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Flag Stops: Refilling the Coffers

Monday, August 24, 2009

  • The grassroots is continuing to get organized : in Florida to win Recovery Act funds for Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed rail (whose alignment and connectivity as currently planned leaves much to be desired), and in Michigan to save the state’s three Amtrak trains from state budget cuts.
  • Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) offers an accurate assessment of the predicament of transportation strategies for reducing pollution. It’s clear that the current gas tax-based funding model is ill-suited to the need, but very few lawmakers seem willing to consider anything different. Remember, though, that political will is a renewable resources, and it comes from all of us as active citizens. One sign that such political pressure can be brought to bear: the rapid growth of the Transportation for America coalition, in which NARP is a partner.
  • Excitement mounts in Idaho over the potential return of the Pioneer. Among those pressing for its revival: US Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID). Grassroots support for the train has always been strong in Idaho, a state not normally thought of as being home to public transportation riders.
  • Continuing signs of the unsustainable nature of short-haul air service in markets that could be served by high-speed rail. Relatedly, Southwest Airlines’ CEO has dropped his opposition to federal high-speed rail investment, saying he is not worried that better trains will ground short-haul flights. This doesn’t appear to be a very far-sighted outlook for an industry that needs to better prepare for the inevitable end of cheap oil, but with Congress beginning to formulate a fresh approach to the nation’s mobility needs, less voices in opposition to rail is certainly a good thing.
  • The Transport Politic assesses the composition of the Senate when it comes to support for funding transportation alternatives. Based on ten votes taken since January 2008, chances look good that future legislation funding rail and transit would attract 60 votes. The biggest obstacle, though, lies in bringing such bills to a vote in the first place by putting them on the agendas of the relevant committees.
  • Bloomberg’s US architecture critic hopes for the best from the poorly-planned projects to bring commuter trains into a deep underground station under 34th Street in Manhattan via new Hudson River tunnels (which received stimulus funding this week), while longing for Penn Station to return to its former grandeur. Along similar lines, our friends at the Midwest High-Speed Rail Association are discussing the importance of great stations to complement fast, frequent, modern trains. While one Midwestern city is looking to restore its downtown depot to a travel hub, another may have to let its grand station go.
  • Washington-based writer and blogger Ryan Avent offers an excellent rebuff to economist Ed Glaeser’s misinformed critique of rail development.
  • LCL: Washington State transit advocates herald the opening of the new Vancouver train; our paper urging restoration of the Gulf Coast Connector generates press coverage; the nation’s premier green building certification program is beginning to better incoorporate the fact that location (especially in relation to transportation services) matters at least as much as the resource-conserving design of the building itself; a significant progressive policy shift is afoot in Houston, and a major transit-oriented redevelopment plan takes shape in NARP’s backyard; “Mister Trains” concurs with our view on the use of recent federal money for trains; E: The Environmental Magazine‘s syndicated “Earth Talk” newspaper column touts train travel’s green bona fides; and despite overall drops in ridership nationally, more travelers are—as the slogan says—catching the Texas Eagle wave.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: airlines, amtrak, arc, congress, florida, gas taxes, grassroots, high-speed rail, hudson river tunnels, idaho, michigan, organization, penn station, pioneer, railroads, short-haul flights, transportation for america, travel,

    New Jersey Paper Speaks Out Against Dead End ARC Alignment

    Thursday, January 07, 2010

    North New Jersey’s The Record ran a piece by Editorial page editor Alfred Doblin on December 21 of last year which offers a refreshing corrective to New Jersey Transit’s new interstate rail tunnels, planned to run under the Hudson River. 

    It’s no secret that NARP—along with a number of other groups, including the Lackawanna Coalition and the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club—has been a vocal opponent of this project, also known as the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC).  Not because there is not a need for the tunnels.  Rather, it is because the need to expand the rail capacity of the region is so dire; the New York City region remains one of the nation’s most congested train, automotive, and air transit hubs, and solutions are desperately needed.  And with more than $9 billion in Metropolitan Transit Authority, New Jersey state, and federal funds needed to bring this project to completion, the stakes are too high to settle for not-good-enough.

