Hotline #800 -- March 1, 2013

 

The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program released a paper this week that takes a closer look at America’s passenger rail renaissance, identifying passenger rail travel between metropolitan areas as an important source of ridership growth, and a fertile ground for future capacity expansion.   

While it’s no secret that Amtrak’s ridership has skyrocketed in the last decade, carrying a record 31.2 million riders in FY 2012, A New Alignment: Strengthening America’s Commitment to Passenger Rail does an excellent job of bringing some interesting trends into the foreground, and identifying workable action items for policy makers looking to improve passenger train service in the U.S.  NARP issued a release headlined “Railroad Passengers Applaud, Criticize Brookings Report”.  We highlighted these “important insights” in the report:

•    “Amtrak’s total boardings and alightings jumped 55.1% from Fiscal 1997 to Fiscal 2012.  This growth “more than triples population growth (17.1%) over the same period and exceeds the growth in real gross domestic product (37.2%).”
• “Amtrak more than doubled the growth in domestic aviation passengers (20.0%) over the same 16-year period. Similarly, Amtrak also far exceeded the growth in driving (measured by vehicle miles traveled per year; 16.5%) and transit trips (26.4%). All three modes do carry larger aggregate quantities of people, but these growth trends serve as evidence of changing attitudes toward train travel.”
• “As with other areas of infrastructure, recommendations for passenger rail tend to devolve into calls for increased federal spending. Such a call is probably justified especially over the long term for myriad reasons, including Washington’s historically outsized support of other transportation modes."
• “States would undoubtedly make better partners by removing the roads-only exclusion for their gasoline tax revenues. By committing a portion of revenues to other modes beyond highways, states would increase their abil­ity to consider the entire transportation system, rather than isolated parts.”

Our release went on to identify three “points that the report missed or did not sufficiently emphasize”:

 

• Growth has occurred on all segments of Amtrak’s business as Amtrak has repeatedly said.  Amtrak’s Oct. 10, 2012 release on its Fiscal 2012 ridership stated, “All 15 Amtrak long-distance routes experienced an increase in passengers resulting in their best combined ridership in 19 years.”  In that year, long-distance trains accounted for 43% of all Amtrak passenger-miles and provided the only Amtrak service in 22 states and countless major cities including Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis, Tampa and Denver. A passenger-mile is one passenger transported one mile. NARP’s report on the long-distance trains can be accessed online.
• Growth has been greater on state-supported routes because capacity has been added on those routes.
• In passing the 2008 authorization law, Congress recognized the long-distance trains as a logical, federal responsibility. These trains could not survive a mandate that they get state support. It is unrealistic to expect trains that cross so many state lines to gain the support of all the involved states, or to expect all states on a route to agree on schedules, service amenities, and cost allocations among the states. It is a huge challenge for many states to come up with the additional funding for short-distance trains which the law requires by October 1, 2013, even though most of those trains are the responsibility of one or a few states; indeed, some of the biggest challenges are routes that involve two or three states.

The Brookings report rightly recognizes that Amtrak receives a disproportionate amount of scrutiny, given the relative levels of government funding to all transportation modes:

Of course, scrutiny should be applied evenly to the entire American transportation network and not just to Amtrak alone. Much attention is given to the fact that other non-private passenger transportation modes are not “profitable,” nor do they concern themselves with being so. Governments at all levels invest much more heavily in the key elements of the transportation network, whether through direct grants for highways, tax incentives for airlines, or appropriations for public transit and, overall, Amtrak covers a relatively large share of its costs. As such, we agree that, like other transportation modes, “profitability” for Amtrak is not in and of itself the primary goal.

 

With a midnight deadline fast approaching, the U.S. Congress left town yesterday, today’s White House meeting with Congressional leaders produced nothing and the  sequester looks set to take effect tonight.  This is happening even though Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week warned that the cuts are too big, too soon, for the fragile economic recovery, and even though economists project that the cuts will increase the deficit as a percent of gross domestic product (because the hit to economic activity will more than offset reduced government spending).

With reductions to federal subsidies to airport security and air traffic, air travel is expected to be particularly hard hit. Federal workers get 30-days notice of furloughs, so none of the projected problems will hit until April.

Amtrak appears poised to maintain existing levels of service, though maintenance work and planning to improve and expand service for the future will be negatively impacted.That comes on top of the fact that Northeast Corridor infrastructure is already deteriorating.

Vice President Joseph Biden provided a lighter take on the impending sequestration, joking that the budget cuts would allow him to hit the rails again.

