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Railroad Newsline for Friday, March 02, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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Rail News

D&SNG TAKES ON TEXAS TRAIN; MAY CONSIDER BUYING LINE

DURANGO, CO -- American Heritage Railways, which owns the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City, North Carolina, will take over the operation and management of a Texas excursion railroad starting in September.

The railroad in question is the Texas State Railroad, an excursion line between Palestine and Rusk southeast of Dallas.

"We have an operating/management contract," Paul Schranck, vice president and general manager of the D&SNG, said Wednesday. "There is a hope there could be ownership in the future. But there would be details to work out."

American Heritage Railways also will operate campgrounds in Palestine and Rusk, which are about 30 miles apart. The railroad and campgrounds currently are owned by the state of Texas and operated by the state Department of Parks and Wildlife.

In the 2000 census, Palestine had 20,000 residents, Rusk, 5,000.

The Texas State Railroad was established in 1881, the same year as the D&SNG, Schranck said.

In a news release, Al Harper, president of American Heritage Railways, said: "We know the Texas State Railroad is a historic treasure. Through our efforts to run the railroad as a business and invest in its historic preservation, we can protect this treasure for future generations."

D&SNG is committed to safe operations, customer service, historic preservation, community partnering and special events, Schranck said.

The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad offers several excursions, departing from Bryson City and Dillsboro, NC. The line has more than 50 miles of track, two tunnels and 25 bridges. - Dale Rodebaugh, The Durango Herald

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LAWMAKERS AGREE TO SHUT DOWN TEXAS STATE RAILROAD PARK

PALESTINE, TX -- If the Texas State Railroad Park in Rusk stays open, it'll cost the state $40-$50 million to operate it over the next ten years. Most of that funding is needed to pay for repairs. But now, state lawmakers have agreed to shut down the train and turn it into a museum; something local leaders believe would also cost the state money.

Palestine Mayor Carolyn Salter said, "Static displays don't have the sort of attraction that a moving history museum does. People want the experience of riding on a steam train and they're not going to get that if they look at a static display."

Mayor Salter is a member of the Texas State Railroad Operating Agency - an effort between Rusk and Palestine to keep the historic attraction up and running.

"It brings in all kinds of visitors from all over the country and it provides recreation for people from Houston and Dallas and Austin," Salter said. "It's a piece of history that if we let it go, we'll never be able to recreate it again."

The railroad is set to close in five months, unless a qualified private operator takes it over.

T.S.R.O.A. member, Dan Davis, said, "Four individuals and companies submitted proposals. All four of these are the elite of operating tourist railroads in the United States and all four of them saw the great potential for the Texas State Railroad, and an opportunity for the railroad to make money in a very short period of time."

If contract negotiations fall through, the Texas State Park will become a museum on September 1st. - Ramonica R. Jones, KTRE-TV9, Lufkin/Nacogdoches, TX

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BNSF MANIFEST TRAIN DERAILS AT LARGO, NEW MEXICO

At 04:15 CT, Thursday, March 01, 2007 BNSF Railway Company manifest train H-BELDEN1-28 derailed two cars blocking main track one at Largo, New Mexico. This location is approximately 94 miles west of Clovis, NM.

While main track two remains open, the current estimate to restore service to main track one is 17:00 CT, Thursday, March 01, 2007.

Customer can expect delays from 12 to 36 hours on traffic moving through this corridor. - BNSF Service Advisory


INTERMODAL RAILROAD TRAFFIC IS UP, CARLOAD TRAFFIC IS DOWN, SAYS AAR

WASHINGTON, DC -- Railroad loadings were for mixed bag for the week ending February 24, with intermodal volume up and carload traffic down compared to the same timeframe in 2006, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) today.

The AAR said that intermodal volume totaled 231,943 trailers or containers for the week ending February 24, which was down 9.2 percent from last year. Intermodal container volume was up 15.5 percent, and intermodal trailer volume was down 8.4 percent.

And carload freight, which does not include intermodal data, totaled 317,848 cars for the week, down 2.5 percent from the same week last year. Carload loadings were up 4.6 percent in the west and down 10.7 percent in the east. The AAR said total volume was estimated 32.5 billion ton-miles, which is off 0.6 percent from 2006.

Of the 19 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR, 15 were down from last year, with lumber and wood products down 26.8 percent; farm products down 30.2 percent; and motor vehicles and equipment down 9.8 percent. Non-metallic products and petroleum products had the best year-over-year weekly performances with increases of 26.6 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.

Carload volume for the first eight weeks of 2007 totaled 2,492,031 carloads, which was down 5.7 percent from 2006, said the AAR. Trailers or containers -- at 1,793,271 -- was off by 0.1 percent and total volume of an estimated 23.5 billion ton-miles was down 4.5 percent year-over-year. - Logistics Management

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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

NORTHERN HILLS, SD -- The Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad was dealt a setback when the Federal Railroad Administration (FDA) denied its $2.3 billion loan request Monday. For all of the proponents involved, it is a huge disappointment and major blow to what many feel could have been a great opportunity for the future of South Dakota.

DM&E CEO Kevin Schieffer responded to the news of the denial saying, "While DM&E is disappointed in the Federal Railroad Administration's decision denying our loan application, we expect to move forward and will spend some time assessing alternatives to accomplish that objective."

