Editorial | Shaw must outline transport policy

The fact that Jamaica’s University of Technology (UTech) and the University of Birmingham in Britain plan to cooperate on studies on how Jamaica might resuscitate its near comatose railway system is of itself a good thing.

At the very least, there will be some knowledge transfer to a Jamaican institution, and the island will have another analysis of the existing rail infrastructure and what would be required to bring it into the 21st century, should things really get going. That would probably save someone a bit of money.

But the UTech-University of Birmingham project isn’t sufficient. It is unlikely to amount to much in the absence of the active involvement/participation by the Government. Or to put another way, whatever is done by the two universities should be in the context of a national transportation policy that is fully cognisant of Jamaica’s developmental priorities and needs. Which is what this newspaper has been asking of the new transportation minister, Audley Shaw, since he assumed the portfolio in January and of which he will have an opportunity to provide an outline at the railway symposium being hosted by UTech this week.

This newspaper has a strong sentimental attachment to the railway. The first trains ran commercially in Jamaica in 1845, between Kingston and Angels, St Catherine. That makes the rail service in Jamaica 177 years old this year – one of the oldest in the world. Indeed, only Canada, of the British colonies, had a railway before Jamaica. So, there is the sense of Jamaica’s place in the history of the development of this mode of transportation.

CULTURAL VANDALISM

However, we believe that the Government, across administrations, is just shy of cultural vandalism, and is clearly guilty of nonfeasance, by failing to stop the dereliction and save the Jamaican Georgian buildings that served as railway stations, although the National Heritage Trust fully understands their historic worth.

Notwithstanding, we appreciate that policy, including how the governments allocate scarce resources, can’t be determined merely by sentiment. Three decades ago, when the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC), which is owned by the Government, discontinued its passenger services and retired most of its diesel-powered locomotives, the decision was driven largely by economics. The JRC was losing money and the fiscally strapped Government could no longer afford the subsidies.

Neither could the Government fund the necessary modernisation of the rattling, narrow-gauge railway system that faced competition from road transportation.

Few people, but perhaps the nostalgic, wished to take a six-hour train ride to Montego Bay from Kingston, when it could be done by bus in four. These days, with the development of north-south and south coast highways, that trip can be accomplished, with moderate driving, in two and half hours. Additional highways and bypass roads are under construction, and others are planned.

In the face of these developments, the only sustained use of the railway (apart from the occasional, mostly sentiment-driven special services) is to haul alumina from the refineries, and sometimes bauxite, from the mines, to ports. Most other cargo is transported by road.

CLEAR CANVAS

Yet successive ministers, including Mr Shaw, have had visions of bringing back the railway. They, however, haven’t been able to fund the project from the public purse, or, despite the many promises by foreign enterprises, have not been able to entice private capital to undertake the venture.

The UTech-University of Birmingham project – which should benefit for the latter’s experience in the study and analysis of rail systems in a country with a well-developed and modern railroad infrastructure – will be looking at the technical viability of having a rail service along one of the capital’s busiest thoroughfares using the latest technologies. There are obvious questions of who would finance any such project and how it would be integrated into the existing public transport system. For instance, would the rail’s return impact the State’s annual J$10 billion support (J$5 billion in direct subsidies) to its Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC)?

The analysis would also have to take into account how a revitalised rail service would affect Jamaica’s use of fossil fuels and the island’s emission of greenhouse gases. About a third of Jamaica’s oil imports – for which, before this year’s spike in prices, it spent around US$1 billion – is used for ground transportation.

However, the Government has said that it expects 12 per cent of public transportation will be electric vehicles by 2030 – which seems, with the importation of EVs (electric vehicles) not yet started, an optimistic projection. Indeed, the administration has offered no clear strategy on how this is to be done.

Mr Shaw has been provided a canvas on which to begin a clear vision for public transportation. He must use it.