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Railroad Newsline for Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

BNSF TRAIN DERAILS AT HOUCK, ARIZONA

At approximately 02:30 CT Monday, January 22, 2007, BNSF Railway Company train S LPCLHA1 19 derailed five cars blocking both main tracks at Houck, AZ. This location is approximately 42 miles west of Gallup, NM.

The current estimate for returning both main tracks back to service is 04:00 CT Tuesday, January 23, 2007.

Customers may experience delays between 36 to 48 hours on traffic moving through this corridor. - BNSF Service Advisory

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TRAIN CRASH MEMORIAL UNVEILED

ATWATER VILLAGE, CA -- Images of the tragic train crash -- the confusion, blood and cries -- flooded Willa Robinson's thoughts Sunday during a memorial ceremony held just steps from the tracks where 11 people died.

Robinson and more than 100 others were hurt in the Jan. 27, 2005, crash near the border of Atwater Village and Glendale -- the worst disaster in Metrolink's history.

The train, packed with early morning commuters, plowed into a sport-utility vehicle left on the tracks by a suicidal man. The southbound passenger train derailed and careened into a northbound train and a parked freight train.

Sunday's event celebrated the lives of the dead, the injured and the heroes who tried to save them. City officials unveiled a memorial site and plaque, triggering painful reminders of the morbid day that still haunts the survivors.

"Every morning when I wake up, I am thankful to be alive. I could have been one of the 11," said Robinson, of Valencia, weeping quietly. "It certainly has been life-changing. It's something I'll live with for the rest of my life."

About 100 residents and city officials gathered for Sunday's dedication ceremony, across the street from the Costco where employees, police and firefighters had tirelessly pulled people from the train wreckage and got them to help on the dark and drizzly day.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said residents should give back to the area with the same selfless manner witnessed that day, saying it's that same generous spirit that epitomizes the meaning of a village.

Purchased with help from the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council and Los Angeles City Council, the $15,000 monument rests in front of a self-storage facility, at the corner of Los Feliz Boulevard and Seneca Avenue.

Crowded in the front rows of the ceremony sat family and friends of Scott McKeown, a 42-year-old from Moorpark who died in the crash. The train enthusiast, who even belonged to the Glendale Model Railroad Club, always sat in the front car on his way to work. After the crash, he was pulled from that favorite train car and later died from massive internal injuries.

McKeown's wife, Susan, said she was glad a place to remember her husband and others now exists. But even driving to the area on Sunday brought back the grief and difficult memories of a day that changed her life forever.

"It opens it up again like it happened yesterday," she said.

Juan Manuel Alvarez, 27, who abandoned his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks apparently during an aborted suicide attempt, pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of capital murder and is still awaiting trial. The next hearing is scheduled Feb.9.

Meanwhile, the MTA and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which operates Metrolink, are facing civil lawsuits from more than 100 crash victims seeking compensation. - Sue Doyle and Eugene Tong, The Los Angeles Daily News

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KCSR, WATCO HELP TLC CUSTOMERS FIND SOLUTION FOR GROWING PAINS

Haliburton and Atlas Resins, service providers to the oil and gas-drilling industries, discovered that their growth was restricted by their existing distribution sites in Shreveport, Louisiana. MI Drilling, also experiencing growing pains, was searching for a site that would accommodate the annual, double digit growth its customers expected over the next five years.

To better serve these industries, the Kansas City Southern Railway's and Watco's sales and marketing, industrial development, engineering and transportation departments worked together to find larger TransLoad Center (TLC) facilities for Haliburton and Atlas at Minden, LA.

A new facility was established for new TLC customer, MI Drilling at Hodge, LA., where it will build a warehouse to mix products for its customers. From their new TLC's, Haliburton and Atlas anticipate unloading 1,000 cars of sand annually and MI Drilling anticipates handling 500 cars of mud annually. - KCS News

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KCSR ACTION PLAN ADDRESSES EDT/HDT FAILURES

When an end of train device (EDT) or head of train device (HDT) fails, it often requires a train to be recrewed, with a consequence of added expense and delayed traffic. To reduce opportunities for such failures, the Kansas City Southern Railway mechanical and transportation departments have collaborated on an action plan that went into effect on December 1.

