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Jun 04, 2010: Hotline #657Hotline #657 Following a successful three month trial, Amtrak announced June 1 that free Wi-Fi internet access will become a standard part of the Acela high speed service. Amtrak reported that 115,000 passengers per month used the free service during the trial period, or about 39 percent of ridership. The company also announced plans to expand wireless service to other routes beginning this fall. It has not been announced which routes have been selected for the upgrade, though Northeast regional trains are a likely beneficiary since they run on the same corridor as the Acela. The California High-Speed Rail Authority sent a five page draft response to the California state auditor, who released a report on April 29 criticizing the agency for anemic oversight, careless management, and a questionable funding plan. Already secured is $2.25 billion awarded by the federal government and a $9 billion bond passed by voters in 2008. The remaining money is expected to come from $12 billion in private investments, $15 billion in additional federal grants, with $5 billion being supplied by local governments. CAHSRA has recruited financial consultants to create more depth in the financial plan, which will provide for best- and worst-case scenarios. Alternative funding plans may have draw backs. Lengthening construction time, for example, would lead to a greater price tag due to inflation. And CAHSRA officials warned against ceding too much power to private investors. “We have to be careful that we don’t give up so much control over the project that ultimately fares are too high or the quality of service would be eroded without the control of the state,” said CAHSRA Board Member Ron Diridon of San Jose. Whatever scenarios the agency comes up with, the clock is ticking for the state auditor to approve. California has until September 2012 to start construction, or they will lose the $2.25 billion already awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration. Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar’s chief executive as of next month, told the Financial Times that the purchase is a piece of a “strategic plan to aggressively grow our presence in the global rail industry.” The construction equipment giant bought EMD—one of the U.S.’s largest builders of locomotives with sales of $1.8 billion last year—from Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity Group. This is the second move that Caterpillar has made into the rail sector, coming after a 2006 purchase of Progress Rail Service for $1 billion, and it positions the company to challenge General Electric as the dominant force in North American locomotive manufacturing. Metrorail trains were on time 90.3% of the time, below WMATA’s goal of 95% on time performance. Metrorail averages less than one injury for every seven million passenger trips per month. WMATA has collected this data in the past, but has only sporadically released it to the public. Interim General Manager Richard Sarles is delivering on his promise to distribute these “vital signs” on a monthly basis as part of an effort to increase transparency and accountability in the public agency. Similar monthly reports for Amtrak are available on their website, with April the most recent month currently available (scroll to the bottom of the page). The FBI will be joining CSX security and the Van Buren County Sheriff’s office in an attempt to discover who obstructed the track outside of the Columbia Township in Indiana. Investigators found a 20” metal crowbar erected between metal track lines that struck the passenger car as it passed over. The conductor reported that he saw three objects in total. Authorities are asking anyone with information to call CSX Police at (800) 331-0008, Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department at (269) 657-3101, the Silent Observer (Crime Stoppers program in Michigan) at (866) 774-2345, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 342-7867. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told the Associated Press the last two railcars on the train left the rails. The tracks are owned by Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern, and investigators are currently looking for the cause of the derailment. The move is an effort to develop the Pacific Northwest market, which was not previously under the management of a General Superintendent. Amtrak had great success with expanded service from Portland to Vancouver, B.C. for the 2010 Winter Olympics. “This newly created position will strengthen our relationship with Washington and Oregon, states that have been ardent supporters of passenger rail and where there are tremendous opportunities for growth,” said President and CEO Joe Boardman in a statement. Laird, who has worked at Amtrak since 1977, will oversee all transportation and mechanical operations, including maintaining the Talgo equipment, the Amtrak Cascades service, and the Sounder commuter contract. Groupe Eurotunnel is buying GB Railfreight in response to what it perceives to be disappointing volumes of freight traffic. While the passenger train service through the tunnel has been performing quite well, freight traffic has been on the decline, from a peak of three million tones annually to just 1.18 million tones last year. There have been a variety of impediments to running freight trains, including asylum seekers trying to stow away on the trains to circumvent the legal entry process, and a lack of the specially manufactured locomotives that are able to safely run in the 23.5 mile tunnel. But