Go Lean Commentary
Its been 150 years exactly …
… we cannot just let that milestone for the Union Pacific Railroad go by without some acknowledgement … and reflection. This history is more than just the story of a train, or a company; its an economic solution, one that was the inspiration for study and modeling, while the writers were in Omaha, Nebraska composing the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean. See this excerpt:
| The Bottom Line on the Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the US. It has more than 44,000 employees, more than 8,000 locomotives, and runs on 31,900 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago and New Orleans. The original company, prior to later uniting with the Central Pacific Railroad, was incorporated on July 1, 1862 under an act of Congress entitled Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln and it provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific as a war measure for the preservation of the Union. It was constructed westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa (across the Missouri from Omaha) to meet the Central Pacific line, which was constructed eastwardly from San Francisco Bay. The two lines were joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah, fifty three miles west of Ogden on May 10, 1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America. – Book Go Lean…Caribbean Page 205.
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The Union Pacific Railroad and the City of Omaha was featured in the Go Lean book as a model for the transportation solutions that would allow the Caribbean region to better move people and goods around the member-states.
There was a lot of fanfare, celebration, pomp-and-pageantry this month for the 150th anniversary. See the news report in this company-produced VIDEO here and in the related article in the Appendix below:
VIDEO – Union Pacific’s Transcontinental Railroad Completion 150th Anniversary Celebration – https://youtu.be/ZOWoPuVSbY0
Union Pacific
Published on May 17, 2019 – Reflections of Union Pacific’s celebration May 9, 2019, marking the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad’s completion.
- Category: Autos & Vehicles
Yes, there is the need for transportation solutions in the Caribbean. Our failings – unaffordable to bring stay-over tourists to our shores and excessive costs of imported goods – have imperiled our progress in so many ways. We have consistently reported this theme in previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16645 | Bad Partners – Cruise Lines Interactions |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14767 | Caribbean less competitive due to increasing aviation taxes |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14761 | Flying the Caribbean Skies – New Regional Options |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12959 | The Defective Shipping Law ‘Jones Act’ needs to be scraped |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12322 | Ferries 101: Economics, Security and Governance |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12146 | Commerce of the Seas – Shipbuilding Model – We need Ferries |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9179 | Snowbirds Tourism – On the 1st day of Autumn, time to head South |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6867 | How to address high consumer prices: A Ferry Transport System |
The book Go Lean … Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), to facilitate a connected and integrated Single Market. This reality would mandate that we connect all the communities; the same as blood vessels would connect all the organs of a single “body”. Other Single Markets around the world have efficient transportation solutions; think rails and highways in the US and in Western Europe. The book features this one advocacy (Page 205) for implementing Caribbean transportation solutions. This advocacy is entitled: “10 Ways to Improve Transportation“. These “10 Ways” include the following highlights, headlines and excerpts:
| 1 | Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market – Ratify treaty for the CU. Embrace the advent of the Caribbean Single Market & Economy Initiative of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This will allow for the unification of 42 million people into one market, creating the demand to better move people and goods among the region and import-export to/from other regions. The CU will allow for the emergence of capital markets to sell municipal bonds for Transportation Authorities to raise project funds, as was the case for the Union Pacific Railroad. Bonds are ideal as their long term nature is ideal for slow harvesting returns from transportation solutions. |
| 2 | Turnpike: Pneumatic Capsule Pipeline (PCP)
The “Union Atlantic” Turnpike, (modeled after the Union Pacific efforts in the US from 1862), is a big initiative of the CU to logistically connect all CU member-states for easier transport of goods and passengers. The Turnpike is virtual; made up of many physical transportation modes envisioned for the region: Pipeline, Ferry, Highways, and Railroad. PCP refers to large pneumatic tubes that can handle containers and trailers through underwater, under-ground and above-ground pipelines powered by magnetic levitation systems (ILM). This is modeled, after the freight PCP project envisioned for New York City [187], and the English Channel Tunnel for passengers and cargo. The CU will construct underwater tunnels for narrow straits in the region, like the 7 miles between Trinidad & Venezuela. |
| 3 | Turnpike: Ferries
For the most part, the CU member-states are islands thereby allowing for a viable means of transportation via sea navigation. By deploying ferries, the CU facilitates passenger travel for business and leisure, (see model [of Ferry operations in] Appendix IC on Page 280). |
| 4 | Turnpike: Land Highways |
| 5 | Turnpike: Railroads |
| 6 | Aviation Coordination, Promotion and Safety Regulations The CU mandate is to facilitate the region’s economics through transportation solutions. Aviation plays a key role, and so there is the need for regional coordination and promotion of the region’s domestic and foreign air carriers. The CU will execute these functions along with Air Traffic Control and Safety regulations, thus mirroring both the FAA & National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US. The CU will be vested with subpoena and prosecutorial powers. |
| 7 | CNG Public Buses and Electric Street Cars with Handicap Access |
| 8 | Taxi Administration: Emission-free Inducements & Electronic Payments Systems (EPS) |
| 9 | Local Automaker(s) |
| 10 | Bicycle Friendly |
According to the Go Lean book, the foregoing VIDEO, and the article in the Appendix below, the Union Pacific Railroad was more than just a railroad, it was a transportation and technology eco-system that transformed the American continent. This was a manifestation of the technology of the day, the best-of-the-best of the machinery and methods that defined the greatest industrial might in the history of modern man. The Go Lean book states (Page 57) this succinct reflection on transport technology:
Technological change is more than just [today’s] internet & communications (ICT); though this field is dynamically shifting the world. There are also industrial changes taking place, as in more efficient manufacturing methods, automation-robotics, and transportation options … in response to Climate Change. For example, the CU envisions the supply and demand for Fast Ferries in the region. The modern offerings allow for 40 – 50 (nautical) mph speeds on calm waters. There are many CU destinations that can be serviced within 2 – 3 hours using this mode. This effort will be championed by the CU Turnpike initiative.