The plan calls for improved inspections, testing, repair and handling procedures and the installation of communication repeaters, as well as integration into velocity committee initiatives. The support of all mechanical and transportation employees is requested in this effort to keep traffic running fluidly for our customers. - KCS News

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NICHOLS CALLS MEETING ON FUTURE OPERATIONS OF TEXAS STATE RAILROAD

LUFKIN, TX – Texas State Senator Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, is holding a town hall meeting at 17:00 Friday at the Norman Activity Center in Jacksonville for a public discussion on Texas State Railroad State Park solutions.

The train that carries tourists and school children through East Texas Pineywoods from Rusk to Palestine needs more money for repairs to engines and the historic rails in order to keep operating. Issued yet another reprieve last November to continue operating through Aug. 31, 2007, park officials say they need up to $50 million for repairs over the next 10 years.

Currently, due to budget cuts implemented in recent years and a lack of funds for needed repairs, the park is only running its 1947 diesel engine out of the Rusk depot on Saturdays.
"In March we will go back to our standard schedule of Saturdays and Sundays from both ends," said park operations superintendent Mark Price in an e-mail interview.

Service at both stations will include Thursdays and Fridays for school tours and springtime visitors during April and May, he said.

It costs about $2.5 million a year to operate this state park, officials have said.

But by turning the trains into a static display it would cost $500,000 a year - which is one proposal, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regional director Ellen Buchanan.
Another option proposed by a civilian task force is to give the keys to a private contractor along with a cash incentive for repairs.

"Community leaders worked very hard to secure funding for the train until September," said Nichols. "We must now make the most of this limited reprieve and enact a plan to keep this piece of Texas history operating for generations to come."

Anyone concerned about the future of the Texas State Railroad is invited to Friday's public meeting, a press release stated.

Bringing together people with similar concerns for the railroad's fate to discuss ideas and concerns, Nichols said, is "the best way to find a long-term solution for continued operations is for all the affected communities to work together."

State Representative Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, who represents Anderson County, and State Representative Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, who represents Cherokee County, are co-hosting the meeting as both counties have depots for the state railroad.

"Senator Nichols called this town hall meeting because he thinks it's important that concerned citizens from across the region have an opportunity to express their thoughts and to hear from their new senator concerning the railroad," said Nichols spokeswoman Alicia Phillips in an e-mail interview.

"The public will have a chance to speak," Phillips said. "The intent is not for Nichols, Cook and Hopson to spend their time talking but to do a lot of listening." - Christine S. Diamond, The Lufkin Daily News, The Longview News-Journal

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RAILROAD CONGESTION CAUSES DEBATE

HARLINGEN, TX -- Long lines of traffic clog the streets while motorists wait for freight cars to inch their way past a railroad crossing.

It's a familiar scene in Harlingen, Texas.

And it's a scene that Cameron County officials hope to erase. County leaders are now studying plans to alleviate the congestion that inevitably ensues when a freight train moves through the heart of the city.

Two phases of the project call first for the rail switchyard in Harlingen to be abandoned, with switching activity moved to a new switchyard at Olmito, said Pete Sepulveda, county director of transportation and administrative services.

"To deal with the funding issues, to get a memorandum of understanding between the county, the cities of Harlingen and San Benito and Union Pacific Railroad and complete the relocation of the switchyard will take about 15 months," Sepulveda said.

The second phase would be the removal of all railroad tracks from Harlingen and San Benito, a project that could cost up to $90 million and could take years to complete, said David Allex, chairman of the Regional Mobility Authority, which has been working on rail relocation projects in the north and south ends of Cameron County for several years.

Getting the switchyard out of Harlingen will do the most to alleviate traffic congestion, Allex and Sepulveda said.

"Every day . many of us feel firsthand the effects of a slow-moving train on the busiest streets of our cities," Allex said. "In my opinion, the ones that are impacted the most are those parents trying to get to area schools to pick up their children and then take them to soccer, dance, karate practice or whatever other after-school activity they may have."

"We are working to improve the quality of life for these families and every other resident that has had to wait for a long period of time at a rail crossing," he said.

Members of the RMA have been working on the study since May and city leaders have been successful in obtaining federal funds for the study, Allex said.

Moving the switchyard out of Harlingen will reduce wait times for motorists at rail crossings from 45 minutes to three-to-five minutes, Allex said. However, the first phase of the project will not remove rail traffic from Harlingen or San Benito, he said.

