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Railroad Newsline for Saturday, March 17, 2007 (Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!)

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

DOUBLIN' BACK TO DUBLIN: TOWN'S NAME COMES FROM ITS RAILROAD PAST

Map here: [www.record-eagle.com]

DUBLIN, MI -- What better place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than a small northern Michigan town named after the capital of the Emerald Isle?

Except the people of Manistee County's Dublin say the name of their town has nothing to do with the city in Ireland.

And according to listings for streets around the tiny village, there isn't an Irish name around.

Also, there's no place to get a pint of Guinness on tap -- not one pub, bar, saloon or tavern in sight.

"It has nothing to do with (Dublin, Ireland), unfortunately,” said Greg Fischer, owner of the Dublin General Store, which in addition to a restaurant, a gas station and a real estate office, makes up Dublin. "It's a little less romantic, but it is the story.”

Fischer said the name comes from the Pere Marquette Railroad that used to run through town. Trains from the north had to slow to cross a trestle 100 feet above the Manistee River and could not get up enough steam to climb the long, gradual grade from Wellston to Dublin.

Engineers would leave half of their cars in Wellston and take the trains up the hill in two trips, Fischer said.

"Basically, they would go back,” he said. "They would double back, to get the rest of them.”

From that came the name Dublin, formed from the word "doubling.”

Fischer admitted that some might find the story a bit fishy.

At a meeting at the Dublin General Store, which he owns with his wife Bonnie, he brought along Aileen Carlson, also known as "Miss Dublin,” who's lived all of her 78 years in the village.

Her father was once the town's postmaster, and she swears the name comes not from Ireland but from its peculiar spot on a now-defunct rail line.

Photo here: [www.record-eagle.com]

Caption reads: From left, Aileen Carlson holds a picture of the bridge that spanned the Manistee River near Dublin, and Rose Marie Fischer holds a photo of a train that would have stopped in Dublin decades ago. (Record-Eagle photos/Tyler Sipe)

Close-up photos here: [www.record-eagle.com]

And here:

[www.record-eagle.com]

Told the explanation for the name sounded a bit like Irish storytelling, Carlson scoffed.

"This is no blarney; I'm really telling the truth,” she said.

Steve Harold, director of the Manistee County Historical Museum, was doubtful about the explanation for Dublin's origin when he heard it years ago.

"I've been in the business for 32 years, and people love folksy legends,” Harold said. "I was skeptical, but the documentation exists.”

Harold said he discovered proof in a newspaper article from around 1905 that referred to the place as "Doubling.” That is around the time people started living in the village.

"I've got a sign in here that says, 'Welcome to the Fourth of July in Dublin,' and everybody looks at it and says, 'Oh, there must be a lot of Irish people there,” Harold said.

The high bridge over the Manistee River was dismantled in 1955 and the route diverted, according to the Pere Marquette Historical Society.

Being taken off the rail route apparently didn't harm the Dublin General Store, which indeed was a general store when it opened in 1935.

It once belonged to Fischer's grandparents and later his parents. His brother was part-owner for a while, but it's belonged to Fischer and his wife since 2002.

Now the business employs 40 people and includes a full-sized grocery store with a hardware department, a pharmacy and hunting and fishing supplies.

But the store is best known for its 32 varieties of jerky, a treat that lures people from hundreds of miles away and attracts orders from around the world.

With the jerky, Fischer makes one concession to St. Patrick's Day. There is a 33rd variety available once a year: corned beef jerky.

Jeri Smith, a real estate associate broker who's lived in the area for years, said she is familiar with the story of how Dublin got its name, but she doesn't let it hinder her St. Patrick's Day spirit. She heads a few miles south to Irons to celebrate.

"There's a lot of green beer drinking at the bars in Irons,” Smith said. - Patrick Sullivan, The Traverse City Record-Eagle

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UNION PACIFIC ASSEMBLES EQUIPMENT FOR CHARRED TRESTLE

Audio report here:

[podcast.medianext.com]

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Equipment is being put into place to begin demolishing charred sections of the stretch of trestle that caught fire near Sacramento Thursday.

Union Pacific crews are assembling cranes, front-end loaders and other construction equipment for the demolition work.

The intense blaze that broke out yesterday has disrupted daily passenger and freight rail traffic that run through the state capital.

The fire continued to burn Friday morning.

Union Pacific, which owns the railroad lines, says repair work could begin as early as this afternoon after fire officials complete their arson investigation. It could be two weeks or more before repairs are completed.

Meanwhile, Amtrak has set up a passenger bus-bridge between Sacramento and Auburn for passengers using the Capitol Corridor and California Zephyr services.

Passengers are finding they have to make some adjustments to their travel plans because of the fire.

An Amtrak spokeswoman at the Emeryville station told KCBS the necessary steps are being taken to help travelers reacher their destinations.

"We'll still be able to accommodate our passengers," she said."

This morning, the Zephyr out of Emeryville was rerouted through Marysville. Evening Zephyr passengers headed this way from Chicago will stop in Roseville and will transfer to a bus for the trip to Emeryville.

Capitol Corridor passengers are being bused between Auburn and Sacramento and the reverse in the evening.

There are no significant delays reported because of the changes to the Capitol Corridor line, but Zephyr riders face several additional hours in travel time.

One Zephyr passenger who identified herself as Millie from Minnesota told KCBS she didn't mind.
"On buses and on this and on that, no problem," she said. - KCBS-Radio740AM, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA

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(ED. NOTE: Here is a link to several trestle fire photos from the San Francisco Chronicle – lwg):

[www.sfgate.com]

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BURNED RAIL TRESTLE HALTS AMTRAK SERVICE

SACRAMENTO, CA -- A 300-foot stretch of an elevated railroad trestle destroyed by an intense fire could take weeks to repair, disrupting commuter and freight service in California's capital city, officials said Friday.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said the railroad would use buses along the route on Friday, and may have to suspend rail service on the damaged portion of track indefinitely.

"It'll be long-term," Cole said of the repairs.

No trains were involved in the blaze that began late Thursday and then fueled by the creosote-soaked trestle. Flames could be seen from more than 50 miles away. Before nightfall, the wall of smoke extended an estimated 2,000 feet into the air.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. The trestle keeps trains elevated above local roads and a wetlands area just north of the American River.

