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Mar 05, 2010: Hotline #644Hotline #644 The vacant Tower Automotive Corporation plant in northwestern Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was chosen Tuesday as the site for Talgo North America’s new US train manufacturing facility. The Spanish-owned company, whose trains currently operate on Amtrak’s state-sponsored Portland-Vancouver Cascades service, reportedly could create hundreds of jobs thanks to a $47.6 million deal with the state of Wisconsin to build two 14-car trainsets to operate between Chicago and Milwaukee on Amtrak’s Hiawatha service. The state has the option to buy two more sets for the planned extension of service west from Milwaukee to Madison, the state capital. The plant will use largely US-made parts. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) announced the decision in a press conference Tuesday. Milwaukee beat out other Wisconsin cities that were under consideration, including Appleton. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the timeline Thursday morning at the annual “Washington Briefing” conference of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The principles will form the basis for legislation that the White House is expected to unveil next year. LaHood would not say if the principles will contain recommendations for a revenue source. While reiterating his opposition to a higher gasoline tax, LaHood called on Congress and the Obama Administration to shift away from traditional funding mechanisms. He pointed to the successful Build America Bonds program as a model for transportation financing. “There are big projects around that country that people don’t have the money for,” LaHood told the transportation subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. “We need to think outside the box.” This is the third straight year that general funds have “bailed out” the HTF, bringing the total to $34.5 billion in such funds which can only be used for HTF purposes—which do include transit but not other rail projects. The original version the House passed in December had $800 million for Amtrak fleet modernization. Hill leaders have indicated this is the first in a series of bills intended to spur growth in employment. NARP will continue to work to include passenger train investments in a future bill. HR 4714 would reauthorize NTSB through fiscal year 2014. Authorized spending on the Board, which currently has 400 employees, would increase each year. The NTSB is an independent agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in the other modes of transportation, and issuing safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. NTSB reports include a determination of the probable cause of accidents. The bill makes it easier for NTSB to subpoena witnesses by allowing it to request evidence and information without formally scheduling a hearing. A loophole in current law allows potential witnesses to fight requests to testify. Thanks to an amendment introduced by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) in response to the fatal June 22, 2009 Metrorail crash, the measure would also clarify that NTSB does not need to wait until an investigation is complete to make preliminary safety recommendations, The Economist reports that the Denver Regional Transit District’s (RTD) FasTracks proposal was originally budgeted for $4.7 billion, but the latest studies raise the price tag to $6.5 billion because of higher construction costs and new safety requirements. Because of this, completion could be delayed until 2035 or the project could be scaled back to just one or two new rail lines. RTD is seeking to close the resulting $2.4 billion gap by asking voters in Denver and its suburbs to approve increasing the sales tax to 0.8%, a question it hopes will be on the ballot this November. The fact that the entire region would pay the tax, while the new lines may only benefit certain areas, is fueling criticism of FasTracks. On Thursday, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper named Angie Rivera-Malpiede, a transit advocate who runs the Stapleton Area Transportation Management Association, to be the next RTD Director from District C. She calls FasTracks “essential for the city to have,” but has not decided whether to support putting the sales tax increase on this year’s ballot or delay it until next year. The audit, done at the request of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD, says train operators rarely know that workers are on the tracks until the operator can see them, that Metro has no process for communicating safety concerns across departments, that safety officials have been isolated and ignored within the organization, and that the weak and underfunded Tri-State Oversight Committee is denied access to information necessary to perform its duties. Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) called the audit “one of the most disturbing reports I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress.” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) called the audit “shocking, hair-raising [and] chilling.” “Stunning” is how Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) referred to it. FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff cited “a fundamental violation of rail safety operations.” A front-page Washington Post report included this: “Rogoff, a daily rider on the Orange and Green lines, said the agency needs ‘radical restructuring,’ including ‘knocking some heads and putting some people on the unemployment line.’” The report recommends that Metro and the Oversight Committee rededicate themselves to safety, in part by establishing new methods for identifying and eliminating hazards. It says Metro and the inspectors should clearly identify the resources and expertise they require to make substantive improvements. At the same time, Metro is facing the prospect of further fare increases and cutbacks in bus and train service as it continues to close a gaping budget deficit. Riders will have the opportunity to comment in public hearings that run from March 22 through April 1. “From what I can tell, there is cautious optimism that we have bottomed out,” said AAR President Ed Hamberger. “Things are starting to pick up a little bit, but the concern is will that end when inventory restocking ends or will it be real? There are also concerns about the housing market, too.” |
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