FDA Administrator Joseph Boardman outlined the reasons for the denial. They include: DM&E's highly leveraged financial position, the size of the loan in relation to the limited scale of existing DM&E operations and the possibility the DM&E may not be able to ship enough coal to generate enough revenue to pay back the loan.

Boardman went on to say the application didn't sufficiently address how the railroad would handle cost overruns and schedule delays with the Powder River Basin construction project.

Mayo Clinic and Rochester Coalition leaders emphasized that their primary concern about the DM&E project has always been public safety.

"Our interest has always been in protecting the safety of our patients, the safety of our staff, and the safety of the community, says Glenn Forbes, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

"I spoke this afternoon with Sen. Coleman and also with Rep. Walz and thanked them for leadership on this issue and for helping us get a fair hearing for our concerns. We appreciate the support and guidance we've received from both of them as well as from Gov. Pawlenty and Sen. Klobuchar."

The Rochester Coalition represents the city of Rochester, Minnesota, Olmsted County, the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce and Mayo Clinic. The coalition opposed DM&E's $2.3 billion federal loan and the railroad's efforts to expand its rail line through Rochester.

South Dakota's congressional delegation was disappointed in the decision, and most feel that the state will suffer as a result. South Dakota Senator John Thune had spent a lot of time working on this project for the DM&E, both as a lobbyist and as a legislator.
According to Thune, the South Dakota congressional delegation wanted to see this project get a fair shot and for the decision to be made on the merits, but the final decision was out of their hands.

"Sadly, with this decision the significant rail needs in South Dakota and the region will not be addressed and our small town economies will pay the price. Simply put, there was a huge amount of money spent to sabotage this project by powerful special interests and their hired guns. This is a case of special interests beating the little guy," Thune said.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth had similar thoughts about the possible ramifications for the state of South Dakota. "I am disappointed that the Federal Railroad Administration has rejected the DM&E loan application. With this decision we have missed a unique opportunity to invest in increased rail competition that would benefit South Dakota's rural economy.

Leonard Benson, who ranches near Smithwick along the proposed route, was surprised at the outcome as well.

"All the communication I had with Thune, the DM&E, and others indicated that this was secure. But a lot of money was spent on this by the Mayo Clinic to fight this. That tells me there's more to this than just the Mayo Clinic or Rochester, Minn. You would have thought that if the Mayo didn't want the railroad coming through, they would have helped financially with an alternative route. But they were unbending and unwilling to compromise," he said. He went on to add he doesn't think the DM&E is done by any means.

"Kevin Schieffer is dedicated to this railroad, and this is not going to stop it," he said.

The DM&E has been fighting for the right to haul freight, including coal, for the last 10 years.
But the well-fought and well-funded campaign by the Mayo Clinic and the city of Rochester, Minnesota, figured into the equation. Finally, uncertainty about the DM&E's ability to operate, much less begin hauling coal, played a part as well. - Brandon Bennett, The Black Hills Pioneer

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DM&E LOAN DENIAL WILL BECOME TEXTBOOK STUDY

ROCHESTER, MN -- Rochester is a better place without high-speed coal trains threatening the Mayo Clinic campus and splitting the city in two.

The coalition of Mayo Clinic, the city of Rochester, Olmsted County and the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce deserve great credit for maintaining opposition to a DM&E Railroad proposal to run such trains through the city. The federal rejection of a loan to fund that proposal was good news for Rochester.

The wisdom of the coalition was its willingness to adjust arguments in a way that rang true, not just here in Rochester but across the country.

For example, while the issue of safety is important in Rochester, it was not enough of a reason to set off a chain of events that culminated in the denial of a $2.3 billion federal loan for the DM&E.

In the end, the Federal Railroad Administration denied the loan because it determined that DM&E was unlikely to be able to repay taxpayers.

Republican Sen. John Thune, once a lobbyist for DM&E, inserted a midnight earmark that made $35 billion available to FRA for loans to railroads. Then Thune created legal language that nearly guaranteed that DM&E would get the loan if it met the most minimal of qualifications.

DM&E could not secure private money for the project, which would have built a rail line from Wyoming coal fields through Rochester and eastward to coal-fired power plants. So it turned to the government. Thune aimed to do through politics what the market would not.

What the Rochester coalition proved is that what politics gives, politics can take away.

Political leaders such as Sens. Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Tim Walz said politics had little to do with FRA's decision to deny the loan. Perhaps.

But most observers will point to a key development in the series of events that led up to the loan's rejection: when Mayo Clinic hired the New York-based public relations firm Weber Shandwick Worldwide.

What the firm brought to the issue, as its Web site says, was "the power to influence outcomes."

Weber Shandwick raised public awareness of safety issues, but the part of the firm's strategy that really stuck was Thune's earmark and the unlikely chance that DM&E could repay the billions.

The firm turned public opinion, and political leaders picked up on the shift. The phenomenon was most easily seen in the defeat of former U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht, who did not work to oppose the DM&E project.

In the end, three key elements led to rejection of the loan:

. Smart strategy and lobbying, such as gaining support from conservative publisher Steve Forbes, influenced public opinion.

. Strong public opinion against the project attracted political support. For example, Coleman was once somewhat cool toward Rochester's plight, but eventually he came here and promised to use his power as a senator to help meet the city's needs.

