eavy d em and; it would pro gram 

the station slowdowns for the off-coupling of term ina tin g traffic and 

the on-coupling of othe r cars bearing origin ating traffic; it would 

smo oth an d stabilize th e ride of the cariiers, cope with mechanical malfunctions or obs tructio ns on the righ t-of-wa y; it would elim inate the 

possibility of collisions of any kind.

The configuration of a pro per com puter-orien ted safe ty, control, 

and com mun ication sys tem for the several route s and their vehicles is 

squ arely with in the skills and resources of the aerospac e-ele ctronics 

ind ustry. Th e needed people, organizations, tech niques, and facilities 

for the work are in place and ready.

III. FED ERA L SU PPO R T OF R ESEA R CH AN D D E V E L O PM E N T IN H IG H ­

SPEE D GROUND PU B L IC TRA N SPO RTA TIO N

A. The re is little possibi lity th at the existing tra ns po rta tio n firms, 

or any com bination of them, could marshal the funds needed to implement the needed advanced ground tra nspo rta tio n systems in the 

United Sta tes, even if the dem and pa tte rn were fully und erstoo d 

(which it is, as yet, not). Th is rem ark largely depends upon the 

continu ingly prec ario us financial position of most of the rail roads. 

Existing rights-of-way may have to be wholly reworked where used, 

and new ways will hav e to be con stru cted alon g revised rou te portion s 

(above or below gro und). New vehicles and term inals are req uired, 

along with adv anced right-of-way and on-board control, safety, and 

com mun ication equip me nt. Ca pital ou tla ys of ma ny hundred s of 

millions of dollars are in prospec t, and the only visible source for 

finance of ground sys tem s at these levels is the Fed eral Gover nment .

B. Ina sm uch as the established carrier s cann ot man age the capital 

outlays for system impleme nta tion, they have no a priori gu aran tee 

th at a system will in fac t be implemente d, and hence the y have little 

basis for abso rbin g the risk of sup portin g the tra ns po rta tio n research 

which will specify the systems which ult imate ly should be achieved.
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH O

Hence we are led again to a need for Federal participation, in this 

instance in the support of demand studies and transportation research and development. This latter argument also explains, incidentally, why the potential suppliers of advanced equipment to the 

advanced systems are unable to go beyond exploratory study of the 

problem within their own resources.

C. Intercity transp ortation systems cross over a very large number 

of local and State jurisdictional boundaries. Problems of land acquisition, zone adjustment, and attend ant litigations, suggest tha t 

the program should possess the concerned supervision of the Federal 

Government. The sustained operation of the system in the interest 

of the people calls for a continuing degree of public participation in 

supervision of the system’s operation.

Citizens Transit I mprovement Association,

Washington, D.C., July 1, 1965.

Subject: II.R . 5863 and the plight of the Nation’s railroads.

Hon. Oren Harris,

Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

U.S . House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Dear Congressman Harris: The Citizens Transit Improvement 

Association wishes to go on record as supporting H.R . 5863 with the 

amendments tha t we recommend in this statement. We request 

tha t this statement be made a pa rt of the printed record of the public 

hearings on H.R. 5863.

It is our position that, if H.R. 5863 is not amended to focus attention 

on the need to preserve, expand, and improve railroad transportation 

in the United States, H.R. 5863 inadvertently could do more harm 

than good to the defense transportation posture, and to the economic 

and social welfare, of our country. H.R. 5863 authorizes the Secreta ry of Commerce to “undertake research and development in 

high-speed ground transporta tion.” However, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Public Roads has the dominant voice in shaping 

the transportation policies of tha t Department. Already the Bureau 

of Public Roads has greatly undermined railroad transporta tion in 

the United States, contributing materially to the upward trend of 

transportation costs experienced by the Nation’s shippers. Consequently, in view of the dominant role of the Bureau of Public Roads, 

with its dreams of electronic highways as the solution to ground 

transp ortation problems, we urge tha t the Department of Commerce 

not be the instrumentality for undertaking research and development 

in high-speed ground transportation for our increasingly urbanized 

country.

In asking tha t specific attention be focused on the Nation’s railroads, 

we call to your attention the following facts:

1. During World War II, 97 percent of the organized troop movements by common carrier, in continental United States, were by 

railroad.

2. During World War II, 90 percent of the military freight traffic 

by common carrier, in continental United States, moved by rail.

