Dec 11, 2009: Hotline #633

Hotline #633
December 11, 2009

The Amtrak Board yesterday directed management to begin negotiations with Union Pacific aimed at creating a daily Chicago-San Antonio-Los Angeles full-service train, and a daily, connecting New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio coach-and-lounge train.


In a massive victory for passenger rail advocates, Florida’s state senate approved pro-rail legislation during a special session this week, laying the groundwork for the creation of a new central Florida commuter rail line and providing an infusion of cash for the Miami region’s TriRail.  The December 8 vote was 27-10, an unexpectedly broad margin, and could open the door for billions of dollars in federal high speed rail money.

The deal hinged on the successful resolution of three obstacles.  The first was winning the support of southern Florida Democrats by directing $15 million a year in state funds to help the Miami/Fort Lauderdale TriRail commuter rail system overcome budgetary shortfalls.  Lawmakers also had to appease labor unions who were worried 184 union members would lose federal pensions and job protections if the deal went through.  Finally, supporters of the proposed SunRail commuter rail line had to hash out a deal with CSX to provide the railroad a measure of liability protection, which CSX had set as a precondition before they would sell the tracks to the state.

The Senate was able to overcome these impediments in large part due to the work of Senator Jeremy Ring (D-Margate), who worked tirelessly to keep all sides at the table.

“This will transform the future of Florida,” Ring told the Miami Herald.  “Today, the Florida Senate took the bold step of planning for a 21st century transportation system.”

Florida will now turn its attention to the U.S. Department of Transportation, hoping that this display of local confidence in the integral role rail will play in the state’s transportation future helps secure some of the $8 billion in Recovery Act funds for high speed rail projects.

There are also high hopes that SunRail will, in addition to easing congestion headaches, stimulate real estate development through smart growth—the Orlando Sentinel has published a list of the communities that stand to benefit.

Governor Charlie Crist (R) publicly stated his intention to sign the bill into law, telling reporters the deal “really thrusts Florida into the future.”


Senate and House negotiators have reached a compromise between the two respective versions of the FY2010 transportation spending bill, and have attached it to several other pieces of spending legislation in an attempt to get an omnibus budget bill passed before the Congress adjourns for the Christmas break.

The bill passed the House 221 to 202 almost entirely along party lines.

The bill is expected to pass the Senate, but due to a different set of procedural rules faces stiffer resistance.  Senator John McCain (R-AZ) immediately offered an amendment to strip any spending provisions not explicitly included in the original versions passed by the House and Senate; the amendment was voted down in a 60 to 36 vote. 

As this is written, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) has indicated that a vote to limit debate (which will require 60 votes for passage) will happen Saturday morning, and the actual vote to pass the omnibus will come Sunday.

The transportation portion remains one of the less controversial sections of the spending bill, with legislators from both sides of the aisle looking to get construction funding flowing into their regions.

The rail funding section will be viewed as a mixed bag by passenger train advocates.  High speed rail received $2.5 billion, which is more than the $1.5 billion provided in the Senate’s original version and the $1 billion requested by the President, but less than the $4 billion provided by the House.  Amtrak received $1.57 billion for its operating and capital budget, which is about $75 million more than the company received from the government last year, but $254 million less than the it requested (before taking into consideration a $144 million set-aside for ADA work).

Importantly, the provision requiring Amtrak to begin accepting firearms as checked baggage survived, with the deadline for service pushed to one year after enactment.  The directive also states that within 180 days of enactment Amtrak—in consultation with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)—must submit a report to Congress that contains “a comprehensive, system-wide, security evaluation; and proposed guidance and procedures necessary to implement a new checked firearms program,” and that within one year of enactment Amtrak and TSA “shall develop and implement guidance and procedures to carry out the duties and responsibilities of firearm storage and carriage in checked baggage cars and at Amtrak station that accept checked baggage.” 

Unless Congress follows through in their response to the report created by Amtrak and TSA and provides the additional funding necessary to enact the program responsibly Amtrak’s operating budget will be squeezed but yet another “unfunded mandate,” with unfortunate consequences.


OneRail, the alliance of passenger and freight rail, transit, and environmental organizations—of which NARP is a member—sent letters to Congressional leaders and the Obama Administration urging them to include rail investment as an integral part of any new economic stimulus bill passed.

OneRail wrote the letters in an effort to affect legislation which has been proposed in the face of persistently grim unemployment figures.  President Obama has identified government investment in infrastructure as a mechanism to stimulate job growth.

The coalition of rail groups argues that trains are an essential piece of economic recovery.

“U.S. Department of Commerce data indicates that rail infrastructure investment generates a 3:1 return in total economic output.” the letter states.  “Thus, $1 billion in additional rail capacity investment would result in $3 billion in overall economic stimulus, including the creation of 20,000 new jobs.”