. Political opposition influenced the Washington bureaucracy.

It's textbook. Business students will be analyzing the case for decades.

This has been a long struggle, but it is not necessarily over.

DM&E has federal approval to proceed with the rail upgrade project, including running the line through Rochester. What it doesn't have is financing. Rochester's advocates must remain wary of future developments. For now, however, success is worth embracing. - Editorial Opinion, The Rochester Post-Bulletin

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SOUTH DAKOTA SENATOR'S TIES TO DM&E FATAL TO $2.3 BILLION LOAN

WASHINGTON, DC -- The federal government killed a $2.3 billion railway loan after opponents attacked U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., for working as the railway's lobbyist before winning election, then backing legislation favoring the loan to his former client.

The privately held Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad wanted the money for an 860-mile Midwestern rail-line renovation and expansion project. The Federal Railroad Administration said its denial was based on financial factors. But project backers and detractors said the loan sank after opponents, led by the Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minn., ginned up congressional heat on the agency.

The key to that was Thune's role. The Republican did nothing illegal, but his seamless transition from the railway's lobbyist to its Senate champion handed ammunition to opponents and their own lobbyists.

"The legislation that I introduced . had been introduced in three previous Congresses," Thune said this week. Mayo, he said, "had their lobbyists come in and tell me to my face that they were going to go after me."

His previous work for DM&E, as the company is known, "gave them something to attack."

Mayo Clinic chief executive Glenn Forbes disputes that.

"Our real interest is in serving patients," he said. "This project put us definitely in a corner with no interest on anybody else's side to understand our concerns. So, yes, we certainly confronted the issue."

The local battle over the rail line has raged for nearly a decade. A Mayo-led coalition of opponents says the project would bring increased rail traffic, which could endanger the safety of clinic patients, staff and the Rochester community.

DM&E chief executive Kevin Schieffer and project backers say the line is vital for the region's corn and coal industries. The track running through Rochester was there before Mayo was, Schieffer said, and renovating it would enhance its safety. Schieffer vows to pursue the project, which has surmounted several court and regulatory challenges over the years.

Thune's role in the railroad project was a topic during November elections, and after Democrats won a majority, opposition gathered steam on the Hill.

Thune worked as a DM&E lobbyist for two years, earning more than $200,000 from the company, before winning his Senate seat in 2004. In 2005, he helped write legislation expanding a federal railroad loan pool from $3.5 billion to $35 billion. DM&E was not mentioned in the legislation, but the expanded funding enabled it to apply for $2.3 billion, about one-third of the project's $6 billion price tag. - Elizabeth Williamson, The Washington Post, The St. Paul Pioneer Press

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CN RAIL DERAILMENT DISRUPTS TORONTO AREA TRAINS

VANCOUVER, BC -- A freight train derailed on Canadian National Railway Co.'s main line just east of Toronto on Thursday, fouling commuter train operations, officials said.

Canadian National said 32 cars of a 105-car eastbound intermodal train went off the tracks at Pickering, Ontario, on the railroad's line between Toronto and Montreal. There were no reports of injuries.

Two of the 50 containers on the derailed cars were carrying dangerous materials, including batteries, but there were no reports of leaks, a CN spokesman said.

Commuter rail operator GO Transit said the accident had forced it to cancel several trains that run through Pickering, but CN said one of the tracks normally used by GO trains in the area was still passable.

VIA Rail intercity passenger service between Toronto and Montreal and Ottawa was also reported by Toronto-area media to be disrupted.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, and CN did not have an estimate on how long it would take to repair the damaged tracks.

The accident comes as Canadian National, Canada's largest railway, was trying to clear a backlog of freight caused by a two-week strike by freight train conductors and switch crews. - Reuters

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COUNTY FREEZES RRHOF MONEY; THREE BOARD MEMBERS SPEAK AGAINST GIVING $100,000 DONATION TO PROJECT

GALESBURG, IL -- The decision for the Knox County Board on whether to donate $100,000 to the National Railroad Hall of Fame project has been put on hold.

The board was scheduled to vote Wednesday night on a pledge to the Hall of Fame but the discussion and vote were tabled.

Caroline Porter, D-District 1, made the motion to table the discussion because she wanted the Landfill and Nursing Home Committee of the County Board to discuss the donation, since the money would come from the County Landfill's budget.

Finance Committee Chairman Wayne Saline, R-District 5, said the landfill was "flush with cash" and the county could make a donation from the landfill fund without paying it back because the donation would go toward economic development.

The county used landfill money to give the Galesburg Regional Economic Development Association its annual donation of $30,000. Then State's Attorney Paul Mangieri said the money for economic development could be taken from the landfill because growth in business in the county would benefit the county's only landfill.

In the public comment portion of the meeting, before the board discussed a donation, three county residents spoke against giving money to the Hall of Fame.

Mike Godsil, president of the Board of Directors for the Galesburg Railroad Museum, which is not connected to the National Railroad Hall of Fame. He said the museum supports the Hall of Fame, but as a taxpayer he opposes the donation.

"I'm against the idea of using taxpayer money for a private entity," Godsil said.

Galesburg resident Mike Kroll said he had an objection to taxpayer bodies giving money to what he called a "speculative endeavor."

No representatives from the Hall of Fame spoke during the meeting.