The spectacle drew hundreds of curious pedestrians from nearby hotels and stores, and crippled rush-hour traffic. The fire also burned near power lines and cut power to some local stores.

Railroad workers began tearing down parts of the trestle that collapsed under the intense heat late Thursday night, said Sacramento Fire Capt. Jim Doucette.

Firefighters had extinguished much of the fire but the trestle was expected to burn and smolder for a few more days.

"The wood is thick, heavy timber. You can put all the water in the world on it and it's burrowing down into the wood," Doucette said.

One firefighter was treated for a minor head injury, Doucette said. No other injuries were reported.

The fire halted Amtrak service throughout the city. About 130 passengers were stranded on a train in Roseville, a suburb northeast of the capital, for nearly five hours, Cole said.

Freight traffic also was stalled by the blaze. About 50 trains a day use the Union Pacific lines, spokesman Mark Davis said.

"All of them are being detoured on other Union Pacific routes," Davis said. - Samantha Young, The Associated Press, The Billings Gazette

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SACRAMENTO TRESTLE FIRE CALLED SUSPICIOUS

SACRAMENTO, CA -- A massive fire that devoured an important elevated railroad trestle in Sacramento appears to be suspicious but the cause is still unknown, fire officials said Friday.

While a large section of the trestle located near Cal Expo was a loss, firefighters and railroad officials managed to save a nearby railroad bridge that crosses the American River.

The blaze disrupted daily passenger and freight rail traffic that runs through the state capital.

The fire, which broke out at about 17:45 Thursday, was fueled by creosote-soaked wood that makes up the old trestle.

"It is suspicious, but it could very well be ruled some type of accident, too," said Capt. Jim Doucette of the Sacramento Fire Department.

Some witnesses said they saw suspicious activity in the area just before the fire started. One person said she saw a group of youths running from the trestle prior to the fire. Someone also reported seeing three small fires merge into one large blaze.

Union Pacific said a train passed over the trestle about 15 minutes before the fire, but a railroad official said there is no reason to believe the train was responsible.

UP on Friday assembled cranes, front-end loaders and other construction equipment to begin demolishing charred sections of the trestle.

"We stand ready," Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said.

A plume of smoke stretched thousands of feet into the air and could be seen as far away as the Bay Area. The fire was expected to burn and smolder for a few more days.

Amtrak officials said it could be two weeks or more before repairs are completed. Until then, passengers on its roundtrip daily service between Auburn and Sacramento will be bused. The other daily train, from Emeryville to Chicago, will be rerouted and will run two hours late, Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connel said.

"It's a pretty good service disruption," Connel said. "We're accommodating passengers as best we can and getting them to their destinations as close to on time as possible."

About 130 passengers were stranded Thursday on a train in Roseville for nearly five hours, said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole. Buses were brought in to bring the passengers to Sacramento.

About 125 city and county firefighters responded to the blaze. One firefighter's head was hit after he attempted to move a heavy sign along the shore, Doucette said.

Authorities were also on hand to determine if the burning creosote caused any environmental damage to the American River.

"One of the things that we are looking at closely is the water and making sure that there's not been any runoff from when we were putting out the fire," Barnes said. - KCRA-TV3, Sacramento, CA, courtesy Coleman Randall, Jr

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SUSPICIOUS FIRE BURNS 500 RAILROAD TIES

SAN JOSE, CA -- Investigators are treating as suspicious a fire in the middle of a San Jose, California field Thursday night that burned approximately 500 railroad ties.

San Jose firefighters received word of the blaze at around 22:32 from a passerby who noticed flames in a field behind Alma Court and Monterey Highway.

Fire units were on scene within minutes and found the ties ablaze, according to San Jose fire Capt. Jose Guerrero.

The fire was knocked down by 22:54 and the last fire units cleared the scene at 01:14 Friday.

The fire is being treated as suspicious because of the lack of an obvious ignition source and because the area is known to be frequented by transients, Guerrero said.

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the ties belong to Union Pacific.

"They'll definitely be cleaned up and replaced,'' Davis said.

The ties are related to Union Pacific construction in the area, he said.

No estimate for the cost of the damage has been reached and no injuries were reported, Guerrero said. - KPIX-TV5, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA

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UNION STRIFE COULD RAILROAD CN DEAL; TEAMSTERS TRYING TAKEOVER

OTTAWA, ON -- Former Canadian representatives of the United Transportation Union are trying to scuttle a tentative labor agreement with CN Rail by mounting a Teamsters takeover of the U.S.-based union.

Tim Secord, national legislative director and UTU-Canada's senior officer, says that he foresees "renewed uncertainty on Canadian and U.S. rail routes" due to inter-union rivalries and opposition from a former Chairperson Rex Beatty, who is said to be campaigning aggressively to have members scuttle the February 24th settlement with CN.

Strike action is currently suspended until a March 26, 2007 ratification vote. Most members have voluntarily returned to work as encouraged by the union. "We're concerned that both the Teamsters' raid on our members and former Chairperson Rex Beatty's opposition to the settlement may mean failure to ratify the February 24 settlement," said Secord.

With Beatty's assistance, the Teamsters have applied for certification to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for the right to represent UTU Canada members. "Beatty is telling our guys to vote down the CN Settlement as part of his game plan to take over UTU-Canada. And that could mean more uncertainty for Canadian businesses and all Canadians."

With the threat of federal back-to-work legislation looming, the UTU, representing 2,800 conductors and yard workers, reached an agreement with CN to end the two-week strike, which had crippled several industries across Canada.

Under the initial leadership of Beatty, the union first rejected final wage offers of 4.5 percent, 4.5 percent, and 4 percent over three years.

However, Beatty was sacked by UTU International President Paul Thompson soon after because he did not get approval from the union's U.S. head office before ordering workers to strike.

"We know arbitration is not in the best interests of our members. We're trying to get the settlement ratified but the Teamsters' raid and Beatty's career path are getting in the way," said Secord. - Today's Trucking

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NO INJURIES IN FIVE-CAR DERAILMENT

PIERRE, SD -- A Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern train derailed on an area of track Wednesday night that runs directly past the Pierre Boys & Girls Club, Pierre school's track and football field and Georgia Morse Middle School, which could lend fuel to the fire for opponents of the DM&E expansion project.

