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Railroad Newsline for Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

A SENATOR'S RAILROAD NO-BRAINER

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Federal Railroad Administration handed a rare victory to the American taxpayer last week by denying a questionable $2.3 billion loan application by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (DM&E) Railroad. What makes this news of special interest is the paramount role Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) played in boosting the loan. Here is a cautionary tale of political life in Washington and how it corrupts.

Thune guided through Congress legislative changes that made the loan possible. But an assessment that DM&E was a poor credit risk was shared by two other conservative senators -- Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina -- who took the extraordinary step of advocating rejection of a colleague's pet project. Making matters worse, Thune worked as a paid lobbyist for the South Dakota-based railroad before his election to the Senate and has received political contributions from company executives.

Thune entered the Senate in 2005 as a rising GOP star after defeating Democratic leader Tom Daschle. He declared himself eager to rein in spending in a Republican-controlled government.

But instead of aligning with his party's reformers, Thune has been energetic in promoting pork for South Dakota. After the embarrassment of the DM&E loan rejection, a Republican Senate source who did not want to be identified said: "One can hope this episode helps Thune recover his revolutionary zeal."

DM&E applied for the loan guarantee under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program to build and renovate a railway from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, across South Dakota and into Minnesota to carry coal, ethanol and other agricultural products. This area is already served by two railway giants, Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railway Company.

The fact that RRIF still exists is testimony to Thune's energy and skill. The program was zeroed out of President Bush's 2005 and 2006 budgets, but it was saved and revised behind closed doors under Thune's leadership as part of the 2005 transportation appropriations bill (which contained the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere"). Indeed, Thune took credit for it, traveling through South Dakota in November 2005 to spread the good news.

Whether this qualifies as an earmark is a matter of opinion. Coburn and DeMint contend that the loan is about policy. Normally, when senators dislike a colleague's protected project, they follow the chamber's politesse and swallow their objections. Not Coburn and DeMint, who since their election in 2004 have waged war on pork.

On Jan. 23, without telling Thune, they wrote Transportation Secretary Mary Peters: "Because the applicant could not secure private funding, we are concerned that a loan of this size unnecessarily puts taxpayers at risk." Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), the leading House opponent of earmarks, opposed the loan for the same reason, as did the conservative National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste.

Last Monday, Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman indicated he agreed, denying the loan application because there was "too high a risk concerning the railroad's ability to repay."
None of these critics mentions Thune's connections with DM&E. Since 2001, the railroad's executives have given him $21,750 in contributions (all but $2,000 before his election in 2004).
In 2003 and 2004, when Thune was a private citizen between service in the House and Senate, he received $220,000 as a lobbyist for DM&E. (Thune says he never worked on the loan application as a lobbyist.)

If he had it to do over again, I asked the senator last week, would he still advocate the loan project? Thune replied: "I don't know what else I could do. I was strong for my state. It was a no-brainer."

The DM&E loan cannot prove a cautionary tale for Thune unless he knows he went in the wrong direction and admits it, at least to himself. If he has not come to terms with this, he is not alone. Well-meaning conservatives such as Thune get caught up in procuring the benefits of the federal leviathan for their states and their constituents. It is much of what ails the Republicans. - Commentary, Rovert D. Novak, The Washington Post

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SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE BNSF PLAY FAIR

One of my pet peeves when playing the game Monopoly is someone buying up all the properties and not doing a single thing with them. All they do is collect rent and let the property go to waste.

And the best property to have a monopoly on in the game is the four railroads.

That's kind of what I believe has happened in Montana. The BNSF Railway Company has a monopoly on Montana's railroad tracks and is, in my opinion, doing nothing on many parts of the track but letting them go to waste or pulling out and leaving empty rail beds.

Then, the communities from which BNSF left are left to deal with the empty rail beds. Some turn them into the dreaded Rails for Trails, which in my opinion could be dangerous for those using them outside city limits as the trails are not usually patrolled. Furthermore, I believe the landowners should have the right to purchase the abandoned rail beds and easements.

Not only is BNSF abandoning rail beds running through small agricultural communities, but the national railroad company is also abandoning its customers -- the grain growers and small elevator operations -- in these areas. This past fall when BNSF conducted several meetings across the state explaining their grain merchandising system and how the grain is hauled from one place to another, I found it funny the company actually conducted one of these meeting in Lewistown, a town they had determined no longer worthy to serve.

It irritates me that this company has so much power over the transportation these smaller agricultural communities receive. It seems that there should be something to or someone who could do something to put a stop to this monopoly.

A while back, Gov. Brian Schweitzer invited a member of the Surface Transportation Board from Washington, DC to Big Sandy, MT, to discuss issues surrounding the monopoly BNSF has in Montana. The board member basically said his hands were tied because there was a long legal process that must be completed before any action could be taken. If the federal officials aren't willing to stand up for Montana, who will?

If taking advantage of the cooperatives and farmers in Montana, and other western states, isn't enough, BNSF has had the nerve to tell entrepreneurs looking to start businesses in these small agricultural communities where they can build their business. You would think that BNSF, with all the money it is making off of high rates and the monopoly it has within the state, would think about continuing service to these communities as community service or a tax write-off. But, no, they have to tell these potential businesses to go the distance to larger communities to which BNSF will service.

One company leasing BNSF rail for the past 10 to 20 years was trying to sell its land and facilities to another potential business when it discovered BNSF had no intention of servicing that area, even after collecting the lease money for all those years. The sale was lost and another small agricultural community lost a great opportunity for growth.