Saline, a proponent of donating to the Hall of Fame, said the county needs to do something productive for economic development.

"If we're expecting the city to grow we have to do things like this," Saline said during the meeting. "The landfill has a bunch of money and we can't access it for many things. We can use it for this."

Stephen Johnson, R-District 5, and Dale Parsons, D-District 3, both said they'd received several calls from taxpayers who didn't want the county using taxpayer money to help fund the Hall of Fame.

"Sure, we can get money from the landfill to do this sort of thing, but these taxpayers are livid," Parsons said.

Even though the board makes an annual donation to GREDA some board members expressed concern that giving money to the Hall of Fame would set a bad precedent and other groups would come asking for money, too.

Greg Bacon, D-District 2, said board members don't get calls asking them not to donate to GREDA so he doesn't know why county residents are opposed to this donation.

"We have to do something," Bacon said. "We've been feeding GREDA 30 grand a year and I haven't seen anything. We need to give somebody else a shot at turning this place around."

During the meeting Johnson, Parsons and Gerald Link, R-District 5, all said they would vote not to make a donation. "The idea's great, the returns will probably be great, but I think this County Board would be out of line at this point to make a donation," Link said.

Link said the money in the landfill fund needs to be available to make payments on equipment and pay for a possible expansion in the future.

"It's presumptuous to contribute something like this on behalf of other taxpayers," Porter said.
Six County Board members wanted to keep the discussion going but a majority voted to have it tabled, so no more discussion could be made.

Hall of Fame organizers hope to raise $1.5 million dollars locally and attract national donations by approaching the "Big Six" railroads for financial help. As of last July local donations had topped $600,000. Fundraising figures have not been released since July 2006. The project is expected to cost $65 million. - Cigi Ross, The Galesburg Register-Mail

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DEMOLITION OF UNION PACIFIC BUILDING WILL BEGIN INSIDE

Aside from some concrete barricades and orange construction barrels, evidence of demolition of the former Union Pacific headquarters in downtown Omaha still will be difficult to detect for a while.

Demolition finally is set to begin on the project - in the form of asbestos removal inside - and will become much more noticeable, said the developer of WallStreet Tower Omaha.

The long-awaited 32-story condominium project will become Omaha's third-tallest building, behind First National Tower and the Woodmen Tower. Some $600 million has been invested in new construction in several blocks of downtown over the last few years.

When Mayor Mike Fahey chose the tower project just over a year ago over a competing proposal, he praised it as a development that would enhance the city's skyline and build on downtown's momentum.

A spokesman for the project's developer said he is eager to see activity humming at the WallStreet site, if only to reassure Omahans the project is real.

One-third of the building's 275 units are reserved.

The barricades and barrels showed up Tuesday, the first sign of activity at the former U.P. building, which changed hands Monday between the city and the developer, Townsend Inc. of Overland Park, Kansas.

The city requires that asbestos work be completed within 90 days and that all demolition be finished by May 2008, but Townsend intends to work more quickly: 60 days for asbestos removal with the entire building down by the end of October.

"We're as excited as anybody to get this started," said Troy Strawhecker, Townsend's Des Moines-based lead developer for the WallStreet project. "The building is ours now. We're going to go full speed ahead."

Imploding the 14-story building hasn't been ruled out.

Townsend still plans to tear it down brick-by-brick, unless demolition experts advise imploding, Strawhecker said.

Crews first will dismantle a 1970s-era steel-and-glass addition on the east side, then reassess what to do once they have more room to maneuver on the block bounded by Dodge Street, Capitol Avenue, 14th Street and 15th Street.

"We're not ruling out any efficient and safe ideas," he said. "We do realize there's a $300 million-plus facility to the south that is the new Union Pacific, but there are professionals in the business that implode buildings every day."

Strawhecker previously said implosion would not be considered because of the high-profile site and because a previous Omaha implosion went awry.

(A downtown building owned by Frankie Pane was accidentally destroyed in 2002 when three neighboring Pinnacle Foods Corp. buildings were imploded to make room for the Holland Performing Arts Center.)

"If the contractor comes to us and says, 'We want to do this,' we're going to say, 'Let's listen to this.'"

Demolition is expected to cost between $4.5 million and $6.5 million. Implosion might save time, but not money, Strawhecker said. General contractor J.E. Dunn Construction of Kansas City will oversee demolition and site-clearing work by Anderson Excavating Co. of Omaha.

Before crews can start removing asbestos, they first must clear leftover U.P. furniture that didn't sell at auction.

"That's going to take some time," said Don Goers, Anderson's president. "I wish they'd sold all the furniture. That way I wouldn't have so much to move."

As part of an agreement approved in December by the City Council, the city will provide $15.6 million in tax increment financing, said City Attorney Paul Kratz. The financing will allow property tax revenue generated by the project to help pay for demolition, public improvements and other costs.

Townsend is planning a glass-walled, 373-foot-tall tower with a parking garage and ground-floor retail on all sides of the block totaling 36,500 square feet.

Prices range from $195,000 for an 855-square-foot unit on a lower floor to about $620,000 for 1,635 square feet on the 29th floor. Units on any floor can be customized or combined, and the top three stories are penthouse units.

