Hotline # 737 December 16, 2011

The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure conducted an investigation yesterday into California’s high-speed rail project, providing a platform for proponents of the Los Angeles to San Francisco line to make a case for the necessity of the train to meet the needs of the state’s rapidly growing population—and critics to air doubts.

The hearing was titled “California’s High-Speed Rail Project: Skyrocketing Costs & Project Concerns,” an indication of Committee Chairman John Mica’s (R-FL) disapproval of the project.  And the two panels did in fact feature a number of Members of Congress and California residents who spoke against the line, citing the $75 billion price tag (in 2011 dollars), disruptions to personal property, and the choice of the Central Valley as the initial phase.

Advocates for the system outnumbered critics on the second witness panel, however, and were passionate in their defense of the train’s benefits.  Planners recognize that the state will need to build new capacity on the state’s transportation networks.  By 2050, California will add more than 25 million additional people, more than currently live in the state of New York.  In the Central Valley alone, the population is expected to double to 12 million in the coming decades.  A California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA) study found that, without high-speed rail, the state would need to spend $171 billion over the next 40 years to accommodate the same amount of growth in travel—buying 2,300 lane miles of new highway capacity, 115 new airport gates, and 4 new runways.

“We as Californians who use the [current transportation] system realize we need an alternative, and we need to invest,” said Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D), speaking of the congestion in Orange County, which she represents.  “We need to look at it and figure out how to make it work… It is never easy to do these projects, but if you want to and you have the guts to do it, you can get it done.”

Mayor Ashley Swearengin (R) of Fresno was also there to help the project along.  She argued that the line—which would connect Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 2 hours 40 minutes—would bring substantially more private sector investment to the Central Valley than in relatively more developed L.A. County and the Bay Area, by plugging-in economic markets whose growth is currently constrained by poor transportation connections.  CAHSRA’s business plan estimates that the system’s construction will generate 100,000 jobs within the first 5 years and 1 million jobs over the life of the project.

“California is growing, and it will have to spend money to accommodate that growth one way or another,” said NARP President Ross Capon in a release later yesterday.  “Californians should be pushing their leaders to make sure it’s spent on trains, which reduce oil consumption and harmful emissions, create jobs, grow the economy, and move people quickly, comfortably, and efficiently throughout the world.”


The head of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority warned that unless Congress acts by Wednesday of next week, millions of American workers will lose federal mass-transit benefits for January—and said for many it’s already too late.

Without Congressional action, a tax break for people who use transit to commute to work will be halved from $230 per month to $120—at the same time that the commuter parking benefit is set to be raised from $230 to $240, to account for inflation!  In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Metro General Manager Richard Sarles said that December 21 is the last day for employers to turn in paperwork for the transit benefit.  And some employers have already filed this paperwork, a move that could cost their employees hundreds of dollars, or cause them to switch to driving to work, adding to congestion and pollution.

The NARP Blog looked at this story on Tuesday, picking up on campaign partner Transportation For America’s efforts to keep the mass-transit benefit on equal footing with the commuter parking tax break:

Our partners over at Transportation For America have pointed out something that has slipped by mostly unnoticed in the larger conversation about transportation funding for fiscal year 2012: a transit benefit that provides a tax credit for workers who use mass-transit to commute is set to be nearly halved come January.

Currently, the annual mass-transit benefit is the same as the tax break commuters receive for parking costs, thanks to a provision introduced by the Recovery Act in 2009.  This provision was extended last winter, but will expire at the end of December if no action is taken by Congress.

By creating a financial incentive for Americans to drive to work, Congress will be increasing congestion on roads, raising the consumption of foreign oil, and increasing harmful emissions into the air.  It will also be driving consumers away from transit agencies that have already seen their budgets slashed in the recession.

The T4A campaign is still active, and NARP encourages you to take a moment to reach out to your state’s congressional delegation.  One of the challenges in getting this solved politically is that the impact of the program varies widely from state to state.


The U.S. Department of Transportation announced $511 million in funding for 46 transportation projects across 33 states, part of the third round of the popular Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program.

The TIGER program targets transportation projects with “significant national or regional impact,” and makes selections using considerations such as contributions to the long-term economic competitiveness of the nation, increases in energy efficiency and reduction to greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancements to the quality of living and working environments through increased access to transportation choices.  There were 848 project requests from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, and applications totaled almost $14.3 billion. 

Transit will receive 29 percent, freight rail will receive 10 percent, and road projects will receive about half of the funds—although a quarter of that will go towards “complete streets” enhancements that improve the connections and flow of cars, transit, bikes, and pedestrians. 

