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Railroad Newsline for Friday, April 06, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

UP TRAIN WRECK CLEANUP AT SALTON SEA COULD TAKE TWO WEEKS

Photo gallery:

[www.thedesertsun.com]

PALM SPRINGS, CA -- Union Pacific crews worked for more than 12 hours to get the railroad tracks near North Shore up and running on Wednesday after a train wreck a day earlier shutdown this vital route near the Salton Sea.

The tracks, which serve freight and commuter trains, were shut down until 10:00 hours Wednesday after a Los Angeles-bound train, carrying hundreds of gallons of bleu cheese dressing, concrete sealant and lumber, went off track Tuesday afternoon.

The site won't be cleared of debris for at least two weeks, said Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona.

A final count determined that 19 railcars out of 52 toppled over at Cleveland Street and Highway 111 near the Salton Sea, Arbona said.

The double-stacked manifest train was traveling from Illinois to Los Angeles.

The cause of the derailment is under investigation.

A Riverside County firefighter who responded to the scene was treated at a local hospital for heat exhaustion and later released, officials said.

No other injuries were reported.

Three of the overturned cars went into an evacuation channel of the Coachella Canal. Clean up of that channel was about 80 percent complete as of 13:00 hours Wednesday and was expected to be finished by the end of the day, Arbona said.

Heather Boling of the Coachella Valley Water District said neither the dressing nor the sealant is threatening the canal or the Salton Sea.

The track is a manufacturing corridor that services local ports.

Representatives from the Los Angeles and Long Beach port authorities said it is too early to tell if the incident affected port operations or delayed shipment.

Union Pacific is working with the Federal Railroad Administration to investigate the cause of the incident.

"Investigators are looking at anything and everything such as potential track damage, mechanical failure and human error," Arbona said.

Arbona said the transportation company will pick up the clean-up bill, which has yet to be totaled.

Union Pacific operates the largest railroad in North America, serving 23 states between major West Coast and Gulf Coast ports. - Mariecar Mendoza, The Palm Springs Desert Sun

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OFFICIALS EXPECT TO KNOW CAUSE OF TRAIN DERAILMENT NEAR CALIFORNIA'S SALTON SEA

Union Pacific officials expect to know in a few days what caused Tuesday afternoon's train derailment near the Salton Sea that spilled concrete sealant and blue-cheese dressing into a nearby canal.
With crews working through the night, trains began running about 09:30 hours Wednesday, and the cleanup effort was to be finished by Wednesday night, officials said.

About 1,200 feet of new track was laid down, and 80 percent of the cleanup was finished by Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Rail cars could be at the site for as long as two weeks during salvage efforts, said Joe Arbona, Union Pacific's director public affairs for the southern region.

Union Pacific's investigation into the incident should be finished before the weekend, said spokesman Mark Davis. Findings will be reported to the Federal Railroad Administration, which regulates the industry.

At about 16:00 hours, a freight train traveling from the Midwest to Los Angeles derailed in farming country north of the Salton Sea -- at Highway 111 and Cleveland Street. The wreck closed the highway.

In all, 19 rail cars, stacked with 44 containers, derailed, Davis said.

The three crewmembers aboard the train were not injured.

During an investigation, Union Pacific examines many factors, he said.

"We look at everything -- nothing is ruled out," he said.

The areas examined include locomotives and rail cars, the tracks, the human factor and one broad category that looks at weather and the possibility of criminal activity. - Steve Moore, The Riverside Press-Enterprise

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SACRAMENTO FIRE BOATS BACK IN SERVICE WITH SAFETY ISSUES SOLVED

SACRAMENTO, CA -- The Sacramento Fire Department has resumed use of two fireboats after addressing operational flaws revealed during last month's railroad trestle fire.

The boats, bought and shared by the city's police and fire departments, returned to firefighting service Tuesday night, said fire spokesman Capt. Jim Doucette.

The suspension -- which did not affect the Police Department's use of the boats -- took effect shortly after the March 15 fire that destroyed about 1,400 feet of raised railroad trestle just north of the American River and west of Cal Expo.

In reviewing the incident, fire officials determined that several issues needed to be addressed before the boats could safely be used again, including the lack of proper equipment and the lack of standard operating guidelines.