He said calls from retailers have ranged from potential requests for 1,250 square feet to 15,500 square feet, from businesses already in Omaha and national names not yet here. A spa and restaurants are among businesses that have called, he said. None has signed a contract, he said.

Townsend also is considering an offer from one buyer who wants to purchase and then lease all the first-floor space.

No later than June, prospective buyers will be able to walk through several models of units. A more-than-$2 million sales and marketing center is under construction at 12th and Cass Streets, Strawhecker said.

"We were never discouraged," Strawhecker said. "But for the average citizen, the closing is more evidence that the project is actually happening." - Stacie Hamel, The Omaha World-Herald

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RAILROAD ADVOCATES HEAD TO SPRINGFIELD IN HOPES OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING

CHICAGO, IL -- A special trainload of railroad and local officials, and representatives from a number of advocacy groups left Union Station for Springfield, Illinois Wednesday to lobby for $100 million in state infrastructure money.

WBBM's Bob Roberts reports.

The money would be the local share for the first phase of an ambitious, $1.5 billion plan to speed Metra and freight trains on their way and eliminate blocked rail crossings.

The nation's railroads believe enough in the Chicago Region Environment and Transportation Efficiency Program, known as "CREATE," that they have kicked in more than $100 million of their own money to get it going. The federal government, in the surface transportation bill approved in 2005, approved more than $100 million. Now, those on the train say, it's the state's turn to make a similar contribution.

The money would be part of any infrastructure program approved this spring in Springfield. It's a plan that already is expected to include money for highways, mass transit, school construction and other critical infrastructure.

Mayor Daley's acting Transportation Commissioner, Sheri Heramb (HAIR'-um), said CREATE's potential stretches far beyond the freight railroads if fully implemented.

"We're likely to see an increase in jobs to the tune of 17,000 additional jobs," she said.

The jobs would be concentrated in transportation industries.

The executive director of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Infrastructure Council, Jack Bernhardt, said it would "unclog" rail lines, get commuters to and from work on time, put overpasses where key rail crossings now exist, and eliminate bottlenecks on lines that desperately need modernization.

"Much of the technology that's still in place in the city of Chicago was developed when Ulysses S. Grant was President," he said.

The Civil War general served as President between 1869 and 1877.

In far south suburban Crete, Village President Mike Einhorn sees the congestion each day on a line used by both Union Pacific and CSX freight trains.

"The line...is largely a parking lot, with trains waiting to get into the city or waiting to get through the city," he said.

Einhorn said all that diesel exhaust fouls the air in Crete, 30 miles from downtown Chicago. But he said the commuter rail line Metra plans with Crete as its terminus, the SouthEast service, will never succeed unless the freight train gridlock is unclogged.

"We need to be fluid in Chicago and we're not fluid in Chicago right now," Einhorn said.

In Franklin Park, where city officials this summer plan to open an underpass that will eliminate traffic blockages for more than 4,000 cars a day on Grand Avenue, Mayor Dan Pritchett is sold on CREATE.

"We want to show graphically if you build something like this what it can do to your community and the quality of life in that community," Pritchett said.

With three rail yards in or on the edges of Franklin Park, and trains backed up trying to get into them, Pritchett said more financial help is needed for additional underpasses.

Midwest High-Speed Rail Coalition President Rick Harnish said he believes all types of transportation would benefit.

"The faster you can get freight trains through Chicago, the more dependably passenger trains can get in and out of the city as well," he said.

Metra is a member of the CREATE coalition and supports its efforts to obtain funding.

The railroads think enough of the effort to have contributed the train to the lobbying effort. Union Pacific Railroad contributed six cars, Canadian National Railways and CSX Transportation one car apiece, and Amtrak the two locomotives.

The lobbyists will testify Thursday before the Illinois House Rail Industry Committee, chaired by State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) and will speak with a number of key legislators.

They return to Chicago Thursday night. - WBBM, NewsRadio780, Chicago, IL

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FREIGHT RAILROADS REACH PACT WITH 7-UNION COALITION

WASHINGTON, DC -- The nation's major freight railroads and a coalition of seven rail unions reached tentative agreement Wednesday on a new contract covering wages, benefits and other issues.

The agreement with the Rail Labor Bargaining Coalition is the first to have been reached in the current round of bargaining.

The Coalition represents more than 66,000 unionized workers or about 46 percent of rail employees covered in negotiations that began in November of 2004. Coalition members include two of the nation's largest rail unions, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, both members of the Teamsters' Rail Conference and together representing about 54,000 workers in the negotiations.

The other Coalition unions are the American Train Dispatchers Association, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, Sheet Metal Workers International Association and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers.

Details of the agreement were not released pending ratification votes by members of the seven unions.

"The agreement with the Coalition demonstrates that voluntary bargaining continues to work in the rail industry," said Robert F. Allen, chairman of the National Carriers' Conference Committee, the railroads' bargaining agent. "While this agreement is the first in the current bargaining round, we are confident that it will set the pattern for successful resolution of negotiations with the other rail unions."

More than 30 railroads, including BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, are bargaining with 13 rail unions.

The National Carriers' Conference Committee represents the railroads in national (multi-employer) collective bargaining with the 13 major rail unions. - The Galesburg Register-Mail

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TEXAS RANGERS JOIN PROBE OF DOUBLE SUICIDE

HAWKINS, TX -- Months after a justice of the peace ruled their deaths suicides, the case of two teens who ran away from a Tyler-area boys home and were struck and killed by a train is far from closed.

