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Jun 12, 2009: Hotline #608Hotline #608 The Rockefeller-Lautenberg bill setting environmentally sound goals for our transportation system, goals which would advance rail, still has only its two, original co-sponsors. Please ask your Senators to co-sponsor S. 1036, the Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009, which was discussed here last week. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation news release. There is now a House version of the bill sponsored by Representatives Russ Carnahan (D-MO), Rush Holt (D-NJ), and Jay Inslee (D-WA), the National Transportation Objectives Act of 2009 (H.R. 2724) sets the same goals, but goes further by including aggressive performance standards. Urge your Representative to cosponsor this important piece of legislation! Appearing on the online show “Let’s Talk Trains” Administrator Joseph Szabo said an American high-speed rail system will not duplicate what exists in Europe. While transit officials in Europe kicked freight rail off the railroads, Szabo said, America has an unsurpassed freight rail network, and no one wants to displace that traffic onto our highways. The emphasis here will not be so much on raising top speeds of passenger trains as on addressing bottlenecks and other factors which force trains to run very slowly. The goal is to improve overall trip time. Szabo expects improvements to happen in a fashion similar to how the Interstate system was built, with certain corridors built up in the first phase, and then supporting segments built out concentrically. The full interview is on Let’s Talk Trains website and on iTunes. The group—chaired by former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, former Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, former Senator Slade Gorton, and former Congressman Martin Sabo and made up of a bipartisan group of 26 diverse members—produced its plan called Performance Driven: A New Vision for U.S. Transportation Policy. The document calls for a performance-driven system that establishes national goals of connectivity, accessibility, safety, energy security, and environmental protection NTPP co-chair former Congressman Martin Sabo said in a statement that the challenges we face in today’s transportation climate are complex and go well beyond roads, asserting “We have to make our transportation system more fuel-efficient and cleaner, we have to deal with the carbon issue, and we have the challenge of reducing our dependence on fossil fuel.” The full plan is available on NTPP’s website. The two-hour train trip will being in downtown Toronto and arrive at Niagara Falls two hours later. GO Transit will offer four round trips daily on weekends and during the summer season, from June 27 until October 12. A single-ride adult fare will cost $15.90 (Canadian). “This new GO rail service will bring tourists to Niagara’s wineries, restaurants, and attractions such as the incomparable Niagara Falls. Our government is expanding public transit across the province, making investments that build our economic infrastructure and put people to work,” said Ontario Minister of Transportation Jim Bradley in a prepared statement. This is in addition to VIA’s two daily, year-round round-trips. Find more about the service at GO Transit’s website. Scranton-Hoboken passenger train service took a significant step forward this week. The Environmental Protection Agency has declared a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the project. After a 30 day period reserved for public comment, the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) can begin to secure funding for the estimated $550 million project. From there, it would take another four to five years to complete. Pennsylvania’s two Democratic Senators, Arlen Specter and Bob Casey Jr., announced the project had been greenlighted June 9 in Pittston Township. “This railroad is really about the future,” Casey said. “There are people who want to talk about the line being re-established for nostalgia ... but this is going to bring jobs and commerce and the future to northeast Pennsylvania.” The EPA’s approval moves this project near the front of the pack of projects vying for federal stimulus money. PNRRA says the $550 million won’t be needed in one lump sum, since the construction will happen in phases. Amtrak is testing a pilot system that would bring Wi-Fi to their Acela train, enabling passengers to access the internet with a laptop en route to their destination. “Presently Amtrak is testing systems on the Acela express train, and we hope to have some results on that front soon,” Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole told the Washington Post. “Our goal is to provide Wi-Fi service.” The move would be an important addition to make the train, which caters to business clients, more attractive. Some low-fare bus services in the same market already offer wireless internet access. No launch date has been announced. Transit agencies for years engaged in transactions wherein they sell financial companies their railcars and buses, and then lease back that equipment. Called a “leaseback,” it provided financial benefits for both parties. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) board member Peter Benjamin told the Washington Post he estimates the 16 such deals the agency made between 1997 and 2003 earned them over $100 million. One provision in the leases has been threatening to collapse the deals, throwing the solvency of many transit agencies into question. The deals required that the companies that insured the agreements maintain an AAA insurance rating. When the credit crisis hit, a number of these insurers—notably American International Group—lost that rating. Now the lending banks are using this twist to seek payment they say their contracts entitle them to—though the agencies in question would be severely harmed in the process. “I would have to pay $330 million of liquidated damages, which would wipe out my capital budget” WMATA’s Chief Financial Officer told PBS “News Hour’s” “Bluepring America” series earlier this year. “So this would mean, you know, no maintenance on track, delays, cuts in service. Repairs would go to the wayside.” Transit officials from Washington D.C., New Jersey, and Los Angeles are drafting legislation to present to the Senate Finance Committee in order to create a financial penalty for banks that try to extort agencies. The banks have responded to this threat by rushing to get out of the deals before any legislation could be enacted. WMATA has sought authority to pay their way out of their 12 remaining leasebacks, four around $100,000 per lease, calling the deal “as good as it’s going to get.” New Jersey Transit broke ground on the new Hudson River rail-tunnels on June 8, starting a project that, at an estimated $8.7 billion, is now the nation’s costliest transportation project. The Federal Transit Authority announced on the same day that they have approved a $1.35 billion Early Systems Work Agreement (ESWA) for the project. NJT claims the tunnels will allow them to increase the total amount of passengers they can accommodate to 255,000 a day from 170,000—allowing them to take 22,000 cars off the road everyday. NARP applauds the commitment to train travel these tunnels represent, but has insisted that the link to Penn Station, eliminated in a 2007 revision of the project, must be reintroduced for the tunnels to become beneficial on a regional level. The various agencies under the White House’s control have committed $135 billion of the $787 billion provided in total by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February. However, only $44 billion has actually been released. Some of the delays have been caused by rigorous standards for the application processes, required by preexisting laws put in place to provide environmental protections. The new plan calls for accelerating maintenance repairs on almost 1,600 highway and airport projects. “We’re going to get more dollars out the door, more shovels into the ground and more money into the pockets of workers and families who need it most,” Vice President Joe Biden said. In related news, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Ray LaHood, has called the figures posted on the White House’s recovery website a misrepresentation of the work his bureau has done The website shows that the DOT has $15.7 billion available, and has paid out only $175.7 million. However, the department actually has $48 billion available to work with, and $15 billion has been obligated or approved. The distinction is that a significant portion of the transportation projects are reimbursable, which means state agencies won’t receive payment until they submit a receipt for the construction once it is underway” “These reports misunderstand where in the funding process job creation and purchases of materials and equipment occur,” LaHood wrote in his DOT blog. “In short, they overlook the moment when stimulus actually happens. It happens as soon as we make funds available to states, territories and transit agencies.” |
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