A study prepared by HNTB Corp., a rail consulting firm, offers several options for rerouting railroad tracks around Harlingen and San Benito, emphasizing environmental constraints, historic sites, flood-prone areas, wildlife habitat, parks, emergency facilities, farmland, public buildings.

Sepulveda said Union Pacific Railroad wants a double track system to connect the Houston area with the Port of Brownsville, Port of Harlingen, Harlingen and San Benito and for rail traffic to and from maquiladora industries in the Matamoros area.

"It took 28 years to get the railroads out of Brownsville, but it will not take nearly as long for Harlingen and San Benito," Sepulveda said.

The RMA will continue to work on selecting one of many options listed in a just-released study that will determine the route rail lines will take around Harlingen and San Benito, he said.

Much of the West Rail Relocation Project, which is based in and around Brownsville, is already complete, Sepulveda said.

Tracks through the City of Brownsville have been routed around the city and rail switchyards that once were in the downtown area have now been replaced by a new switchyard at Olmito, he said.

"Cameron County is way ahead of every other county in the state for rail relocation," Sepulveda said.

Rail connections to the McAllen-Mission area are handled by Rio Valley Switching Co. Former Southern Pacific and Missouri Pacific tracks in the Lower Rio Grande Valley are now all part of the Union Pacific Railroad. - Allen Essex, The Valley Morning Star, The Brownsville Herald

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BRIDGE EFFORT IN 'HOLDING PATTERN' AS LEGAL ISSUE LOOMS

Photo here: [www.columbiatribune.com]

Caption reads: A group trying to restore the Missouri River rail bridge in Boonville suspended fundraising until a dispute over ownership of the bridge is resolved. (Tribune file photo)

BOONVILLE, MO -- Paula Shannon thinks the old rail bridge over the Missouri River in Boonville has the potential to afford Missourians an experience they wouldn't be able to get anywhere else in the state.

"It's just breathtaking when you are standing out on the bridge in the middle of the river," she said. "You can hear the river and the voices of nature. It's a way to experience the river in no other way that's available in Missouri."

Shannon is the chair of the Katy Bridge Steering Committee, a group working to raise money to restore the bridge for Katy Trail users and as a tourist attraction. The bridge is part of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas rail corridor that was converted to the Katy Trail under the federal Rails to Trails Act. Trail users now cross the river on a new highway bridge they share with cars and trucks.

Save the Katy Bridge, a not-for-profit group, has been collecting pledges to raise about $1 million to restore the old bridge. The group already has raised about $390,000, and volunteers have stepped in to provide the extra $95,000 in labor needed to complete the first part of a two-phase renovation, Shannon said.

The first phase would restore planking on the northern 920 feet of the bridge and complete a 3,000-foot stretch of the Katy trail leading to the bridge from Highway 87.

Work can't start, however, until a legal dispute about ownership rights to the bridge are settled in court. "We're in a holding pattern right now," Shannon said.

In the spring of 2005, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon sued the Department of Natural Resources and Union Pacific Railroad Co., which bought the MKT Railroad Co. Nixon claimed DNR Director Doyle Childers did not have the legal authority to allow Union Pacific to dismantle the bridge. The railroad wants to use the bridge's parts on a new rail bridge over the Osage River.

Nixon said the bridge was a part of the original agreement between the railroad and the state that created the cross-state trail.

Kurt Schaefer, DNR's general counsel, said the bridge was specifically left out of the original agreement and that the state does not have the deed to the bridge. He also said it would take much more than $1 million to fix it for pedestrian use. His estimate is $6 million to $12 million.

A Cole County Circuit Court judge ruled the public has no rights to the Boonville bridge. Nixon appealed, and he expects the case will be argued in March or April.

"I am hopeful that we can continue to prevent the removal of a significant asset of the redevelopment of historic Boonville," Nixon said Wednesday.

Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman, a longtime advocate of restoring the bridge, said it not only would offer a wonderful experience for all Missourians, it would boost tourism for Columbia, as well.

"It would be a major tourist attraction for the area," he said, noting that the bridge was the longest lift-span bridge in the world when it was built in 1932. "We would benefit just like other communities in the area benefit."