“The Secret Service doesn’t like me traveling back and forth to Delaware on the train. They concluded it gives too many opportunities for people to interact with me in a way they wouldn’t like to see them interacting. And so they fly me back and forth,” Biden said at an event held in Washington, D.C on February 27, referencing the thousands of trips he took between the nation’s Capital and his home in Wilmington, Delaware, enough to earn him the nickname ‘Amtrak Joe.’ “And so the only thing that’s allowed me to get back on the train, now I was able to say, look, guys, I’ve got to take the train now. It’s cheaper than flying. So I get to take the train again.”

 

Key transportation figures in the current Congress emphasized the need to adhere to a “user-pay” system while speaking at a February 28 gathering of top state transportation officials in Washington, D.C.

At the annual briefing held by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, there was bipartisan and bicameral support for the principle of transportation users paying for transportation investment.

“Going away from the user-pay, the pay-as-you-go system, I think is the wrong way to do it,” said Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “I think it's worked well for us.”

That sentiment was echoed by Shuster’s Senatorial counterpart, who cautioned that moving away from a user-fee system could permanently relegate transportation spending to a lower priority.

“Once we give up the idea of a fee-based system, we're in big trouble because then we won't be able to count on the Highway Trust Fund, we won't be able to count on the future for our infrastructure getting the attention it deserves,” said Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

So far, there has been a shortage of ideas about how to adequately fund the transportation system. Because the gasoline tax hasn’t been increased since 1993, and Washington shows little willingness to increase it now, the path of least resistance (a form of kicking the can down the road) has been to use general fund money to “bail out” the otherwise-bankrupt Highway Trust Fund.Total bailouts since 2008 have exceeded $53 billion. Whatever dedicated sources of funding are identified, they will have to provide significantly increased levels of funding if the U.S. is to have a truly modern, efficient, multi-modal transportation network.

 

Virginia Gov. McDonnell (R-VA) was able to emerge victorious with a $3.5 billion transportation package—including good news for passenger rail—package as the state legislature adjourned.A couple of key elements:

·         Replace 17.5-cent a gallon gasoline tax with a 3.5% wholesale tax on motor fuels that would keep pace with inflation and economic growth

·         Increase the amount of sales tax on nonfood merchandise that goes to transportation

·         “Republicans had to swallow their aversion to raising taxes, and Democrats had to accept diverting as much as $200 million a year in general fund revenue toward roads instead of schools or other services.”

You can read more here.

 

As work continues towards the planned May 2014 introduction of under-construction commuter train service in the greater Orlando area, dubbed SunRail, the Volusia County Council is considering a plan to turn 323 acres of unincorporated, mostly vacant land near the DeLand Amtrak station (which will also become SunRail’s northern terminus starting with an extension of the initial line in 2016) into a large rail-oriented mixed-use development called the SunRail DeLand Activity Center.

The plan would allow for up to 2,590 new dwelling units and 3.28 million square feet of commercial and industrial space, the idea being to encourage residents and visitors to arrive by train. The area in question is about three miles west of downtown DeLand, close to the border between Lake and VolusiaCounties, off of Old New York Avenue. The development would be designed to blend in with the surrounding area, with the densest buildings clustered around the station, and would reach the western end of DeLand’s city limits.

SunRail will likely build its platform just north of the Amtrak platform, along with a 90 to 180-space parking lot. A VolusiaCounty report said up to 7,100 new jobs might someday come out of the ActivityCenter.

In a Monday blog post, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood touted the progress on SunRail’s construction. Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff visited FloridaHospital, the site of the first of 12 SunRail stations in the project’s first phase. LaHood wrote:

Already, SunRail has put about 800 people to work and has spurred a $250 million investment in a 176-acre Health Village at Florida Hospital that will allow thousands of medical researchers, hospital employees, patients and their families to take transit to work or when seeking medical care.

And across the entire rail line, more than two dozen retail, office, government, and residential development projects within a 10-minute walk of new transit stations are planned or under way—representing about $1.6 billion in public and private investments. 

The SunRail commuter line makes it clear that investing in transportation projects is a great way to keep our local economies growing.

 

The Western Pennsylvanians for Passenger Rail is calling on the citizens of Pennsylvania to rally in support of maintaining the Pennsylvanian, and calling on the Commonwealth to increase and improve rail passenger service for the residents of western and central Pennsylvania. 

A provision of the Passenger Rail Improvement and Investment Act requires a restructuring of how states pay Amtrak for existing service, reducing federal support and imposing a standardized method for allocating costs along shorter-distance routes (anything under 750-miles).  The end result is that state governments will have to pay more for existing services.