I've heard all the canned answers to why these small agricultural communities are not getting rail service from BNSF, and they stink as bad as a can of sardines. Apparently, according to BNSF officials, these rail tracks are in bad enough shape the national company with a monopoly in this state, cannot afford to bring them back into working conditions or the company simply cannot afford to maintain them. Yep, it smells like sardines to me.

I realize BNSF is an old issue that we've been fighting for quite some time, but it seems that there should be some way to put a thumb on this monopoly and add competition in some way. Perhaps, BNSF should be forced to share its tracks with other railroad companies in the area, like Montana Link or Central Montana Rail to provide much-needed competition. Or maybe BNSF should not be allowed to abandon small agricultural communities that survive on its service, such as Lewistown, where potential incoming industry is limited because the railroad tracks have been pulled up and ties sold.

How are these communities to grow if they cannot build their ethanol plants, crushing facilities or elevators because BNSF doesn't want to provide service on its tracks that run through the hearts of these communities? Does BNSF have no conscience? Do those officials not care that they could be responsible for removing these communities from the map and making them ghost towns that thrived back in the day when the train came through?

Unfortunately, in real life you can't just throw in the cards and call the game quits because someone isn't playing fair. - Commentary, Shannon Ruckman, The Prairie Star (Great Falls, MT)

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RAILROAD RELIEVES LOG TRUCKS IN EXPERIMENT

YULEE, FL - An experiment by a local short-line railroad to transport logs to an Amelia Island mill ended quietly Wednesday, two weeks after it began.

Railroad officials and log truckers said they hope the test aimed at reducing log-truck traffic on Florida A1A passes muster and the practice becomes a part of the way commerce works in Nassau County.
Between Feb. 12 and Wednesday, loads from as many as 18 log trucks a day were shipped 18 miles from a railside yard 6 miles north of downtown Yulee to one of Amelia Island's two mills, said Murray Benz, First Coast Railroad project coordinator.

Photo here: [www.jacksonville.com]

Caption reads: First Coast Railroad equipment moves logs from a log truck, left, onto rail cars, right, Wednesday, Feb. 28. The log train later left for an Amelia Island mill. (Photo by Kevin Turner/Florida Times-Union)

Under an agreement between the railroad and the mill, First Coast Railroad cannot identify the mill, Benz said.

As part of the test, the railroad operated between 06:00 and 13:00 weekdays, using its own equipment to unload log trucks and load the logs onto specialized rail cars leased from CSX, Benz said.

"We have a very reasonable cost to them [the mill] to handle cars from Manley [the transfer site] to the mill and to take the empty cars back," Benz said. "But we're trying to determine whether it's ever going to be economically feasible. They have to pay us an additional cost to move these rail cars, and we don't know whether the economics will work out to the point where they can afford to do this."

In April 2005, the First Coast Railroad's parent company, Genesee & Wyoming Co. -- which owns several short-line railroads in the United States, Canada and Mexico - entered into a 20-year agreement with CSX Transportation Inc. to lease 31 miles of rails connecting Fernandina Beach to Yulee and Yulee to Seals, GA.

Since then, the company has researched the community's needs and advanced the log transport idea, Benz said.

After two log-truck accidents within weeks at the intersection of Florida A1A and Barnwell Road in early 2005, there was debate how the log-truck traffic could be diverted from the busy highway.

One suggestion was to ship logs by rail after transferring them from trucks in a staging area.
And it is that kind of staging area, or "transload facility," that First Coast Railroad has established.

The offloading system has meant participating log truckers completely avoided increasingly congested Florida A1A. Some saved so much time, they were to bring in more loads, allowing them to make more money, Benz said.

"There's no losers," she said. "If we can pull this off, if this works, the truck drivers win and we get a little extra revenue. Because they don't have to go the additional 18 miles, some of these truckers are getting in an extra turn. These logging company truck drivers live in this community. They have money invested in their rigs. They bring money into the community."

John T. Lee, who owns a small trucking company in Folkston, GA, said he is a fan of the operation. On its last day, Wednesday, he said he was sorry to see it stop.

"This is the best thing that's happened in a long time," Lee said. "The more we can stay out of a populated area, that's a big liability solved for us."

Phil Scanlan, president of the Amelia Island Association, has advocated finding alternate ways to get logs to Amelia Island mills.

"If you look at the roads coming in [to Amelia Island], it's caved-in in areas. Coming out, it's not. That's the weight of the logs," Scanlan said. "That seems to be creating a road condition that's not good. I think we're facing an enormous traffic problem."

Scanlan said offloading the trucks onto trains would be a great help if it's possible.

"It will help reduce traffic, obviously, with the rails going along the road," he said.

Whether the experiment becomes permanent depends on a number of factors. First, the mill needs to decide whether the higher expense of shipping by rail is cost-effective, Benz said.

In addition, First Coast Railroad also needs to upgrade its operation, Benz said.

Benz said the company will pursue grants and other funding to make the transload station permanent. It needs to be paved and equipped with scales and larger loading equipment, she said.
For the sake of the trial, truckers estimated their load weight. The current loader takes too long, taking about 15 minutes to unload each truck, she said.

But for now, Benz said she's just hoping the test operation was a success.

"We're only doing a trial," she said. "If both parties say this is going to work and we get an opportunity to get assistance with funding, then we'll pave it, get a big loader and we'll start unloading log trucks right and left." - Kevin Turner, The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)

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RAILROAD WORKER IN CRITICAL CONDITION FOLLOWING ACCIDENT

NEWTON, KS -- A BNSF Railway Company brakeman remains in critical condition today after being struck by a train Saturday night in Newton, Kansas.

Justin Belisle, 24, of Newton was placing a piece of equipment on the rear car of a train about 22:30 Saturday at tracks near Southwest 14th and Cow Palace Road.