Shannon said restoration of the bridge would take place in stages. The first phase would allow people to walk or bike out to the center of the bridge, where promoters can host activities. The middle section of the bridge is always raised to accommodate barge traffic. If the fund-raising campaign is a success, Shannon said, the public could be given access to the raised portion by adding anything from stairs to a dumbwaiter-like lift to an elevator.

Once a portion of the bridge is secured for pedestrian use, Shannon said, she'd like to have an eagle-watching fundraiser. "I see it as a gathering place with multiple uses," she said, noting that the Chain of Rocks bridge in Illinois is used as a site for tastings and music festivals. A couple already contacted Shannon asking to rent the bridge as a wedding site. Any money from the proceeds of renting out the bridge will go to the not-for-profit group's bridge maintenance fund.

For now, fundraising continues on the Internet. Shannon said the group's site - [www.savethekatybridge.org] - accounts for 30 percent of the money raised. - Sara Semelka, The Columbia Tribune

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DEPOT HAS LONG FIX-IT LIST

SACRAMENTO, CA -- When the city of Sacramento bought the historic downtown train depot last month, officials knew they were getting the biggest fixer-upper in town.

"A diamond in the rough," the city's Hinda Chandler puts it.

How rough? We took a peek. The upstairs offices have been abandoned and untouched for years. Junk lies everywhere. Windows are broken. Sixties-era paneling peels from the walls. Even the dust has dust.

And then, there are these, um, droppings on the carpet.

Chandler knows what the droppings are from. "I opened an office door and a pigeon flew out at me!"

It'll cost millions of dollars to turn the place into a modern transit center. But, Chandler says, officials are happy to take the grand dame in hand. "It's a great building."

One intriguing item on the to-do list: Open two steel vaults and give railroad historians a peek. - Tony Bizjak, The Sacramento Bee

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ETHANOL COMPANY GBE EYES NEOSHO

NEOSHO, MO -- A Mount Vernon company has been in contact with Neosho city officials about possibly building its third ethanol plant near Camp Crowder, Springfield Business Journal has learned.

Gib Garrow, Neosho director of economic development, said Gulfstream Bioflex Energy LLC officers and the company's engineers have visited the Newton County city four times in recent months.

Garrow said they have toured locations in Neosho and negotiated with city leaders regarding the company's infrastructure needs.

Neosho is one of several plant sites throughout the state that GBE is considering, said CEO Greg Wilmoth, who declined to comment further. Wilmoth said he was unaware of a recent article in the Quincy (IL) Herald-Whig that publicized Neosho as a future plant site.

Last week, GBE announced it would build a $220 million plant in Monroe City, a small town about 20 miles west of Hannibal in northeast Missouri.

In August, the company unveiled plans for a $185 million corn-based ethanol plant on 252 acres east of Rogersville, but surrounding property owners concerned about their groundwater supply filed a lawsuit to block the plant. Both sides are preparing for a March 6 trial.

Neosho's industrial park near Camp Crowder would be an ideal location for such a facility, Garrow said. The park adjoins the Missouri National Guard instillation and other industrial facilities. Railroad links are available to the north-south Kansas City Southern Railway and east-west the BNSF Railway Company lines, he said.

Newton County's average corn production is far less than the home counties of Missouri's four existing and six proposed ethanol plants; however, Garrow said that Neosho's rail and highway accessibility offsets its lack of local corn production.

"(GBE) can bring corn in cheaper than transporting the fuel," he said.

U.S. highways 71 and 60 intersect in Newton County, and Interstate 44 passes through the northern part of the county.

Garrow described his conversations with GBE as "preliminary" and said many details will have to be negotiated before an agreement is announced.

"Any type of investment like that is significant, and we will continue to work with them," Garrow said. - Jeff Wells and Matt Wagner, The Springfield Business Journal

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GRAIN MILLERS DERAILMENT UNDER INVESTIGATION

ST. ANSGAR, IA -- Investigation continues into the derailment of three Canadian National grain cars at Grain Millers Inc.

About 1,500 bushels of oats spilled from the cars and will be cleaned up, but not before investigation into the cause of the derailment is complete, Grain Millers plant manager Tony Mayer said today.

There were 18 grain-filled railcars on Grain Miller's rail spur a week ago and some time late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, three railcars tipped over and a fourth was pulled partially off the tracks, Mayer said.