But according to DM&E president and CEO Kevin Schieffer, it is exactly why the DM&E expansion project should move forward.

"It's frustrating because the derailment was completely avoidable," Schieffer said. "If things had gone according to our original plan, that track would have been replaced six or seven years ago."

Schieffer said the preliminary determination of the cause of the derailment is poor track conditions. The train was traveling at only 9.8 miles per hour when the derailment occurred at about 23:00, according to its black box, which an inspector from the Federal Rail Administration read Thursday morning.

The FRA is not planning further investigation of the derailment, in which three cars carrying clay from Belle Fourche to Chicago tipped on their sides.

After the FRA denied DM&E's $2.3 billion loan in February, the railroad had to look for alternative funding sources to pursue its planned expansion project into the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.

Opponents of the project have voiced concern about several safety factors they believe will be issues including, pollution and health concerns about coal dust and increased accidents after the number of trains traveling through towns each day increases.

But Schieffer said the project is just as much about safety as it is about hauling coal.

"People don't realize that," he said.

Schieffer said many people believe that DM&E wants to expand only to increase its own profit, but expanding to the Powder River Basin would bring in enough funds for the company to upgrade the more than 1,000 miles of track that need replacing.

Since Jan. 1, 2003, the FRA has recorded 16 DM&E accidents -- of all kinds -- in Hughes and Stanley counties.

DM&E released information that of those 16 accidents, six were derailments within the cities of Pierre and Fort Pierre.

According to DM&E, there are approximately five miles of track through the two cities and one of those miles is new.

The DM&E report states that all derailments in Pierre and Fort Pierre occurred on old track and no derailments have occurred on the mile of new track.

Schieffer compares the difference between new and old track to the difference between driving on an old gravel road full of washboards and a newly constructed interstate.

"The fundamental issue is that the railroad needs to be rebuilt," Schieffer said. "Whatever the number of derailments is, it's very frustrating. Every single one has been because of track. And the fact is, that number will go up every year until the track is replaced."

Schieffer said opponents of the expansion project don't understand that safety will be improved greatly if the railroad can rebuild the track.

He said they also don't understand that crossings will be improved and grade separations and fencing will be added in many cities in areas that are the biggest safety concerns.

"I would never say anything would be completely eliminated in every instance, but everyone, including the FRA, has said that the project would dramatically improve safety," Schieffer said. "In Pierre specifically, we have detailed agreements for gates and lights -- at least one grade separation would be added -- and fencing.

"And we have a detailed agreement with Fort Pierre too."

Schieffer said he also takes issue with the fact that most of the project's opponents are using outdated numbers when it comes to DM&E's safety record.

According to a document provided by DM&E of FRA train accident counts and safety ratios, DM&E accidents dropped from 92 in 2004 to 63 in 2005 to 34 in 2006.

The ratio, consequently, dropped from 22.75 to 19.2 to 10.24.

Jafar Karim, public affairs manager for the company that owns DM&E said the ratio is an official measurement figured by the FRA.

"It's a calculation of the number of accidents per 1 million train miles," Karim said. "Train miles measures the distance a train travels between terminals, each time it makes the trip, thus including the frequency. In other words, a total mileage accumulated on the railroad's system."

Schieffer said during the talks leading up to the decision on the DM&E loan, several government entities noted the improved safety record and recognized that track improvements would further DM&E's efforts to become a safer railroad. Comments written in a report issued by the Surface Transportation Board read, "The DM&E rail infrastructure is in need of system-wide rehabilitation to provide safe rail transportation, but such improvements require a substantial financial investment. The PRB Expansion project would generate the revenue necessary for rehabilitation of DM&E's existing system while also improving rail service for DM&E's existing shippers."

A letter from FRA administrator Joseph Boardman to Schieffer on Feb. 26 said, "The (Powder River Basin) Project would significantly enhance public safety by improving the DM&E's tracks, in particular. FRA's Record of decision discussed at some length the predominance of track problems in the safety issues confronting the DM&E and the major contribution which the track improvements to be made with the proceeds of the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan would make toward eliminating those track problems."

"I have a strong and growing concern that there were more politics attached to the FRA decision to deny the loan than I originally thought there would be," Schieffer said. "Throughout the process, I never heard anything about them being concerned with our ability to pay it back." - Rebecca Cruse, The Pierre Capital Journal

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RAILROAD MUSEUM DRAWS FILM STAR GEORGE CLOONEY

CHATTANOOGA, TN -- Nationally renowned actor George Clooney made a special trip to Chattanooga on Monday to film scenes for his new movie, Leatherheads.

The actor wasn’t drawn by the area’s scenic beauty, downtown development or bucolic atmosphere. He was here because Leatherheads’ script calls for him to ride a 1920’s-era train pulled by a working steam engine, and Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is one of the few places around where that can be done.

Photo here: [images.chattanoogan.com]

Caption reads: Lou Ann Clarey removes lettering. (Photo by Wesley Schultz.)

“People don’t realize what a treasure the railroad museum is,” said Chris Holley, a member of the fledgling Chattanooga Film Commission. “It’s unique . . . Probably three out of every four calls I get from people who are interested in filming here come from somebody who wants shots of a steam locomotive in operation.”

Other locales have steam locomotives, she said, but often they don’t actually work. Instead, they are pushed from place to place by diesel engines.

“You obviously cannot film a long shot of a train pulled by a steam engine, with steam rolling back over the rail cars, if there’s a diesel locomotive at the back pushing it,” she said.

The local railroad museum also offers film crews two 1920s-era train stations, a working turntable, a trestle, a tunnel and more than three miles of track which runs through a variety of types of scenery.

Photo here: [images.chattanoogan.com]

Caption reads: Preparing car for relettering. (Photo by Wesley Schultz.)

Leatherheads isn’t the first movie to feature TVRM trains and volunteers.

In 2004, Heaven’s Fall, a movie about the Scottsboro Boys which starred Timothy Hutton, was filmed at the museum. That movie has yet to be released. But another 2004 effort -– HBO’s Warm Springs about the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in which TVRM trains were prominent -– was voted the Best TV Movie of the Year.