He stepped too close to an adjacent track and was struck by a passing train.

Belisle, who has been employed by BNSF for 13 months, was taken to Via Christi Medical Center-St. Francis Campus.

Sheriff Byron Motter, said a joint investigation by railroad officials and the Harvey County Sheriff's Department concluded the incident was an accident. - The Newton Kansan

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COAL OWNER HAS LESS-THAN-CLEAN HISTORY

ROUNDUP, MT -- Success has for years lurked just around the corner for John Baugues Jr., a coal mining entrepreneur who arrived here in 1995 after starting and folding a string of mines in his native Tennessee.

Taking control that year of Bull Mountain Land Co., which has an estimated 340 million tons of coal lodged deep in the mountains south of Roundup, Baugues' future at last looked secure.

Then his biggest customer dropped him. His operating permit was revoked for environmental violations. Lawsuits from disgruntled investors stacked up, and Baugues' attempts to find new financing repeatedly came up dry.

Now, after languishing in the coal industry's wilderness for more than a decade, Baugues sees a chance at professional redemption through a $1.5 billion coal-to-liquids plant proposed for Bull Mountain. It would be among the first in the country to convert coal into cleaner-burning fuels, for power generation and transportation.

The project has been touted aggressively by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer in his campaign to ease America's dependence on foreign oil. It's backed by industry heavyweight Arch Coal, which has a 25 percent stake in one of the partners in the project.

But in Baugues -- with his checkered history and a trail of disgruntled creditors stretching back to Tennessee -- Schweitzer has found a questionable champion.

Schweitzer testified before a congressional committee last week that up to 2 billion barrels of imported oil could be replaced each year with coal-based fuels. That would require building 250 plants on the scale of the Bull Mountain proposal.

Yet while another coal-to-liquids project in neighboring Wyoming moves forward, Bull Mountain is on hold until Baugues and his partners resolve outstanding litigation and demonstrate the mine can produce enough coal to supply the plant.

To move forward, Baugues and his partners, Greenwich, Conn.-based Airlie Group, must finally swing the big deal that has eluded Baugues for so many years. He spent the last week trying to persuade New York investors to sink almost $300 million into an operation that even Baugues acknowledges has a spotty record.

Airlie, which declined comment, has final say over the deal after investing more than $100 million into Bull Mountain during the past two years. But Baugues remains the public face of the endeavor and depicted himself as heavily involved in the financing negotiations.

The $300 million would go toward building a 35-mile rail link to the remote mine site and to expand mining operations more than 30-fold -- work considered crucial to the proposed plant.

"It's been a tough road, but this time we're ahead of the curve," Baugues said in one of several interviews about his project and business dealings. "We have all the (railroad) right of ways. We have all the permits. The business fundamentals are good. It's just a damn fight."

His detractors, including creditors and coal industry insiders, are doubtful. Baugues has developed a reputation for promising major investments that never came to fruition. Also, hanging over Bull Mountain is a $20 million obligation to a group of 400 small investors who sued to get their money back. A second creditors' lawsuit is set for trial in May. At least two more have been settled for undisclosed sums.

"Airlie and Baugues have soured a lot of relationships," said Gregory Bartko, an Atlanta attorney representing the 400 investors in a federal lawsuit. "They kept having to make more money, more money, more money ... It's just a continual new story every three to six months."

Meanwhile, the mine itself abruptly ceased operations Tuesday. Citing tight finances and a weak coal market, Bull Mountain laid off 50 workers indefinitely.

Following the idling of the mine, Schweitzer's economic development chief, Evan Barrett, made clear the administration's support has its limits. "The private side of this thing has to take care of itself," he said. Once ownership of the mine is determined, Barrett said, the administration will work with whomever is in control to advance the clean-coal project.

That contrasts with Schweitzer's comments at October's unveiling of the Bull Mountain plant proposal, which he declared "a great day for Montana" and "a major step in converting into a reality America's hope for an alternative to imported oil."

A spokeswoman for DKRW Advanced Fuels, Arch Coal's partner, said the coal-to-liquids project is "delayed" until Bull Mountain's legal and financing issues are resolved. A second DKRW coal-to-liquids project, in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, is scheduled to begin construction later this year, spokeswoman Sandy Fruhman said.

Baugues said the shutdown of the mine was temporary and Bartko's clients will be paid when the $300 million in financing is arranged. He rejected any notion that he has found great wealth in the project to date, and said he makes no effort to hide Bull Mountain's past troubles.

"I just lay it out on the table and explain it," he said. "It's not a shell game ... I've never gained one bit from being in this project financially. I hope to, but not yet."

Despite Baugues' upbeat claim that he is "on the cusp" of a deal, industry analysts describe the outlook for a sale as uncertain.

Coal-to-liquids projects have received a substantial political boost in recent months, including legislation sponsored by presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., that offers them substantial tax breaks.

But the industry as a whole is contracting. While coal enjoyed a boom when oil prices skyrocketed two years ago, lower oil prices more recently have dulled its attraction, said Matthew Thurmond, a coal analyst with Zacks Investment Research in Chicago. The prospects for coal-to-liquids have turned into an "economics game": Does it make sense to pursue coal if oil is relatively cheap again?

In the case of Bull Mountain, potential investors also will be looking at the mine's -- and Baugues' -- rocky history.

Since 2005, the Airlie Group has attempted to shore up the mine's reputation by bringing in industry veteran John DeMichiei. DeMichiei, whose 40-year career included 17 years at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, has drafted a new mining plan, secured permits for the planned expansion and worked to smooth relations with state officials who oversee the operation.

"What we've done is add a degree of credibility to the exercise," DeMichiei said.