The Texas Rangers are investigating the apparent double suicide of Christopher Ladell Hill, 17, and Harry Tyrone Rutledge, 15, on Sept. 21 in Hawkins, a small town about 90 miles east of Dallas.

And if Wood County's newly elected district attorney has his way, the case could get federal attention as well.

A Hawkins police investigator, the justice of the peace who signed the youths' death certificates and prosecutors who have called for further investigation all say there is no evidence of foul play.

But the case is so unusual and has generated so much interest that it is getting further scrutiny.

"These are such extremely unusual circumstances ... I want to know why these kids needed to lay down on a railroad track," said Marcus Taylor, who invited the Texas Rangers to review the case before he retired in December as Wood County's district attorney.

His successor, Jim Wheeler, said he is not waiting for the results of that investigation and separately has asked the U.S. attorney in Beaumont to look into the case.

"It's a matter of doing the job and having it thoroughly investigated," Wheeler said.
Rangers' work incomplete

A Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman said the Rangers have not completed their work, and U.S. Attorney Matthew Orwig's spokeswoman would not confirm whether the office is looking into the case.

Hawkins Police Lt. A.J. Randell, who investigated the deaths in the fall, said the Rangers' investigation has turned up nothing to contradict his conclusion that the two teens took their own lives.

The teens, who were wards of the state abandoned by their families, ran away from the Azleway Boys' Ranch in New Chapel Hill on Sept. 16.

They spent several days hanging out near the high school in Hawkins, about 25 miles to the north.
Randell said the youths, who had been living on candy and sodas they took from a field house at the school, left a trail of candy wrappers around the school and some nearby woods.

It ended at the tracks, where he said they blindfolded themselves before they lay down on the tracks.

"I don't think there's anything left to learn," said Randell, who said no federal investigator has contacted him to look into the case files.

Histories of depression

Tod Chance, who until January was justice of the peace in Hawkins, said he was "98 percent certain" that the deaths were suicides, which is why he recorded that finding on their death certificates.

"They had extensive histories of depression and emotional problems," Chance said, saying he based his conclusion on Randell's investigation and the results of autopsies by the Southwestern Institute for Forensic Sciences in Dallas.

"Unless some new evidence is found, it's about time for this to end," he said.

The autopsy reports list "multiple blunt force injuries" as the cause of death. But Lynn Salzberger, the medical examiner, wrote, "It is unclear if this is an accident, a homicide or a suicide."

There were no traces of drugs or alcohol, her reports state.'

Images from train camera

Chance said there is no evidence of homicide.

"I couldn't accept that they were bludgeoned to death and placed on the tracks because of where the bodies were found," he said. "It would have taken a team of men to carry them. To get to where they were, you would have to carry them through some thick woods or pretty far up the tracks."

He also said a video recording device mounted on the train showed one of the teens making "a slight movement" before the train struck.

Taylor, the prosecutor who called in the Rangers, said he was being cautious in calling in an outside agency.

He said he wanted the Rangers to see if they could enhance the grainy images captured by the train camera.

"I'm hoping the video would clarify whether one of them rose up and then lay back down," he said. "I'm a big believer that a picture is worth a thousand words."

Ashley Rutledge, the sister of Harry Rutledge, said she welcomed the state's investigation because she does not believe that the two killed themselves.

"My brother did not commit suicide and I pray the Texas Rangers can get to the bottom of what happened," she said in an e-mail to the Houston Chronicle.

Ranch exonerated

Meanwhile, state regulators say Azleway Boys' Ranch gave the two youths proper care.

"We had a seasoned investigator on that case. The conclusion was they did nothing wrong," said Shari Pulliam, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services in Tyler.

"There were no staffing issues ... no evidence of abuse or neglect," she said. "It was the same as if they had run away from their own home."

The group home alerted the Smith County sheriff's office that the two youths were missing, Pulliam said.

The only violation found in the matter was that the home did not also notify CPS with 24 hours, as required by the state, he said.

Bill Partridge, Azeleway's executive director, did not return calls for comment on CPS' findings. - Thomas Korosec, The Houston Chronicle

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KEEP THE TRAIN WHISTLES

MOLINE, IL -- Train whistles are loud. They're obnoxious, and no one -- save for little kids who are far enough away from them -- likes them.

That, though, is not reason enough to silence them.

The notion that Moline -- and any other city that broaches the idea -- might create train-whistle "quiet zones" is silly, if not ridiculous.

But Moline is working on a plan that would mute train whistles from 12th to 41st streets, which includes part of the downtown area.

Come on, get serious.

Trains have whistles. I know some engineers hold the horn down longer than the 15 to 20 seconds required by law, but train whistles exist for a reason: to alert drivers, pedestrians, bike riders and anyone else within a mile that 100-plus tons of rail engines and cars are bearing down on them.

In a story that appeared in this paper last week, Moline Mayor Don Welvaert, a good mayor, said he realized there was a problem after he received a call from the manager of a downtown Moline hotel.

Apparently a guest who was expected to stay at the hotel for six weeks decided to leave after a week because of train noise.