with liberalization legislation passing across Europe, new markets have opened, increasing the value of goods. It is believed Eurotunnel will use GB Railfreight’s fleet of 41 existing locomotives to haul freight to and from the tunnel. From there, Eurotunnel’s 11 Class 92 locomotives designed to run in the Chunnel will transport the freight across to France, at which point Veolia Cargo will take over. Early reports are sketchy, but it seems that a group of around 20 to 30 youths attacked a young man for reasons unknown. Initial reports suggested that a firearm had been discharged, but the Metro Transit Police dismissed the account. Multiple suspects have been apprehended. “There was an officer on the scene; the response was immediate. At least 12 Capitol police, six Metro police and three Metro officials were on the scene with a command post,” said Mitch Dowdy of the Metro Transit Police. Service to Union Station resumed after a half hour delay. Pattison rose through the ranks of New York Central Railroad, one of the passenger rail companies that eventually formed Amtrak. He also served as head of LIRR from 1976-1978, a brief and rough tenure. Despite problems running the railroad, he maintained a good reputation among the railroad industry and served as president of the railroad consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff Centec before retiring in 2001. You can read more about his life here. You can find out more about the deal on Amtrak’s website. The promotion ends May 28, 2011. While it is clear that this will hit states hard which are not currently paying for short-distance Amtrak trains, we understand that the impact will be minimal regarding trains states are already pay for. There will be a capital charge—except where states own the cars and locomotives, as in California and North Carolina—but states can apply for federal high-speed rail funds to cover that. Services for which states do not currently pay will be the toughest to save as PRIIA takes effect. These include about 1/3 of California’s Pacific Surfliners; Michigan’s Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac line; New York Empire Corridor; most but not all trains on Pennsylvania’s Keystone Corridor; one Seattle-Portland train and some of the Chicago-St. Louis trains. It has been obvious for some time that this law poses major problems for “legacy corridors”—primarily New York’s Empire Corridor and Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac—whose operations are funded 100% by Amtrak. Based on discussions at the May 19 Federal Railroad Administration workshop in Kansas City, what appears to be new information is the seriousness of the problems PRIIA Section 209 may visit upon lines for states already help fund. Jun 11, 2010: Hotline #658Hotline #658 The U.S. government’s top transportation official announced on June 10 that construction on high speed rail projects could begin in as little as two weeks. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that he has been holding high-level meetings with freight railroad executives and state officials, some of who have been balking at the strictures being placed upon them by President Barack Obama’s signature transportation project. “I said to them, this is the president’s and vice-president’s vision and we need to get moving on it,” said Secretary LaHood in a brief interview with Crain’s Chicago Business. “We’re going to have some very intense meetings here for the next couple of weeks so we can get some agreements in place.” The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) awarded $8 billion in congressionally-provided high-speed train grants to states earlier this year. But some freight railroads and state transportation agencies have taken issue with provisions of the FRA’s proposed rules that would be attached to the grant money. “We have a number of issues with these guidelines, and we made our concerns known to DOT and FRA,” said a spokesman for Union Pacific Corp., which is working with Illinois to create high-speed passenger service between Chicago and St. Louis with $1.13 billion in federal funding. The “meeting was constructive and everyone remains committed to the goal.” While LaHood admitted that no actual contracts have been agreed to, both the FRA and the freight railroads had renewed their commitment to quickly hammering out a workable deal. “What I’m telling you is, I believe over the next two weeks whatever issues there are are going to be resolved, at least in these four corridors we’re talking about,” the Secretary told Crain’s News Service. “The specifics will be worked out. There’s a sense of urgency; we need to get going. We want some of this work to begin this year.” The Xinhua news agency, the Chinese government’s official media outlet, is reporting that He Huawu, the chief engineer of national Ministry of Railways, said he “expects 4,613 km (2,866 miles) of high-speed rail line will be put into service this year,” and that around 10,000 km (6,200 miles) are currently under construction. It has been widely reported that China planned on spending $300 billion on high speed rail between now and 2020. But this statement—while not followed by any official announcement—suggests that government officials are speeding up construction schedules and massively ratcheting up investment levels. Normally, under the California Environmental Quality Act, changes to service require an evaluation of the environmental impact of changes to transit service. By declaring a fiscal emergency, Caltrain could circumvent those requirements. According to Caltrain spokesperson Christine Dunn, some of the cuts being