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TRAINS: A travel choice Americans want

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Flag Stops: Limited Resources Edition

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Good news from Washington and Oregon, not-so-good news from New York and Florida, and more subsidies for automobile use, both explicit and disguised.

  • Good news: The Canadian customs agency has cleared the way for the long-awaited second daily Amtrak round-trip from Seattle to Vancouver, a route with high ridership potential.
  • Bad news: Due to New York State’s severe budget shortfall, Amtrak’s Adirondack, one of the most scenic routes in the US, may be in jeopardy. Despite Amtrak’s stated interest in maintaining the service, the state (which provides $5 million each year for its operation) has only guaranteed enough funds to operate the train until Sept. 30 of this year. The Adirondack represents a crucial link in the national system, connecting one of Canada’s largest cities to Albany and New York City, and by connection, to Boston, Chicago, Washington and other points. It also shows a great potential for higher ridership with modest trip-time improvements. If you live in New York State, be sure that your legislators and Governor Paterson’s office know that keeping the Adirondack running is a priority, even with limited resources.
  • Vermont journalist Caroline Abels would like to take the train from Vermont to Florida, but the schedules don’t quite work for her, a sad condition experienced by even the staunchest rail advocates. But she remains hopeful: “Vice President Joe Biden, who used to commute ... on Amtrak, could be a real advocate for trains in Congress. But so must we.” She calls on readers to become activists and organize for expanded service, which is precisely NARP’s raison d’etre.

  • The United States isn’t the first country to offer its residents incentives to trade in older cars for new ones. European and Asian predecessors to our “cash-for-clunkers” program have given a significant boost to car markets (French new-car registrations went up by 7.1% in June), and many are pushing their respective governments to continue the incentive. Meanwhile, the US car scrappage plans amounts to a very generous subsidy to automakers (and, by extension, to car travel) with very little impact on overall fuel economy and emissions, given that an improvement of as little as 2 miles per gallon qualifies a consumer for $3,500 in taxpayer money. At least some of the other countries with such schemes are balancing them with significant outlays for alternatives to the automobile.
  • Another, largely-unreported, auto-related general-taxpayer subsidy looms, according to “independent pension consultant” John Ralfe. GM’s restructuring has left in place pension plans for both hourly workers and salaried employees. Thus, the “new [GM] is still liable to fund the huge pension deficit, so its pension problems will continue,” Ralfe writes in the Financial Times. “As long as GM’s pension plans continue, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) remains on the hook to insure them.” He calls GM’s government-backed pension plans “a hidden transfer of $3.5 billion a year from the federal government, backing the PBGC, to GM’s 670,000 plan members.”

  • While we mourn the loss of the monorail engineer who died on Sunday, it’s a good time to think about what it means that the Walt Disney World monorail is the ninth most-used “rapid transit system” in the country and how experience with it shapes people’s expectations about public transportation.
  • LCL: Transportation for America (and NARP) applaud the completion of the first rail transit vehicle in decades to be assembled in the US by an American-owned company and hope that the continued growth of rail and transit networks keeps generating American jobs; British Prime Minister Gordon Brown makes electrifying rail lines a key point in his green initiative; the sale of Amtrak’s 30-year-old Turboliners is symbolic of the company’s handicapped condition; and as Amtrak moves towards paperless ticketing, a reminder to be careful with your tickets.

    • —Malcolm Kenton and Ross Capon

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: adirondack, advocacy, amtrak, auto industry, budget, cars, disney, monorail, new york, oregon, rail, seattle, shortfall, streetcar, subsidies, trains, vancouver, vermont,

    Flag Stops: Awareness-Raising Edition

    Thursday, July 16, 2009

    Vermonters organize to lure riders, an express bus service goes under, airlines are still in trouble, gas prices race upwards, and other dispatches from across our infrastructurally-challenged country.