The derailment is being investigated by Canadian National Railroad officials and Grain Millers insurance company. - Jan Horgen, The Mason City Globe Gazette

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TRAIN SPOTTING

Amateur photographer John Almeida knew that the freight engine chugging down the New Hope-Ivyland Railroad line to Ohio would be a rarity - a once-in-a-lifetime moment captured in the lens.

Of course, he knows where it is and when it will be at a specific point in its journey, and it merely enhances the best photo opportunity.

He knows this because all he has to do is sign on to his Yahoo! Groups Lansdale Rails club, and follow it along the tracks with the other hundred or so members.

It is here, as a member of the Philly chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, where Almeida can also learn about construction and operations of now and then around the Lansdale, Pennsylvania area, and take part in discussions on SEPTA or freight operations and the history of the Reading Railroad.

Call it technological train spotting for the masses.

The NRHS has been around for more than 70 years, with the Philly chapter founded in 1935 by a group of men from Lancaster, NY.

"People have been interested in railroads ever since there's been a railroad," Almeida, of Lansdale, said.

Taking photos of trains started to become big in the 1920s and 1930s with a big interest in photography.

There was a time when travelers could get a charter with the Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading Railroad or Lehigh Valley Railroad to charter your own train wherever you wanted.

"It's a big thing with grandfathers and grandchildren to take them out to the railroad yard and watch the trains go by for a bit," Almeida said.

Railroads are most important to those who grew up with them.

"I remember peeking out the bedroom window at the Pennsy freights pulled by steam when I was supposed to be taking a nap," Caryl Warner, of Georgia, said about his childhood in Whitemarsh in the 1940s.

A graduate of Lansdale High School in 1951, Warner remembered the Reading operations through Ambler and his father taking him and his brother to the platform of the Whitemarsh commuter end of the line after church.

Then Warner was introduced to the Stony Creek Line when he moved to Acorn Hills in Upper Gwynedd in 1947.

"At that time, there were limestone runs from Corson's Quarry to Bethlehem Steel pulled by T-1's, generally at night," he said. "On a lucky day, if we heard the whistle in the distance, starting at Germantown Pike and growing ever closer, we knew that if we got on our bikes and rode to the North Wales Road overpass or climbed on the roof of the neighbor's chicken coop, we would have a good view."

These enthusiasts once struggled through trade magazines like Railfan and Railpace to swap stories and share pictures.

Then came the Internet.

"For Lansdale Rails, it started out on the Net about eight years ago," Almeida said. "A few of us would e-mail lists on information in Lansdale, and pass it between us. By the time 20 people were on the e-mail list, we created a Yahoo! group."

Now, information that would take a day, week, or month to get is available in minutes.

"We can find out where the train is as it's calling," Almeida said. "Most of us have scanners, so you can hear the train go past the tracks near the zoo and you can hear the call signal, and read that two minutes later. It makes it easier."

With the speedy updates, enthusiasts can now get a picture of that New Hope-Ivyland railroad engine and track it from Philadelphia out to the west.

"If I know a train is going past the zoo, then I know in a half-hour it will pass me in Bensalem," Almeida said. "You are letting people know what's out there."

The group allows those with a passion for train photography to preserve a moment for posterity.\

Some people in the group haven't been in the Lansdale area for more than 20 years, and they need to see the changes happening here.

"The Broad and Railroad Avenue station was an old freight station, and it's a 'I remember when they used to use that' kind of thing," Almeida said.

Jim Evans, of Berks County, used to live near the Elm Street station in Norristown and worked in Hatfield. He remembers the unique tracks on Unionville Pike.

"What really drew me to the railroad scene around Lansdale is its unique combination of heavy freight trains, electric-powered passenger trains and many different rail lines," he said. "In most areas of the country, there just isn't such a variety of rail operations."

The group also keeps members up-to-date on construction activity.

Almeida said some changes are coming to Lansdale's station through SEPTA, such as high-level platforms, 5 feet off the ground, placed along the Madison Parking Lot, switches assembled between Main and Broad streets on the track, and tearing up and replacement of the tracks.

Almeida said CSX is lowering its track work from Philly to Trenton so it can run higher cars.

From my sources with SEPTA, the thing with the lights, that was pushed by the borough and PennDOT," he said. "SEPTA didn't want to hook up the lights until it was finished the track work this August."