TVRM’s Steve Freer said members of Leathernecks’ art department arrived here over the weekend, to set things up for Monday’s filming. The crew scouted various neighborhoods through which the TVRM tracks pass, looking for areas that would fit into a 1920s setting.

The areas where they chose to shoot included a wooded area near Missionary Ridge, Stephens Street near Chamberlain Avenue, and Chickamauga Creek.

He said filming Monday began soon after Clooney and his crew arrived around 09:00, and continued until they finally left around midnight. The work day was so long that TVRM brought in two sets of volunteers to run the train, he noted.

The day crew included locomotive engineer Paul Brock, fireman Brian Hunt and conductor Bill Larson. Evening crew members including engineer David Pugh, fireman Ryan Miller, helper Zach Gilmore and conductor Tim Butler.

The equipment used during filming for the movie is the same equipment seen by hundreds of visitors to the railroad museum each year when they ride the train.

Photo here: [images.chattanoogan.com]

Caption reads: Rail with Chicago and Northwestern lettering. (Photo by Wesley Schultz)

In fact, if visitors come to the museum this weekend – when TVRM’s 2007 season will officially begin – they can ride the same train that George Clooney rode, according to Mr. Freer.

According to Ms. Holley, when she first talked with representatives of Leatherheads about the possibility of filming here last fall, Chattanooga offered many of the features they were looking for: a 1920s era hotel such as the Read House, streets that still looked much the same as they did some 80 years ago, a football field from the same time period, and a working steam train.

Nevertheless, filmmakers wound up shooting most of the scenes for Leatherheads in South Carolina, because that state offers movie companies far more lucrative incentives than does Tennessee. Limited filming will be done in North Carolina, which also offers better incentives, she noted.

“Incentives really rule,” she noted.

Had it not been for the railroad museum, she said, “they probably wouldn’t have come here at all.”

Tennessee is now in the process of putting together an improved incentives package that “would not be a burden to the state, but would be attractive to film makers and easy for them to use,” she said. - Judy Frank, The Chattanoogan

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A VISION FOR THE RAILROAD IN FAIRBANKS

FAIRBANKS, AK -- Bob Thomas’ Feb. 11 article on rail realignment was timely because none of the proposed alternatives are without serious downsides. And, none should be finalized without one other alternative being considered.

I call that alternative The Vision Railroad and in 2003 gave a story titled “The Vision Railroad” to members of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Railroad Task Force, hoping they would consider this practical, environmentally sound and sensible solution.

The failed task force experience showed me that community leaders must eschew quick fixes based on temporary political opportunity and embrace a 100-year vision for Fairbanks and become a town rooted in seeking a future from one founded by happenstance.

Happenstance? Yes. When the steamship failed to circumnavigate the Tanana Rapids, the bank of the Chena Slough was not the intended destination for the trader onboard.

Likewise, when the railroad crossed the Tanana at Nenana and turned up the Goldstream, it was to service the miners moiling for gold there, not because it was the best route.

Now, 81 years later the railroad still goes through the Goldstream and occupies a huge footprint in our community center, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks to Fort Wainwright. That operational footprint and its impacts were what the task force was supposed to eliminate with its alternatives.

OK, where is The Vision Railroad route? Use your imagination (a map or aerial photos) and levitate your perspective to a position straight above Fairbanks.

A straight line is the shortest distance between two points, so the logical route from Nenana to Fairbanks is the south bank of the Tanana River to a point south of the airport and thence by bridge across the river to the dike. This route brings the railroad directly into lands already classified as industrial.

I can already sense hackles rising on NIMBY necks but doubt rational argument will mollify their pique or eliminate their myopia regarding any new route, let alone improve their vision enough to see our town’s transportation needs 100 years hence.

Nonetheless, here are some obvious advantages, efficiencies and solvable problems associated with this concept.

The Vision Railroad route:

• is about 41 miles from Nenana, compared with the current 67 mile route. That’s a 26 ton-mile savings for every ton of freight coming or going and enough time savings for a tourist stop at Nenana as well.

• eliminates all at-grade crossings in Fairbanks, period, and allows the borough’s industrial lands to be accessed directly by industrial freight, eliminating all hazardous materials transiting the center of the community forever.

• eliminates the $65 million University Avenue rebuild, freeing money for other much-needed projects. It also accesses and allows utilization of the western side of military lands south of the Tanana River, a beneficial factor for the Stryker Brigade.

• creates access, by converting the existing route to a road to now stranded state, borough and university lands in Goldstream Valley. That land will become part of the borough tax base and create home, cabin and recreational property for thousands.

Funding: By transferring airport lands to the railroad, acquiring lands east of the airport and, by the state arbitraging the future value of all the railroad, state, university and borough stranded lands along the existing route from Dunbar to Fort Wainwright (thousands of acres), this reroute and all associated development could likely be financed without federal funding.

Efficiencies: Removing at-grade crossings will reduce hidden costs of security, vehicle idle-time, lost labor time, added train crew labor time and, remove industrial fumes, noise and hazardous materials from the core area.

A green belt can separate the route from the Tanana, eliminating the impacts on riverboat operators and river users. And this reroute does not impact land use by the general public, as they don’t use it now.

Materials? Rock from Nenana; Rail relaid from existing route and yards, gravel for ballast -- billions of tons in the Tanana River and streams and sloughs bridged in part by existing route bridges.

Problems? Power plant coal, newspaper newsprint. Trucking it from the Tanana industrial yards would be more cost effective than upkeep on the existing route and the loss of its potential future value in private ownership.

What about that beautiful new depot? Well, what a fabulous railroad museum and day care center it will make. Dropping tourists far from downtown? They are now, and a new depot could overlook the magnificent Tanana River.

For a better future. - Joe Fields, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Joe Fields is former chairman of the Transportation Committee of the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce.)

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LITTLE ENGINE THAT CAN

WE HAVE ALL HEARD the child's story about the little engine that could. To its credit, the Richmond Pacific Railroad has created the little engine that can -- operate with greatly lowered emissions into the air, that is.

The rail line unveiled its retrofitted 43-year-old locomotive to much public fanfare Wednesday.