In the coal industry, there is consensus that Bull Mountain has great potential. It has a 30-year supply of good-quality, easily accessible coal, found in a contiguous seam just 400 feet beneath the surface.

Its problems are ones of perception, said Jim Thompson, who tracks the industry for the newsletter Coal and Energy Price Report.

"All people can do when they look at an operation is to look at its potential and look at its track record," he said. "Given the difficult track record, you're going to have to sell them on the potential. And it's always harder to sell potential than it is to sell results." - Matthew Brown, The Associated Press, The Casper Star-Tribune

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FAMILY'S LAWYER: DISTRICT KNEW OF LIABILITY

HAYWARD, CA -- If Celedonia Jasmin Castro had not been struck dead by an Amtrak commuter train at the Huntwood Avenue Gate railroad crossing in February 2005, a contract entered into in 1958 by the Hayward Unified School District and Southern Pacific Railroad might have faded into history unnoticed.

But Castro did die in the act of saving someone else's life on the railroad tracks, and her parents have filed a suit against the district for negligence.

Their case could hinge on the 1958 contract that states the Huntwood Avenue Gate would be kept "closed and securely locked at all times except when said crossing is actually being used," and the district would "maintain a competent adult watchman or guard satisfactory to Railroad for the protection of traffic at all times while said crossing is being used," according to court records.

Ten years after the contract was signed, the district abandoned its responsibilities to supervise the gate, said Tom Gundlach, attorney for the Castro family.

In the intervening years before Castro's death, there is evidence the district knew of its liability concerning the gate. In 1968, a district official wrote, "I think that if we did not provide a guard at this point we would be liable," according to court documents.

In 1977, the issue of the gate came up again, and a district official wrote, "I would like to call to your attention the fact that a Contract with Southern Pacific Railroad that the former Hayward Union High School District signed requires that we provide supervision for the students crossing Southern Pacific property at Schafer Road and Huntwood Avenue," and went on to write, "We must comply with the S.P. contract," according to court records.

At this time the school's administration asked the district to place a guard at the gate, but instead the district tried to cancel the contract, according to the record. Stipulations in the contract state it can be canceled only if the gate is removed, so Gundlach argued the contract is still in effect, court records state.

A letter from a district official in 1991, after learning six high-speed commuter trains were being added to the track, seems to back up Gundlach's argument: "At present the gate is left open and there is no supervision of students at this location. This is a serious liability exposure."

In 1999, another school official wrote, "This back area into Tennyson High School is a disgrace ... and a hazardous walkway for students," according to court files. An e-mail followed that said, "According to the city engineer, HUSD has an easement with Union Pacific and we are responsible."

The district refused to comment for this story now that the case is going to trial. And when asked about the gate, different officials gave different answers as to why it remained open.

"We thought it was public access," Tennyson High School Principal Theresa McEwen said.

An official with the maintenance office said he had thought the contract was expired. But since The Review first reported about the lawsuit a week ago, school personnel have begun locking the gate and opening it only during the lunch period, when students are allowed to leave campus. - Alejandro Alfonso, The Alameda Times-Star

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LOCAL POLICE FIND REMEDY FOR LONG TRAINS

PERRY COUNTY, IL - There are more than 14,000 different places in Illinois to get stuck waiting for a train to cross the road.

There is no length limit for freight trains, Steve Lafferty of the Illinois Commerce Commission said in a recent telephone interview. The average train is about one mile long, with lengths up to two miles not uncommon. But trains cannot block a crossing for more than 10 minutes.

The Canadian National Railroad was cited on Feb. 20 in Perry County for blocking a crossing too long. The Union Pacific Railroad was cited for the same thing in Perry County in December.

Perry County Sheriff Keith Kellerman said fining an engineer is a little bit trickier than fining a motorist. However, he said, he recognizes that prolonged crossing blockages are a problem. He said the longest delays lately seem to be near the St. Johns community north of Du Quoin. Trains there have blocked the crossing for 15 or 20 minutes, he said.

"We've always tried to address complaints," he said. "We're not always successful. Sometimes by the time we get there, the train is gone. It depends where we are in the county and if we can get to the crossing in time."

State law decrees trains are permitted to block railroad crossings for no longer than 10 minutes. Delays longer than that can result in fines for the railroad company - the longer the crossing is blocked, the higher the fine. A 15-minute crossing blockage can lead to a $500 fine for a railroad. If the blockage is 30 minutes, the fine is $1,000, with an additional $500 for every five minutes after that.

Compare that with the fine a motorist can get for driving around a railroad crossing gate - $250 for a first offense is a possible fine.

Besides making drivers crazy with impatience, there are safety factors considered when trains block crossings, Chip Pew, state coordinator for Operation Lifesaver, a railroad safety program produced by the ICC, said.

Railroad crossing blockage can delay emergency response vehicles, Pew noted. Even lights and sirens won't get an ambulance or fire truck safely through a train. If the train is stopped for a long time near a school or other place where children may be, there is a danger the train may be mistaken for a new toy. Pew said Illinois children have lost limbs and lives when trying to crawl under, through or onto trains that suddenly begin to move, even if they move slowly and only a few feet.

Another problem in areas where long delays are common is an increased tendency to try to beat the train to the crossing or drive around the gates. The more often people are held up by trains, he said, the more likely they are to be overly impatient when they see one coming down the track.

Pew said most train-vehicle collisions occur at crossings with both lights and gates. That seems to indicate it's not a matter of not seeing a train, but rather of disregarding the warnings.

"Trains can appear on any track coming from any direction at any time," he said. "I always wonder if people realize how fast a train can be coming down the track, and how long it takes one to stop."

