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Flag Stops: Doing the Math

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The latest news and views round-up.

  • The office of Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) has obtained a preliminary draft of Amtrak’s Congressionally-mandated study [PDF] of the possibility of restoring the Pioneer between Salt Lake City and Seattle. It presents a very conservative ridership estimate—even lower than actual ridership was when the train last ran in 1992—and says the new equipment and track upgrades required would take at least four years once the company gets the go-ahead from Congress.

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  • A land developer from Maine went to Ohio to spread the word about the wonders that new passenger trains can work for local economies. He touted the fact that every dollar his home state put in to initiating and operating the Downeaster has brought about $70 in additional construction investment, creating 18,000 new jobs. He thinks Ohio’s 3-C corridor could do the same.

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  • A Washington Post review of Green Metropolis by David Owen, which has just been added to the NARP Bookstore on Amazon.com, emphasizes Owen’s strongest point about the consequences of overreliance on the automobile: “The real problem with cars is not that they don’t get enough miles to the gallon, it’s that they make it too easy for people to spread out, encouraging forms of development that are inherently wasteful and damaging.” This is something NARP has been pointing out for years, even when doing so puts us in the minority of green-minded groups.

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  • Phoenix’s 9-month-old light rail line is converting skeptics—and bucking the national trend—by carrying almost 7,000 more daily riders than projected, the vast majority being leisure riders, reports the New York Times. In most cities, 60 percent or more of transit users are commuters, but only 29% of Phoenix light rail riders take it to work and back. It goes to show how well transit can work, even in a metropolis that is practically the epitome of sprawl.

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  • A Philadelphia Inquirer article paints a not-so-pretty picture of the condition of Amtrak-owned infrastructure, which the company revealed only after government watchdogs threatened to file suit. Several bridges on the Northeast and Keystone corridors have been rated “poor” by Amtrak’s own inspectors, showing such overt signs of decay as corroded beams, holes, and trees growing through cracks. The these pieces of the physical plant remain neglected, the more it’s going to cost, in terms of safety as well as dollars.

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  • Amtrak adds a new city to its list of destinations this week with the reopening of Icicle Station in Leavenworth, Washington, which will be served daily by the Empire Builder’s Seattle section.

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  • LCL: A preprogrammed “Balanced Transportation Analyzer” (Excel file) gives you the chance to play policymaker and come up with a plan to ease congestion in the Big Apple. * * * Thomas Friedman says US lawmakers don’t have the guts to raise the gas tax. * * * A video high-speed rail wish from a future rail advocacy leader. * * * A slight setback for Tar Heel travelers: a new Raleigh-Charlotte train will come, but not until early next year. * * * There’s one industrialized country the United States appears to be a few steps ahead of on high-speed rail: our neighbor to the north.

    • —Malcolm Kenton

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: amtrak, bridges, cars, costs, development, downeaster, economy, empire builder, green metropolis, infrastructure, lawsuit, light rail, maine, ohio, passenger trains, phoenix, pioneer, restoration, sprawl, study, transit, washington state,

    BNSF/Washington State/Amtrak/FRA Agreement: Big Step Forward for HSR Program

    Friday, March 04, 2011

    There was an important and positive passenger train announcement Feb. 26: federal, state and BNSF Railway officials at last finalized the agreement needed to trigger release of the $590 million in Recovery Act funds awarded to the State of Washington a year ago.  Let the work begin!

    The “if-it-bleeds-it-leads” media mentality helps explain why more publicity has gone to governors who do not want high/higher speed rail funds than to those who do. Also, of course, it is news when governors turn down big chunks of federal money for any purpose.

    In an effort to bring a more positive focus to the passenger train issue, we are placing the Cascades award as the lead story in the March issue of NARP News we are now finalizing.

    For more detail on the Cascades success story, see the excellent article in the April issue of Trains that starts on page 46 (written before the Feb. 26 announcement). Trains explains the difference between approaches to date by Oregon and Washington, and why Oregon got only a small Recovery Act grant. This story should be required reading for everyone who has criticized FRA’s handling of the Recovery Act’s high speed rail program.

    Yes, FRA was understaffed to get $8 billion out quickly, but the evidence we have seen suggests that FRA’s decisions have been sound and—as FRA officials have insisted all along—will provide a solid foundation for a new program whose growing importance is continually underlined by world events.

    The “not quickly” complaint reminds me of what my passionately Democratic, late uncle once said with a smile about vote counters in heavily Democratic East Cleveland: “They count slow, but they count good.” Delay, of course, is also a result of tough negotiations with railroad managements charged with securing the best deals possible for shareholders/owners.

    —Ross Capon

    Posted by Malcolm Kenton

    Tags: amtrak, bnsf, cascades, federal railroad administration, high-speed rail, recovery act grant, trains magazine, washington state,

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