Hotline #760 -- May 25, 2012

This week, NARP became an Amtrak Guest Rewards® partner. If you are an AGR member, you can earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points when you join, renew or donate to NARP.

[The schedule of points awarded for new members and renewals]

For special appeals, we provide two points for each dollar you give NARP.  If you are not an Amtrak Guest Rewards member, you can join for free.   Amtrak Guest Rewards  points do not expire unless you go 24 months without earning any points.  Amtrak Guest Rewards  points can be redeemed for free Amtrak travel, hotel stays, car rentals, and gift cards from a variety of leading retailers and restaurants.

The much-anticipated SunRail commuter rail system for Central Florida took another step forward this week.  The Florida Department of Transportation began work May 21 on track upgrades that will stretch seven miles from Orlando’s Amtrak Station to Lake Avenue.

Crews will correct the alignment of the rails, creating a smoother ride for the trains.  Construction on the greater Orlando commuter service began in January 2012; Phase 1 of the project will stretch 32 miles north of Orlando, with operations expected to begin in 2014.  Phase 2—an extension of another 30 miles, north and south—will begin in 2014, with the complete system in place by 2016

Union Pacific Railroad announced yesterday it will need to replace around 115,000 concrete ties along the St. Louis-Chicago corridor.  Though the ties are less than two years old, it was discovered they do not meet standards for long-term durability.

“During the 2010, 2011 construction seasons, certain concrete railroad ties installed in the corridor were failing a laboratory test predictive of durability,” Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis told the State Journal Register, while emphasizing that the ties do not pose a near-term safety threat.

The 115,000 ties that will be replaced are a subset of 492,000 ties that were put in along the St. Louis-Chicago corridor during the 2010 and 2011 construction seasons.  The State Journal Register reported today that the defective ties will not significantly hinder the state’s high performance rail program:

The defective ties were first mentioned when the Illinois Department of Transportation and Amtrak in late March announced a quality-control program to guarantee that track and equipment upgrades are up to high-speed standards.

Despite the tie replacements, plans still are to begin test runs of 110-mph trains this fall at the north end of the corridor, IDOT spokesman Josh Kauffman said.

“The project remains on schedule,” said Kauffman.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said that the schedule for trains running through the Springfield area has already been altered to accommodate previously planned work, and passengers shouldn’t expect any further changes (see Traveler’s Advisory).

U.S. High Speed Rail’s Thomas Hart, Jr. had a piece in the May 23 edition of Politico highlighting the many benefits of modern passenger trains.  The headline was “The Many Benefits of High-Speed Rail.”

Politico is read widely on Capitol Hill, so the piece is likely to receive plenty of attention from federal policy makers:

The Northeast Corridor is already one of most valuable U.S. transportation assets. With I-95, it’s the only continuous link between the major population centers of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. This is the nation’s most densely populated region with 18 percent of the U.S. population living in just 2 percent of its land area. The NEC region alone would be the world’s sixth-largest economy, with a gross domestic product of $2.59 trillion.

The NEC is already a mature rail corridor — Amtrak and regional rail services show ridership spikes whenever gas prices increase. Amtrak’s Acela service, however, averages only 80 mph. True high-speed rail in this corridor could prove competitive with air travel, particularly because rail can easily connect to other local and regional transit networks…

In California…a high-speed rail corridor is also viable because of major population centers from Sacramento to San Jose to San Francisco, then south through the Central Valley to Los Angeles and San Diego.  Gov. Jerry Brown and Dan Richard, the new chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority, are planning to begin construction of an 800-mile high-speed rail system connecting the major cities.

While Hart focuses mainly on the Northeast Corridor and California’s high-speed corridor, he also addresses a shifting national sense that rail shouldn’t be treated as a partisan political football to kick back and forth, but an important mode in addressing America’s transportation future.

“A new political group is now forming Republicans for Rail,” writes Hart.  “There is also talk of starting a rail super PAC to generate money and grass-roots support for additional rail transit investments.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority revealed that New York City’s East Side Access project likely won’t be completed until August 2019—six years later than originally planned.  When paired with news that the project’s worst case scenario budget has jumped to $8.24 billion—up from a previous estimate $7.3 billion—it’s an ugly one-two for MTA officials.

The Wall Street Journal took a look at the obstacles that have delayed the subterranean rail tunnel, and found that executing a complex project on an incredibly busy, working railroad have created ongoing headaches for project managers:

Driving the delays in the project—which will bring Long Island Rail Road trains to a new station deep beneath Grand Central Terminal, slashing commuting times for an expected 80,000 Midtown workers—are derived not just from technical complications but also cascading delays at the Harold Interlocking in Queens. There, MTA construction crews are rebuilding the nation's busiest passenger rail interchange, even as it continues to be used by some 48 Amtrak and 600 LIRR trains per day.