Hey, I'm sorry for the hotel and its lost revenue, but too bad. Did the hotel designers not see the railroad tracks a couple of blocks away when plans were made to build the hotel? Did the guest -- after 15 minutes in downtown Moline -- not realize there were railroad tracks a block or so away from his/her hotel?

One person complains, and now it's a problem?

Railroads use the Quad-Cities for transporting goods and services, and if we're lucky, this won't stop. Trains always have rumbled through the area, blowing their whistles. I live approximately one mile from a train track in Bettendorf, and I can hear whistles every night. I don't much care for them at 11 p.m., but I know they serve a purpose regarding safety. I knew the whistles came with the house when I bought it.

I also drive across railroad tracks every morning in Rock Island. Do I like the whistle from the 09:00 number headed into Moline? No, it's too loud for my fast-aging ears, and it's probably not having the best effect on the hearing of my child, but I think it's great that the guys driving the train -- which always wins in an accident with a car -- are there to tell me they're coming.

Also, do the folks who so badly want an Amtrak station based in Moline think an Amtrak passenger train is going travel through the downtown area without blowing a whistle?

Many times we err on the side of being too safe. We are a nation of worrywarts, but this is going overboard. All the time I see cars avoiding the safety bars that drop when a train is coming, making train whistles the one guarantee, I believe, that people will step back and take notice of an oncoming train.

In a perfect world, Moline would have no train whistles; no one would leave a hotel because of noise; and the city wouldn't be contemplating spending nearly $9,000 to have an engineering firm review existing rail-crossing safety measures.

Here's a $9,000 tip for Moline: Leave the whistles alone. They're safer than anything else you can come up with. - John Marx, Quad-Cities Online

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TRANSIT NEWS

UTA CHIEF PROPOSES SERIES OF RATE HIKES

SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- Residents may soon have to dig deeper into their pockets to ride the bus or TRAX.

The Utah Transit Authority's general manager, John Inglish, wants to increase the rates for UTA buses and TRAX in January and July 2008, then again in January 2009.

Currently, rates for buses and TRAX are $1.50 for adults. That price would go up to $1.60 in July 2008, $1.75 in January 2008 and then $2 in January 2009, under the proposal.

Prices for the new FrontRunner commuter rail line are also included in the proposal. It says the base fare will be $2.50 with 50 cents added for each additional stop. The base fare would then go up to $3 in January 2009.

The rate hikes are part of a proposed fare structure that is expected to be finalized in the coming months. There will be seven public hearings on the proposal. - The Associated Press, The Salt Lake Tribune

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SEND THE TRAIN ALL THE WAY TO THE STATION

ST. PAUL, MN -- It's been more than three decades since the last passenger train left St. Paul's Union Depot. We join St. Paul and Ramsey County officials in arguing that the next one - a light-rail train from Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota with an estimated arrival year of 2014 - must begin and end its trips at the Depot.

Elevators don't stop four floors from the top. Ferries don't make riders dog-paddle to shore.

And trains don't generally dump their passengers off a few blocks short of the station.

That's a St. Paul-centered view of the world, but we believe the wise men and women who will be deciding the final routing of the St. Paul-to-Minneapolis light-rail line will come to the same conclusion. They have to worry about a tunnel under the University of Minnesota and the impact along University Avenue and a federal cost-effectiveness formula that calls for significant cuts in the project.

But we think they will see the importance of finding a way to the Depot. How could it be otherwise?

St. Paul's Union Depot is a jewel of our past, designed by renowned railroad terminal architect Charles Sumner Frost. It opened in the rail-travel heyday of the 1920s. Its cavernous Great Hall, which looks out through those neoclassic columns and turn-around park along Fourth Street in Lowertown, and its vaulted Concourse, now used for storage, speak of the time when 282 trains and 20,000 passengers scurried through each day.

The depot miraculously survived urban renewal and yuppification. It can be made ready to again welcome thousands of visitors, not as a hotel-skating-rink-water park (as is the case with the Frost-designed Milwaukee Road Station in Minneapolis) but as a living train station and modern transit hub.

Even as the property has been sold off and reused, the structure has survived. Far-sighted community leaders have a plan to reclaim the depot as a station, where existing rail service (Amtrak), currently planned rail lines (Central Corridor) and only-dreamed-of projects (commuter lines to Hastings and Hinckley and high-speed service to Chicago) would connect. City and Greyhound buses would also connect at the Depot. Condominium lofts, restaurants and other amenities would bring the old Depot back to life.

The county has a property tax levy to acquire the needed property and begin to make it happen. That's why in our East Metro minds, the Depot is a depot.

All it needs is a train.

The Central Corridor light-rail transit line will run from downtown St. Paul, past the Capitol, down University Avenue, through the University of Minnesota campus and into downtown Minneapolis. It has a projected completion date of 2014 and a cost estimated at $930 million.

The Metropolitan Council is in charge of building and running the system. Half of the money is to come from the federal government, with the state paying one-third and Ramsey and Hennepin counties combining for another 17 percent. Once it is up and running, Ramsey County taxpayers will be responsible for a big chunk of the operating costs.

Peter Bell, Met Council chairman, says in order to qualify in the competitive federal process, the project has to meet cost-effectiveness guidelines based on overall cost, the number of riders and the time they save. Currently, he says, it won't qualify. That means it needs to be scaled back or it won't get federal approval and will not be built.

