Hotline #743 - January 27, 2012

The Obama Administration has pushed back against the notion that the President was signaling a change in policy towards high-speed rail by omitting a reference to it in his January 24 State of the Union address, with the Administration’s top transportation official stating that President Obama still wants to see 80 percent of Americans connected through a modern passenger rail network.

President Obama spoke of the need to invest in America’s physical infrastructure, citing it as both a challenge and an opportunity to generate economic activity while creating structures of lasting value:

“We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. A power grid that wastes too much energy. An incomplete high-speed broadband network that prevents a small business owner in rural America from selling her products all over the world.

During the Great Depression, America built the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge. After World War II, we connected our States with a system of highways. Democratic and Republican administrations invested in great projects that benefited everybody, from the workers who built them to the businesses that still use them today.”

Many political commentators described the absence of a reference to high-speed trains—featured prominently in Obama’s previous Presidential addresses—as indicative of a broader shift away from the high-speed rail program.  The program failed to secure funding during the current fiscal year’s appropriations process, and has seen its flagship project in California recently become mired in political infighting. 

However, at a Transportation Research Board forum held the next day in the nation’s capitol—made up of past-and-present Secretaries of the Department of Transportation—Secretary Ray LaHood went out of his way to restate the Administration’s commitment to high-speed and intercity passenger rail:

“We’ve made ten billion dollars worth of investments. We’re going to continue our efforts to implement high speed rail.  We’re going to continue our efforts with our partners.  We have great partners all over the country. We have a great partner in Michigan in the governor.  We have a great partner in California in the governor we have great partners in the Midwest whether it be Michigan Illinois, Missouri.  We have great partners on the Northeast corridor.

If you look at the money we’ve invested over the last 18 months—almost a billion dollars in Amtrak on the Northeast corridor—which is what members of Congress have been clamoring for.  We listened to them and we made those investments.

High speed rail is a priority for President Obama and it’s a priority for the administration, and we’re going to continue to make progress. We’ve made a lot of progress.  Three years ago there was not one penny spent for high speed inter-city rail. We’ve allocated over 10 billion. That’s a pretty good leap in a three year period.”

LaHood was joined by head of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) in reading President Obama’s State of the Union as a positive sign for future investment in transportation.

“On behalf of the APTA and its 1500 members across the country, I applaud President Obama for his focus on investment in our nation’s transportation infrastructure, including public transportation, as a way to fulfill the President’s goal of ‘building an America to last,’” said APTA President Michael Melaniphy, further pushing against the notion that transportation was snubbed by the President.  “We applaud the President for including job creation through infrastructure investment in his agenda; let’s not lose sight of the fact that one of the most effective jobs bills would be to pass a multi-year fully funded transportation bill.”

The next stage for shaping what form that investment takes will begin next week when five Congressional committees begin action on bills that will contribute to the surface transportation reauthorization.  In the House, Committees on Ways and Means, Natural Resources, and Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) have all indicated they will be marking-up bills that would be component pieces of a transportation bill.  In the Senate, meanwhile, the Committees on Finance and Banking will also begin to mark up bills. 

The two bodies are pushing separate visions; the Senate favors a two-year bill proposed by Senate Environment & Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) that essentially extends funding at current levels.  The House is countering with T&I Chairman John Mica’s (R-FL) plan, a five-to-six-year reauthorization that would cut funding below the current levels.

Regardless, next week is sure to be a busy one for staffers and transportation advocates.


California’s back-and-forth over the proposed 220 mph train between San Francisco and Los Angeles continued this week.  The state auditor issued an analysis of the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s (CAHSRA) funding plan, and announced that it believes the Authority’s handling of the project has become “increasingly risky.”  The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, issued a public backing of the project, calling the train a necessary investment in the state’s economic future.