evaluated are: eliminating weekend service (producing savings of $300,000 annually), eliminating service to Gilroy (producing savings of $600,000 annually), and cutting four early-morning or late-evening trains, and four mid-day trains (which would save $130,000 and $150,000 respectively). Caltrain says a $0.25 base fare increase could generate an additional $1.4 million per year, and a $0.25 zone fare increase could produce an extra $2 million annually. “We go through this process every single year where we try to make ends meet,” Dunn said. “It all goes back to same problem of lack of a dedicated funding source for Caltrain.” Changes to service could be eliminated as early as October, with fare changes to follow sometime around January. The Caltrain board is scheduled to meet again July 1, when cuts may be finalized. Keolis Rail Services America, the company set to replace Amtrak, has said that it will be ready, but has had reported difficulties staffing up. VRE chief executive Dale Zehner has said Keolis will be able to assume maintenance responsibilities by June 25, but that it is possible Keolis’ new hires may not meet “the rigorous qualification process” set by Amtrak. Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman responded in a personal letter to Zehner that the company would be willing to run VRE trains through July 9, but rejected a VRE proposal for a “soft-rollout,” where Keolis would initially take over the Fredericksburg Line while Amtrak would continue to run trains on the Manassas Line, until a full transition could take place. “Amtrak thinks it is not a good idea to have a unionized and non-unionized workforce entering into Union Station,” Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm told the Washington Post. “We think it’s cleaner . . . for Amtrak to operate both services as Keolis finally gets themselves ready to take over.” VRE puts the rough costs extending their relationship with Amtrak for two weeks at $335,000. The transit agency will request that Keolis cover these costs. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Portland Mayor Sam Adams met to discuss efforts to expand train service and eventually connect the three cities by high speed trains. “Having a high-speed link [from Vancouver] to Seattle, Portland and points further south will help get more vehicles off the road, provide an attractive tourist option and create significant economic opportunities,” Mayor Robertson said. “We are seeing the benefits of Amtrak passenger rail expansion in Vancouver. We need an organized, strategic approach to ensure we have a strong, united voice for the expansion of rail service along the key Pacific Northwest corridor.” “The railcar industry faces two challenges: They have lost 54,000 jobs in the last eighteen months, and they are saddled with an aging fleet that will have to be replaced,” Blumenauer said in a news release. Blumenauer predicts that somewhere between 32,000 and 50,000 jobs would be created nationwide. The bill—which already has bipartisan support from more than 50 members of the U.S. House—is targeted at the freight rail industry; it is not immediately clear whether passenger railcars would be covered by the credit. Eligibility would require an 8% increase in fuel efficiency. One of the companies that would benefit from the bill is the Lake Oswego, Oregon-based Greenbrier Co., which builds, leases, repairs, and refurbishes freight railcars for a variety of global customers. “We anticipate many of the family-wage jobs generated by passage of the bill will be throughout Greenbrier’s extensive North American railcar manufacturing, repair and refurbishment network,” said CEO Bill Furman. The board of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced that is creating a $30,000 “Transparent Metro Data Sets” that will allow third party developers—most notably, Google—to access a wide variety of real-time information on rail and bus movements. For MetroRail riders, this means they could plan a trip via rail at home using Google Maps, with rail schedule-sensitive information. Passengers with mobile data devices can also access real-time arrival predictions, service disruptions and elevator and escalator outages on-the-go. The 47-53 Senate vote rejected a procedural rule that would have brought the resolution—sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)—to the floor. While not directly related to the climate change bill that has been proposed by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), it sends a strong signal about the political will that exists to tackle the issue. “If [Murkowski] had prevailed today with 51 votes, I think that would have been a real problem for the broad-based economy-wide bill,” Senator Thomas R. Carper (D-DE)—who supports the Kerry-Lieberman bill— told reporters. “It’s not going to be easy.” The Kerry-Lieberman bill is dividing train and transit advocacy groups, with some supporting its goals of favoring energy-efficient modes of transportation like passenger trains, and others arguing that it diverts too much of the revenue generated from taxes on transportation fuels (mainly the gasoline tax) away from the transportation sector. GE’s RailEdge Movement Planner software will integrate railroad logistics with traffic control systems. This will allow projections of expected track usage based on passenger and freight train schedules, which will then enable companies to produce an optimized plan to get trains moving faster and more efficiently, and better use limited worker resources. The technology also has the potential to help ease congestion around chokepoints that slow