  • After winning the fight to save Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express from budget cuts, grassroots volunteers are coming together in Rutland, Vermont, in hopes of attracting more riders to the train. Friends of Rutland Rail has been formed to raise awareness about the service, coordinate volunteer train hosts (modeled after successful host programs in Maine and North Carolina), and make the Rutland station more inviting. TrainRiders/Northeast hopes to foster the coalescing of similar groups in several Vermont towns served by Amtrak’s Vermonter.
  • NARP Council member Kenneth Joseph’s testimony to Congress urging the reinstatement of the Three Rivers has generated discussion (see comments) about the implications of last week’s announcement [PDF] that the Pittsburgh-Harrisburg Steel City Flyer express business-class bus service will come to an end. Part of what doomed the service, which was designed to connect with Amtrak’s frequent Keystone service at Harrisburg, is the inability of buses to drop passengers at the Amtrak station due to the exclusive contract between the City of Harrisburg (which owns the station) and bus operator Capitol Trailways. Other factors include the inflexibility of many corporations’ auto-friendly travel policies as well as that trains are generally more desirable than buses. NARP believes that faster, more frequent train service along the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia corridor, beginning with the reinstatement of the Three Rivers will be more successful in luring both business and leisure travelers from their cars.
  • A new study by the Center for Clean Air Policy reconfirms the key role better transportation choices play in cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The paper [PDF] concludes “comprehensive application of smart growth best practices and improved transportation choices could significantly reduce transportation emissions at a net cost savings to society.” The provision of alternative forms of mobility and the improved planning of cities and towns would shave ten percent off the number of miles Americans drive at a net cost savings to society through avoided infrastructure costs, savings in fuel and insurance charges, and higher tax revenues from more valuable land development. NARP hopes that this timely report, prepared with the help of our friends at Transportation for America, will be read widely on Capitol Hill as the reauthorization bill is debated.
  • The recession, higher fares, service cuts and concerns about the H1N1 flu are driving declines in passenger air travel. In May, total passenger load on US airlines fell 9.5 percent and passenger revenue fell 26 percent, accompanying a 22 percent dip in air cargo traffic. These revenue drops, combined with cost hikes in labor and fuel, add up to an ongoing lack of profitability in the US airline industry.This week, US Airways Group said that it will cut 600 jobs this fall, including airport ticket and gate agents and baggage handlers, because of the economy. Though Amtrak ridership weathered the recession longer than most, it is also down, with May ridership and passenger-miles down 10% and passenger revenues down 13% from a year earlier.
  • At the same time, gas prices are once again on the rise, at the quickest rate since September 2005. This time, more expensive gas is a primary factor causing the Consumer Price Index to go up. If people had more travel choices, perhaps every gas price hike wouldn’t make such a big dent in people’s pocketbooks.

  • The director of IBM’s Global Rail Innovation Center in Beijing suggests that the US’s position of playing catch-up to the rest of the developed world in the passenger rail department may actually help us by providing many models of success and failure from which the American rail industry can learn. A valid point. Of course, the same could have been said twenty years ago…
  • LCL: A northeast Indiana columnist applauds the Midwest’s high-speed rail plans while a City Council member in Vicennes, IN, rebuts our loyal nemesis, CATO’s Randal O’Toole; the editors of the Illinois capital’s daily paper say that it’s fine to dream big about bullet trains, but boosting existing trains to 110 mph is more realistic and cost-effective in lean times; and a travel writer extols the National Park Service’s Trails and Rails program, which provides interpretive narration for many scenic and historic route segments.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by NARP

    Tags: air pollution, airlines, express bus, gasoline prices, grassroots advocacy, greenhouse gases, high-speed rail, pennsylvania, revenue, ridership, trains, vermont,

    Flag Stops: Foresight and Oversight

    Monday, August 10, 2009

    Our slightly-delayed news and views roundup shows that going green does save green, that oil production may peak sooner than expected, and that LaHood’s thinking is still on the right track.