Doucette said the issues have been resolved, and the boats are again available for firefighting use. - Kim Minugh, The Sacramento Bee

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SACRAMENTO TRESTLE BLAZE PROBED AS ARSON; INTERVIEWING WITNESSES, RECONSTRUCTING FIRE WILL TAKE TIME, OFFICIALS SAY

Photo here:

[media.sacbee.com]

Caption reads: Sacramento firefighters tackle the March 15 trestle fire. After sifting possible causes, investigators are treating it as arson but are saying little. "We don't want to tip our hand," says Fire Marshal Troy Malaspino. (Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua)

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Fire investigators confirmed Wednesday they are treating last month's spectacular Sacramento trestle fire as an arson -- but warned that despite a sense of urgency for a breakthrough, the investigation is laborious and could go on indefinitely.

"It's an arson investigation," Sacramento City Fire Marshal Troy Malaspino said. "There is little in the way of forensic evidence, so we are going to have to solve it primarily through witness interviews and reconstructive timelines."

The March 15 fire consumed a section of a key Union Pacific freight mainline connecting the West Coast with the rest of the United States. The line also serves several passenger trains.

Malaspino said three city investigators have been pushing for answers at their own pace. "That's half my staff."

They've been assisted by a fire investigation expert from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

But Malaspino and other fire officials purposely have said little about their investigation.

"We don't want to tip our hand," he said, so that investigators can better judge the credibility of potential witnesses and informants.

Officials have found no indications of "any kind of serial arson going on right now," Malaspino said.

But "arsonists tend to go for bigger and better," he added. "We feel we need to get whoever caused (this) off the street. You want to nip this before it turns into something worse."

Immediately after the blaze, fire investigators walked the scene for four hours, combing the remains of the wooden trestle, taking photographs, collecting material, and searching trails and bushes for clues. They didn't find an incendiary device.

"If we had found a gas can and a note saying, 'Screw you, UP,' " it would be easier, federal ATF investigator Steve Carman said, "but we (didn't) find that in this fire."

Before arriving at the belief that the fire was purposely set, Carman and Malaspino said investigators systematically reviewed potential causes -- such as sparks from a train, an electrical short or a brush fire.

A fire department tip line has received more than 100 calls, Malaspino said, "everything from (wild theories) to folks who think specific people may have been involved."

One tip came in about a mysterious black sport-utility vehicle seen in the area before fire engines arrived. "We identified it as a park ranger and interviewed him," Malaspino said.

Initial reports from drivers on the nearby Capital City Freeway identified a group of people in hard hats at the trestle site the morning of the fire.

UP officials said they did not have any crews at the site that day. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson confirmed a crew from that agency was there checking a revegetation program that morning, but reported nothing suspicious.

Investigators also have reviewed videotapes of footage shot and aired by TV stations to help them reconstruct the fire's progress and pinpoint its origins.

"You reverse-choreograph the fire," ATF's Carman said, "following it backward to make sense of it."

Officials declined to put a timetable on the investigation, saying they don't know day to day when a breakthrough might occur.

"It's typical for arson to take longer than other crimes" unless somebody comes forward with credible information on who did it and how, Malaspino said. "There just is no way to know how long."

UP officials have estimated reconstruction costs could be in the $20 million to $30 million range. UP is self-insured, spokesman Mark Davis said.

The railroad company is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

UP this week finished a new 1,400-foot concrete and steel trestle just north of the American River, winning kudos for speedy work. - Tony Bizjak, The Sacramento Bee

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BNSF ISSUES PRB COAL UPDATE FOR APRIL 05, 2007

Powder River Basin Blizzard Reduces Coal Train Loadings on BNSF

Blizzard conditions in the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming and Montana resulted in the loss of about 170 coal train loadings on BNSF Railway March 27, 2007, through April 4, 2007. Daily BNSF trains originating in the PRB bottomed out on March 30, 2007, at three, approximately 5 percent of the usual daily total. Throughout that period, BNSF had empty trains available, but mines were unable to load due to the blizzard’s effect on mine employee availability and mine pit conditions.