That has required cooperation among a number of players, including LIRR, Amtrak and NJ Transit, which stores about 40 trains each weekday in the rail yards near Harold, in preparation for the afternoon rush through Penn Station to New Jersey.

While the MTA may be able to get the East Side Access project done for less money and in less time, they made no bones about the conservative tone of their forecast. 

"[Past benchmarks have been] consistently blown, year in and year out," said MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota. "I think we've got to go with the right number. The public deserves that.”

Seattle’s historic King Street Station reopened its upgraded baggage and ticket facilities on May 23, part of the ongoing major restoration of the station to meet the steadily growing demand for intercity passenger rail in the region. 

“The beauty of this work is that we’re preserving the station’s historic elements while also adding modern passenger conveniences to better serve its customers,” explained Peter Hahn, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Between intercity and commuter rail service, King Street Station serves more than four million passengers each year:

What passengers will see tomorrow in the new ticket and baggage area is new terrazzo flooring, salvaged marble wall panels, refurbished wood doors and upgraded lighting. New baggage carousels will facilitate baggage handling and Amtrak buses will load and unload passengers in a newly paved turnaround area on the west side of the station. A quiet, energy-efficient ground source heat pump system has also been installed to provide heating and cooling for this area, and Amtrak employees will enjoy new office space. 

…

As part of the station’s rehabilitation, vintage lighting was recently added to the new plaza that fronts on South Jackson Street. Other recently completed elements include all new electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems, and the addition of a fire sprinkler system where none existed before. Renovation of the grand stairway that connects the Jackson Street Plaza to the station entrance below has been completed but it will not be available for use until the current seismic upgrade work is finished. Restoration of interior and exterior historic architectural details including the waiting room’s ornamental plaster work is now underway, in addition to seismic upgrades.

Amtrak has been working hand in hand with the Seattle Department of Transportation to make sure local restoration efforts mesh with the railroad’s operations.

“Amtrak will be working hard to make sure that our passengers can navigate in and around the station during the next phase of construction,” said Amtrak Assistant Superintendent Gay Banks Olson. “There will be some challenges with regards to access to the station and the other construction occurring in the immediate vicinity. We want to let passengers know in advance so they can be prepared

Central Pennsylvania’s East Broad Top Railroad announced this week that it will not be operating steam powered excursions for the 2012 summer season.

Originally chartered in 1856 to transport coal from Broad Top Mountain, the nonprofit EBT Preservation Association signed a three year contract in 2009 with the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company to operate the steam powered trains for tourists and history enthusiasts.  The sad news appears on the railroad’s website (excerpted here):

On April 1st, 2012, the East Broad Top Preservation Association's 3-year lease to operate the East Broad Top Railroad with an option to buy has ended. After painstaking talks and options were evaluated and discussed, no arrangement could be made between the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company and the East Broad Top Preservation Association.

At this time there are no certainties beyond 2012. We can't say this is the end of the line, nor can we say this is just temporary. Should any type of operations or events be planned in the future, we will announce them here. Until then there are no further details….

Rest assured it is difficult for us to accept that we are unable to provide a memorable visit on our railroad, much the same as it is for you to read this announcement. If it were not for the kind support of our visitors over the past 51 years we would have never made it this far. Again, we thank you for the greatest experience we could ever imagine. 

The East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company

Travelers Advisory: 

Some train service in Illinois will be affected to allow Union Pacific’s Track Renewal Train crews to upgrade infrastructure, increasing top speeds for Amtrak trains to 110 mph—an increase from the current maximum of 79 mph.  Amtrak made the announcement May 22, with schedule alterations in effect until June 9:

Work has progressed from Alton to north of Springfield and most days it will lead to the substitution of chartered motorcoaches for Amtrak Lincoln Service (Trains 300-307) passengers at St. Louis, Alton, Carlinville, Springfield and Lincoln. The Amtrak Texas Eagle (Trains 21/321/421 & 22/322/422) will detour between Chicago and St. Louis for the same period, with alternate transportation in both directions between Joliet and St. Louis.

The Capitol Corridor began service at the new Santa Clara/University Station stop (station code SCC) this week, giving Northern Californians heading to and from Silicon Valley an added travel option.  The station is located at 1001 Railroad Avenue in Santa Clara and provides convenient access to Santa Clara University, San Jose’s Mineta International Airport and a seamless cross-platform connection to Caltrain and ACE train services.