Pew investigated the Feb. 18 fatal collision between a car and a train in Jefferson County. He said that train stopped almost half a mile after the impact with the car.

"Train safety hasn't changed much since the invention of the railroad," he said. "Use common sense and stay out of the train's way. If a train hits you, you are probably dead. And that doesn't need to happen."

Pew said communities that stress citing motorists for driving around gates or trains for blocking crossings generally are not in it for the money, but for safety instead. - Andrea Hahn, The Carbondale Southern Illinoisan

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TRAIN HITS MINIVAN; NO ONE INJURED

Photo here: [www.ketv.com]

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA -- A train hit a minivan Sunday afternoon on 16th Avenue and South Main Street in Council Bluffs, police said.

Officers said the man driving a white minivan was trying to cross the Union Pacific railroad tracks when the train ran into him. The driver and three children in the minivan weren't hurt.

Officers said they ticketed the driver for not stopping at the train signals. - KETV-TV7, Omaha, NE

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ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF RAILROAD ARRIVING IN TUCSON

An annual celebration will take place, marking the arrival of the railroad in Tucson.

The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is sponsoring an event to celebrate 127 years since a railroad was constructed in Tucson.

According to a press release by the transportation museum, Mayor Bob Walkup will be reading a proclamation as part of the festivities.

Also scheduled is a tribute to William Sayre, a long-time Southern Pacific Railroad employee.

Museum spokespeople say they expect to welcome back members of the 4th Cavalry Regiment Band.

Event organizers say they believe the celebration demonstrates the importance of the railroad coming to Tucson, and how it helped the city of Tucson grow into a metropolis.

The celebration will take place March 20 at 11:00 in front of the historic Locomotive #1673.
This event is free and open to the public. Schools are welcome to attend as well.

For more information, call (520) 623-2223. - Alicia Barrón, Fox 11 News, KMSB-TV, Tucson, AZ

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EVENTS CELEBRATE RAILROAD HERO CASEY JONES

JACKSON, TN -- The Historic Casey Jones Home and Railroad Museum will host its annual Casey Jones Birthday Celebration later this month.

Festivities include an opportunity to meet the granddaughter of the late Casey Jones. Nancy Howse will be at the Casey Jones Museum signing autographs and greeting guests from 13:00 to 15:00 March 14.

Admission to Casey Jones' original historic 1890s home will be free during the daylong celebration. Door prizes will be given and light refreshments served.

The museum is located in Casey Jones Village off the U.S. 45 Bypass at I-40 exit 80A in Jackson. Hours of operation are 09:00 to 17:00. To read more about America's legendary railroad hero, visit [www.caseyjones.com]. - The Jackson Sun

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TEXARKANA STILL INTERESTED IN HIGH-SPEED RAIL

TEXARKANA, AR -- Although the idea is years old, the interest and need is still alive for high-speed rail service, according to backers of a corridor through Texarkana.

The bi-state city, in Arkansas and Texas, sits on one of the links for high-speed rail service for passengers and shipping, designated by the Federal Railroad Administration in 2000.

Peter LeCody, president of Texas Rail Advocates, says funds are not currently available to develop the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor so the next step would be to coordinate the various groups to seek federal and state funding.

"One of the biggest problems is that everybody thinks that passenger rail service should be profitable. But let's put it this way, when was the last time the interstate made a profit?" he says.

As envisioned, the service would reach speeds of 90 mph to 110 mph. Texas Rail Advocates, a lead promoter, says the service could provide a reliable, safe alternative to intercity travelers, give shippers greater speed, and spur development.

LeCody says Texarkana would be on one of the most important lines because the traffic already exists and the corridor between Fort Worth and Little Rock would only need upgrades, making it a less expensive project.

Celia Boswell of Mineola, Texas, chairwoman of the East Texas Corridor Council, says the council wants higher speed rail along the traditional route through Texarkana and along Interstate 20 to Fort Worth. She says the group's proposal has sparked interest from Arkansans and residents of Shreveport, LA.

"If we're able to do what needs to be done, which is to have the higher speed rail along this corridor, then we'll be able to have much greater freight capacity ... moving the freight faster and more efficiently," Boswell says.

John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, says freight volume nationally is expected to double by 2035.

"If you look at the challenge of serving, meeting the mobility needs of this country, it's absolutely clear you can't do it with highways alone," he says.

Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak, says the company has seen an increase in ridership systemwide and the public wants more choices. He says Amtrak has been working with Texas Rail Advocates and other groups to improve services, but needs a federal partner.

"If there is a federal partnership created for capital expenses for this kind of service increase, that would be a landmark," Magliari says. - The Associated Press, The Bryan-College Station Eagle

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NOT A PHOTO YOU WANT TO BE IN

TACOMA, WA -- Some call it photocop. Some deem it Big Brotherish. Whatever the name, drivers be warned. Cameras are likely coming to Tacoma intersections by summer.

And if you get snapped running a red, you'll get slapped with a $101 fine.

A majority of Tacoma City Council members favor the automated traffic-ticket equipment. The council could pass legislation setting the program in motion this month.

And tickets could be in the mail as soon as July 1.

"We have a serious red-light running problem in Tacoma, and this seems to be the best way to address it," City Councilman Mike Lonergan said Friday.

Police haven't decided how many cameras might be installed or where they might go, Lt. Pete Cribbin said. But officers have a list of the city's most troublesome intersections.

Before camera-generated tickets could be written, intersections would have to be clearly marked.
There also would be a warning period.

Lakewood, Bonney Lake and Auburn are among South Sound cities employing cameras at intersections. Puyallup expects to install some this summer, and Federal Way is considering it.

"I think it will save lives," Mayor Bill Baarsma said of Tacoma's plan. "The sooner the better."