  • Implementing a number of known practices for cutting carbon emissions from transportation would actually save money within 15 years, with savings increasing as time goes on, finds a new report on the subject. Nearly a year in the works, the paper contains necessarily limited cost-benefit analyses of various strategies, including expanding public transportation offerings, without bias towards any particular method. It is geared mainly towards transportation within metropolitan areas, but also looks at high-speed rail and highway tolling ideas for intercity travel.
  • The International Energy Agency’s chief economist says that the impending oil crisis will come sooner than expected, with production peaking in 10 years. Petroleum prices will escalate rapidly as the remaining oil becomes harder and more costly to extract, stunting the recovery of the economy. All the more reason to ramp up efforts to ready our transportation system to move more people and goods on little or no oil.
  • Los Angeles Times business columnist David Lazarus reminds us that re-training America will take not just more and better trains, but policies that make driving less attractive and cities and towns more compact.
  • Streetsblog uncovers some pieces that seem to be missing from a Harvard economics professor’s analysis of a theoretical Texas high-speed rail line—primarily that he neglected to seriously consider the less palatable alternatives: more highway and airport capacity.
  • In a speech to the National Association of Counties, Transportation Secretary LaHood reiterates his commitment to reducing the number of miles Americans travel by automobile and to greater parity between highway and non-highway investments. Giving local governments more say in where transportation dollars are spent generally results in less of a bias towards asphalt.
    • American journalists marvel at China’s new high-speed train, which are a testament to the impact a major investment can have.
  • LCL: Trains for America gives a tongue-in-cheek endorsement to our call for full 2010 Amtrak funding; on the Pere Marquette‘s 25th anniversary, officials, businesspeople and residents along the line express their desires for additional service; an Ogden, Utah, columnist enumerates why riding the California Zephyr from to Chicago beats flying, and longs for the Pioneer to call once again at his hometown; the Allegheny Trail Alliance has a survey with which it hopes to demonstrate the demand for being able to bring bikes on board Amtrak trains, even to or from unstaffed stations; NARP Council member Jim Loomis reports on his latest Amtrak journeys—including a tight Chicago connection and some good reasons to head to the Quiet Car; yet another little-known danger lurking on the highways; and a travel writer’s look at the plethora of fun rail trips that can be taken in southern California.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: alternatives, carbon, china, climate change, economics, energy, high-speed rail, peak oil, petroleum, roundup, trains, travel,

    NARP Members Speak: We Want More Trains!

    Wednesday, August 12, 2009

    For the past several months, NARP has been attaching a survey to some membership renewal forms. It asks members to tell us how often they travel by train, why they choose to do so, and how satisfied they are with their experiences. It also asks how rail service should be improved and what the government’s top priority should be when spending Recovery Act funds. We tabulated 317 responses from members across the country in all walks of life. The responses reveal that our members are solidly behind the goals for which NARP has striven since its founding: fast, on-time trains serving more cities and routes.

    75 percent of respondents people surveyed use the train primarily for pleasure travel with an additional 20 percent riding the rails for both business and pleasure. The train appeals to both types of rider precisely because it offers an enjoyable ride, providing unmatched ability for passengers to either to conduct business or to relax, socialize, read, sleep, and listen to music while en route. 75 percent also travel on overnight trains, which are critical to a healthy national network. Faster and more frequent service, on both short and long-distance routes, would be a boon to both business and leisure riders.

    46 percent report being very satisfied with their rail travel experiences, but 48% are only somewhat satisfied, which suggests significant room for improvement. When asked to rank some of our ideas for upgrading service, the top three vote-getters were “new routes and services to more cities” (79%), “better on-time performance” (73%), and “more frequent service” (71%).  Majorities also favored more modern equipment, faster trains, and improved food service. These priorities will continue to be NARP’s goals: more frequent and on-time trains in the near term, with additional routes in the longer run.

    On the question of how the Recovery Act’s limited resources should be allocated, the largest share of respondents (85%) chose “improve all rail equipment and infrastructure,” followed closely by “connect all Americans via rail.” Given that stimulus funds are limited only to “ready-to-go” projects, infrastructure enhancement will necessarily comprise the bulk of what is accomplished.  We will continue to make sure that these investments result in significant advancements in existing service that will reduce travel times and boost reliability.

    Gaining a clearer picture of our members’ preferences and desires has elucidated our mandate to make trains an even more desirable travel choice for all Americans. But without the support and involvement a growing membership, we lack the strength necessary to get it done. If you are not a member, please consider joining for as little as $35 for one year. If you are a member, please spread the word so that our grassroots movement may continue to grow. Now is the time for the United States to join the rest of the developed world in providing safe, dependable, enjoyable and Earth-friendly transportation that frees us from our yoke to the automobile. All it takes is time, persistence, and strength in numbers.

    A sampling of member responses to open-ended questions after the jump…

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Special thanks to NARP volunteers Peter Roberts and Joe Lyons for their hard work in tabulating and analyzing these results.