passenger trains down. While GE Transportaion’s claims may seem exaggerated, Norfolk Southern predicts that every “one mile per hour improvement in velocity has the potential to save around $200 million in capital and expense annually.” “RailEdge optimizes the railroad resources that are already in place—something that only technology can truly help us achieve—by enabling railroads to move more freight faster on their existing networks. This technology increases the capacity of railways worldwide, without laying a single new track,” said GE Transportation’s President and CEO, Lorenzo Simonelli. “A two-to-four miles-per-hour increase might not sound like a lot but in freight rail it is a big leap forward.” Hanover County Sheriff’s Captain Michael Trice told reporters the first reports came in at 10:19 a.m. on June 11. The victim has been identified as Marshall W. Conner, age 54. Amtrak service was disrupted on Thursday between Richmond and Washington, D.C. said Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell. While the New York-Miami Silver Meteor and Silver Star were able to be rerouted around the affected track, passengers on the Carolinian, Palmetto and Washington-Richmond Regionals had to be bussed between Washington and Richmond. To accommodate passengers traveling within the state, the North Carolina DOT used extra equipment to run a duplicate train 79 from Raleigh to Charlotte on the normal schedule, while the original 79 came through several hours later only to discharge passengers south of Raleigh. Jun 18, 2010: Hotline #659Hotline #659 The continent of Africa got its first high speed train line earlier this month at the inaugural run of Johannesburg, South Africa’s airport-to-downtown service on June 6. The train was built to accommodate World Cup visitors, as South Africa plays host to the international sports tournament. While the line has been plagued with problems since construction began in 2006, transportation officials were able to get the train up and running in time for the World Cup’s opening ceremony. “The good thing about what South Africa has done for the World Cup is that we have not done something for June 11 to July 11, we have put our money for life beyond that,” Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane told journalists. “Currently, congestion is a major threat to the development of the province where traffic volumes grow at a rate of seven percent per year on the main corridor between Johannesburg and Pretoria. This is going to be an asset and property of the people of South Africa for generations to come.” The train will turn a journey that takes over an hour by taxi into a 15 minute ride, with a top speed of 100 mph. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), the bill’s original sponsor, asked the GAO to look into whether the provision included in a yearly appropriations law would expire with the funding bill, and the oversight agency determined that the law is here to stay. “Permanency is indicated most clearly when the provision in the appropriations act uses so-called ‘words of futurity’,” explained the GAO. Amtrak is scheduled to begin carrying firearms sometime in December 2010. Speed is a key variable in determining benefits, according to the analysis. The USCM report estimates that ridership between Orlando to St. Petersburg would reach 1.6 million by 2035 at speeds of 186 mph, and more than 2.1 million at 220 mph. Jobs also increase with speed. At 186 mph, Florida would see around 20,000 new jobs, but 220 mph would see that figure rise to 27,000. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer labeled the 86 mile stretch of high speed rail being planned between Tampa to Orlando as the “center of America’s Rail Renaissance” in the report. The trains would run on one of the busiest commuter corridors in the nation, and—while it would not reach the 220 mph that the Los Angeles to San Francisco line is planned to—it would shave 50 minutes off peak hour travel times between the two cities. Some passenger train advocates expressed concern about the impact such a service would have on users of existing services on the line, which is heavily traveled and partly single-tracked. “Californians need to see and experience something that is ‘high-speed-rail’ sooner than 2020,” Schwarzenegger’s administration argued in a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood earlier in the month. The Governor’s proposal calls for the service to be put in place by November, two months before he leaves office. “This will stimulate dialogue and discussions with the federal government,” Art Leahy, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told reporters. “As a concept, it’s attractive, but we need to put flesh and bones on it to see if it will work.” “Not all the lines were on the map, and we didn’t know where all the money was coming from. But I know this: There are foreign companies in America today trying to find places to locate so they can hire American workers and build train (equipment) and to build a rail infrastructure,” LaHood said June 16 at North America’s Super Corridor Coalition’s annual conference. “High-speed intercity rail is coming to America. We are probably two decades away from the vast majority of the country being connected, though. It is going to take time.” While LaHood wouldn’t confirm whether or not Iowa would receive the money—their previous grant application for Iowa City-Chicago service was rejected—the Secretary praised the state legislature for providing significant state resources. Iowa’s legislature appropriated $2 million for passenger trains in FY 2011, and dramatically