Council members audibly sucked in their breath during a study session last week when they viewed a video that shows a car running a red light and T-boning a station wagon.

"It really sent chills up my spine," Baarsma said.

The clip was part of a presentation by Redflex Traffic Systems of Scottsdale, Ariz. The city expects to contract with Redflex to install and operate red-light cameras, assistant city attorney Michael J. Smith said.

He hopes to get the proposed law before the council for a first reading March 20. The council could approve it the following the week.

The ordinance also would allow the use of cameras or photo radar at railroad crossings and in school zones.

But city officials plan just the red-light cameras at this point, said City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg, who heads the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

Resident Jenn Chushcoff wants to see studies proving that red-light cameras can decrease accidents before she gives them an unqualified endorsement.

But she's "definitely for the cameras if they're going to save lives."

And Chushcoff, who's lived in the high-traffic Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas, has seen more red-light running in Pierce County than she did in California.

"After moving here, I learned to wait and look both ways after I get a green light because sometimes there are one to three cars zooming through the intersection afterwards," she wrote in a letter to The News Tribune late last year.

Accidents dropped a total of 67 percent at four intersections in Beaverton, Oregon, after cameras were installed, Redflex regional sales and marketing director Wade R. Bettisworth told Tacoma council members last week.

Ladenburg called red-light cameras a useful enforcement tool for a thinly stretched police department.

Opponents of red-light cameras and photo radar complain the technology can be fallible and argue that there are other ways to keep people from running red lights and get them to slow down. Some complain they're little more than cash machines for cities.

"They're basically just put in for revenue purposes," said Aaron Quinn, spokesman for the Wisconsin-based National Motorists Association, a nonprofit advocacy group.

"We think there are better ways to reduce collisions," he said, ticking off measures like increased yellow-light time, larger traffic signals and removal of obstructions at intersections.

Red-light cameras also can lead to more rear-end crashes as drivers hit the brakes to avoid getting a ticket, he said.

Bettisworth counters that a rear-end collision "suggests the person behind was following too close."

Some studies have shown a temporary increase in rear-end crashes when enforcement cameras are installed, said Russ Rader, media relations director for the Arlington, Va.-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. But that also happens when new traffic signals are put up, he said.

In both cases, the rear-end collision increase "is short-lived," Rader added.

A 2005 Washington Post analysis of crash statistics in the nation's capital, however, showed accidents went up at intersections with cameras.

Washington, D.C., officials chalked the rise up to an increase in traffic, the Post reported. But the newspaper's study showed accident rates at intersections with cameras was the same or worse than at crossings without the shutter-cops.

AAA Washington supports red-light cameras because "you just can't have officers at every intersection," said spokeswoman Janet Ray.

The main goal of any such equipment should be safer streets, Ray said. Fines should finance safety measures and driver education, she added.

Tacoma doesn't expect red-light cameras to make a lot of money, Ladenburg and others said.
Material presented to the council projects the city could get about $14,000 per camera a month.
Vendor and court costs are expected to tally about $6,300 per camera monthly. Police time needed for the program wasn't included in the tally.

It will take some time to evaluate all the costs and revenue, Ladenburg said. The city simply wants to "break even."

"The people who are running red lights are breaking the law and they deserve to get a ticket for it," Ladenburg said. "These cameras are a whole lot cheaper" than additional traffic cops.

The plan is to come up with a program in which the city has the say but the contractor provides the equipment and does most of the work for a $4,850-per-camera monthly fee, said Smith, the assistant city attorney.

"Ultimately, our goal is to effect change in driving behavior, not to increase revenue," Councilman Rick Talbert said.

If the threat of automated cameras puts the brakes on red-light runners and the amount collected from fines goes down, the vendor takes the risk of losing money, not the city, Bettisworth of Redflex told council members.

"We can assure you that the program is going to be 100 percent violator-funded," he said. "It's a tax on people who run red lights, that's what it comes down to." - Kris Sherman, The Tacoma News Tribune

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COUSE PAINTING ON DISPLAY AT LIBRARY

GALVESTON, TX -- In 1979, the Sealy Homestead Trust donated to the Rosenberg Library a number of paintings that once hung in the Sealy Mansion (Open Gates) at 25th Street and Broadway in Galveston.

Among these was an oil painting by Eanger Irving Couse. Couse was an American painter who lived and worked in New Mexico during the early 1900s. There, he felt inspired by the Indians at Taos Pueblo.

Couse used these Indians as models in staged scenes featuring Native American pottery, textiles and tools. His paintings depicted the Indians not as savages, but as peaceful, dignified human beings.

A highly respected artist during his lifetime, Couse's work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution.

Couse was among the founders of the Taos Art Colony, which was established in 1898. New Mexico's unique blend of Hispanic and Pueblo Indian cultures set against a dramatic mountain and desert landscape appealed to many American artists.

Couse, along with Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips, was among the first members of the Taos School.

A second generation of artists, beginning about 1915, included Georgia O'Keefe, Marsden Hartley and Robert Henri. This later group tended to be more modern in approach; many were influenced by the European Impressionist movement.

Couse's work was first shown in Galveston in a 1926 exhibit at the Rosenberg Library. In an article from The Daily News dated April 12 of that year, it was reported that the library had on display eight reproductions of Indian paintings by Couse.

These reproductions were used as marketing tools by the Santa Fe Railroad. The Santa Fe Railroad was the chief sponsor of the art colony at Taos. The company purchased many paintings and had reproductions made to use on promotional materials to lure travelers West.

Galvestonian George Sealy purchased a painting titled "Pueblo Fireplace" directly from the artist in 1929. He became interested in Couse's work after seeing it on a calendar produced by the railroad company.

