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Aug 06, 2010: Hotline #666Hotline #666 Updated: August 9, 2010; 2:00PM EST Maine’s Governor John Baldacci, Federal Railroad Administer Joseph Szabo, and Pan Am Railways President David Fink attended a Brunswick, ME, event on August 2 to celebrate the kick-off construction that will extend Amtrak’s Downeaster to Freeport and Brunswick. The $38 million, 28-month project, funded by rail grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will rehabilitate 28 miles of track between Portland and Brunswick. The work will support 200 jobs paying $27 per hour with 100% health coverage. Maine has committed to funding two daily Boston-Brunswick round trips. Local officials say that the projected ridership increase—expected to be heavily tourist in character—will provided much needed economic stimulus to the area. “[Passenger rail is] coming back in the right moment in time where it will benefit our communities and economies,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) told the Portland Press Herald. “It will be a big shot in the arm for Brunswick and everybody along the rail line.” The project represents a huge victory for transportation advocates in the area, which has been without passenger service since 1960. The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) announced July 30 that the Downeaster is seeing record ridership in fiscal year 2010. Patricia Quinn, executive director of NNEPRA, reported that after a slow first five months, ridership finished up 1% higher than last year, setting an all-time high. (The state’s fiscal year ended June 30.) Ticket revenue for FY2010 was $6.7 million, which also sets an all time high for the service. The Downeaster began in December 14, 2001 as the ultimate result of a long-term campaign by TrainRiders/Northeast that included collection by volunteers of almost 90,000 signatures in 1989. The resulting legislation was the first citizen-initiated bill ever accepted by the Maine legislature. The work, a $98 million project funded by the Recovery Act, will be done on a 90-mile stretch of Union Pacific-owned tracks south of Springfield, Illinois. Trains eventually will hit up to 110 mph—making the St. Louis-Chicago trip time-competitive with driving. This $98 million is the first portion of the $1.2 billion high speed rail grant for Illinois that U.S. DOT announced in January. FRA, the state and Union Pacific are still working to come to agreement on terms regarding the balance of the funds. The Raleigh-Charlotte Piedmont served 5,000 in June 2009. The addition of a mid-day train, which began running on June 5, helped boost that number to 15,000 for June of this year. The increase is part of a larger upward trend, with the Piedmont seeing a 26% increase in ridership from October through June compared to the same period in 2009. Boardman joined Amtrak as President in November 2008. He previously served as the federal railroad administrator. “Joe’s focus on a safer, greener and healthier Amtrak will enhance safety, improve the reliability of our services, reduce trip times and increase speeds, yield targeted and effective infrastructure investments, and ensure the delivery of quality customer service,” said Amtrak Chairman Tom Carper in a prepared statement. The solicitation, which is open to all applicants, is for basic and applied technology research, development and demonstration projects for tracks and structures, train control systems, operating practices, and rolling stock. “It is vitally important that we promote and facilitate cutting edge research and advanced technology development,” said FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo. “This effort will increase the rail industry’s scientific knowledge base while permitting us to exploit the potential of existing technologies and help expand our domestic rail equipment manufacturing capabilities.” The Seattle Times is reporting that the deal gives Sound Transit permanent access to the corridor. The agency is looking to extend commuter service to South Tacoma and Lakewood within two years. The $2.25 one-way fare will not change. MTA Chairman Jay Walder characterized the fare increase on unlimited monthly passes as closing an equity gap, saying “the people who are riding and using it 50 or 60 times are in effect subsidizing the people who are using it much more heavily.” Transit advocates expressed disappointment with the move, while acknowledging that the loss of $130 million in state provided funding did not leave the authority with much choice. MTA’s board will vote on the proposal this October, and fare increases would go into effect in January 2011. These stops are in response to a construction-related cancellation of weekend South Shore Line commuter train service between Gary Metro Center and South Bend. The stops will preserve a passenger train option in the Michigan City area on the selected weekends that work is being done. South Shore just announced that it will operate normal service this weekend, but the shutdown will encompass five weekends between August 28 and November 8. Information about Amtrak’s extra stops are at Amtrak.com. “In the middle of the worst economy we’ve seen, we were able to budget for new locomotives,” Paul Milde, chairman of the VRE operations board, told reporters. “I am confident that when these new locomotives are all put into service that VRE will be better positioned to ease congestion, decrease pollution and improve the quality of life for our riders and the region.” A group of 50 state and local officials gathered in Alexandria, Virginia on July 30 to inaugurate the new locomotives, part of a local, state, and federal investment worth around $77 million. The units are being built in Idaho, and VRE officials revealed that they are more energy efficient, will have fewer mechanical breakdowns then their aging counterparts, and are able to haul up to 10 passenger cars as opposed to six—allowing for easy capacity expansion when VRE expands its passenger railcar fleet. The 80 railcars, valued at $226 million, will be in addition to 300 M-8 model railcars already on order. The cars will be integrated into service as they are completed. The contract, awarded to the Minrav Engineering and Construction firm and Moscow Metrostroy (a Russian firm specializing in tunnel excavation) is for the second segment of the high speed rail line. The first segment has already been completed, and construction on the third and fourth is already underway. The second segment, which includes two parallel tunnels running 2.2 miles each, is the most technically difficult section of the line. Construction is scheduled to take 40 months, and the cost of the entire project is estimated at $1.6 billion. While negotiations are still early, reports suggest that China would finance the construction of the physical infrastructure, and Thailand would provide the necessary land for the project. |
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