increased investment to $6.5 million in FY 2012. You can find the updated map here. Rick Harnish, a NARP board member and executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, applauded the state’s initiative, and told reporters that the trains “are critical to reinventing the Midwest and meeting the region’s environmental, energy and economic challenges.” The threat has come from Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell’s administration, which is threatening to go back on a promise to match $150 million in federal funding. “We are now the largest contributor from this side of the Potomac, and we don’t have a seat at the table,” Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton in explaining the move, adding that the state is “extremely concerned about management, operation and safety” of WMATA. The first payment of $12.5 million is due July 1, but right now it is uncertain whether the funding program will go forward on schedule. The threatened withdrawal puts a contract for 428 transit rail cars in jeopardy. “I personally don’t plan [paying] until we have an agreement,” William Pittard, chief financial officer of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, told the Washington Post. Federal, D.C., and Metro officials have denounced the Governor’s threat, pointing to WMATA’s dire need for the money. Leaders in Virginia have also criticized the McDonnell administration. “It’s startling,” said Catherine M. Hudgins, a Virginia board member and Fairfax County supervisor. “I hope there will be a sense of sanity about this. We did not spend a lot of time lobbying our federal legislators to provide funding that was to be arbitrary.” A sold-out Heartland Flyer left from the Santa Fe Depot, 11 years to the day after service was restored to the area on June 14th, 1999, ending a 20-year passenger rail drought in the state. Amtrak is offering a half-off discount for Heartland Flyer companion fares to commemorate restoration. Jun 25, 2010: Hotline 660Hotline #660 The US Senate on June 22 confirmed Anthony Coscia, Bert DiClemente and Jeffrey Moreland as new members of Amtrak’s Board of Directors. Moreland, a Republican and an attorney, worked at BNSF Railway and its predecessor from 1978 to 2007, rising to the post of Executive Vice President for Law and Goverment Affairs and Secretary of the board. In this position, he oversaw economic regulatory policy, state government relations and corporate communications. Prior to joining what was then the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, he was an attorney with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Coscia, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Board of Directors, and DiClemente, a real estate executive and former senior aide to then-Senator Joe Biden, are both Democrats. Their Senate confirmation hearing was November 18. They were profiled in the Oct./Nov. 2009 issue of NARP News and in Hotline #625. In all the Senate confirmed more than 60 Obama Administration nominees Tuesday. The latest reason for the backlog was disagreement since before the May recess over how to proceed regarding National Labor Relations Board nominees, which was resolved by confirming one Republican and one Democrat but not a second Democrat who had been given a recess appointment by the White House.
The cutting-edge collaborative project between the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to foster the integration of transportation and land use planning to foster livable communities formally began on Monday. The announcement was made by DOT Secretary Ray LaHood and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. The project, which will award up to $75 million in Recovery Act funds through competitive grants, aims to create “places where transportation, housing and commercial development investments are coordinated to better serve the people living in those communities,” according to a DOT press release. The money will support “localized planning activities that ultimately lead to projects that integrate transportation, housing and economic development.” This program builds on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities that President Obama started in June 2009, combining the forces of DOT, HUD and the Environmental Protection Agency in support of six “Livability Principles.” “This joint effort by DOT and HUD is a giant step toward improved coordination at the state, federal and local levels and reinforces the Obama Administration’s commitment to finding better ways to make government work for people,” said Vice President Joe Biden. “Together, their investments will strengthen communities by connecting housing and transportation options, increasing economic opportunities, promoting environmental sustainability and improving their overall quality of life.” Click here to view the Notice of Funding Availability for the new program.
Rather than adopt a five-year spending plan as usual, House and Senate Democrats are preparing to vote on a one-year budget resolution that would set limits on discretionary spending for the year and would not contain deficit projections. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) argued that this would give the president’s deficit reduction commission enough time to draw proposals for Congress, saying that it wouldn’t be prudent to pass a long-term budget before hearing the commission’s recommendations. It was also reported this week that a fiscal 2011 spending bill being drafted by the House spends $7 billion less than President Obama requested. It is not yet known which programs would take a hit under the draft.