On January 22, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce president Steve Falk wrote an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle to talk about the infrastructure investments that California’s businesses will need to meet the needs of the state’s growing population.  California is expected to add 60 million people by the year 2060, the equivalent of adding the entire population of New York.  Falk did not downplay the cost and difficulty of the project, but called it a worthwhile project with no realistic alternative capable of providing similar benefits:

In the current economic climate, jobs should also be taken into consideration. While jobs would certainly be created over time to build and maintain highways and runways, high-speed rail is expected to generate 100,000 jobs over the next five years and 1.2 million to 1.4 million over the next 20 years. By 2040, up to 450,000 new permanent jobs not related to high-speed rail could be created statewide by the added speed, capacity and commerce provided by the system...California high-speed rail is on the brink of reality, while no viable alternatives have been presented to accommodate the future needs of our state.

The state auditor issued its report January 24, saying CAHSRA has made progress on addressing some concerns over the projects business development plan, but that it still needs to do major work to address the funding gap that exists between the $12.5 billion that has been secured and the $74.5 billion (in 2011 dollars) net cost.

“The program’s overall financial situation has become increasingly risky, in part because the authority has not provided viable funding alternatives in the event its planned funding does not materialize,” the report says.

“We’re working with the auditor’s office on identifying deficiencies and we’ll continue to work with them,” CAHSRA spokesman Lance Simmens told Bloomberg News, adding that the auditor’s concerns will be addressed in a revised business plan to be issued in February.


The Northern Flyer Alliance sent out a press release this evening to debunk an article published this week that claimed plans to expand passenger rail in Kansas had “derailed”:

In response to a recent article claiming that passenger rail has been derailed due to KDOT testimony, Board Members of the Northern Flyer Alliance (a nonprofit representing the three state community alliance that is pushing for expanded passenger rail service) believe this couldn’t be further from the truth.  Given the attendance of the Rail Caucus Meeting on Wednesday, and the conversations and outcome of the advocacy efforts at the Capitol by NFA’s lobbyist and certain NFA Board Members, Passenger Rail expansion is on track.

You can read NFA’s full account of the hearing in question.


In an effort to reduce delays on the mega-project, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has renegotiated its contracts with its main contractor for the East Side Access tunnel.

The East Side Access project will connect the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) Main and Port Washington lines in Queens to a new terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal, increasing LIRR’s capacity in Manhattan and dramatically shortening travel time for commuters.

Originally scheduled to be done by this summer, the excavation work under Grand Central Terminal was pushed back to 2015.  The MTA hopes by restructuring the work—which includes stripping some work from the main contractor Dragados and increasing both early-completion incentives and schedule-overrun penalties—they can cut two years off of the total delay.

[Read a detailed account at the Wall Street Journal.]


Amtrak revealed the next phase in its Lancaster Train Station upgrade this week, a project that promises a significant improvement to the passenger experience at Pennsylvania’s third-busiest station.

With the current slate of work on the station nearing completion, Amrak crews are now turning to the Capstone project, a three-phase development undertaking.  The first phase will focus on relatively simple fixes to the passenger facilities, such as plaster work, followed by repainting of the station foyer, public hallways and restrooms.  The second phase will focus on more structurally complicated work, such as station lighting upgrades, HVAC replacement, and platform canopy repairs.  Finally, Amtrak will bring Lancaster Station into compliance with the company’s Accessible Stations Development Program, ensuring all passengers have ready access to the station’s facilities.

“Passengers will see Amtrak crews begin making the improvements just as soon as the current project ends in the next few weeks,” said Amtrak Senior Director of Major Project Partnerships Marilyn Jamison. “Amtrak is eager to get started.”


Southern California’s commuter railroad Metrolink unveiled a new website today that it says will provide better access and usability for passengers.

The railroad is touting the “My Metrolink” feature, which will allow riders to create personalized accounts to better access transit information that serves their specific needs.  The website has also streamlined trip planning, station information, service alerts, and its fare calculator.

“The vision was to improve the website’s user experience to make riding the train more accessible to everyone in Metrolink’s six-county service area,” said Deborah Golian Castro, the head of the development company that Metrolink recruited to overhaul the site.

You can see the results at www.metrolinktrains.com.


Central Florida’s SunRail commuter rail project broke ground today.  The $1.3 billion, 61-mile rail line will connect the Orlando region as far north as DeLand and as far south as Poinciana.

While the project isn’t scheduled to be fully completed until sometime in 2016, several developers have already begun development around five of the stations on the line.

[Read the full story at the Orlando Business Journal; subscription required]