    » read more...

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: expansion, fast, frequent, improvements, membership, overnight, results, survey, trains, travel, upgrades,

    Flag Stops: Who’s Gonna Pay For It

    Wednesday, December 02, 2009

  • The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Subsidyscope project—which put out an misleading look at Amtrak’s finances a month ago [top story]—last week unveiled a report we can add to the volumes of literature that debunk the myth that U.S. roads “pay for themselves.” Over the past 25 years, they found, the percentage of highway costs funded by means other than user fees (gas taxes and tolls) doubled. They point to two leading factors influencing this trend: the lack of a change in the gas tax since 1993 (combined with inflation) and the increased reliance on bonds to pay for new highways. Sadly, I doubt this report will gain as much media attention as its predecessor.
  • Along similar lines, the Texas DOT posits that, in order to pay the full cost of a 15-mile stretch of Interstate highway ($1 billion), the statewide gas tax would have to be $2.22 per gallon—not including the price of the gas itself. Yet that highway was built and is being maintained, with general US and Texas taxpayers paying the lion’s share. That same $1 billion could have paid for the construction of 333 miles of railroad track, according to California estimates.
  • Another example of the consequences of chronic underinvestment: The New York Post learns that a number of Amtrak-owned bridges in New York City are “in crumbling condition,” scoring “poor” or worse in internal inspections. Ironically, an effort to fix recent, delay-causing problems with the swing bridge carrying Amtrak’s Empire Corridor trains over the Harlem River wound up closing the bridge from Tuesday night until about 1:00 pm on the day before Thanksgiving. The Wednesday morning trains to Montreal and Toronto were combined and detoured via the Hell Gate Bridge, while passengers on the other trains had to use Metro-North’s Grand Central service for part of their journeys.
  • Fortune magazine documents recent high-speed rail advancements on the other side of the Atlantic, including the extension of TGV service from Paris to Strasbourg—and how trains are beating airlines on certain segments.
  • Office buildings in the Washington, DC area are sitting largely empty—except in the city center. In a region with the second-worst traffic congestion in the nation, employers are locating in areas more easily reached by transit. Downtown Washington’s offices are 10% vacant, while fringe area workspaces are around 30% empty.
  • “We are on the verge of jumpstarting ... [a] game-changing endeavor,” Secretary LaHood remarked, referring to the Recovery Act grant announcements coming within the next few months. LaHood is also throwing his weight behind making subway and light-rail safety a responsibility of his Department.
  • Two more newspaper columnists join the call for a passenger rail renaissance: the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Tom Belden, American Reporter correspondent Rudolph Holhut.
  • LCL: More high-speed rail rumblings from the Middle East. * * * Political leaders want to spend more money on transportation infrastructure—but there’s none to spend. * * * The Midwest High Speed Rail Association gets good vibes from Thanksgiving travel numbers, including a 6.7% decrease in the number of air travelers.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: congestion, costs, high-speed rail, highway, highways, infrastructure, railroad, ray lahood, subsidies, trains, transit, transportation, underinvestment, user fees,

    In Florida, The Fourth Time Could Be the Charm

    Tuesday, December 15, 2009

    Reasons to hope for speedy improvements to make rail travel more convenient in the Sunshine State.

    Hundreds were in attendance at the Florida Department of Transportation’s rail forum on December 2nd in Orlando, including every manufacturer of railroad vehicles in the world and many other industry professionals. The conference came in advance of the Florida legislature’s historic vote to invest in a new commuter line in the Orlando area and make a down-payment towards Orlando-Tampa-Miami high-speed rail. This is the fourth time that Florida has tried to jumpstart construction of a new system of fast trains, but the momentum seems to have built to a crescendo this go-round.

    DOT officials speaking at the forum emphasized that these investments are only a first step. The state is looking eventually to buy new trainsets capable of 220-mph operation, though speeds on the initial line segment (Orlando-Tampa) will be limited to 168 mph. Though the DOT is currently operating under a less-than-desirable framework of running this segment down the median of Interstate 4, precluding downtown-to-downtown service to existing stations between Orlando and Tampa, the final routing will largely be determined by the contractor that makes the best bid.

