No Light Rail in Vancouver!

Siemens Bribery Scandal and Light Rail

Jan 31

2007

The Wall Street Journal today has a lengthy article about the Siemens company bribing government officials to get contracts. Among other things, Siemens builds light-rail cars.

As far as I know, Siemens has never bribed an American public official to get a contract to for its rail cars — at least, not in the sense of paying people under the table. Instead, it routinely makes large contributions to political campaigns involving light rail.

Siemens contributed $10,000 to the 1996 campaign to build a $3 billion light-rail line in Portland (the ballot measure lost, but they are building it anyway). It contributed $51,000 to the 2004 campaign to build $4.7 billion worth of rail lines in Denver. It also donated $50,000 to a 2003 campaign for a bond measure for Houston transit. If you ever had a light-rail ballot measure in your region, look up the campaign contributors and you will probably find Siemens on the list.

Siemens does not stop at ballot measures. When pro-rail Portland city Commissioner Charles Hales was challenged by rail skeptic Ted Piccolo in 2000, Siemens contributed $5,000 to Hales’ campaign.

It is these sorts of contributions, rather than any advantages inherent in rail itself, that leads many cities to go for rail transit. It is far more economical to improve bus service, but what giant companies would donate to a campaign to expand bus service?

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Reprinted from The Antiplanner