According to an account of that event from Times reporter John Geluardi, the $200,000 retrofit equipped locomotive No. 2285 with devices that will prevent an estimated 10 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions in the next 20 years.

Nitrogen oxides have a variety of negative effects on human health and are particularly harmful to the respiratory system, especially for the young and the elderly.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District helped the railroad fund the retrofit with a $148,000 grant.

Readers who have never heard of the Richmond Pacific Railroad can be excused. It is not exactly a high-profile outfit. The railroad operates over 11 miles of track within Richmond, California and has only 17 customers.

According to Geluardi's report, in 2006, the railroad moved 7,600 rail cars loaded with a cargo including bulk ores, petroleum products, ethanol, scrap metal lumber, vegetable oil and frozen food between its industrial clients and the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads.

"We like to think of ourselves as Richmond's hometown railroad, and we are very aware of community concerns about emission," said Richmond Pacific superintendent John Cockle. "This was something positive we could do that will have a social benefit."

And that really is the point here: positive action for social benefit. The railroad's contribution to society is much more about leadership than it is about total emission reductions.
Richmond Pacific already has begun the process of retrofitting its other three locomotives. They have shown us that if their little engine can, maybe we all can. - Editorial Opinion, The Contra Costa Times

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'SPEEDERS' WILL MAKE MANY RUNS SATURDAY

SANTA MARIA, CA -- home to one of the last railroads with operating “speeders” -- will host more than 40 of the railroad-maintenance motorcars for the first time Saturday.

The “Speeder Excursion,” hosted by the Santa Maria Valley Railroad Company, is set to start at 09:00 at 628 S. McClelland St.

Nearly 100 people from California, Oregon and Nevada will make round-trip runs from Santa Maria to Guadalupe throughout the day until 17:00.

Speeders are box-like cars powered by small gasoline engines used for track inspections and transporting work crews along railroad tracks.

While most railroads now use pickup trucks or SUVs outfitted with wheels for railroad tracks, the Santa Maria Valley Railroad still uses speeders.

Most speeders that have not been scrapped are now in the hands of private collectors, who mostly keep the vehicles for recreational use.

The North American Railcar Operators Association (NARCOA) sanctions these events where enthusiasts can run on a host railroad.

The event is organized by Motorcars Operators West - a NARCOA chapter and a nonprofit organization devoted to restoring and operating the “speeders” safely.

For more information on NARCOA or MOW, go to www.narcoa.org or [www.mowonline.org]. - The Santa Maria Times

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TRANSIT NEWS

SOUND TRANSIT BEGINS LIGHT-RAIL TRAIN TESTS IN SODO

Photo here: [seattletimes.nwsource.com]

SEATTLE, WA -- Sound Transit began regular testing of its new light-rail system Thursday in the Sodo neighborhood of Seattle, adding a new kind of vehicle to the busy streets.

Trains go north-south alongside the Sodo Busway, where they cross Royal Brougham Way South, South Holgate Street and South Lander Street.

Two trains will roll along the one-mile route, mostly at low speeds. Police officers and flaggers will accompany them, until the train signals are certified as reliable, said Ron Lewis, light-rail deputy director. More trains will be delivered and tested as the year goes on.

Frequent testing will expand this summer to the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, which is now being renovated to fix design mistakes from the 1980s, and to provide level boarding for passengers in wheelchairs. The Sodo crossings will be gated, because drivers are used to seeing gates at the nearby BNSF Railway mainline tracks, Lewis said.

But Rainier Valley, full of multifamily housing and small businesses, will not have crossing gates. Instead, all-new street and train signals will be timed to stop other traffic.

Light-rail trains are more quiet than freight locomotives and trucks, so pedestrians need to stay alert. Despite the name, each railcar weighs more than 50 tons -- a train going 35 mph needs more than 200 feet to make a hard emergency stop.

"Whatever you do, don't try and beat a train signal," Lewis said. "Don't stand on the tracks. Keep an eye out for trains coming through."

New radio ads warn that track switches can move and trap someone's foot between the rails.

Bigger safety challenges are coming next year, when tests expand to Rainier Valley. Trains would come six minutes apart in each direction, mimicking a real-life rush hour.

Sound Transit will install state-of-the-art safety features there, including refuge platforms for pedestrians who can't make it all the way across the tracks, in the median of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South.

But with 28 vehicle and pedestrian crossings along the valley trackway, there are many spots where a mistake could cause a crash -- one reason neighbors complained about the surface-level route years ago.

By late 2009, when service is under way from Westlake Center to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the public will have been exposed to more than two years of safety messages. - Mike Lindblom, The Seattle Times

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AUDITOR: CHICAGO-AREA MASS TRANSIT NEEDS OVERHAUL

CHICAGO, IL - The financial condition of the Chicago area's mass transit systems is so precarious that even doubling fares wouldn't generate enough money to bail them out, the state's top auditor said Thursday.

Auditor General William Holland doesn't advocate such a drastic measure, but the scenario helps illustrate the financial straits faced by the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra rail and Pace suburban bus service.

"The needs are real, the problems are real," Holland said about the audit commissioned by lawmakers.

The audit suggests the General Assembly review the funding formula that relies on regional sales tax and hasn't been updated since 1983. It also suggests lawmakers look at ways to better organize the agencies and the Regional Transportation Authority that oversees them.
Holland said the agencies have operating and capital needs this year of $800 million to $1 billion. Operating expenses over the last five years have increased at three times the rate of revenue, he said.

Without more money, Holland warned, there will be more delays and service breakdowns.
"The quality of the service will continue to decline and the riders will not be happy with that," Holland said.

The metropolitan area relies heavily on mass transit, with one in eight people using it to get to work, Holland said. Chicagoans are even more dependent on it, with one in four people riding trains and buses to their jobs.

"Insufficient funding is at the root of the challenges facing the CTA today, and I'm very pleased that the Auditor General's report recognizes that funding is an issue that needs to be addressed," CTA President Frank Kruesi said.

CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney wouldn't speculate on the possibility of fare increase to pump up the coffers.

"I think it's premature to be speculating on what the future holds," she said.