(We urge you to verify the above statistics by contacting 

the Defense Traffic Management Service. We obtained them
6 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

from “the Ga the rin g Tr ansportat ion Storm,” a boo klet pu blished by the A ssociation of Am erican Railro ads in 1961 or 196 2.)

3. At the time of th e 1962 Cu ban missile crisis, the F ede ral Go vernmen t caused executives of railroad companies to be ro ute d ou t of bed 

in the m iddle of t he night, so th at the railroads could be mobilized for 

the movem ent of troo ps and equ ipm ent. We know of no such disturbance to the slum ber of executives of bus companies and trucking 

companies at th at time.

4. With the growing th re at of f urt her escalation of the hostilities in 

Vietnam , the logistical significance of railroad facilities and servic es 

assumes increased imp ortanc e.

5. As a result of prolo nged periods of drought or less than nor mal 

rainfalls, the wate r level of lakes and rivers has fallen in certain regions 

of the 1 nited Sta tes , thu s imposing problems on waterb orne s hipp ing. 

On at leas t some of the Great Lakes, for exam ple, ore boats are no t 

being fully loaded in ord er to avoid scraping the bottom of the lakes. 

Conse quently, we suggest th at y our committee com munica te with the 

American Iron & S teel Institut e, to ascerta in the exten t to which this 

conditio n requ ires the dom estic steel indu str y to utilize rail roads to a 

greater exten t than it would in the absence of falling wa ter levels; 

also, whether tru ck tra nspo rta tio n, to any app reciable exten t, has 

helped alleviate the problem posed by the need to load ore boa ts at 

less tha n cap acity.

6. Transportat ion utilizing cars rolling on steel flanged wheels 

support ed by stee l rails provides much gre ate r dep end abi lity during 

periods of severe we ath er than a ny othe r form of tr ansp ortatio n. Fo r 

example, ab ou t 7 or 8 years ago, a few tho usa nd racing fans were 

str an de d at Bowie, Md ., because of a sud den snow storm. Hig hway 

vehicles were useless. Helicopters, which had bro ught some V IP ’s to 

the rac etrack , were unable to tak e them home. Who cam e to the 

rescue? It was the Pen nsy lvania Railro ad, which dis pat che d two 

special trains to Bowie. (It seems quite ap prop ria te th at passengers, 

who use the railroads only when we ath er pre vents the use of oth er 

modes of tra ns po rta tio n, are called snow bird s.)

7. As y our com mittee knows, railroa d companies provide their own 

righ ts-o f-way at their own expense, and they pay taxe s—often discri minator y—on thes e rights-of-wa y, the tra cks on the n, and on 

abutt ing properties owned by thes e companies. Real estat e taxe s 

hav e contr ibu ted ma terially to the red uction of railroad mileage in 

the Un ited Sta tes , and this mileage reduct ion will increase the cost of 

the futur e expansion of our rail roads, and of the dev elopment of rail 

rapid tran sit in urban and metro polita n regions.

8. Other forms of tra nspo rta tio n use publicly owned highways th at 

are not subjected to real e sta te taxes, airw ays th at are made safe and 

are monito red by the Fed eral Go ver nm ent , and waterways th at 

benefit from the work of the U.S. Arm y Cor ps of Eng ineers, the U.S. 

Navy, and the Co ast Guard.

9. Althou gh there is no Federal burea u, board, or commission 

whose sole responsibility is the dev elo pm ent and impro veme nt of 

railroad tra ns po rta tio n, there are Federal agencies th at energetica lly 

and very effectively develop and pro mote highway, air, and wa ter -
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH 7

borne transportation—at costs tha t are not borne in full by the companies that benefit from the programs of those Federal agencies.1

10. Largely because of favoritism, by various levels of government, 

on behalf of competing forms of transportation, transportation of 

passengers and mail by rail has been declining in absolute terms, and 

transportation of freight by rail has been constituting a declining share 

of the total transp ortation of freight, in spite of the impressive 

economic growth of the United States, and in spite of the fact tha t 

the railroad industry now has considerably more technical know-how 

than it had when the railroads predominated in the transportation of 

persons and goods.

(An example of the decline of railroad passenger transportation: 

Although the Pittsburgh and Cleveland metropolitan areas are gradually merging into one interstate megalopolis, it is no longer possible 

for a passenger to board a train in Pittsburgh and alight from the same 

train in Cleveland, or vice versa.)

