Hotline #768 -- July 20, 2012

House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (R-FL) told reporters that he is expecting to hold at least one hearing on Amtrak before Congress breaks for the August recess.

“We're looking at two areas: One is food service, and the other is contracts," Mica told reporters.  “[Amtrak food concessions are] are costing a fortune. They're losing money. They're supposed to turn it around."

As has been previously reported by NARP, former Amtrak Executive Vice President – Transportation William Crosbie addressed this issue in a June 9, 2005 hearing on Amtrak food service convened by the Railroads Subcommittee: “Amtrak’s food and beverage service is a fundamental part of the service that we offer on the majority of the trains that we operate on a daily basis. Its primary purpose is to enhance ticket sales and ridership, not serve as a profit center.” (Translation: no food service, huge loss of ridership, and not just on the long-distance trains. But it’s hard to make money when your clientele is limited to people on one train.) Read NARP President Ross Capon’s prepared testimony for the 2005 hearing for more information. The entire hearing is available here.

Chairman Mica also indicated that he was considering taking up a stand-alone rail title in the wake of the recently passed surface transportation reauthorization.  The Senate version of the surface transportation bill had a rail title that included many positive passenger rail provisions—like creation of a 100% federal grant program for improvements to or preservation of routes over 750 miles long.  However, those provisions were stripped from the final bill during negotiations. 

Representative Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chair of the T&I Subcommittee on Railroads, said high-speed rail may also get a hearing, indicating that House Republicans are in discussions about the hearing’s agenda.

California Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed the high speed rail funding bill July 18.  Appropriately, Governor Brown signed the bill in separate ceremonies at the line’s two endpoints: first in Los Angeles at Union Station, then in San Francisco at the site of the future Transbay Terminal.

“This legislation will help put thousands of people in California back to work,” said Governor Brown. “By improving regional transportation systems, we are investing in the future of our state and making California a better place to live and work.”

Governor Brown also addressed the projects critics, who he derided as “NIMBYs,” “fearful men,” and “declinists.”  “It’s taken that long to get this going,” said the governor in San Francisco. “You may not be around when it’s finished.”

The moment was one of triumph for millions of Californians from every walk of life.  Representing the business community, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Falk penned an op-ed column for the San Francisco Examiner, saying the time for high-speed rail is now:

At a time when statewide unemployment continues to linger at 11 percent, high-speed rail is the right plan for California. The revised business plan to build the system will create immediate jobs in an area where they are needed most. Construction of the first segment of the train in the Central Valley is projected to generate the equivalent of 20,000 full-time jobs annually. Building the segment of the system from the Bay Area to Southern California will create an estimated 66,000 jobs annually and directly employ 2,900 people.

The blended approach to building the system, which leverages existing track on the Peninsula and in the Los Angeles Basin, is not only the most cost-effective plan; it provides much-needed investment in existing urban rail systems that will ultimately connect with high-speed rail. In the Bay Area, these investments include: $600 million for Caltrain electrification, $61 million for Muni’s Central Subway extension and $140 million to help replace aging BART cars.

The signing ceremony came two days after the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA) released a revised draft environmental impact report for the 114-mile segment between Fresno and Bakersfield.  CAHSRA lengthened the window for public input from 45 days to 60.  The Authority stated that the revision won’t impact the 2013 construction start date, and is intended to address Central Valley residents’ concerns about the project.

“The revised environmental document we release today responds to many of the public’s initial concerns and feedback which were drawn from communities throughout the Central Valley,” said CAHSRA CEO Jeff Morales.  “We know we haven’t addressed all issues to everyone’s satisfaction but this next part of the process is designed to get the public’s input to continue to improve this document going forward.”

CAHSRA believes it will be able to submit requests for proposals in September of this year.  The state will undoubtedly have to confront lawsuits from the project’s opponents, which are already being filed.

The Northeast Corridor Commission (NECC) held its first public meeting yesterday, gathering together government and stakeholder representatives from across the northeastern U.S. to discuss the opportunities and challenges involved in developing America’s premiere passenger rail corridor.

Mandated in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, the NECC was tasked with creating and implementing a comprehensive, long-term regional investment strategy for the Northeast Corridor (NEC).  The commission is comprised of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Amtrak, and the U.S. Department of Transportation (along with nonvoting members, including four freight railroads, five connecting states, and one commuter agency). 

The meeting was attended by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Thomas Carper (D-DE), Representatives John Mica (R-FL) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), along with representatives from Amtrak, NARP, and dozens of other stakeholder groups.

Secretary LaHood kicked off the event, and his message was clear: high-speed rail is the next big thing in American transportation.  LaHood wrote about the commission’s work on the Secretary’s Fast Lane blog today:

The NECC meeting is the first time that we’ve had DOT, Amtrak and representatives from every state in the corridor at the same table, planning for the future of this region. This partnership represents our commitment to a unified vision for the Northeast Corridor—and that vision includes speed. 

The Northeast Corridor is in a unique position for the growth of high speed rail. Home to one in seven Americans, the region is densely populated with an established rail market. It's an ideal candidate for further high-speed rail development.

