NARP Blog

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Friends of the Cardinal, a route support group composed of active train advocates (many of whom are NARP members) based in Charleston, West Virginia, issued the release below today. The story of the introduction and passage of Senate Bill 527 in the West Virginia legislature is a great model for grassroots advocacy—showing what we are all capable of, with a little time and energy, as citizens in a republic.

For Immediate Use, March 10, 2010:

By a vote of 97-0 the West Virginia House of Delegates passed a Bill which mandates that the West Virginia Rail Authority must “establish a state plan for transportation and local rail services.” The legislation requires that this plan meet the Federal requirements necessary to capture and administer Federal monies “for rail transportation, local rail services, and inter-modal facilities. . .” Further, the act allows the Authority to seek input from “freight and rail passenger associations.” The same Bill had already passed the WV Senate by a vote of 32-0 earlier in the session. The Bill now goes to the Governor Joe Manchin’s desk for his signature.

This legislation was developed in response to concerns expressed by many individuals about the lack of adequate planning for a passenger rail system for the state of West Virginia. The Friends of the Cardinal, a Charleston WV-based “Route Support Group” affiliated with the National Association of Railroad Passengers articulated these concerns to various members of the legislature. The National Association of Railroad Passengers is the largest citizen-based advocacy organization for train and rail transit passengers in the nation.

J. Charles Riecks, Chair of the Friends of the Cardinal, said: “I was very pleased with the overall positive response that passenger rail received in the West Virginia Legislature this year. Hopefully, this bill is just the beginning of a new day for transportation in the state of West Virginia.”

In speeches before several committees, and also on the floor of both legislative bodies, several members of the legislature spoke to the long overdue need for West Virginia to begin supporting a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want.

Friends of the Cardinal, particularly Riecks and Bonni McKewon, participated in the legislative process from start to finish, corresponding with nearly every legislator and calling upon other West Virginians to contact their Representative and Senator. As soon as Gov. Manchin signs the bill into law, the state Department of Transportation will begin work on the rail plan, an essential first step towards better train service in the state and a process in which NARP and Friends of the Cardinal will continue to be involved. With a strong plan and agreements with Amtrak, MARC and the host railroads in place, West Virgnia stands a much better chance of winning future federal funds to improve existing service and potentially to add new routes.

—Malcolm Kenton

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Each year, members of NARP’s Council of Representatives, our all-volunteer governing body, meet with Members of Congress and their staff to educate them about passenger train issues and urge their support for more funding and broader policy support for intercity trains. This year, in addition to our perennial, yet always essential, ask for full funding of Amtrak, we also joined with a coalition of other rail advocacy and public interest groups in calling for $4 billion in fiscal 2011 funding for the nascent yet highly oversubscribed High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) grant program to states.

In addition to Council members, several general members of the Association joined our Day on the Hill this year. According to their reports, many Senators, Representatives and staffers—even those who haven’t supported Amtrak in the past—appeared open to hearing our case. No matter where the lawmaker stands on the issue, the most important thing about in-person meetings is to demonstrate the extent of public support for better transportation choices. And that we did very well.

Here is a report from Council member Dennis Lytton, which was posted yesterday on the California High Speed Rail Blog:

Last week I attended the National Association of Railroad Passengers annual meeting in Washington, DC. NARP is the largest national membership advocacy organization for train and rail transit passengers. In fact, it’s the only group in Washington, DC with a staff dedicated to this purpose.

The most important part of our three day meeting is our “Day on the Hill” visiting Senators and Members of Congress followed our reception in one of the House office buildings. This year, along with other NARP council members from California, we visited our two senators, Boxer and Feinstein, as well as our House members. Our primary asks (lesson one visiting your Congressmember, always have a concise “ask”, with a handout) were:

* $4 billion for intercity and high speed rail capital grants, and
* Full funding of Amtrak’s appropriations requests for this year.

NARP as well as Californians for High Speed Rail is a member of the Fourbillion.com coalition, which is advocating for this. Please visit and register to let your Congressional representation know that you want HSR and intercity rail. (I think my take away this year may be to always have a website for my “ask” each year!)

Secondly, we were also pushing for passage of the stalled transportation reauthorization bill in Congress and for High Speed Rail to have a dedicated funding source. There is a consensus that this won’t happen before the November election. Which of course scares many of us since the next Congress may not have as friendly a composition as this one. More than one source on the Hill thought that the thorny issue of raising the gas tax would be brought up by the lame duck Congress in November or December.

My overall impression? Having participated in NARP’s Day on the Hill since 2006, things have certainly changed for the better. The Congressional majority and Administration of that time barely noticed that the issue of trains for a sustainable, mobile future for our county existed. The federal DOT famously released a report during these years decrying road congestion but never mentioning rail for passengers or freight. Republican administrations since Reagan had regularly tried to write Amtrak out of the federal budget and even under Clinton a Gingrich inspired reauthorization of Amtrak passed in the late 90s that mandated Amtrak to become profitable with no investment.

Our biggest fight now in Washington will be to get the $4 billion for HSR nationwide. The administration has only asked for one billion, just a year after their groundbreaking inclusion of $8 billion in ARRA (the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act). Anaheim to San Francisco is about $20 billion. We have almost $10 billion from the Prop. 1A bonds. We received a little more than $2 billion from ARRA early this year. Four billion a year, with California getting its fare share as it did in ARRA, will get us to completion of the first segment.

Which leads me back to an earlier point – getting high-speed passenger rail into the transportation reauthorization bill stalled in Congress will be a great accomplishment. Funding HSR isn’t a political football in other countries in Western Europe, for instance. Once we get HSR into our federal transportation funding machinery funding it will be automatic and non-political. Just as it is for highways in this country.

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NARP blog

Grassroots Pressure Gets Results

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

NARP Leaders Educate and Advocate on Capitol Hill

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Posted by Malcolm Kenton

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