    Beyond the initial start-up, the state plans not to contribute a penny towards the service. The DOT wants future capital funding to come from federal grants, while the private sector covers the operating costs. It remains to be seen whether this scheme will prove viable once work begins.

    Here’s hoping that the encouraging news out of the Sunshine State this month will lead to real results. Florida still lags far behind many states that have made serious strides in passenger rail over the past two decades, but its involvement is better late than never. While many aspects of the plan still need to be worked out, rail advocates cannot afford to make the perfect the enemy of the good. If this first phase is successful, we should begin to see incremental progress towards fast, frequent service connecting all the peninsula’s population centers that will begin to chip away at the state’s worsening traffic and suburban sprawl.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: fast, florida, florida dot, frequent, funding, high-speed rail, improvements, rail, results, sunrail, trains, travel,

    Rail Grants Are Answering People’s Demands

    Tuesday, February 02, 2010

    The following letter to the editor was published in the Washington Examiner:

    Since passenger train improvements have enjoyed bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, we reject your suggestion that White House unveiling of passenger-train Recovery Act grants constitutes turning a deaf ear to the recent Massachusetts election.

    Indeed, polls—and Amtrak’s rising ridership—show that Americans want more trains. Put “travelers” atop your list of “those who are quite pleased by the projects.”

    The majority of dollars will go to upgrade existing trains, producing tangible service improvements within one or a few years. At the other end of the spectrum, our children may look back and thank those who pushed the California and Florida very-high-speed projects. Very high energy prices threaten the future of short-distance air service.

    —Ross Capon

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: amtrak, congress, high-speed rail, obama, public, ridership, trains, upgrades, washington examiner, white house,

    Flag Stops: People in Motion

    Tuesday, March 30, 2010

  • Solid majorities of American voters think greater investment in trains and buses will be more effective at reducing congestion, pollution and oil dependence—and enhancing our quality of life—than building more roads, and are willing to pay higher taxes for it. These findings, based on a survey of 800 registered voters in all 50 states and DC, were released today by Transportation for America (T4A), a broad advocacy coalition of which NARP is a member. In another indication that train advocates’ goals are broadly shared, the sentiments respondents expressed cut fairly evenly across geographic, income and party lines. The main reason respondents gave for why they don’t use transit often, if at all, is that it is not available or convenient where they live, not because they are wedded to their cars or averse to using transit.

  • Also from T4A: Despite the higher sticker price on housing closer to city centers, urban living is actually more affordable than auto-oriented suburban living when transportation costs are factored in, according to a Center for Neighborhood Technology study [PDF]. This phenomenon, called location efficiency, doesn’t just occur in large cities: it can be realized in suburbs and small towns that are walkable and oriented around transit nodes. This reinforces the message from a 2000 Surface Transportation Policy Project report, “Driven to Spend: The Impact of Sprawl on Household Transportation Expenses.”

  • Following on the heels of West Virginia, Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson (D) signed into law a bill mandating the state’s Department of Transportation to begin a passenger rail program, giving Kansas a better competitive position in the scramble for future rounds of high-speed and intercity passenger rail (HSIPR) grants. Another enacted law creates the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact, formalizing cooperation between Kansas and its neighbors to advance passenger service. This, plus federal grant approval announced last week, is aimed at making the Northern Flyer a reality. NARP congratulates our newest Council Representative, Deborah Fischer Stout (President of the Northern Flyer Alliance) for her tireless efforts to make this happen!

  • In a sign of support for an expanded long-distance network, two of President Obama’s nominees for Amtrak’s Board of Directors wrote Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) indicating they would press for refined cost estimates for restoring the Salt Lake City-Portland Pioneer. The two nominees, plus a third pick, have been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee and are awaiting a confirmation vote in the full Senate.

  • New high-speed train service between the central Chinese cities of Zhengzhou and Xian is so popular that all airlines have ceased flights between the two locales. The train takes less than two hours to traverse 314 miles (comparable to a trip from Washington, DC to New Haven, CT). The Chinese government is steadily moving towards its goal of having more than 8,000 miles of new high-speed railroads built by two years from now, a feat often cited by President Obama and other leaders to show how far behind the US is in terms of modernizing the national rail network.