In CTA comments included with the audit, the agency said increasing fares faster than inflation was not a long-term fix to funding problems because it would do nothing but increase traffic congestion as people took to their cars.

Pace Chairman Richard Kwasneski said in a written statement that the audit report did a good job identifying issues faced by the agencies, and Pace plans to act on its recommendations.

He said Pace is "eager to work out what's best for the public on these issues or any measures that would improve the effectiveness of the region's mass transit system."

Metra officials said they were pleased the auditor's report found the commuter railroad had lower costs than other similar agencies, adding they too would work to implement recommendations to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

"Metra has always strived to be one of the premier railroads in the nation," Executive Director Philip A. Pagano said in a written statement.

While the audit said Metra was in "a good financial position," it pointed out that the railways' operating costs have outpaced operating revenue and the assistance it gets from the RTA.

Metra officials also contend their capital needs are greater than the current level of investment, according to the audit.

RTA officials said Holland's report should quell the debate over the need for more state or regional dollars to fund mass transit.

"This report puts to rest any question about the need for more dollars," said RTA Chairman Jim Reilly.

David Dring, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Tim Cross, said a capital bill put forth by Cross includes $3 billion over 20 years for roads and mass transit.

Among the other findings in the audit:

* The CTA has some of the highest salaries in the country for top bus operators and vehicle maintenance workers, and high pension costs have driven benefits to top levels too. Metra has lower costs than other similar agencies.

Gaffney, the CTA spokeswoman, said where the CTA ranks on salaries depends on what data is used. The audit notes differences between its results and a CTA wage survey.

* The CTA has about $46 million in annual absenteeism costs because employees aren't at work, an amount higher than at Metra and Pace and at other agencies around the country, Holland said.

Gaffney said the CTA is working to lower that figure, which she said includes people who are out of work for legitimate reasons. She said their consultants found the CTA figure to be lower or comparable to other transit systems of its type.

* Another looming problem is the CTA retirement plan. Its liabilities jumped from $2.2 billion in 2000 to $3.5 billion in 2006, while its assets fell by $500 million. The plan could run out of money for retiree health benefits this year, according to the report.

Holland also found the transit agencies do a poor job of coordinating their services and financial plans. For instance, they could set up one fare plan that encourages transfers among the various transit systems, and the CTA and Pace could coordinate overlapping bus routes. - Deanna Bellandi, The Associated Press, The Chicago Defender

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LAGNIAPPE (Something extra, not always railroad related, for Saturdays only)


ON TRACK BETTING: A JOURNEY ON CHINA'S CONTROVERSIAL NEW TRAIN TO TIBET

Each night, the Qinghai-Tibet train leaves Beijing at 21:30. A mere 48 hours later, it rolls into Lhasa, 2,525 miles away.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: Waiting to depart from Beijing. (Except where noted, all photos by Erica Gies)

Shortly after 21:00 one warm night last fall, my travel companion and I raced through the sprawling West Beijing train station, weaving our way through a crush of humanity sitting on newspapers and bits of cardboard, eating cups of noodles while waiting for their own journeys. Winded, we boarded our soft sleeper car on Train 27 and made our way to our compartment -- only to find it overflowing with Chinese passengers. As it was impossible for us to enter, we strained around them to peek in, and saw that they had strewn their belongings over all four beds and into every storage space.

We soon realized that only two were actually riding the train: a woman fresh out of ankle surgery with prominent staples in her bare, blue-black foot, and her daughter, host to a nasty respiratory infection that would become my partner's and my new companion for the rest of the trip and beyond. The others were tearful relatives who could not bear to say goodbye until just before the train started rolling.

Ever since the $4.2 billion railway began operating in July 2006, 4,000 passengers a day have taken advantage of the chance to visit -- or work in -- Tibet. It may be part of the same country, but it's a world away to most people. While traveling in China, I had noticed an invariable reaction when I told people I planned to ride the train: A dreamy, almost nostalgic look crept into their eyes. "I want to go to Tibet," they would say, with wistful longing. Maybe they appreciated Tibet's heritage and its comparatively clean environment. Perhaps some yearned for economic opportunity. Now, thanks to the train, they can more easily and cheaply see the area firsthand -- a development that is both a blessing and a curse.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: Passengers eye the scenery. (Photo: Michael McCrystal)

Although I knew the new train was controversial in some circles due to cultural and environmental concerns, I wanted to ride it myself in an attempt to learn more about the gravity of those issues. For me, like so many people, Tibet had long loomed mythical as an isolated place where the culture has remained relatively pure. Rolling into it over a couple of days seemed preferable to dropping in suddenly via plane. One approaches what is mysterious by degrees.

Nearer My Sod to Thee

Once the relatives were on their unmerry way and our two suitemates realized they'd be seeing a lot of us over the next two days, they smiled, made space, and offered us heaps of packaged sausage, smoked fish, the ubiquitous cups of noodles, oranges, and my favorite, mahogany-colored nuts shaped like handlebar mustaches.

The train itself was clean and new, with bedside TVs in our $158 class (hard sleepers are six-person cabins for $102; $49 buys a hard seat) and large windows to appreciate the view. Although the carpet was showing signs of wear after two short months of operation and our car received little attention during the trip -- leaving the bathrooms splashed with noodle soup, green tea remnants, and worse -- the trip was generally smooth.

The railway, a great ambition of Chinese leaders since the "liberation" of Tibet in 1950, is a feat of engineering any country would crow about. It cruises the highest elevations of any track in the world, offering a chance to meditate on the sweeping, wildlife-dotted grasslands of the massive Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of more than 13,000 feet. It ambles through the rugged, 16,640-foot Tanggula Mountain Pass, forcing passengers who aren't taking an altitude-sickness medication to grasp for the breathing tubes and oxygen distributed by train personnel, as bags of chips and toiletry bottles explode.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: What, you've never used an oxygen outlet?

Altitude is not the only thing that makes this railway stand apart. Its construction and operation have been hailed by China as a model of environmental consciousness. Many in Tibet, however, fearful of the impacts of tourism and industry on their relatively pristine region, see it as just the opposite.