(An example of what could be accomplished here: In Japan, a 

much-publicized superrailroad, the new Tokaido line between Tokyo 

and Osaka, went into passenger and freight service in October 1964. 

It does not replace the older railroad; it supplements it. Trains reach 

a speed of 125 miles an hour, and after the tracks have settled, the 

top speed will be increased to 150 miles per hour. The world speed 

record for trains was set during a test run in France 10 years ago— 

207 miles per hour. This train used an electric locomotive and 

standard tracks.)

With this background information, we make the following recommendations with respect to H .R. 5863:

1. Page 1, lines 4 and 5, substitute for “high-speed ground transportatio n,” the following: “high-speed rail transportation using two 

parallel running rails of the kind used in railroad transportation.” 

(We idso recommend the addition of a separate sentence giving a 

statutory definition of railroad transportation.)

2. Delete section 2, because it is unnecessary. Every competent 

organization collects statistics and other information in engineering 

and economic feasibility studies. (Focusing attention on the subject 

matter of sec. 2 could encourage some future Secretary to substitute 

“further studies” for prompt action.)

3. Page 2, line 11, add “qualified” to “personnel” . Define “ qualified” within the context of railroad development and improvement.

4. Page 2, line 14, define “procure services”.

5. Replace the language of section 4 completely. Substitute a 

new section 4, enumerating the Federal agencies—and the kinds or 

levels of government, particularly, State and county governments— 

to be consulted. (As long-distance transportation improvement 

apparently is to be dovetailed to some extent with metropolitan rapid 

transit development, it is important tha t the more comprehensive 

cooperation, tha t we recommend, be embodied in the legislation

1

 Although the D epa rtm ent of Commerce has a high-speed grou nd-transportation project, the northeast 

corridor tran spo rtation project, it encompasses other forms of tran spo rtation besides railroad tra nsp ortation, 

and there is no assurance th at Commerce will no t become preoccupied w ith forms of transp ortation whose 

engineering and economic feasibility has no t been tes ted— including electronically guided buses and trucks 

operating at high speeds. Whether railroad managem ents would be willing to invest company funds in 

vast improvements and experiments, in the face of increased Gov ernmen t pam pering of ot her forms of 

tran sportation, is highly questionable.
8 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

here conside red. Whatev er agency has r esp onsibility for the develo pment of long-distance ground tra nspo rta tio n facilities should be 

required to consult the rele vant State and co un ty gov ernments, 

and transit dis tricts or autho riti es.)

6. Establish a National Railway Rese arch and Devel opment 

In stitu te (or National Railway Technological In stitut e) as an indep end ent Fed eral agency headed by an Ad ministrat or. (Railroad 

progress will not occur on the scale necessary unless it is unh indered 

by the power and influe nce of the Bure au of Public Roads.)

7. Substitute the word “A dm inistrat or” for the words “Sec retary” 

and “Secretary of C ommer ce.”

In our view, it is im perative th at the Congress furnish guidelines 

and instructio ns for the con duct of the researc h and dev elo pm ent 

activities authorized by II.R . 5863. On too ma ny occasions, we 

have seen the app are nt intent of Congress, in the field of tran sp or ta ­

tion , im plem ented in a d istorted or confused ma nner by admi nis tra tors 

and planne rs hav ing a highway orien tation . This is pa rti cu larly 

tru e with resp ect to the ma nner in which the Federal-Aid Hig hway 

Act of 1962 is being a pplied to me tropolita n regions by the Bu rea u of 

Pub lic Roa ds.

We are also d isturb ed by the fact th at the “Buc k R ogers .” f utu ris tic , 

exotic app roa ch to tra ns po rta tio n researc h is rece iving majo r at te ntion in conn ectio n with the northeas t corridor tra ns po rta tio n pro jec t. 

This approac h might bear fruit in the 21st cen tury, b ut we have serious 

tra nsporta tio n problem s rig ht now. We can save decades of time, 

billions of dollars, and enh ance our defense tran sp ortatio n postu re 

if we give top pri ority to both short - and long-ra nge im provem ent 

and develop ment of our rail roads. Conse quently, we urge th at H.R . 

5863 be mad e more detaile d and specific, and th at the am endm ents 

we propose be ado pte d.

Sincerely yours,

H il lia rd H . G oodm an ,

Executive Vice President.