  • LCL: Support for a major rail freight mobility project—with potential benefits for passengers—is bringing the governors of some affected states together, 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats. * * * The gears have been set in motion for the electrification of the Caltrain commuter line from San Jose to San Francisco—meaning faster, greener trains in five years—upon the completion of ten years of study. * * * Amtrak ridership from the 4-month-old station in Leavenworth, Washington, is 11% higher than Amtrak’s original estimate, with visitors from the Puget Sound area opting to take the train rather than drive to the Bavarian resort town. * * * Despite a host of other budget cuts made in the same bill, an amendment to withdraw $8 million in state operating grants to Amtrak was thankfully defeated in the Missouri House of Representatives. * * * Amtrak stations in California will soon get new electronic displays showing real-time train departure information and announcements.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: affordability, amtrak, china, high-speed rail, housing, kansas, mark parkinson, opinion, passenger trains, pioneer, ron wyden, rural, survey, trains, transit, transportation, travel choices, urban, voters, west virginia,

    Southern Mobility: North Carolina Leads the Way

    Thursday, May 13, 2010

    Unlike many states where the DOT is little more than a highway department, the Tar Heel State certainly isn’t stuck in the mud when it comes to passenger trains.

    A third-daily round-trip between Raleigh and Charlotte will commence operation [PDF] in four weeks, adding a mid-day run to the existing morning and evening departures in each direction. The line should also see a fourth daily round-trip in the next two years. The state continues to invest in its stations, with Durham’s new depot having opened in December and plans in the works for modern multi-modal hubs in Raleigh and Charlotte to complement Greensboro’s crown jewel. (Full disclosure: I grew up and went to college in Greensboro.)

    The NCDOT Rail Division, led by Pat Simmons, has made tremendous progress in modernizing the rail lines used by Amtrak trains, with the goal of nearly consistent 90-mph operation between Raleigh and Charlotte within the next five years. Thanks to the Sealed Corridor Program, spearheaded by Dr. Gary Burch Memorial Safety Award honoree and NCDOT Director of Engineering & Safety Paul Worley, grade crossing collisions (such as the this morning in Mebane, NC) will be largely prevented. Station and track work has also been completed in hopes of returning passenger trains to Asheville via Salisbury.

    In addition to the Rail Division’s exemplary work, the North Carolina Rail Road (NCRR)—the quasi state-run owner of the tracks between Charlotte and Goldsboro—has completed a study [PDF] of potential frequent commuter service between Greensboro, Burlington and the Research Triangle area (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill). NCRR found that ridership on such service would be significant: possibly 3 million annual passengers by 2022. This would place it at number 13 amongst current US commuter rail systems by ridership, slightly below the Miami area’s TriRail and the South Shore Line between Chicago and South Bend, IN.

    It took two decades of building capacity and expertise in railroading and a culture of intermodal thinking at NCDOT. Now, North Carolina offers an outstanding template for other states to follow. Fast, frequent intercity service, plus expanded light rail and bus networks (like those in Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, and Greensboro/High Point), equals real travel choices. If all Americans are to benefit from such connectivity, work must be done at the state “highway department”—and in Washington to give states the financing and policy tools to get there.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: connectivity, dot, frequency, highway, intermodal, north carolina, planning, safety, trains, transportation,

    Young Train Supporters Make Waves in Montana

    Monday, May 17, 2010

    Demonstrated support from those who would benefit from a government action is an essential ingredient in any advocacy campaign. In the case of our campaign—along with other like-minded organizations—to expand the national passenger train network, we can all learn from the example being set by students at the University of Montana in Missoula, who have held many rallies and have otherwise vociferously pushed for the reinstatement of Amtrak’s North Coast Hiawatha. This train plied the then-Northern Pacific (now BNSF) main line through southern Montana and North Dakota until 1979, as a complement to the Empire Builder, with stops at Helena, Bozeman, Missoula and other locales. Under Congressional mandate, Amtrak studied [PDF] the impact its revival would have on ridership, revenue and costs.