With 17 percent of the U.S. population on less than 2 percent of the nation’s landmass, the 457-mile rail corridor is an incredibly complicated operation—the NEC’s spine supports over 2,200 commuter, intercity, and freight trains; and serves 750,000 passengers on a daily basis. 

That challenge also represents a great opportunity: the NEC links four of the ten largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington), with four out of ten metropolitan areas with the highest number of hours lost in traffic, and seven out of ten of the worst U.S. airports for on-time arrival.  And with the corridor accounting for 20 percent of America’s gross domestic product, the economic incentive to act is greater than in any other part of country.

Amtrak debriefed the NECC on its 2012 update for it Vision for the Northeast Corridor.  By identifying near-term choke points—such as the 100-year-old trans-Hudson River rail tunnels, which will need to be addressed through the Gateway Project before any capacity expansion can take place on the NEC—Amtrak is helping the NECC efficiently allocate limited funds.

The next step will center on reviewing how upgrades to the corridor will impact communities and the environment, and will involve soliciting public input.

Japanese rail car manufacturer Nippon Sharyo Manufacturing opened its first U.S. plant yesterday in Rochelle, Illinois, another step forward in the ongoing passenger rail industry renaissance taking place in America that will create 250 manufacturing jobs.

The meeting was attended by Nippon Sharyo officials, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Federal Railroad Deputy Administrator Karen Hedlund, and a number of local officials.  There was traditional Japanese drumming and a good-luck toast from a cask of sake rice-wine.

“I am committed to growing our manufacturing industry, increasing foreign investment and bringing high-speed rail to Illinois,” Governor Quinn told reporters. “Our strong transportation network and central location make Illinois the ideal choice for global companies like Nippon Sharyo that are looking to grow.”

The modern, 465,000-square-foot facility cost $50 million to construct, and will have the capacity to produce 120 rail cars each year.  The plant’s first task will be to manufacture 160 "Highliner" rail cars for the Metra Electric Line, replacing aging equipment that has survived from the old Illinois Central Railroad in the 1970s.  The cars will cost $585 million, and will be funded through Governor Quinn’s Illinois Jobs Now! capital program.  The first rail car is scheduled to be shipped this September, with delivery of the final car scheduled for the summer of 2015. 

With the Rochelle plant in place, Nippon Sharyo rail cars will meet Made in America guidelines, allowing the company to compete for federally funded contracts.  The Chicago Tribune reports that the Illinois plant has already lined up contracts to manufacture 12 diesel cars for California's Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, 18 cars for Metrolinx in Toronto, and eight bi-level passenger cars for Virginia Railway Express

Following a mechanical malfunction, Amtrak was able to reopen the Niantic River Bridge ahead of schedule on July 17, allowing train traffic to resume.

“Amtrak apologizes for the inconvenience caused by this incident,” spokesman Cliff Cole said in a statement.

Crews recently lowered the new span into place, and the structure compressed more than models predicted, forcing crews to realign the span.

Mechanisms on the old Niantic River bridge, which was serving as backup, malfunctioned over the weekend.  The bridge is over 100-years old and prone to malfunctions, one of the main reasons the span is being replaced in the first place.  While the outage was originally expected to last through Tuesday night, crews were able to wrap up work on Tuesday morning.  The work was also completed under budget.

The next significant work on the bridge is scheduled for November.

CSX Corporation reported second quarter net earnings this week, another sign of the freight rail sector’s resiliency in the face of the country’s ongoing economic woes.  The positive earnings report were in spite of the continuing decline in demand for coal, which is an important part of Class I railroads’ portfolios.

CSX, the largest freight railroad in the eastern U.S., posted its 10^th consecutive quarter of year-on-year earnings growth.  That growth came despite a 35 percent drop in domestic coal traffic, due to decreases in domestic demand for electricity and falling gas prices.

The Financial Times report yesterday said Class I railroads earnings have been buoyed by a resurgent U.S. car industry, which has driven up automotive shipments.  And freight railroads have managed to do well in the economic slump in large part thanks to their energy efficiency, which points to the industry’s other growth segment: intermodal shipments as truck+rail moves replace all-truck hauls.  Trains can move one ton of freight 500 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel.

Deaths on U.S. roads rise 13 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same span in 2011, an increase that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) labeled as “significant.”

According to the NHTSA’s report, released today, more than 7,630 people died on U.S. roads in the first quarter of 2012 (January-March), compared to 6,720 fatalities that occurred in the first quarter of 2012.

Governors Highway Safety Association executive director Barbara Harsha issued a press release responding to the announcement:

“We are disappointed in the news but not particularly surprised.  As NHTSA notes, unprecedented gains have been made since 2006 in reducing traffic deaths. So, from that low baseline, an increase is not unexpected. While it is too early to draw conclusions about the data and the reasons for the increase, the strengthening economy and the warm winter may be factors.”

While road fatalities have decreased sharply in the past few years, motor vehicle accidents are still the leading cause of death for children and young adults (ages 3 to 34).