The 1929 calendar featured a reproduction of Couse's "The Blanket."

Sealy, who was a prominent businessman in Galveston, was on the board of directors for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway.

Sealy wrote to Couse in January 1929, inquiring about the painting featured on the 1929 Santa Fe Railroad calendar and expressing a desire to purchase the work.

Couse wrote back saying that that particular painting had been sold, but that he had others that Sealy might be interested in. The following month, Sealy made a visit to Couse's New Mexico studio and purchased three paintings for a total of $1,800.

One of these three - "Pueblo Fireplace" - was donated to the library in 1979. The other two works remained in the family.

The original letters of correspondence between Couse and Sealy are now owned by the Couse Foundation in Taos, NM.

Formed in 2001, the foundation's mission is to preserve the home and studio where Couse lived and worked from 1902 until his death in 1936. Private tours are available by appointment. - Eleanor Clark, The Galveston County Daily News (Eleanor Clark is curator at Rosenberg Library)

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TRANSIT NEWS

LIGHT RAIL ON UNION PACIFIC CORRIDOR BEST

DENVER, CO -- While the Gold Line study has caused some debate, my position is that this type of study is useful and necessary - not just because it is required by federal law - but because it provides critical data for making the best decisions for the city's future.

The Front Range is projected to add a million new residents by 2030, the majority of which are likely to be absorbed by Denver. One of the most vital tools of any urban expansion is transportation, and since the passage of the FasTracks initiative in 2004, the earlier Gold Line alignment and its transit technology has prompted new local debates.

New Gold Line alignments and transit alternatives were introduced late last summer due primarily to liability issues raised by the two railroads where the original light rail transit was planned. That decision by Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railway Company not to allow light rail trains within their right-of-ways is based on the railroads' issues in other areas where right-of-ways are shared with light rail. They do not want to have to contend with future legal cases involving potential train accidents.

Regardless of these late-breaking railroad issues, to obtain federal funds the Gold Line, as part of FasTracks development, was required to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Any time federal transit money is pursued, there are EIS requirements to study new alternatives that include traffic impacts, property acquisitions, cost-effectiveness, ridership gains or loses, environmental justice and public support, to list just a few.

The most recent Gold Line EIS put the four remaining alternatives under intense scrutiny: (1) using electrical multiple unit (EMUs) rail cars on the existing Union Pacific tracks; (2) installing Light Rail on Sheridan; (3) installing Light Rail on Harlan; (4) installing streetcar infrastructure on Harlan. The last three alternatives bring transit from Arvada and Wheat Ridge along W. 38th Ave. into Denver's Union Station.

This study shows that in nearly every category use of Union Pacific's (UP) right-of-way is clearly the best option. The only other remotely viable choice is the Harlan streetcar option, which is by no means without its own drawbacks. Light Rail on Sheridan and Harlan are not feasible, due to their extremely high cost, lower ridership, largest construction impacts, parking requirements, and so on.

By sharing UP's tracks, no streets will be impeded, the project will stay within the FasTracks budget, it will receive the highest ridership and community and agency support, and will cause the fewest environmental, traffic, noise, etc. impacts. In addition, the UP option will provide the quickest travel time. These two alternatives will continue to be evaluated because as a special district RTD cannot provide legal protection beyond statutory limits to another party.
To be able to hold UP harmless from any liability related to the Gold Line and other railroad corridors to be shared with freight trains, a bill must be passed by the Colorado Legislature, which is another time-consuming and contentious issue.

Regardless of the final alignment and transit technology decisions made by the RTD Board, NW Denver will benefit from the high-level study of the environmental and engineering impacts of streetcars along W. 38th Ave. This study will provide us with a competitive advantage for later seeking RTD funding to support streetcar service to our neighborhoods. Streetcar use is already in city planning as a strategy to promote creation of more dense, walkable, mixed-used neighborhoods where residents don't need to use their cars. Moreover, these streetcars become high-quality local circulators that link to regional transit networks, (e.g. Gold Line) and typically have more frequent stops to support pedestrian neighborhoods. - Rick Garcia, The North Denver News

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MAYOR DISLIKES LIGHT RAIL DOWNTOWN

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- In December, when Councilman Bob Littlefield asked the City Council to denounce the idea of light rail on Scottsdale Road, Mayor Mary Manross declined.

Consultant HDR Inc. should be allowed to finish its work before the council starts voting on town transit technologies, Manross and a majority of the council said.

But on Thursday, with HDR's work still unfinished, Manross made her strongest statement yet against light rail.

"Let there be no question about it, that while I support improved transit opportunities on our signature road, I do not support light rail on Scottsdale Road going through the heart of our downtown!" Manross said in her State of the City address.

Her comments capped a week of intense discussion about rail that started with the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce announcing it would support either light rail or modern streetcars.

Manross' address left the audience guessing what "improved transit opportunities" she might support. Manross said Friday that although she opposed light rail through the core of downtown, roughly Earll Drive to Chaparral Road, it was too early to rule out other options.

"We need to finish the process and put everything on the table," Manross said.

HDR is evaluating three transit technologies for Scottsdale: light rail, modern streetcars and bus rapid transit. With light rail the subject of widespread community criticism, transit backers could shift their support to streetcars.

Streetcars are sometimes seen as less disruptive than light rail because they do not require dedicated traffic lanes. The technology is gathering support at the chamber, said Rick Kidder, the chamber's president and chief executive.