Sta te m en t of D r. P au l J. C laff ey , T ra nsp ort ati on E n c jn e e r

Large-scale research into several aspects of the ground tran sp or ta ­

tion of passengers is vitally needed in this c ou ntry and, where elem ents 

of this research are costly, lacking in a pro spe ct of early financial 

benefit to the inv estigator, and /or where the basic value of the results 

are to the cosumer or to the general public, it becom es im po rta nt 

for the Fed eral Gover nment to provide the nece ssary support. This 

is co nte mp lated in this legislation.

I wish to testify concerning the importance of one aspect of ground 

tra nspo rta tio n research which has no t been inv est iga ted in depth 

heretofore but which could be inv estiga ted by the Dep ar tm en t of 

Commerce if this bill is enacted. This is the eva luation of user c riteri a 

for tra ns po rta tio n service. It m ay be described as the determination 

of rea son ably acc ura te information for tra ns po rta tio n planning pu rposes of the valu e to users of (a) time sav ing in trav el, (6) riding comfort, (c) tra nspo rta tio n convenience, (</) safety in travel, and (e) 

reduced fares. Eac h of these item s is of concern to travelers in some 

measure, is reflected in the use or nonuse of specific tra ns po rta tio n
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH 9

facilities, and is related to the demand of citizens for modern tran sportation facilities. Rational planning of improved ground tran sportation systems cannot be made without greatly improved knowledge 

in this area. The present situation whereby the planning of tran sportation means to provide for these user needs is almost entirely 

dependent on planners’ subjective judgments must give way to 

planning based on factual information.

ddie problem is complicated by difficulties both in measuring the 

items of user travel need and in placing a value on individual items. 

For example, how can user comfort be measured, what are the factors 

of user travel comfort? Is it the availability of a seat, the size of the 

seat space provided, environmental conditions, or the smoothness of 

ride? Is there a common comfort factor? How much is each of 

these or of a unit of common comfort factor worth? What is the 

value of passenger time saving in travel? The answers to these 

questions can only be obtained by a massive research project such as 

would be possible by the Departmen t of Commerce through passage of 

this bill. The information does not exist now.

If the planning of future ground transportation facilities is to be 

in accordance with the needs of the country for improved travel means 

and if the large sums that will be committed by various agencies on 

new transportation means are to be well spent, research information 

on user transportation criteria is urgently needed. I urge tha t 

H.R. 5863 be enacted into law.

S ta tem en t of H. G uyfo rd S t e v e r, P r e sid e n t of th e C a r n e g ie

I n st it u te of T ec hn o lo g y, an d C h a rles L aw M cC a b e, V ic e

P r esid en t fo r R esea r c h of t h e C a r n e g ie I n stit u te of

T ec hn ol og y

Coming from Pittsburgh, which is widely recognized as having 

made rather remarkable progress in clearing its atmosphere and in 

rebuilding large sections of the central city but which only now is 

coming to grips with the total regional transportation problem, 

we applaud the broad approach to the intercity transp ortation problem in densely populated areas of the country contained in H.R. 5863 

and feel that its passage is a logical step for the Federal Government 

to take at this time. We feel this is so because it is highly desirable 

to have research and development, in the transportation field, take 

place as fast as our progress in technology and the stat e of the economy can possibly allow.

Our remarks are divided into two parts. The first is the need for 

the Federal Government to undertake the program of action outlined in the bill under discussion here; the second part contains some 

comments about some of the sections of the bill which related to 

technical matters.

We note first that, in the United States and in the world, we are 

now experiencing such rapid technological development in most fields 

that it does not take a great amount of imagination to envision many 

potentially feasible technical solutions to the problem of transporting 

people at high speeds in densely populated areas. However, to attain 

high speed and, at the same time, low cost with a high degree of safety 

and reliability means necessarily the development of a highly complex
10 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

sys tem hav ing many pa rts which hav e been “t ailor made” for the 

system itself, parts which must be designed to work tog eth er in order 

to achieve the desired goal. The refo re, if our objective is to tak e at 

this tim e the biggest possible step, the R. & D. effort needed to de ter ­

mine first what the general cha racteristics of the sys tem should be 

and lat er the deta iled design of the system is of such ma gnitu de th at 

no priva te company, or group of companies, has ye t volunteered to 

assum e the financial risk. It is unlikely t hat th is s ituation will change. 

Also, no gov ernm enta l unit other than the Federal Go vernm ent itself, 

can assum e the risk since the total problem is national in scope. 