    The students—with the assistance of the student government and the Montana Public Interest Research Group (MontPIRG)—held a well-attended rally in mid-March that was covered by the local CBS affiliate TV station:

    They have gathered signatures on a petition to state and federal leaders to find the funding to bring the train back as quickly as possible. The cause has already won the support of both Montana Senators, particularly Sen. Jon Tester (D), and of the state’s at-large Congressman, Denny Rehberg (R), who appeared at NARP’s Capitol Hill Reception in late April. During meetings with NARP Council members, staff members for North Dakota’s Congressional delegation also expressed support for the route. NARP is working with their offices to make sure that funding for the route is included in the fiscal 2011 spending bill.

    Not only is the student activism an effective example for other Route Support Teams to follow, it is also shows how young people are shaping our future for the better—by working for more convenient, affordable, enjoyable and sustainable transportation choices—thereby leaving America better prepared to meet our 21st-century energy, environmental and mobility challenges.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: amtrak, energy, environment, media, missoula, montana, north coast hiawatha, restoration, students, television, trains, university, young people,

    Szabo: Higher-speed Passenger and Freight Trains Can Coexist

    Tuesday, August 10, 2010

    A recent article in the Economist magazine discusses some freight railroads’ concerns that higher-speed passenger trains on their tracks would hamper their business. Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo—whose agency has proposed guidelines that railroads accepting public funds should meet regarding passenger service levels—wrote the following unpublished letter to Economist in response:

    Your article “High-speed Railroading” (July 24) did an excellent job of articulating the many benefits of the American freight rail system, which is truly the best in the world. The Obama Administration has committed significant resources to maintaining and improving that system, through investments in crucial freight rail infrastructure like the recent TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant for the Crescent Corridor Intermodal Freight Rail project.

    However, the assertion in the article that freight and passenger rail cannot successfully coexist is not supported by the facts. On the contrary, passenger and freight rail have been successfully sharing infrastructure since the beginning of railroading more than 150 years ago. With good modeling, planning and engineering, we can ensure capacity levels appropriate to the operating needs of both. That is why we are working closely with States and host freight railroads to reach operating agreements that define responsibilities, achieve balance between the private and public interests, and ensure optimal operations for both interests.

    The Economist implies that these balanced agreements are unachievable, but through open dialogue and good-faith negotiations, the States and the freight railroads can finalize agreements that ensure strong service outcomes and allow both types of rail to prosper. In many cases, high-speed rail investments will add double and triple tracks, as well as new sidings and signal improvements, which over time will allow freight and high-speed passenger trains to coexist at the optimal speeds for each. This process will require hard work, but win-win agreements that grow passenger and freight rail service will bring the highest level of benefits to the nation by relieving highway congestion, improving air quality and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. That’s a win for every American citizen.

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: federal railroad administration, freight railroads, grant agreements, high-speed rail, infrastructure, public benefits, public funds, trains, transportation, us dot,

    Trains: Enhancing Freedom of Mobility

    Friday, August 13, 2010

    Washington Examiner editorial page editor Mark Tapscott claims that we train and transit advocates want to use “government power to force the rest of us to accept less mobility and convenience.” On the contrary, expanding train and transit service gives people more mobility and convenience by not tethering them to one mode of transportation. Many prefer not to have to worry about where to park or having to go get gas when out on errands or taking a leisure trip across town or across the country. Taking public transportation also saves money, and may even save your life—over 42,500 people are killed in car accidents each year, 50 times more than die on railroads and 180 times more than die on transit annually. But those of us who would rather leave the driving up to someone else are left with less mobility and less convenience because public funding priorities are so overwhelmingly skewed towards highways.

    Tapscott also compares the “freedom” the car offers to that afforded by smartphones. But what good is a smartphone when you have to spend all your travel time keeping your eyes on the road? When you use trains and transit, you have the freedom to spend your travel time however you choose, including by using your smartphone, without posing a safety hazard. Mobile devices can also increasingly help you get around without a car just as easily as they can give you driving directions.

    Balancing out the U.S. transportation funding scale to provide frequent, dependable train (and bus) service would give people the freedom to choose not only when and where to travel, but also how to travel, and the freedom to choose a mode of travel that takes a lighter toll on the pocketbook and the planet. It’s advocates of the highway-happy status quo who want to limit your freedom of mobility.

    —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: automobiles, cost savings, freedom, highways, mark tapscott, mobile devices, mobility, safety, smartphones, trains, transit, washington examiner,

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