He said the problem with the Lansdale station is trains arrive and depart at the same time, but only one train can move at a time.

"If they rewire it, then they can move at the same time," he said. "Instead of a five to 10 minute wait, it's now a two to three minute wait."

No matter if it's the history of our local trains or its future, the NRHS Philly chapter will continue doing what it's doing.

"It keeps us out of trouble for the most part," Almeida said. "Why do this? Why not! I don't drink, I don't smoke, I take pictures of trains - it's a hobby."

Almeida said for the most part, it's local and something everyone can get interested in.

"Forty years ago, you could get a train from Lansdale to Toronto, but look at it now," he said. "It's a shell of its former self. Now it's something you can easily master and keep track of." - Tony Di Domizio, The Lansdale Reporter

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TRANSIT NEWS

ARIZONA GOVERNOR PURSUES PLAN FOR COMMUTER-RAIL LINES

Arizona is moving to play a major role in bringing commuter rail to the Valley and between Phoenix and Tucson.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is days away from asking bidders to plan a passenger rail line connecting Phoenix and Tucson by Centennial Day, Feb. 14, 2012.

This comes after Gov. Janet Napolitano gave ADOT 90 days to list the best potential rail projects and detail the best ways to pay for them.

The arrival of commuter rail in Arizona is not a guarantee because some lawmakers oppose rail, saying it isn't worth the subsidy. But involvement by the state increases the chance that it could become a reality. The state's role was a deciding factor in bringing commuter rail to Utah and New Mexico. "The governor clearly believes that we have to explore these options and implement some," said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, Napolitano's spokeswoman. "She wants wide-open thinking on this subject. She's serious about these executive orders. She expects results and does not want these studies to be a book on the shelf."

Jim Dickey, ADOT Public Transit Division director, said no option is off the table. His team will be looking at a wide range of rail projects, from new or expedited local light-rail extensions around Phoenix to longer and faster commuter-rail lines to the West Valley and southeast Valley and a Phoenix-Tucson train. Other potential projects are connecting a people-mover system at Sky Harbor International Airport to conventional rail lines and local tracks in and around Tucson or Flagstaff.

What is less clear is what role the state would play in making any of these services happen. ADOT and the governor's staff are coy on the subject.

Options include:

• Advancing state funds to engineer a rail network.

• Using surplus state money or other funds as a down payment on construction or to acquire rights-of-way.

• Passing laws to create a statewide or multicounty rail agency.

• Passing laws to streamline design and construction bidding to speed up existing or future rail projects.

• Putting a statewide bond on the ballot, probably for over $1 billion, to build a system.

State's involvement?

"Everybody seems to be concluding that a major state role in Arizona will be necessary," said Kathryn Pett, an attorney who has been informally advising Napolitano's office and ADOT for about a year. Pett, of the Phoenix-based firm Snell and Wilmer, brokered right-of-way and track-sharing deals in Utah and New Mexico between public agencies and rail-freight companies. Pett said involvement by the governors in those states was instrumental in persuading rail companies to negotiate seriously.

Any moves by ADOT or the governor will draw scrutiny, however. "Passenger rail is a big loser," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Ron Gould, a Lake Havasu City Republican. Arguing that fares don't cover costs and that rail doesn't take enough people off freeways, Gould said, "For me, rail is a non-starter."

Senate Majority Whip John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, said traffic congestion is deteriorating so badly that he wouldn't "be against anything," adding, "We need a new vision. The question is whether our leaders are up to it."

Long-overdue link

Rail advocate and freshman state Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, said connecting his city and Phoenix by rail should have happened 10 years ago. "I haven't heard anybody of any political party or ideology who's opposed to this," Farley said. "It's real because everybody wants it so badly." Commuter rail, which employs larger trains and fewer stops than light rail, would mean leasing tracks or rights-of-way from rail-freight companies.

In Arizona, the freight giants are Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railway Company. Union Pacific officials said they have told the governor's staff in informal talks that starting passenger service in Arizona will be unusually challenging. Unlike other Western states, there is much less redundant track here. A BNSF spokeswoman said the company has not had talks with Arizona officials but is open to them.