When you start looking for things to cut, certain big-ticket items come to mind: a proposed tunnel under the U of M; road improvements along University Avenue; and, finally, the length of the line. The idea of ending the line short of Union Depot - perhaps along Cedar Street - is in this mix of cost-cutting options.

Bell emphasizes that no decision has been made. The project is undergoing a preliminary engineering study, where the options will be fully examined. A joint super-panel, the Central Corridor Management Committee, will make a final recommendation to the full Met Council, which will ultimately decide what stays in and what goes. That process, Bell said, will take 12 to 18 months.

The management committee includes the mayors of the two cities, commissioners from the two counties, representatives from the university, the state Department of Transportation and business. Bell is the chairman.

This week, Ramsey County leaders ratcheted up the rhetoric a notch, saying if the line does not go to the Depot, the county may withhold funding for the project.

East Metro leaders see the Depot project as critical to the region's health and growth. St. Paul has to be a center of the transportation action, and not merely a feeder line to Minneapolis, to secure its future. "Why is it important?" asked Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega, who chairs the county's Regional Rail Authority. "It's the equivalent of me asking you why you need your heart."

But Bell wants everyone to take a deep breath, come to the table and talk.

He said he understands the passion for the Depot as a transit center. But he also sees some of the other lines planned for the Depot as being very, very far in the future. And the idea of delivering the light-rail train not merely to the front of the Depot, but to the reconstructed track area in back, would further add to costs, he said. He is worried that he may have to eventually trim as much as $200 million from the project.

And Bell has to juggle all of the interests around the table.

"They have a sympathetic ear in me,'' Bell said of the Depot advocates. "I have difficulty when people draw lines in the sand.. It's not playing well with your partners.''

Bell is an appointee of a Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, and can be expected to treat the cost-benefit calculations as an important and meaningful process, and not merely a hurdle to handle with lobbying power. We who cheerlead for our region also believe the project has to make economic sense.

But while we respect Bell's task, we can't see how these smart people can come to any other conclusion than that the elevator will go to the top floor, the ferry will reach the riverbank and the train will stop at the station. - Editorial Opinion, The St. Paul Pioneer Press

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SCOTTSDALE CHAMBER BACKS FIXED-RAIL TRANSIT

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- The Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce board has endorsed installing a fixed-rail mass transit system and becoming politically involved during an anticipated election.

The chamber board of directors did not take a position on whether they prefer light rail or modern streetcar, the two fixed-rail options under consideration by the city.

The business organization - which in recent months has spoken of the need to provide more options for commuters - did not settle on a preferred route for the rail system.

Scottsdale Road is the current designated corridor, but the City Council plans to discuss Loop 101 at a future meeting.

"The precise technology employed and the most effective routes to serve the community are questions best left up to transportation consultants and city planners," said Kurt Brueckner, board of directors chairman.

The chamber last week released a nonscientific survey of 322 of its roughly 2,000 members that showed 62 percent support adding light rail or streetcar as soon as possible.

Scottsdale is updating its master transportation plan, which, in addition to selecting a transit option, will study traffic circulation along with bike and pedestrian paths.

The council agreed last month that it will call an election before deciding whether to adopt light rail, modern streetcar or bus rapid transit as the transit option. - Brian Powell, The East Valley Tribune

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FATHER PULLS TODDLER FROM LIRR GAP

WESTBURY, NY -- The Long Island Rail Road said it has been "aggressively" narrowing gaps at its stations to protect riders from falling through dangerous gaps between the platforms and train cars.

But that did not prevent another gap incident Wednesday night.

This time a 4-year-old boy fell into the gap at the Westbury station, where the railroad's own measurements in September found gaps ranging from 6-1/4 to 8-1/2 inches.

The 4-year-old boy, who has not been identified by Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police, was traveling with his family from Virginia, and when he stepped off the train from Penn Station at 19:46, he fell through.

Nevertheless, he was taken by EMS ambulance to Nassau University Medical Center for examination. No details regarding his condition are available.

Railroad officials would only say that the boy, his parents and 3-year-old sister were together on the train.

MTA Police said the boy's father was able to reach down "immediately" and pull the boy from the tracks. The railroad said the boy had "no visible injuries" and was "unhurt."

A recent Newsday investigation found that there had been some 900 gap-related incidents on the railroad since 1995.

The series helped focus attention on the issue, and within the last month the Federal Railroad Administration has held hearings to determine if a national policy regarding gap standards is necessary to ensure railroad rider safety. Currently, platform gap maximums are not regulated, except for requirements forged by the Americans with Disabilities Act, officials said.

The LIRR said it has been "aggressively" dealing with the gap issue since the death of Natalie Smead, a Minnesota teen who fell through a gap at the Woodside station and was struck by an oncoming train. Since then, the rail road said, 71,760 feet of track have been shifted closer to 24 platforms at 16 stations and that 6,642 linear feet of platform slabs have been adjusted -- shifted horizontally or raised vertically -- on 16 platforms at 11 stations. The rail road also said that 5,301 feet of platform edge board has been applied to the face of 10 platforms at eight stations in the system to narrow gaps.

The LIRR has said it moved one platform at Westbury to close the dangerous gaps there and has stencilled "Watch the Gap" warnings on the platform waiting areas. - John Velenti, Newsday

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THE END