WPPR is mobilizing citizens across the Commonwealth to urge their elected leaders to appropriate the necessary funds to continue running the Pennsylvanian, a 444-mile service between New York City and Pittsburgh, which Pennsylvania will need to fund between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.  Dozens turned out at the small Amtrak station in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, this morning for a “Save Our Train” rally to show support for the Pennsylvanian. The rally was timed to coincide with the arrival of the eastbound Pennsylvanian at Huntingdon.

“If the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania fails to support Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian, people living in western and central Pennsylvania will lose their only passenger rail link to Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York City, and intermediate points,” reads the WPPR statement.

WPPR President and NARP Council Representative Michael Alexander was the keynote speaker at the outdoor rally, which took place in the parking lot next to the Amtrak platform. Pennsylvania State Rep. Mike Fleck (R-Huntingdon) and Juniata College President Tom Kepple also spoke. Fleck reiterated his support for the state picking up its increased share of the route’s operating costs.

If you live in Pennsylvania, click here to tell your elected officials that you support maintaining Amtrak service between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

 

Virginia Railway Express, a commuter line connecting northern Virginia communities between Fredericksburg and Manassas and Washington, DC to the nation’s capital, is planning to implement a 4% fare increase in July to offset increases in costs, including fuel, track access fees and facilities maintenance. It would add an estimated $1.4 million in annual revenue. This would follow a 3% hike that took effect this past July.

Public hearings on the proposed hike are set for March 7 in Stafford and March 27 in Fredericksburg.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board held a public forum titled “Positive Train Control (PTC): Is it on Track?” on February 27 in Washington, D.C., bringing together a wide range of rail sector experts to discuss the technological, regulatory, and operational status of PTC, an advanced signaling and communications technology designed to eliminate train-to-train collisions.

Chair Deborah Hersman opened with a powerful statement emphasizing the long delays that have characterized the history of PTC and its predecessors. She hit very hard on the things that are not being accomplished, at least not in the first round of installing PTC – protection against rear-end collisions and restricted-speed accidents (with 20 mph restricted speed and two trains going 20 mph, that can mean a head-on collision with 40 mph total velocity).

The Association of American Railroads pushed back against the 2015 deadline, warning that the technological obstacles are prohibitive, requiring more time to implement.

“Freight railroads are determined to safely implement PTC, and have been putting vast resources and energy behind efforts to do so,” said AAR President and CEO Edward Hamberger.  “But the fact is, it’s simply impossible to safely install a reliable, fully interoperable PTC system everywhere it is required by the 2015 deadline. There may be segments of track across the country that will be PTC operable by the 2015 deadline, but completely implementing PTC on the more than 60,000 route miles required by the mandate is still not possible by 2015.”

Hamberger outlined the work the freight railroads have done to implement PTC, including:

• partially equipping 6,072 locomotives with PTC onboard equipment, out of a total 18,100 locomotives needed for full implementation;
• equipping 8,504 wayside locations with PTC wayside interface units, out of 37,512 needed, and
• acquiring 2,775 220MHz base, wayside, and locomotive radios, out of the 56,035 that will be needed.

 

Travelers Advisory

--The Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority announced that, beginning Monday, March 4, it will introduce a pilot program for a “once per day” pick-up at the Topeka Amtrak Station.

For the next few months, Topeka Metro will pick up passengers at the Amtrak Station (500 SE Holliday Place), Monday through Friday, at 5:35 a.m.This will allow passenger disembarking from the Southwest Chief’s morning stop in Topeka to be transported to Quincy Street Station (Topeka Metro’s bus transfer station) located at 820 SE Quincy Street in Downtown Topeka, where they will be able to transfer to other routes beginning at 5:45 a.m. and 6:15 a.m.

“By extending our bus service to Amtrak passengers, we hope to create a more hospitable experience for folks visiting Topeka,” said Susan Duffy, Topeka Metro General Manager.“If we receive a positive response, the Metro will add this pick-up as a permanent part of our service.”

--Amtrak is launching a new advertising campaign for its Acela Express business class, looking to further its take-over of the air-rail market between Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.

The new “Take Off” campaign employs headlines like “Please Continue to Use All Electronic Devices” and “Seatbacks May Remain Reclined for As Long as You Like,” to highlight the comfort and efficiency business travelers enjoy on trains by directly referencing how restrictive modern air travel is.

You can watch one of the commercials over at Boston.com.