At a ceremony held at the Golmud, Qinghai, Railway Station to inaugurate the line, President Hu Jintao emphasized the importance of protecting the environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. He said railway workers and passengers should "consciously treasure waters and mountains as well as grass and woods on the plateau, and they should help conserve the ecosystem and environment along the railway."

There's plenty to conserve. The railway traverses two nature reserves and runs alongside several more. These parks are home to the endangered Tibetan antelope, gazelles, wild asses, black-necked cranes, snow leopards, white-lipped deer, Siberian tigers, blue sheep, and endemic plants. By most accounts the Chinese government did everything it could to mitigate the effect of construction on these species and their surroundings. A 2003 report by U.S. Embassy workers, for instance, relates a story of bosses halting work on the line for four days to ease antelope migration, even removing marker flags so their flapping wouldn't scare the skittish beasts.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: The majestic mountain view.

Today, China is so proud of the $192 million it spent on mitigation, including 33 wildlife migration corridors, that it touts these achievements in regular announcements in Chinese and English during the course of the train journey.

The government also boasts that engineers tackled the vexing problem of building on unstable permafrost by using solar energy to circulate liquid nitrogen and cold nitrogen gas through underground pipes, thus keeping the ground safely frozen. Workers are said to have removed virgin grassland sod from the right of way and tended it lovingly for a year before replanting it on the new line's embankments. And the Chinese are so concerned with train-related garbage that they have installed special waste- and sewage-collecting devices within the train, and run a separate garbage train behind to pick up the trash from collection stations. The waste is then taken back to Golmud for treatment.

But all is not as green as it seems. Tibetan nomads tell tales of track being laid through the middle of fertile farmland and grazing land, destroying and damaging it, and claim the compensation they were paid was not enough to sustain the loss to their livelihoods. The solar-powered permafrost freeze hasn't kept the land from shifting, and cracks have been reported in the concrete structures, railway ministry spokesperson Wang Yongping told the Beijing News. Embassy officials saw no evidence of rolling up or transplanting the turf. In fact, the report said because the native grass grows in clumps, this task would be nearly impossible, as would be reseeding. However, it did conclude that the swath of tundra disturbed by construction was quite narrow.

In spite of the railway's best efforts, I did see a small trail of trash along the rails for much of the journey, which I ascribed to the workers, since the train was sealed due to the altitude. The embassy report highlighted this problem too, stating that there was considerable garbage, human waste, oil drums, and abandoned vehicles at shantytowns that sprung up along the work sites, a situation to which a local NGO called Greenriver has worked to draw attention.

As we skimmed along the tracks, I began thinking that the biggest problem facing this railroad may be beyond any one country's control. Indeed, if global warming continues its current trajectory, according to a climatologist quoted in China Daily, the melting permafrost will prevent the railway from operating safely by 2050.
Next Stop, Lhasa

By most Tibetan and long-term expatriate accounts, it's not the train per se that will have the most environmental or cultural impact. Rather, it's what the train conveys.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: Painted rocks at a monastery site.

Since July, the train has brought thousands of people into Lhasa's Liwu station every day, most of them Han Chinese. When I detrained at the brand-new station after two days aboard, it was instantly clear to me that China has great plans for rail in Tibet. The station is immense -- far bigger than is possibly required for current needs. It is architecturally grand in a way that makes a bold statement to a people who have spent centuries commuting behind their yaks.

In fact, the Chinese have already laid track beyond Lhasa. A source in town said a line to Sikkim, India, about 200 miles away, is already in place. Chinese TV has broadcast plans for the line to go to Xigaze (which Tibetans call Shigatse) within three years. There are further plans to lay track to Nyingchi and then to Dali within the decade, and also to connect Shigatse and Yadong, near the China-India border.

Even before the train went through, tourism to the Tibetan Plateau had swelled to 1.22 million in 2004, up from a mere 1,059 in 1980. In that year, 95 percent of visitors came from abroad. In 2004, 92 percent were domestic tourists, according to Phayul, a newspaper based in Nepal.

As the Chinese economy continues to grow, the middle class is expanding, allowing more citizens to travel for leisure. Until recently, it has been difficult to travel abroad. Tibet has proved a good alternative because it is one of the most exotic places in China and, as one person told me, there is a certain nostalgia for the simple life that many Tibetans still have -- a life that many Chinese people had just 10 years ago.

My first morning in Lhasa, I got a clearer look at how things are changing in that city of 260,000 when I climbed the 13-story Potala Palace (once monastery, now museum, if that is any indication). While the Chinese census of 2000 says that Lhasa is 81.6 percent Tibetan, Tibetans estimate the demographics are closer to 50-50. From the palace's top floors, I could see that the city is neatly divided into the new section of town, which looks like any other modern Chinese city, and the old Tibetan part of town, which appeared to be on fire, so vast were the great wafts of smoke rising from incense pots burning juniper throughout the public squares and temples.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: Potala Palace, a sign of the changing times.

Throughout the region, Chinese flags fly from Buddhist temples and armed police add ominous undertones to houses of worship. Locals say the new 13-story police station in Lhasa was built to rival the Potala Palace. It is illegal for anyone, including tourists, to carry a photo of the Dalai Lama. Tibet is a place where people are afraid to speak on many subjects unless they know they are completely alone with their listener.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: Detail of Lhasa's Jokhang Temple.

Still, because Chinese influence has been minimal in areas of Tibet away from roads and rails, the culture has remained largely intact. Religion imbues life everywhere you look. One rainy morning, I awoke to the sound of chanting monks twirling prayer wheels outside my hotel window on one of the twisted, cobbled streets of old Lhasa. Colorful prayer flags said to represent sky, water, fire, wind, and earth adorned bridges and mountains.

As the flags' symbolism indicates, Tibetan Buddhism has a holy reverence for nature derived from its roots in the area's original animist and shamanist Bon religion. The Tibetan government in exile -- holed up in Dharamsala, India -- explains that Tibetans have been good stewards of the environment because they believe all living beings are sacred.

"Tibetan Buddhist scriptures explain that the Earth is the noe (container) and all the things on this Earth -- biotic and abiotic elements -- [are] the chue (contents)," writes Tsultrim Palden Dekhang on the government-in-exile's website. "Thus if the container is broken and destroyed, it cannot contain the contents; similarly is the case with our Mother Earth, which is the container sustaining the lives of countless living creatures including the lives of human beings."

