Hotline #668

Hotline #668
August 20, 2010

UPDATED August 23, 2010; 11:00 EST:

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has reported aggregate numbers for the next round of high-speed and intercity passenger rail grants (funded by fiscal 2010 appropriations), announcing that it received 77 applications from 25 states, totaling more than $8.5 billion (there is only $2.3 billion available).  Application specifics, however, are being released on a state-by-state basis (see Hotline #667 for more state information):

• New Jersey—$885 million: to upgrade aging bridges, power supply, and signal systems on tracks between Trenton and New York City.  The application focuses on the 100-year-old Portal Bridge which spans the Hackensack River, which serves hundreds of Amtrak and NJ Transit trains every day.
• Washington State—$80 million: for upgrades to the Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor, including track siding upgrades and improvements to stations along the corridor. “We are dedicated to improving and expanding our state supported Amtrak Cascades passenger rail service and are thankful for federal support,” said Paula Hammond Secretary of Transportation. “These additional grant funds will allow us to further advance our high-speed rail plans and build on the $590 million in Recovery Act funds that were awarded to us in January”.

Unlike grants from the Recovery Act’s $8-billion pot, these grants must be matched by state governments (the federal government pays 80% of total project cost and the state pays 20%). Hence, there are fewer applications than there were for Recovery Act funds, but there is still great state interest in rail improvements.


Connecticut lawmakers have authorized a $260 million bond to pay for commuter rail service between New Haven and Springfield.

“We know it’s a lot of money, but look at the economic development—this is all about jobs,” Governor M. Jodi Rell (R) told gathered reporters after the State Bond Commission approved the project. “Every town with an interest in this is excited about the prospect of economic development along the way.”

The was initially developed through bipartisan negotiations, out of a widely shared understanding that the I-91 corridor, which connects Fairfield County and New York City, was too congested, and was hurting economic development in the area.  However, massive state deficits caused by the recession have led some Republicans to do an about face, calling Connecticut’s existing debt-levels worrisome. 

Democrats have responded by highlighting the jobs the commuter service will create—both near-term through construction work, and long term through connecting Connecticut to the world’s second largest regional economy (New York City is second only to Tokyo).

“It is critical that we continue to move this project forward,” House Speaker Chris Donovan said. “Frankly, our economic future is riding on it.”


Wisconsin’s high speed rail project has been drawn into the battle for the governorship, with both contestants for the Republican primary vowing that they would terminate the Madison-Milwaukee high speed line that is under construction.

The threats have been linked in the press to comments made by U.S. Transportation Ray LaHood on a visit to announce the delivery of $46.5 million in federal money for the Obama Administration’s flagship transportation program (Wisconsin received $810 million in total from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008).

“This is a national program,” LaHood said. “This administration is committed to high-speed intercity rail. We know elections will take place and we know that some people will get elected and others won’t, but this is a national program. We are committed to it, and high-speed intercity rail is coming to America. High-speed rail is coming to Wisconsin. There’s no stopping it.”

The two main contenders for the Republican gubernatorial candidate responded vocally.  Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker promised “[as] governor, I will stop this train dead in its tracks.”  Former Congressman Mark Neumann, meanwhile, told reporters that “(t)his is an Obama wasteful spending boondoggle that I will stop immediately in its tracks as governor.”

Proponents of the rail line have highlighted the economic benefits that will come with the service, and the good paying jobs that the project’s construction will bring to the state.

The state has already accepted money from the federal government, and begun preliminary work on the line.  Wisconsin’s DOT has publically stated that there will be financial fallout from abandoning the project.

“I’m not saying it can’t be done,” Paul Trombino, division operations director for the WisDOT, told the Milwaukee Small Business Times. “We have the ability to get out, but there could be significant costs to get out of a contract.”

U.S. DOT spokesperson Olivia Alair declined to comment, saying the department wouldn’t speculate about hypothetical situations.


New Jersey received $771,875 in federal funding on August 18 to study a proposal for a Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex commuter rail line, as well as an extension of the Hudson-Bergen light rail service.

Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) —both instrumental in securing the funding—were in attendance at an event announcing the award.

The money, issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation, would be matched by $534,375 in state funds, and be used to provide studies of alternate alignments; previous iterations of the studies, released in 2009, were deemed too expensive to qualify for federal funding.


California officials gathered in San Francisco last week to celebrate the groundbreaking of the intermodal Transbay Transit Center(TTC), the first high speed rail station in the state’s history.

The new TTC will be build on the site of the Transbay Center, which will be demolished in the first phase of the construction.  The station is set to be completed in 2017, and will handle around 45 million passengers annually, across nine different transportation systems—in addition to hosting high speed trains, the station will accommodate San Francisco Municipal Railway, AC Transit, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit and Greyhound.  The Los Angeles to San Francisco high speed service is scheduled to be completed by 2020.

Officials attending the August 11 ceremony included Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).


U.S. Transportation Secretary predicted that more than three-quarters of Americans will have access to high speed rail within 25 years at a speech given to the Rotary Club of Peoria North on August 19.

“In 25 years, 85 percent of America will be connected by high-speed rail,” he predicted to a packed crowd at Peoria’s Rotary Club North. “That will be less time than it took to build the highway system, and it will cost about $500 billion.”

LaHood, who is a native of Peoria, and served as representative for the Central Illinois district in the U.S. House of Representatives, also said he believed Peoria could be part of the Midwest high speed train network.


Senator Jon Tester, along with eight other Western Senators, addressed a letter to President Barack Obama requesting that the final Amtrak board member be a citizen of a the Western U.S., arguing it would provide much needed balance in the board’s deliberations.

“Amtrak’s importance in Western states should not be ignored,” Tester wrote in a letter to Obama. “Some of Amtrak’s busiest routes and stations are in the West — as are some of its greatest opportunities for growth and expansion.”

The President nominates members to the board, who then have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  There is currently one position open on the nine-person board (which includes Amtrak’s President & CEO and the Secretary of Transportation).

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a similar letter in January 2010.


A German high speed ICE train on its way from Frankfurt to Paris crashed into a truck that had fallen onto the tracks, injuring 15 people, including the train’s engineer and the truck driver.

The accident took place on August 17, outside of the town of Lambrecht, Germany around 10:15 a.m. local time.  The truck had slipped down an embankment after veering off of a dirt road.  Luckily for everyone involved, the train was traveling only 55 mph when it hit the truck, due to the mountainous terrain it was traveling through at the time.

Injured passengers were transported to local hospitals, while the remaining 300 passengers were transported to a station in Mannheim by bus, where a special train was arranged to take them the rest of the way to Paris.


Amtrak, in association with the New York State Fair, is offering free travel to children for families taking the train to the State Fair.

This offer is valid for passengers taking Amtrak’s Maple Leaf and Empire Service trains to and from the New York State Fair Grounds stop west of Syracuse (station code NYF), and is limited to one free child’s rail fare per adult fare.  The promotion is valid for tickets purchased between August 7 and September 3, for travel between August 26 and September 6.

Passengers interested in taking part in this offer must use discount code V230 when purchasing tickets.


Murrel Hogue, a former agent at the Texarkana Amtrak station, a longtime passenger rail activist and NARP member, passed away on February 3 at his home in Commerce, Texas.  Mr. Hogue was 70.

There will be a ceremony honoring Mr. Hogue life on August 28 at Texarkana’s Amtrak station; a bronze plaque will be placed in the station he served for so long.  The ceremony begins at 11 a.m., and is open to the public.

Texarkana’s train station is located at 100 E. Front St.


Correction: “The August edition of the NARP Newsletter incorrectly stated that the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation and Housing provided only enough funding for three additional positions at the Federal Railroad Administration in the FY 2011 appropriations bill (S.3644).  The article should have said that S.3644 provides $250,000 for three acquisition workforce positions in addition to approving the FRA’s request to fund 62 additional positions and 31 full time equivalents in FY 2011.”