An advisory committee was created this week that will help the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to lay the groundwork for the likely shift to the federal regulation of safety in rail transit. The formation of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) was announced by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday. Its creation was authorized by the Public Transportation Safety Program Act of 2009, which was enacted in December. The bill was introduced at the request of President Obama, marking the first time any Administration has sent a bill to Congress specifically about transit. “We have brought together some of the best and brightest minds in the transit industry to focus on new and better ways to keep millions of daily rail transit riders safe,” LaHood said in a DOT press release. “Safety is the Department of Transportation’s number one priority. These professionals will help guide our safety agenda for rail transit systems across the nation.” A study by Siemens AG for the US Conference of Mayors finds that if 10 percent of drivers switch to riding high(er)-speed trains, the US would save 550 million barrels of oil annually and 200 cars (equivalent) would be taken off the roads, but its author cautions that investing in improved conventional intercity trains is a necessary first step. The construction of new high-speed rail lines will create 55,000 new jobs and $7,6 billion in new revenue in Los Angeles, 20,000 jobs and $2 billion in revenue in Orlando, and 4,700 jobs and $500 million in revenue in Albany, N.Y., the study finds. While Stephen Robillard, a Siemens executive who is also vice president of the trade group High Speed Rail USA, admitted that the numbers are only estimates, he says they are “based on experiences from other countries.” He and other panelists at a conference on sustainable cities in Omaha, Nebraska, agreed that investing in improved intercity passenger rail is key to making high-speed rail succeed. “Intercity rail has been a neglected stepchild for 30 years. It is the missing link,” said Bruce Agnew, director of the Cascadia Center for Regional Development, a group working to get high-speed rail service in the Pacific Northwest. “There has to be commitment at all levels of government to make it work.”
The Sacramento County, California, Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit against the California High-Speed Rail Authority brought by residents of the San Francisco Peninsula who oppose constructing the new rail line through their neighborhoods. “This case was an unfortunate waste of taxpayer dollars, and this ruling lets us re-focus all of our energy on the important work of building the nation’s first high-speed rail network, creating a safe and convenient way for Californians to travel and jobs for the people of this state,” Authority Chairman Curt Pringle said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Passenger train service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and potentially other lines in the state, could be established despite Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R) original objections, said state Representative Michael Jackson (I). Jackson said Monday that a proposed compact could raise the money needed to acquire the equipment, improve tracks and signals, and establish agreements with Amtrak and track owner Union Pacific. He is the lead sponsor of legislation (House Bill 1410) to create the Louisiana Interstate Rail Compact, whose five directors would be responsible for developing passenger rail service in the state. Gov. Jindal has not taken a position on this bill and his staff has helped in its drafting. “I don’t think he’s going to veto,” Jackson said, later adding, “It is the most important economic development project for the region.”
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) analyzed the effectiveness of federal financing of state high-speed rail programs under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) and the Recovery Act . In a report released Thursday, June 17, the GAO said current passenger train infrastructure investment plans are hampered by the lack of stable funding and undeveloped federal leadership and guidance. These factors may make it difficult for states that received Recovery Act grants to spend the money by the statutory deadline of 2017. The report also discusses the difficulty of transforming the Federal Railroad Administration from a safety oversight body into a multibillion-dollar grantmaker. NARP notes, however, that most projects aimed at improving existing services provide value as soon as the project is completed. Some media outlets portrayed the report as being critical of the overall high- and higher-speed rail effort, but an examination by NARP staff reveals it to be a fairly even-handed analysis of the challenges and opportunities inherent in such an unprecedented endeavor. “While there is a palpable excitement created by the [ARRA] funding for new high-speed rail service, establishing new service is a difficult, multiyear effort,” the report said, adding that the HSR program requires federal and state financial resources “far beyond the funds provided by the [ARRA] in a time of continuing federal and state deficits.”
VIA Rail Canada, the national intercity passenger train operator, is negotiating with the union that represents its station and telephone agents and on-board service attendants in an attempt to avoid a work stoppage. VIA’s previous agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) expired on December 31, 2009. Talks have been ongoing since October and are expected to continue until at least midnight on Sunday, June 27. CAW gave notice that its workers intend to strike beginning at 12:01 AM Eastern on Monday if a deal is not reached by then. VIA’s contingency plan calls for many trains to be canceled in the event of a strike, and for only Economy class service to be offered on all trains still operating. Passengers with reservations for travel on Monday and afterwards are advised to call 1-888-VIA-RAIL before midnight on Sunday to confirm their itineraries. If a strike occurs, the telephone sales office will be unavailable after that time, but reservations can still be made, changed or canceled online. Click here for a complete list of potential service changes. Any booking that includes at least one segment of travel on or after June 28 may be refunded or exchanged without service charges within 14 days of the scheduled departure of that segment. VIA Preference (the frequent traveler rewards program) points will still be awarded for travel during the strike, but VIA Preference customer service and point redemption will not be available.