The only money TIGER III directly targets at Amtrak service is $10 million to raise a 15.4-mile section of the BNSF mainline track between Devils Lake and Churchs Ferry, North Dakota, part of $99 million project to protect Amtrak’s Empire Builder service against the rising waters of Devils Lake.  This project is still about $20 million short.  So far the State of North Dakota has provided on this federal grant; BNSF and Amtrak have each provided one-third of the total cost.

Many of the other TIGER III improvements will provide ancillary benefits to Amtrak trains—such as a $10 million grant to rehabilitate the Merrimack River bridge, used by the Downeaster; and a $13.9 million grant to construct the Alton Regional Multimodal Transportation Center which will be adjacent to the new Amtrak station on the Chicago-St. Louis line. 

“The overwhelming demand for these grants clearly shows that communities across the country can’t afford to wait any longer for Congress to put Americans to work building the transportation projects that are critical to our economic future,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “That’s why we’ve taken action to get these grants out the door quickly, and that is why we will continue to ask Congress to make the targeted investments we need to create jobs, repair our nation’s transportation systems, better serve the traveling public and our nation’s businesses, factories and farms, and make sure our economy continues to grow.”

A complete list of grant recipients can be viewed on the DOT’s website [PDF].


The U.S. Department of Transportation today awarded $177 million to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) for the Chicago-Quad Cities passenger rail service.  Infrastructure improvements will allow inauguration of two daily round-trips on the route and create 2,000 jobs to put Americans back to work this spring.

Intermediate stops are planned for Geneseo, Princeton, Mendota, and Plano, Illinois.  Upgrades include a new station at Geneseo, a layover facility for trains in the Quad Cities area, signaling improvements, and the purchase of new passenger rail equipment

“With America’s population set to grow by 100 million over the next 40 years, passenger rail will play a vital role in meeting America’s long-term transportation challenges,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “This project, and the others like it, will reduce congestion for the region, create jobs and make the Midwest a better place to start a business.”

“Providing regional connectivity is critical to America’s long-term economic success,” said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. “These infrastructure and service improvements will provide Americans with more transportation options and allow them to travel the Midwest with greater ease.”


The U.S. Department of Transportation announced an award of $7 million to Georgia and the District of Columbia on December 13 to move forward work on the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor that will connect Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. with a modern intercity passenger train line.

“With America’s population set to grow by 100 million over the next 40 years, high-speed rail will play a vital role in reducing congestion and meeting America’s long-term transportation challenges,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.  “High speed rail projects like these in Georgia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C., will employ local workers, use American-made materials and lay a strong foundation for future economic growth.”

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) will use the money to undertake a service development plan and environmental impact study for the 250 mile corridor between Atlanta and Charlotte.  The District of Columbia Department of Transportation will use its portion of the funds to look at possibilities for rehabilitating or replacing the Long Bridge over the Potomac River, a 100-year old structure owned by CSX that serves as the sole railroad bridge between D.C. and Virginia, carrying dozens of daily Amtrak and VRE passenger trains and CSX freight trains.


Amtrak made it official this week, announcing that it carried 724,051 passengers over the Thanksgiving holiday week, marking the most successful week in the railroad’s 40-year history.  And with 138,736 passengers on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Amtrak also broke its previous single day ridership record.”

“As America’s Railroad, we value connecting families and friends, especially during the holidays,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman. “Strong ridership increases over the holiday were seen on routes across the country as passengers chose Amtrak to provide convenient and affordable travel.”

In total, ridership was up 2.8% over the same period last year.  Long-distance trains saw an increase of 1.8 percent in the passengers they carried, state-supported trains and other short distance corridors rose by 2.6 percent, and the Northeast Corridor shot up by 3.6 percent.


A senior Amtrak official says that moving Amtrak into a larger station in New York City is a necessary precondition for being able to offer more frequent, higher-capacity train service on the entire Northeast Corridor.

Drew Galloway, Amtrak’s Assistant Vice President for the Eastern Region, told Bloomberg News, “Either we are able to expand the station capacity to accommodate more passengers, or we can’t expand the service on the corridor. It’s that simple.”

Amtrak has sought to move its operations across 8th Avenue from the existing Penn Station to the James A. Farley Post Office building, which developers plan to transform into a train station and retail complex at a cost of $1 billion. Financing for the project remains uncertain, but once it is in place, construction will take up to 4 years.

Galloway says Amtrak cannot afford to move out of Penn Station unless the new one, dubbed Moynihan Station (after New York’s late former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan), comes essentially rent-free. New York officials said Amtrak won’t have to help pay for building the new station, but may have to contribute to station operations, according to Bloomberg News.