The President has previously identified rail as a sector the administration was looking at during a jobs forum held by the White House last week, with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announcing an agreement between the government and 32 companies, who have pledged to establish or expand rail-manufacturing operations and workforces within the U.S. in return for the awarding of high speed rail stimulus contracts (see Hotline #632).

Specific proposals put forth by OneRail include putting more money into multimodal programs created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, additional investment in Amtrak capital projects, providing tax credits for private sector rail capacity investments, extending the short line railroad track maintenance credit, and ensuring that any money that is transferred from treasury funds (as opposed to funds from the gasoline tax) are eligible for states to use for rail projects.


Ridership data released this week revealed that passengers flocked to Amtrak during the Thanksgiving week, setting a new ridership record for the company.

Amtrak carried 685,876 passengers during the holiday week, including 127,577 on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving alone.  That is a 4% increase over last year’s numbers, and smashed the previous record of 666,716 riders, which was set in 2007.

“More and more people are choosing Amtrak for their traveling needs and the record number for Thanksgiving shows what this railroad is capable of achieving,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman.

The Thanksgiving holiday travel week (November 24-30) saw increases compared to 2008’s numbers over the entire system, including a 5.5 percent increase in ridership on the Northeast Corridor, a 2.9 percent increase on state-supported trains and short distance corridors, and a 4.7 percent increase on long-distance trains.

Just as importantly, perhaps, Amtrak showed a significant improvement in on-time performance, even reaching the 100% mark in the state of Missouri.  This advancement is particularly encouraging, considering in past years passengers traveling in Missouri suffered with on-time performance ranging between 55% and 79%.

“This represents a dramatic improvement to Amtrak service in our state,” Pete Rahn, Director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, told reporters. “We have made a commitment to make Amtrak a more reliable transportation option allowing Missourians to arrive at their destinations on time.”

The improvement reflects the advancement in railroad dispatching of Amtrak trains since passage of the passenger reauthorization in October, 2008, particularly on Union Pacific.  The law had significant on-time performance provisions.  In addition, an $8.1 million, 9,000-foot siding just west of California, MO has helped unclog what had become a serious bottleneck for passenger and freight trains.  The new siding was constructed in a partnership between MoDOT, Amtrak, and Union Pacific.

“Amtrak and MoDOT have been partners since 1979 and our passengers over that time have endured delays caused in many cases caused by too little infrastructure for too many trains…” said Steve Strachan, Amtrak Chief Transportation Officer.  “We are supporting Missouri’s pending application for additional funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to relieve other bottlenecks on this route and look forward to working together to improve passenger train operations while accommodating growth in freight traffic.”


Amtrak Cascades is giving the public a sneak peak at the next phase of ongoing renovations to their fleet.

The Cascades fleet refurbishment will begin with a complete overhaul of the bistro and lounge cars, and the Washington State Department of Transportation has released a first look of a bistro car concept drawing.

Renovations are scheduled to begin in March 2010, after the conclusion of the Winter Olympics taking place in Vancouver, Canada.  Amtrak will be running an extra train to accommodate the expected Winter Games attendees.


The Brazilian government will shortly begin the bidding process to construct a high speed line between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, officials announced earlier this week at a December 8th media event.

The line will run for over 315 miles, reach a top speed of about 220 mph, and is projected to cost around $19.4 billion.

State news agencies reported that Brazilian authorities will be looking for more than the lowest cost when selecting a bid.  Just as important is how willing the high speed rail firm is to allow the transfer of technology.

The government has set a deadline of 2015 for the completion of the line’s construction.


In a surprise move, the World Bank and India are currently in talks to finance the international expansion of Indian Railways, one of the largest rail networks in the world.  The primary target of expansion would be developing nations in Africa and elsewhere.

The Bank would look to expand on a $2 billion commitment with the state-owned Indian Railways, allowing the company to expand outside of India’s border to lease equipment, upgrade infrastructure, and share management expertise with African nations.

“It fulfils what I was hoping to achieve when I first came to the bank, which is to draw in some of the emerging economic development [countries] into the development process whether by sharing information, sharing business models and expanding investment,” Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, told the Financial Times.

Indian Railways has already made limited moves to expand into the African market, supplying locomotives to Mozambique, Tanzania, Mali and Senegal; supplying coaches to Angola; and performing track reconstruction in Mozambique and Liberia.

Indian Railways carries 20 million passengers a day on roughly 18,000 trains, employs 1.4 million people, and generates revenues of around $18 billion.  IR also is severely challenged in operating its own railroad safely and efficiently.


Late last month the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District announced longtime employee David Kutrosky as the new Capitol Corridor Managing Director.

In a memo sent November 18, Capitol Corridor Executive Director Dorothy Dugger revealed Kutrosky would replace (former NARP Board Member) Eugene Skoropowski as director of the route, which runs daily from the San Francisco Bay Area to Sacramento.  Dugger praised Kutrosky’s nearly 25 years in transportation—with 16 years of railroad related experience.

Kutrosky is a NARP member, as well.

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