Therefore, if progress is to be mad e, the Fed eral Go vernm ent is the 

logical unit to assume a lead ership and coo rdinating role. We feel 

it highly significant th at the bill und er discussion fully makes pro ­

vision for taking max imum ad va nta ge of technological advances in 

ma ny fields.

There are two general aspe cts of the high-speed ground tra ns po rtation problem which we should particular ly like to discuss. The first 

involves the use of one of our basic na tural resources—land. Obviously, for the future the optim al use of land is an increasingly 

critical factor for us in the Un ited State s—critica l because of our 

pro jected population growth and because of the tre nd for our cit izens to prefer to live in densely pop ula ted area. Th e bill und er discussion deals with proper land use in t wo ways. Fi rst, its aim is to 

cre ate an efficient system resulting in limited land use for the syste m 

itself. And, second, the mere provision of an excellent high-speed 

ground transpo rta tio n system makes it possible to have corr idors of 

high er population density—area s in which our citiz ens ap pa rently 

like to live. It seems to me th at these, and perhap s other land use 

considerations, are im po rta nt factors to consider in relation to thi s 

biU.

The second point is relat ed to anoth er fundam ental prob lem are a 

of our time—name ly, devising me thods whe reby the private and 

public sectors of our Na tio n can join forces to accomplish worthw hile 

goals. Obviously, this has been done with great success in the areas 

of space explora tion and military technology. I t seems to us th at 

in the high-speed ground tra ns po rta tio n field we have ye t an oth er 

area in which the ord ina ry opera tion of the priva te marke tplace 

cann ot evolve the best system s which mod ern science and technolo gy 

could devise and supp ort in a sufficiently sh ort time. As noted 

above, the problem is complex and, therefore, at bes t very time 

consuming. It seems to us that, if left to the pr ivate sector alone, 

the att ack would con tinu e to tak e place by one small step at a time, 

or not at all, and would res ult in the final solu tion being postponed 

for such a long time th at society would hav e had to ad just to the 

problem in a man ner which would for most people minim ize free 

choice rather tha n maximize it. It is our position th at a systema tic 

approac h such as th at outlin ed in H.R. 58 63 is a good appro ach , one 

which is consistent with our ma intain ing a he alt hy priva te sector, 

while at the same time providing for a mec hanism for gov ern me nta l 

action which is pro per and is urg ently needed.

r

fh e second pa rt of our rem arks deals with some of the specific 

sections in the legislation.
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH 11

First, the research and development program: We believe that the 

proposed research and development program has in it all of the elements necessary to attain the objectives of the proposed legislation 

for the following reasons:

(а) The approach is a broad one embracing many technical fields— 

engineering, science, information processing, sociology, psychology, 

etc., insuring tha t all pertinent technology and information about 

the uses of the transportation system is used in order to arrive at the 

best possible solution to the total problem.

(б) The approach is an “integrated systems” approach making 

sure tha t the final product does not look and behave as though it has 

been designed by a committee on the one hand or a “warmed over” 

version of an existing system on the other.

(c) In mapping out the program, full cognizance has been taken of 

the many new technologies tha t have been developed for other 

systems—space systems, military systems, or communications systems. Obviously, the probability is high that a great many concepts 

and ideas, as well as specific items of hardware, can provide problem 

solutions unavailable even to the engineers who designed the “lightweight passenger trains” in the 1950’s.

(d) The guidelines for the research are broad enough so tha t our 

Nation’s capacity for real innovation in this field can indeed be harnessed, increasing considerable the chance for a really big step to 

be taken by the United States in this important technical area.

Second, the demonstration projects: The demonstration projects 

seem to us to be a particularly valuable part of the program since they 

have important consequences for the short run as well as for the long 

run. For the short run, these demonstration projects may provide 

the key to improved service or services which are economically viable. 

For the long run, they will provide a basis for testing the response’of 

the public to improved service ami thereby make it possible to ’take 

advantage of the newer hardware research and development work, 

referred to previously, in the design of the new system, without 

having to test customer reaction at every turn. Since it is expensive 

in time and money to build a complete new system to test each innovation in the marketplace, it is essential to have some way to test 

the marketplace, and the demonstration projects outlined here would 

do just that.

In short, we believe this bill to be an excellent step for our country 

to take at this time because the need is great, only the Federal Government can adequately do the job, and the program put forward in this 

bill is imaginative yet sound.

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