Hotline #771 -- August 10, 2012

Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway announced this week that it will be moving forward with the development of a passenger rail service between Miami and Orlando, with plans for the service to launch by the end of 2014. The project would create 6,000 temporary construction jobs, with another 1,000 permanent positions created through operation and maintenance of the service.

FEC’s study found that around 50 million people travel between Miami and Orlando annually, with cars the dominating mode.  The company believes that the service, which would allow passengers to travel between Orlando and South Florida in around three hours, has the potential to capture a large portion of that market.

"We've completed due diligence and everything has confirmed our excitement," Vice President of Corporate Development at Florida East Coast Railway Husein Cumber told reporters.  "This project is financially viable, and so we're moving forward with it."

The service, dubbed All Aboard Florida, would be operated by FEC, and would run on 200 miles of existing right of way currently being used by FEC freight trains.  The railroad will need to build 40 miles of new track to connect the service to Orlando International Airport.  In conjunction with Miami Metrorail’s new Orange Line service, travelers will have access to direct rail connections between Miami International Airport, Orlando International Airport, and Orlando’s many renowned theme parks and resorts.

“It reflects the reality of Miami and the diversification of the economy here that we have a growing, sophisticated population eager to take rail,” said Frank Nero of Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County's official economic development partnership.  "It's too close to fly and too far to drive, but this is a very happy medium. It's terrific.  I can see tourists who might otherwise decide only to go to Disney, who now might decide to go to Miami for a day or two as well."

FEC estimates that the project will cost around $1 billion, and has expressed confidence that it will be able to fund the entire cost through private sector investment.  A big piece of that puzzle was clarified with FEC’s announcement that it intends to create a new train station to serve as a hub for the development of nine acres of land lying in the heart of downtown Miami.  Located along tracks just north of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, the land—owned by Florida East Coast Industries—is currently fallow.

“Everything’s on the table. We’re looking at everything from residential to office and retail and hotel,’’ said Cumber.  “You want to make sure that what you build has a lasting impact on a community, but also fits into the fabric. You want to make sure what you build is something the community embraces.’’

Voters in Kansas City, MO, approved a special tax district that will fund a $100 million project to build a 2-mile streetcar line downtown.

The City Election Board certified the result of the July 30 election on Wednesday. 319 voted in favor of the tax district and 141 voted against. The city also said it found a way to close a $25 million gap in funding for the project when it did not win a federal grant for which it had applied. The tax district will provide $75 million for construction as well as operating funding.

The measure also creates the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, which uses a governance model based on that of Portland, Oregon’s TriMet, to oversee day-to-day operations and consult with the city on remaining engineering and construction work. NARP member David Johnson (not to be confused with our former Assistant Director), who is also active in the Northern Flyer Alliance, was appointed to the Authority’s Board of Directors.

Kansas City voters had previously rejected light rail seven times. Voters appeared to have approved one light rail proposal in 2006, but city officials voided that election result and a court upheld the decision.

The streetcar, scheduled to begin revenue service in 2015, will connect River Market to Crown Center, including a stop at Union Station, the city’s Amtrak depot, which also houses a science museum. If this construction schedule is met, it would be the fastest implementation of a modern urban rail transit project in US history, going from Alternatives Analysis to revenue service in five years.

“This project is a go,” City Councilman Russ Johnson told a crowd of transit supporters at Union Station. “We are on schedule for 2015 and we will be riding streetcars in 2015.”

An August 31 deadline for Amtrak to decide whether or not it wants to move forward on rerouting the daily Chicago-San Antonio Texas Eagle over the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) tracks between Dallas and Fort Worth is fast approaching. The proposal to make improvements to the TRE line and reroute the Eagle was awarded a $7.2 million federal High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail grant, and the deadline, which is absolute, was imposed in the terms of the grant agreement between the transit agencies that jointly operate TRE—the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (the T) and Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)—and the Federal Railroad Administration.

TRE runs frequent commuter service over a line that it owns through Irving and CentrePort in both directions 6 days a week (more frequently during rush hours), making 7 intermediate stops between Dallas Union Station and Fort Worth Intermodal Center, both of which it shares with Amtrak. (TRE trains also continue west to Fort Worth’s T&P Station.) The Texas Eagle, however, takes a more southerly route over Union Pacific tracks through Arlington that also host heavy freight traffic.

The Eagle does a back-up move to reach Fort Worth Intermodal Center and to connect between UP’s east-west line and BNSF’s north-south line to continue its route. Routing the train over TRE would eliminate this move and shave up to a half hour off the Eagle’s schedule while increasing reliability. It would also allow the Eagle to add a stop at CentrePort, more directly serving Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and other populous areas in the center of the Metroplex.

When reached for comment, Amtrak representatives stated that Amtrak is currently negotiating with TRE, but that TRE has yet to agree to liability terms in line with those Amtrak has with other host railroads. These agreements call for Amtrak to take on the liability for its equipment, passengers and crew, regardless of fault.  Amtrak says it is continuing to discuss these issues with TRE management and remains hopeful that an agreement can be reached to benefit both TRE and Amtrak passengers.

The Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association announced that they have secured funds to conduct a feasibility study for the restoration of service between Fort Wayne, Indiana and Chicago.  The $80,000 study will build the business case for the service, with an eye toward an eventual extension of service to Columbus, Ohio:

Councilman Geoff Paddock, a founding board member of NIPRA and Fred Lanahan, President of the NIPRA Board of Directors announced that $80,000 has been raised by NIPRA to launch the Northern Indiana/Ohio Passenger Rail Corridor Study and Business Plan. This study will be conducted by Transportation Economics and Management Systems, Inc, (TEMS) which has a proven record of producing compelling analysis of the benefits of transportation systems in the United States, particularly passenger rail.

“This is the next step for NIPRA in its efforts to see passenger rail return to Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana,” said Paddock. “State officials, including Governor Daniels, have urged those interested in promoting rail service to substantiate its economic benefits to the state. The TEMS study will highlight the economic impact rail has and the number of jobs that could be created. The business plan will go far beyond previous studies to develop financing and funding arrangements that could sustain rail service into the future. The study will also lay groundwork for an assessment of potential public/private partnerships, including freight, that could work to implement rail service,” Paddock said.

Read the full statement from NIPRA.

From the Blog

This week, NARP staffer Malcolm Kenton addressed an issue that is near-and-dear to the hearts of all passengers: Making the Trains Run On-Time:

Someone who called the NARP office recently asked me, “The [passenger] trains run on-time in Europe. Why can’t they do the same here?” It’s a simple question whose answer is, unfortunately, quite complex. The causes of Amtrak train delays vary greatly by route, by host railroad, and by the time of the year. There are many unplanned-for exigencies that occur on the rails on a routine basis, such as suicides and grade crossing collisions involving passenger or freight trains (which always force all traffic on a line to halt for several hours), the mechanical failures of Amtrak or freight trains, severe weather, and other damage done to railroad infrastructure. There are also times when trains are stopped at stations for longer than scheduled because it takes a while to load and unload high volumes of passengers and baggage, or to serve passengers with special needs.

But a large chunk of the routine causes for train delays could be addressed at little or no cost to the taxpayer, the fare-paying passenger, or Amtrak.

…

A 2007 NARP letter to the STB helped convince it to take a closer look at chronic Amtrak train delays. It also spurred Amtrak to write its own letter to the STB, and some host railroads felt the need to respond. NARP’s letter also helped to spur action in Congress: the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) gave the STB new powers to enforce the provisions of the Amtrak law pertaining to dispatching priority, as well as the terms of Amtrak’s contracts with host railroads. If the STB determines (acting on its own volition or based on a complaint from Amtrak or another party) that delays are attributable to a host railroad’s failure to provide dispatching preference to Amtrak, it can now award damages to be paid by the host railroad to Amtrak or to the state sponsoring the train in question. 

[Read the full piece]

The NARP blog also addressed attempts by the chairman of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure to stir up controversy (yet again) over the Amtrak’s food and beverage service:

"Our ridership is up, our revenue is up, we have reduced our debt, we have had our credit rating upgraded and we have a plan for the future that can be fulfilled with the dedication of this workforce, and business and political leadership. Food and Beverage has a good story to tell in its improvement. Unfortunately, our ability to tell that story is being thwarted, but our ability to continue to improve is not. We will improve.”

That was the message Amtrak President & CEO Joe Boardman sent in response to House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman John Mica’s (R-FL) attacks on the railroad’s food service.

Chairman Mica’s political grandstanding has certainly hit a sweet spot in the media news cycle, generating a lot of inside-the-beltway coverage—even eliciting a response from Tea Party candidate Sandy Adams, his Republican primary opponent, who labeled it an “election-year stunt.”  For that reason, this post will include the full text of Amtrak’s press release; the company deserves a chance to respond.  There are also a few points worth emphasizing. 

[Read the full piece]

Gas prices are once again inching upwards, with the national average for a gallon of regular reaching $3.662 this week.  Yet, as Politico pointed out in an article yesterday, there has been very little media coverage, leading some analysts to wonder if this lack is the product of shifting public expectations in the face of an undeniably upward trend in fuel prices.

“It used to be something when we broke that $2.50/gallon threshold. Then it broke $3/gallon. And now we’re pushing back up and we’ve been over $4 now a few times the last few years and we’re headed back that way,” Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations, told Politico.  “If you’re making comparisons the last five years compared to the previous five years there’s no comparison, it’s much higher.”

Yet there are unavoidable realities that come with the “new normal” of high gas prices.  According to a study done by the U.S. Travel Association, for those planning to travel by car this summer, more than half (54 percent) said an increase in gas prices would affect their summer leisure travel plans.

Of course, they could always book a trip by train.