    Doblin does an excellent job of explaining why the ARC, as presently conceived, is not the solution (bold added):

    The new tunnel under the river makes sense. Bringing more New Jersey commuters into Manhattan makes sense. Building a deep-tunnel train station a block from Pennsylvania Station and just footsteps from an existing PATH station makes no sense to the commuters who – well, commute.
    ...
    New Jersey commuters will end up where they always have. NJ Transit cannot take its trains to Grand Central because it would have to bore below a massive tunnel supplying water to Manhattan. Until an additional water tunnel is operational, there will be no NJ Transit trains to Grand Central. This should be the deal-breaker for the project as planned. It makes little sense to expend billions and billions of dollars for a less-than-perfect solution.
    ...
    The Hudson River tunnel project is monumental. But if it isn’t done right, it’s a monument to excess. The advocates for building it now, regardless of where it terminates, are not the everyday people who have to travel back and forth on the trains. Exactly where are the thousands of new commuters going to go after they arrive at 34th Street? Can all those new commuters be absorbed into the existing subway infrastructure at 34th Street? Not likely. It should be Grand Central or bust.

    NJ Transit continues to award contracts—two and counting so far, adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars—and the window to correct the flaw of the deep cavern terminal is closing.  Transit advocates will have to hope that Governor-elect Chris Christie is paying attention to the voices of reason.

    —Sean Jeans-Gail

    Learn more about NARP’s proposed fix for the ARC project.

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: arc, hudson river, mta, new jersey, new york, nj transit,

    ARC Debated on Half-Hour Public Television Show

    Monday, September 27, 2010

    For an interesting discussion about the Hudson River tunnels and the 30-day freeze Gov. Christie has put on the project, watch this clip from “On the Record,” a NJN Public Television program.

    The “star” from NARP’s point of view is Joseph Clift, representing the Regional Rail Working Group, who agrees that new tunnels are absolutely necessary but argues—as NARP has—that they must go to New York’s Penn Station, not “Macy’s basement.” The three other panelists are State Senator Michael Doherty (R), Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D) who chairs the NJ Assembly Transportation Committee, and Zoe Baldwin of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. Doherty is skeptical of the project’s costs but agrees, if it is built, it should go to Penn Station. Wisniewski and Baldwin believe any effort to change the project will kill it. Clift gets the last word.

    UPDATE: The embedded link now redirects to an unrelated episode.  You can find the episode about the Hudson River rail tunnels at On the Record’s website.

    —Ross Capon

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: arc, assemblyman john wisnewski, debate, hudson tunnels, joe clift, new jersey, njn, public television, regional rail working group, sen michael doherty, tri-state transportation campaign, zoe baldwin,

    Bob Ingle on the Hudson River Tunnels

    Tuesday, September 28, 2010

    New Jersey Press Media senior columnist Bob Ingle’s Sept. 26 column is notable for quoting NARP Member Phillip Craig’s testimony before the NJ Assembly’s Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee.  Craig insisted, “We are not faced with either the tunnel as is or no tunnel;” the tunnels should go to Penn Station, eliminating the need for the new 34th Street Terminal NJT has planned.

    Ingle refers to NJT’s project as “the third Hudson tunnel,” after the existing one and “a second Amtrak is planning.”  These all are pairs of single-track tunnels—there are two tracks now, and would be six in total if all the plans get built.  What is commonly referred to as what “Amtrak is planning” is conceived of as fifth and sixth tunnels identified in the NEC Infrastructure Master Plan, which was the product of a multi-agency working group.  These tunnels would be used both by commuter and intercity trains.’’

    The key messages now:

    • Ask Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff to make sure that the FTA keeps the $3 billion earmarked for Hudson River tunnels, which everyone agrees is needed, while New Jersey works through design and cost issues.
    • If you live in the Northeast, express concern to your governor and your federal legislators about the need to redesign the Hudson River tunnels so they connect to Penn Station.
    • If you live in New Jersey, emphasize to Gov. Christie, your U.S. senators and representative, and your state legislators, that you strongly support building the tunnels but want a new, serious review of the need to direct them to New York’s Penn Station and the savings that could come from eliminating the 34th Street Terminal.

    —Ross Capon

     

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: arc, bob ingle, chris christie, column, congress, hudson tunnel, new jersey, new tunnels, passenger trains, peter rogoff, ray lahood, take action, transportation,

    More Debate Among New Jersey Officials on the ARC Hudson River Tunnels

    Tuesday, October 05, 2010

    Assemblyman John Wisniewski and State Senator Michael Doherty appear on New Jersey Now to debate Governor Christie’s suspension of work on the ARC Hudson River Tunnel, and the Penn Station/Moynihan rail link.

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: arc, christie, hudson river tunnels, new jersey, penn station,

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