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: A woman with a prayer wheel eyes a police officer in an alley of old Lhasa.

Chinese officials do seem to recognize that many tourists, Western and Han Chinese alike, come to Tibet for both the culture and the unspoiled environment. They have, for instance, set aside one-third of the Tibet Autonomous Region -- an ostensibly self-ruled area that encompasses the entire Chinese province of Tibet but only about half of historical Tibet -- as parks. And Tibet is valued as the principle source of 10 of Asia's legendary rivers, including the Yangtze, Yellow, and Mekong, which supply billions of people with water, energy, and food. The government of Tibet in exile estimates these rivers sustain the lives of 47 percent of the world's, and 85 percent of Asia's, population.

Still, many -- including the group Greenriver -- worry about the environmental impact of the immense swell in tourism, and the role of the train in further increasing that. Adding to the concern, there is some question as to whether protections currently in place will stand when opportunity for profit presents itself. Tibetans and expatriates alike fear that Chinese officials have set their sights on Tibet's mineral resources, which include coal, iron, jade, and copper -- plenty of things worth digging for.

A Land of Riches

From 1995 to 2004, China grew at an average of 9.1 percent annually, according to the World Bank. By comparison, the U.S. economy averaged 3.3 percent annual growth during the same period. Every year, 13 million people -- equivalent to the populations of New York, L.A., and Dallas combined -- move from the countryside to China's already packed cities, leaving behind lives of subsistence agriculture to join the global industrial economy. The country currently gets 75 percent of its energy from coal, but to continue feeding this phenomenal growth, it is strategically looking to increase its access to every type of energy source: coal, oil, natural gas, and renewables.

And Tibet may hold at least part of the solution.

One geographic survey on the Tibetan Plateau found the area rich in oil resources, with potential reserves estimated at more than 10 billion tons, Zhang Hongtao, deputy director of the China Geological Survey Bureau, told the Xinhua News Agency in December 2005. For a country that some predict will be consuming 330 million to 350 million tons of oil by 2010, that could prove irresistible. The survey also found large iron-rich ore deposits, with a potential reserve of more than 50 million tons each, and the news agency Interfax-China estimates that the TAR could be the largest mineral resource in the country, with a potential value of more than $128 billion. All told, the region holds more than 100 minerals at more than 2,000 potential mining sites. Less than 1 percent of discovered mines have been prospected thus far.

So why aren't Chinese companies extracting already? They are, to a point, but people I spoke with in Tibet said the infrastructure is still not really adequate for large-scale projects. The train is one step to exporting materials back to China's big cities, but Tibet is vast -- more than twice the size of Texas -- and the minerals are frequently in obscure locales. More rail and roads would need to be built before Tibet would look like the rest of China. Still, the new rail lines and the web planned across the region are seen as critical steps to opening up Tibet's virgin territory to China's industrial might.

Tenzin Choephel, a reporter for Phayul, interviewed some recent Tibetan refugees -- newly free to speak their minds -- to get their opinions about the train. "Large numbers of poor Chinese would come to Tibet and the railway would transport mineral ores from different parts of Tibet even though the government says it is for carrying passengers," said Yeshi Damdul from Tölung Dechen County.

Tsering Dhondhup from Damshung County said, "Locals don't have any right to say anything and no one dares to speak, they blast lots of dynamite and it was harmful to people because it destroyed nomadic grasslands." Dhondhup continued, "Mining is done beyond limit and it would continue in the future also because the railway track is also purposely made near mining areas ... when the railway comes, many Chinese would come and we would lose all our land."

While environmental protection reportedly accounts for more than 30 percent of the total cost of Chinese mining projects in Tibet, a higher level than in other regions of the country, it may not be enough. And China's not the only country with an eye on Tibet's riches. Western companies have also begun exploration and have acquired rights to sites, sparking protests from activists and an appeal to reconsider from the Dalai Lama himself.

Witness to Change

While Tibetans do what little they can to protect their land and traditions, the new Han Chinese Communist Party Secretary of the TAR, Zhang Qingli -- who has a reputation as a hardliner -- is running a "patriotic education campaign" that was first implemented in monasteries but is being expanded to the general public. It forces Tibetans to agree that Tibet is historically part of China and to denounce the Dalai Lama, among other key points. Resentment expressed by monks and nuns has resulted in detentions, expulsions, and an apparent suicide, according to the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China. "Those who do not love their country are not qualified to be human beings," Zhang said in an interview with Der Spiegel.

But by definition, Tibetans' necessarily subtle rebellion and whole-being expression of their culture is fundamentally human -- and poignant.

One night during my visit I stumbled into a neighborhood restaurant in Lhasa. As I was the only non-Tibetan there, those inside looked up, surprised. But then everyone smiled warmly and the proprietor served me spicy tsampa soup -- noodles made of barley, the only grain that will grow at 14,000 feet. As I began slurping and wiping my nose, the locals went back to laughing, drinking (occasionally raising a glass to me), and cheering and jeering a TV program I can only characterize as "Tibetan Idol."

The next day, I climbed to the roof of the Jokhang Temple, the holiest site in Tibetan Buddhism, situated in the center of an area known as the Barkhor. My rooftop perch offered some perspective on the endless merry-go-round of pilgrims, tourists, and supplicants circumambulating the temple clockwise, as required by custom.

Photo here: [www.grist.org]

Caption reads: Pilgrims stroll the Barkhor

Across the big square fronting the temple, I saw five Chinese police chasing a small posse of Tibetans through the crowd. Down an alley, a group of Khampas -- hardy cowboys from eastern Tibet with long, braided hair wound around their heads and studded with large, mock turquoise and coral stones -- crowded around a dealer in metal horse gear, seeming worlds away from thoughts of the new iron horse in their land. Nomadic pilgrims took a break from their prostrations to sit at the foot of an immense incense pot, snacking upon dried yak. And beyond the color and chaos and noise and scents and beyond the pole strung with prayer flags, the mountains leaned against the confrontationally blue sky, witness to Tibet's past, present, and future. - Erica Gies, Grist (Erica Gies is a freelance environmental writer who lives in San Francisco, California)

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