The review of the history of the Union Pacific Railroad has done one more thing:
Provide a glimpse of a Caribbean version of a transformative transportation solution. (Consider the Canadian ferry example in the photo here).
Today, the Caribbean is 30 separate and distinct lands with 42 million people; we are 30 separate and distinct member-states; but instead, we need to be one community, a Single Market. Transportation can foster and furnish the needed unity in our neighborhood; this is how we can move forward in our quest to elevate the societal engines: economics, security and governance. This point was eloquently detailed in a previous blog-commentary:
The roadmap calls for the CU to navigate the changed landscape of the globalized air transport industry. There is the need for regional integration, administration, and promotion for Caribbean air travel among local and foreign carriers. The book posits that transportation and logistics empower the economic engines of a community. There must be air carrier solutions to service the transportation and tourism needs of the Caribbean islands. This point is fully appreciated by Caribbean tourism stakeholders; the book relates that the region’s Hotel and Tourism Association channel the vision of Robert Crandall, former Chairman of American Airlines, who remarked at a Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference in May 2010 that the region is uniquely dependent on tourism:
“Everyone involved in travel and tourism knows that our [airline] industry is immensely important to the world economy, generating and supporting – either directly or indirectly – about one in eleven jobs worldwide. Here in the Caribbean, it is even more important. On a number of islands, travel and tourism accounts for more than 50% of all employment, and on some islands for more than 75%. Overall, about 20% of Caribbean employment is travel and tourism dependent – something on the order of 2.5 million jobs.” – Book ‘Go Lean … Caribbean’ – Page 60.
Go Lean asserts that air travel options must be optimized to impact Caribbean society – thus the need for more regional coordination, regulation and promotion of the Caribbean’s aviation industry. New models are detailed in the book in which tourism can be enhanced with “air lifts” to facilitate Caribbean events, and “Air Bridges” to allow for targeting High Net Worth markets. This roadmap also introduces the Union Atlantic Turnpike to offer more transportation solutions (ferries, toll roads, railways, and pipelines) to better facilitate the efficient movement of people and cargo.
Yes, we can …
A more connected region is conceivable, believable and achievable. This is how we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.
Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix – Title: Golden Spike 150th Anniversary – 1869 – Omaha, NE
The communities of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, would forever be changed by a single decision made by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. That was the year the president named Council Bluffs as the eastern terminus for Union Pacific, altering that community and Omaha — and, in fact, every community — along the railroad’s western path.
Despite this presidential declaration, there were other forces at play. Union Pacific’s first vice president and general manager, Thomas C. “Doc” Durant, used his influence to make Omaha — and not Council Bluffs, Iowa — the actual starting point. Union Pacific marked the occasion with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Omaha settlement in Nebraska Territory Dec. 2, 1863. A lack of funding delayed the project’s beginning for a short while, but on July 10, 1865, the first rail was finally laid. In 1872, the two communities were united for the first time when a railroad bridge was completed across the Missouri River.
The railroad’s effect on both communities has been extraordinary. Council Bluffs grew from a small, isolated Missouri River town to Iowa’s fifth largest city. The same robust growth has taken place in Omaha. Settlers and immigrants poured into the area beginning more than a century ago, and today this vibrant city has a population of nearly 500,000. This growth was spurred in great part by the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, and the transcontinental railroad’s completion in 1869. Omaha has been Union Pacific’s operational headquarters since the 1860s, and its 19-story headquarters in the downtown area employs nearly 4,000 employees. Omaha also is home to UP’s Harriman Dispatching Center, one of the country’s largest and most technologically advanced dispatching facilities.
Source: Retrieved May 18, 2019 from: https://www.up.com/goldenspike/omaha-promontory.html