Meanwhile, Amtrak and some of its unions agreed to a new contract under which wages wages will rise by a total of 15 percent, beginning with a 1.5% raise effective July 1. The contract also caps future health-care contributions and freezes co-pays and deductibles. Amtrak Service Workers Council (ASWC) on-board members ratified the new contract by a vote of 450 for and 116 against, an overwhelming 4 to 1 margin. The ASWC represents all Amtrak on-board service workers (but not conductors or engineers) and is made up of the Transportation Communications Union (TCU), Transport Workers Union (TWU) and UNITE HERE. TCU International President Bob Scardelletti said, “I am very happy to see that our ASWC members will be receiving their first wage increase within a few weeks (July 1, 2010). What a difference a new Amtrak President and a new US President makes; several months versus 8 years. Your vote counts!” Amtrak clerical workers represented by the TCU approved the deal on a 983-407 vote. Scardelletti’s prepared statement included this: “Unlike past rounds on Amtrak, which were marked by bitter, protracted bargaining, we are happy that our carmen and clerical members will begin receiving wage increases immediately.” The total vote of the Joint Council of Carmen, Coach Cleaners, and Helpers (JCC) was 493 in favor, and 431 opposed. The JCC is comprised of TWU Railroad Division members and TCU Carmen members. TWU Railroad Division Director Gary Maslanka stated that it was an excellent agreement:
“Unlike in past agreements, our members are not going to have to wait for years for their wage increases. Under this agreement, they receive solid wage increases now.”
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) held a memorial service on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the train collision on Metrorail’s Red Line that killed nine people and injured eighty. We reported on the crash in Hotline #610. Among the federal and local officials who spoke at the service, which took place inside the Fort Totten Metrorail station, was Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff. “I want to assure you that, in the face of this tragedy, the President, the Secretary, and the entire Department of Transportation is taking action,” he said. “We are working with Congress, including members standing here today, to implement a bill calling for national rail transit safety standards. Safety standards intended to prevent this sort of tragedy from ever happening again.” The US House of Representatives is working on legislation that would give the federal government the authority to regulate the safety practices of the nation’s rail transit systems, a responsibility currently held by various state and local-level bodies. The National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the cause of the crash is due out in late July.
Vietnam’s National Assembly, not known for bucking the will of the executive, voted to reject a controversial $56 billion project to link Hanoi, the capital, with Ho Chi Minh City via high-speed rail . Assembly member Duong Trung Quoc said the vote was not a definitive rejection of the project, but a demand that the government do more careful research. Critics are wary of the project’s contribution to the national debt and that it will not attract enough ridership to justify the expense. Despite the setback, Japanese officials are ramping up an effort to sell Japanese bullet train technology to Vietnam. “We hope Vietnam will introduce Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train system,” Japan’s Transport Minister, Seiji Maehara, told a Tokyo press conference.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) jointly issued a 2035 Virginia Surface Transportation Plan, which calls for “doing whatever it takes” to lessen truck congestion on Interstate 81, including moving more freight by rail. The Plan is under a 45-day review process, including public comment, which ends July 30th. The Plan supports Norfolk Southern Railway’s Crescent Corridor, a package of upgrades to its line paralleling I-81 to support the supply chain from Memphis and New Orleans to New Jersey and the Northeast. The Plan also suggests increasing passenger train service, including the possibility of extending the Amtrak Washington-Lynchburg Regional service to Roanoke and Bristol. Projects in the Plan will be funded through both current and new sources, including a recommended strategic infrastructure investment fund. It also suggests introducing transit service to Frederick County, including the City of Winchester
A feasibility study for a dedicated high-speed passenger railroad between Birmingham, Ala. and Atlanta, Ga. will begin in July and will take about a year. The $500,000 undertaking is co-funded by the State of Georgia, Norfolk Southern Railway and the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham.