"Unless it becomes so untenable that no one wants to get in their cars anymore, the majority of people are going to be driving their automobiles," Kidder said Friday. - Casey Newton, The Arizona Republic

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SEATTLE'S 'BIG UGLY POLITICAL MESS

SEATTLE, WA -- When Mayor Greg Nickels uses the phrase "the Big Ugly," he is referring to the 2.2-mile-long Alaskan Way Viaduct, the aging, earthquake-vulnerable elevated expressway that separates much of downtown Seattle from Elliott Bay, one of the city's iconic natural features.

But the Big Ugly also is an apt characterization of the political debacle unfolding here over whether -- and how -- the 54-year-old concrete roadway should be replaced.

On an all-mail advisory ballot that many voters here complain is confusing -- not to mention "a sham and a fiasco," as City Council Member Peter Steinbrueck puts it, or "meaningless," in the view of state House Speaker Frank Chopp -- Seattleites are supposed to weigh in with a yes or no on two separate measures.

One would replace the viaduct with a tunnel. It would be a visionary reclamation of Seattle's somewhat neglected waterfront, according to proponents, and a Boston Big Dig-style construction nightmare, according to opponents. The other measure would replace the viaduct with a new elevated expressway.

Nickels, backed by former governors, mayors and business leaders, is campaigning hard for a "yes" vote on the tunnel.

"Tear down this wall," he said of the raised expressway recently, perhaps a touch dramatically, as he was echoing the famous Reagan-to-Gorbachev challenge about the Berlin Wall.

Nickels has been pushing the tunnel idea even though state transportation planners last month rejected the design as both unsafe and far more expensive than its $3.4-billion price tag.

Some local leaders are pressing for the new expressway. Others favor a cheaper retrofit of the existing structure.

And still others are pushing the so-called "no-no" option (or "no and hell no," in the words of the Stranger, an alternative weekly here), a sort of "if you don't build it, they won't come" approach to traffic.

Ballots went out two weeks ago and must be postmarked by March 13 to be counted.

No one truly expects voters to have the final word on the subject, and many leaders seem dug in to their position regardless of how the vote comes out -- raising the prospect of years of litigation and prompting Joni Balter, a Seattle Times editorial columnist, to label the whole mess "Dysfunction Junction."

Still, the advisory ballot gives Seattleites a chance to offer some general vision for the waterfront, a mishmash of port facilities, tourist shops, a ferry terminal and cruise-ship slips. It is hardly the city's most attractive feature, and it is cut off visually and sonically from the famed Pike Place Market and the rest of downtown by the viaduct and its whoosh of traffic.

Council Member Steinbrueck, an architect, says he will fight a new viaduct to his dying day, whereas Chopp, a Seattle Democrat, has basically said a tunnel will get built only over (or, perhaps, under) his dead body.

Many non-Seattle lawmakers agree with Chopp, portraying the tunnel as a wasteful bauble -- and a dangerous one. The state Transportation Department said the tunnel would have "serious operational and safety problems" because it would be narrow and the shoulders would be used as exit lanes during rush hours, which could cause accidents and tie-ups.

"It makes absolutely no sense to replace an unsafe viaduct with an unsafe tunnel," said state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, a Democrat who heads the Transportation Committee.

Meanwhile, "no-no" proponents envision Seattleites and visitors reaching the waterfront via surface streets and bicycle paths, and highway planners say that failure to replace the viaduct could make today's already clogged "expressways" look like a picnic compared with traffic jams of the future.

Though there is widespread discord over what to do with the viaduct, virtually everybody involved agrees on this: The next time a major earthquake hits the region, the existing expressway could crumble like a sandcastle.

Engineers say the 2001 Nisqually earthquake here caused major cracks and the viaduct is now highly vulnerable to collapse in even a moderate earthquake.

In a way, the saga of the neglected roadway is a textbook example of what many call the "Seattle process," or the reputed civic inclination here to seek so much public input and listen to so many sides of an argument that nothing actually gets done.

A light-rail line, some 25 years or so under discussion and litigation, is supposed to be up and running by 2009 -- assuming construction goes smoothly. Seattle voters were asked four times over the last decade if they wanted the city to build a separate monorail system, and four times they gave it a thumbs-up. But opponents got it killed in a fifth referendum two years ago, amid concerns that it would be far more expensive than originally billed.

A strong pro-tunnel vote would strengthen Nickels' hand and, conceivably, induce state engineers to work with him to develop a feasible below-ground option. Even if that happened, there would be a separate political battle over what to do with new space above-ground -- whether to create parks, residential buildings or commercial space, or a combination.

Approval of the rebuild option, with a loss for the tunnel, would probably kill the tunnel idea for good, though it wouldn't necessarily settle whether the viaduct should be rebuilt completely, at an estimated cost of $2.8 billion, or given a less-expensive and potentially less aesthetically pleasing earthquake-resistant retrofit.

In the highly unlikely case that voters answer "yes" to both a tunnel and a new viaduct, no one seems to have any idea what message that would send or what would happen.

In the more likely scenario of a "no-no" vote, planners would be forced back to the drawing board to consider "surface options" lacking either a tunnel or expressway -- a great idea, according to Cary Moon, co-founder of the People's Waterfront Coalition, a group that describes itself as advocating a "highway-free shore" along Elliott Bay.

By saying no to both a tunnel and a new expressway, Moon says, Seattleites could firmly seize their "once-in-a-century opportunity to create a shoreline downtown that works for residents as well as visitors, native salmon and the marine ecosystems of Puget Sound."

But Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat who is up for reelection next year and faces a political migraine over the viaduct, said the idea might be appealing in theory but would be a dud in reality.

"I can't see just tearing it down and letting it go and creating a parking lot on I-5," she said in Feb. 19 remarks about the viaduct. "I think the citizens would be appalled.. They want congestion relief." - Sam Howe Verhovek, The Los Angeles Times

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