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Flag Stops: Smarter and Cheaper

Friday, September 11, 2009

Our take on recent news and views in transportation.

  • As Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff reveals, Recovery Act transit funds have gone not just to track and vehicle repairs, but to new transit stations and hubs, as well as greener repair facilities. Meanwhile, the stimulus’s transit accounts are spending out faster than funds for supposedly more shovel-ready highway projects. Also, the Wall Street Journal recaps the latest in the race between states, contractors, and Amtrak to win high-speed rail funds.
  • Future demand for new housing won’t come from people moving from the suburbs to city and town centers, says Ryan Avent, but from the projected 57 million new housing units that will need to be built in the next 30 years for Americans yet to be born. What kind of developments might accommodate them, benefitting from improved intercity rail connections? One example is taking shape in Kansas City.
  • Yonah Freemark makes the case that price is key to attracting riders to trains in competitive short-distance markets. His number-crunching reveals that Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains cost more per mile traveled than high-speed lines in other countries, but are comparable in price on a per-hour-traveled basis. If trains can hold more people and go faster, he contends, tickets will be inexpensive. Getting to the point where speed and equipment capacity on the Northeast Corridor, not to mention other routes in the country, would be great enough to allow for substantial fare reductions will require significant up-front investment. Meanwhile, rising prices for driving and flying will continue to enhance passenger trains’ attractiveness.
  • A Missouri task force has recommended ways to transform the state’s auto manufacturing sector for the new economy, among them retooling plants for making “high-speed rail cars,” taking a page from Michigan’s Governor. It remains to be seen whether such advice will be translated into real fiscal incentives to produce such a shift. If so, we can hope to see more stories like this in the coming years.
  • Streetsblog takes stock of the political landscape as the deadlock over the next surface transportation bill continues while the clock ticks towards the current bill’s September 30th expiration date.
  • LCL: Residents of central Florida have coalesced to push for new high-speed rail line down the median of I-4 from Tampa to Orlando. *** Western state transportation planners organize to expand high-speed rail east from California into the Rockies. *** PBS’s Blueprint America series offers an engaging primer on the state of freight and a look at the realities on the ground that drive current policy debates. *** The challenges of moving rail freight through choked Houston. *** A Louisiana TV station’s op-ed puts the politically-motivated folly of dropping plans for New Orleans-Baton Rouge high-speed rail into a historical context. *** The Grand Canyon Railway sets a green example.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: authorization, avent, congress, fares, freemark, fta, future, growth, high-speed rail, highway, housing, manufacturing, northeast corridor, planning, prices, recovery act, repairs, stimulus, transit,

    A Healthy Dialogue

    Wednesday, March 10, 2010

    In a welcome show of responsiveness to Amtrak’s most loyal riders and supporters, President & CEO Joseph Boardman requested, and TRAINS Magazine hosted, a public forum on the present and future of the passenger railroad at the Merchandise Mart adjacent to Chicago’s Union Station, the main hub of the long-distance train network. Over 300 people signed up on a first-come, first-served basis and about 250 showed up to hear from, and ask questions of, Boardman, Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor, Vice President for Marketing and Product Development Emmett Fremaux, Chris Jagodzinski (a senior official who reports directly to V.P. for Transportation Richard Phelps), and other top officials.

    Amtrak officials did discuss the possibility of splitting the Lake Shore Limited at Toledo instead of Albany, with the New York section running via Pittsburgh/Altoona/Harrisburg, partially recreating the Broadway Limited. As columnist Don Phillips put it, “They mentioned this at the same time they said they would operate no new long-distance routes. Train reroutes can have the effect of creating a new service.” As for adding new long-distance routes, the assembled officials would only commit to improving existing services. Fremaux pointed to the fact that the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) of 2008 emphasizes the expansion of short-distance corridor services and relies on state leadership. “This country builds stuff, including Amtrak, then walks away from it and doesn’t give it the support it needs,” said Boardman. “I want to do real stuff.”

    Fremaux did make a commitment that efforts would be made to improve existing long-distance trains, including daily operation of the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited (as a through Chicago-Los Angeles train with a connection at San Antonio for Houston, New Orleans and points in between) and the introduction of on-board wireless Internet service across the entire Amtrak system.

    On the condition of Amtrak’s fleet, Jagodzinski emphasized “We don’t want 60-year-old equipment. The passengers don’t want it, and we don’t want to maintain it.” He reiterated that the Heritage diners and baggage cars, which are around 60 years old, will be the first to be replaced, within the next five years. After the forum, attendees were led on a tour of three newly-rehabilitated passenger cars—two Superliner sleepers and one Superliner diner—and a rebuilt P42 locomotive that were parked in Union Station’s trainshed.

    Another topic of concern to attendees was Amtrak’s months-old policy prohibiting photography from station platforms, except by ticketed passengers and those with permission from a station agent or other Amtrak official. In response to criticism from train advocates, including NARP, O’Connor announced a program whereby photographers could register themselves and be amongst a group of citizens who act as a second set of eyes to warn of safety and security issues, similar to the one initiated by BNSF Railway.

    Boardman has promised that this will be the first of many such discussions. NARP welcomes, and stands ready to help facilitate, the further involvement of passengers and train advocates as Amtrak continues to plan and prepare for growth. —Ross Capon and Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: amtrak, amtrak policies, broadway limited, dialogue, expansion, forum, growth, improvement, joseph boardman, lake shore limited, long-distance trains, passenger trains, photography, sunset limited, texas eagle,

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