US Army personnel may be moved by rail for the first time in more than 40 years should a plan to transport soldiers between Fort Lee and Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia by train come to fruition. The Army proposes to buy or lease locomotives and rail cars from Virginia Railway Express (VRE) and have the shuttle trains operated by Amtrak. The Army says the train would remove up to 4,000 buses and 320 tractor-trailers from Interstate 95 annually. Fort Lee is located near Petersburg, Va. and Fort A.P. Hill is near Fredericksburg, the southern terminus of one of VRE’s commuter lines from Washington, DC. The two cities are currently connected by only one daily Amtrak train in each direction, the Carolinian.
Amtrak’s southbound City of New Orleans, which left Chicago June 17, collided the next morning with a car at a grade crossing in Independence, Louisiana, killing the pregnant driver, who was 18, and her three younger brothers, ages 12, 13 and 16, who were riding with her. The crossing is only guarded by stop signs and preliminary reports indicate that the driver failed to stop for the train. Nobody aboard the train was hurt and no significant damage was done. The train resumed its journey 90 minutes after the collision.
CSX and Metro-North track work in New York State affects Amtrak schedules. The adjustments are designed to ensure Amtrak operation without lengthy delays. Planned work includes the improvement of drainage ditches, grading and profiling, trash removal and fence replacement. Metro-North has completed its project at Poughkeepsie, but is now working to improve tracks near Yonkers, with the work is expected to continue through November 21st. On CSX portions of the route, track work will reduce some sections to a single track at times. In addition to Empire Service corridor trains, the Adirondack, Ethan Allen Express, and Maple Leaf are also affected. Passengers whose reservations are affected should receive phone calls and emails from Amtrak.
Speaking at a forum on the future of airports and air traffic control, Jet Blue Airways’ Vice President and Chief Operating Officer spoke favorably of trains as a short-distance complement to air travel. “[It] just may not make that much sense for an airplane on a 150-mile route to fly over 300 air miles to get [from New York to Boston],” said Rob Maruster. “Maybe there’s a different mode of transportation that may be better to carry those customers from point A to point B. When we see things like high-speed rail going into South Florida, we say OK, that makes sense.” He advocated that federal transportation officials encompass airplanes, trains and other modes in a 20 to 30-year mobility vision.
Passengers boarding Amtrak’s Sunset Limited in Beaumont, Texas, can expect a more proper station facility come February 2011. The new station, which will take the place of what was only a concrete platform and a parking lot, will feature a small enclosed waiting area with posted train information, shaded outdoor benches, and a new slightly raised platform. It will not be staffed, however, and will not have any restroom facilities. The site, however, will also include a new Beaumont police substation, and there are prospects for a restaurant to locate adjacent to the station in the near future. Paid for with federal Recovery Act funds, the facility is a variation on the design other cities are getting, according to Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. He also said that the lack of restrooms meets Amtrak standards for a city with Beaumont’s ridership levels. Beaumont also serves as a crew change point on the Sunset.
The Virginia-North Carolina High-Speed Rail Compact, comprised of 5 members of the Virginia legislature, 4 North Carolina legislators, and an engineer, will hold its inaugural meeting Monday, July 12 at noon in Raleigh. Public comments are being accepted on the Tier II Environmental Impact Statement for the Richmond-Raleigh line at www.sehsr.org. Jun 28, 2010: Hotline 660 UPDATEAddendum to Hotline #660 A labor strike that would have crippled Canada’s national intercity passenger train service was averted on Saturday as VIA Rail Canada reached an agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). CAW represents VIA’s on-board service personnel, station and telephone agents, and maintenance workers. Negotiations began on June 21 and the assistance of federal mediators was required to settle a dispute over wages and benefits. Agreement was achieved around 10:30 PM Saturday, after VIA decided to drop many concessions it had asked for. A strike would have begun at 12:01 AM Sunday had a deal not been reached by then, which would have resulted in many trains being canceled and the few that would have operated offering only Economy Class accommodations and no food service. “VIA is pleased that the parties have come to an agreement and that there will be no service disruption,” said Marc Laliberté, VIA’s President and Chief Executive Officer, in a statement. “This is good news for our customers, our employees and Canadians.” The new contract must now be ratified by a majority vote of VIA’s 2,200 CAW-represented workers. In commenting on the agreement, CAW spokesman Daniel Cyr added that the fact that VIA has been underfunded for the last five years “must change to allow VIA to provide a first-class rail passenger service.” [link is to French-language radio news report] |
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