ADOT is due to release a study by the end of the month detailing the amount, condition and capacity of existing freight lines. The Maricopa Association of Governments just launched a $300,000, year-long study to determine the demand for commuter service around Phoenix and how best to link it to urban light-rail track now under construction. - Sean Holstege, The Arizona Republic, courtesy Marc Pearsall

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STREETCAR 'FACTS' NEED TO BE DEBUNKED

Dear Editor: I was a bit disappointed to read the rantings of Randal O'Toole about the streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, in your paper.

I did some Internet research on the Thoreau Institute. One person gave the Thoreau Institute an award for being the most misnamed organization in America and said it is not taken seriously by many people.

O'Toole's column is full of misleading "facts" and sophistry. He said that the streetcar system extends from Portland's Pearl District to the South Waterfront District and that only 1 percent of downtown employees take the streetcars to work, which is probably true. Of course they don't take streetcars to work! That is a relatively small area, and not a lot of businesses have offices there. Many of the businesses in that area are retail or hospitality-based. If you live and work there, you would probably walk to work on a nice day instead of taking a streetcar.

If Madison put streetcars in the downtown area, an apt comparison to Portland would be the percentage of people who live and work downtown and take the streetcar to work. Simply put, there just aren't that many people who work downtown and also live there. And if they do, I'm sure they would opt to walk to work on most days.

The streetcar system in Portland is part of a three-pronged mass transit system. One leg is the light rail, the second leg is buses, and the third leg is the trolley system in central Portland.

If people want to use mass transit to get from their homes to an office in downtown Portland, they would use light rail instead of the streetcar. I've been on those light rail trains going along the interstate, and the train usually moves faster than the cars on the freeway.

The light rail is meant to get people from one distant place to another relatively quickly. The streetcars are feeders from the bus and light rail systems and are meant to get people from one place to another in a much more confined space less quickly.

What part of that don't you understand, Mr. O'Toole? - Letter to the Editor, Michael Lynch, Madison, WI, The Madison Capital Times

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A LIST OF INJURIES AND THE LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD'S EFFORTS TO PREVENT THEM

Aug. 30, 1970. Rose Zully, 72, of Manhattan, falls into a gap at Valley Stream and sues the LIRR for $75,000, but misses a deadline to file legal papers.

1987. MTA inspector general releases report in which gaps on the Metro-North and city subways are referred to as "potential safety hazards." The report states that warnings are not enough and instructs Metro-North to fix the gaps. LIRR says it was never told of the report.

1992. LIRR launches "Watch the Gap" safety campaign, distributing flyers and posting train decals.

Feb. 5, 1992. A Manhattan jury awards $150,000 to Arthur Thompson, 48, who suffered an ankle fracture in 1988 when he fell up to his hip in a gap at Track 17 in Penn Station. The jury found both the LIRR and the MTA negligent.

Jan. 30, 1996. Within 90 minutes of each other, three people fall into a gap at Syosset station.

1998. LIRR's five-year strategic plan seeks to reduce payouts for customer accidents by "aggressive defense of lawsuits."

2003. Starting this year through July 2006, gap accidents were the leading cause of customer accidents.

Oct. 4, 2004. Former Rockette Sheila Rann, 67, falls into a gap at Forest Hills station. Her injuries, among the most serious suffered from an LIRR gap fall in recent years, leave her a quadriplegic and breathing through a machine.

Aug. 5, 2006. Natalie Smead, 18, is struck and killed by a train after falling through a gap at Woodside station.

Aug. 8. Newsday takes measurements at Woodside and other stations. The largest gaps range from 11 inches at Woodside to 15 inches at Syosset.

Aug. 17. LIRR starts shifting tracks specifically to reduce gaps at various stations.

September. Federal Railroad Administration, which monitors 20 commuter rails across the country, begins its first study of platform gaps.

Sept. 9. LIRR starts shifting platforms to reduce gaps.

Nov. 10. LIRR dispatches platform conductors equipped with radios to five more stations during rush hour. Previously, such conductors had only monitored Syosset.

Nov. 15. LIRR announces that for the first time in nearly 20 years, it had begun distributing a pamphlet exclusively devoted to gap safety as part of a stepped-up educational campaign.

Jan. 19, 2007. LIRR officials reveal that about 38 percent of its platforms have problem gaps. They announce a plan to fix them by spring 2008.

- Newsday

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THE END