Train loadings have been increasing since then as mines continue to work toward normal operations, although moisture in the mine pits continues to reduce loadings at some Wyoming mines. BNSF has been informed that mines believe they will be able to resume normal operations by the beginning of next week.

Thanks to the cooperation of utilities and connecting railroads, BNSF has been able to balance loaded and empty trains while maintaining a steady flow of empty trains back toward the PRB. BNSF will have empty trains available for loading as mines resume normal loading levels. - BNSF Service Advisory

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BNSF IS PROACTIVE IN PROTECTING THE AMERICAN BURYING BEETLE

What is black and red, has an incredible sense of smell, and is enough to stop the BNSF Railway Company in its tracks? Meet the American Burying Beetle, a state-and federally-endangered insect that once occupied most of the eastern region of North America. Today, experts believe that this beetle inhabits only 10 percent of its former territory in Nebraska.

Photo here:

[www.bnsf.com]

BNSF employees became concerned when they learned of the dangers the American Beetle population was facing. One employee, Dwayne Curbow, manager, Engineering, Construction, Kansas City, Kansas, took special interest in the beetles’ plight after he saw one firsthand.

"In June 2006, knowing nothing about nicrophorus americanus, I was busy working on project design and acquisition of a right-of-way when a small bug changed our carefully planned construction process," says Curbow.

BNSF had just begun coordinating research with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) to identify any state -or federally-protected species that might be impacted by the project on the Sand Hills Subdivision.

"As part of the permitting process, we had to assess the area for beetle habitats. If we found conditions suitable for a habitat, we would need to determine if the endangered beetle was present in the disturbance zone," says Curbow.

So BNSF employees committed to finding if beetles were located in or near the area. A biologist began a five-night "presence or absence" survey to evaluate. On the fifth night, an endangered beetle was discovered in one of the traps. Because of the presence of the beetle in the project vicinity, BNSF coordinated efforts with the NGPC and the USFWS.

Everyone was interested in documenting the beetles’ occurrence and conserving the habitat. BNSF employees shared concerns with agency representatives at the project site when it was confirmed that a large beetle habitat was within project boundaries. After collaboration, a solution was found -- to "front load," the project, which means BNSF would adopt a proactive approach to the beetles’ conservation.

Because of dedicated employees and BNSF, these beetles now have a suitable environment to flourish. In February, BNSF signed an agreement to contribute funds to the American Burying Beetle restoration habitat in Sand Hills, Nebraska.

"Because BNSF employees worked in collaboration with others, these beetles will continue to have a suitable environment, and we will be able to proceed with expansion that will serve our customers well," says Curbow. - BNSF Today

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MAN PULLED FROM WRECK MOMENTS BEFORE TRAIN HITS

HESPERIA, CA -- When you drink and drive, going to jail is certainly not the worst thing that can happen.

A local man was lucky to escape a car accident with his life late Tuesday night after he crashed into a car and ended up on the railroad tracks -- with a speeding train headed right at him.

"By the time he was out and we checked the vehicle to make sure no one else was inside, that's when I saw the train coming," said Sgt. Dale Cunningham of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Hesperia station.

"So at that point I knew we were in trouble, and all we could do was clear everybody out of the way. It was the anticipation of it coming down the tracks. When it was maybe 100 yards out, we knew it was going to be something else," he said.

Onlookers and deputies were able to pull Emanuel McCarey, 57, of Hesperia out of his vehicle about a minute before the 7,717-foot BNSF Railway Co. train slammed into it at 55 mph, scattering vehicle debris everywhere, said Roxanne Walker, spokeswoman for the Hesperia station.

Around 22:00 hours, McCarey was traveling eastbound on Walnut Street at Hesperia Road when he failed to stop at the stop sign.

He crossed through Hesperia Road, hit a trench on the east side of Hesperia Road and came to rest on the BNSF Railway Co. tracks, Walker said.

He was later found to have been driving under the influence of alcohol, Walker said.

"He failed to negotiate the stop sign at Santa Fe, went through it at 50 to 55 mph and went through a ditch and still had enough momentum to launch onto the tracks," Cunningham said. "He was so intoxicated that he kept wanting to get back into his vehicle."

Lena Kent, spokeswoman for BNSF, said the train was en route to Memphis from Los Angeles at the time of the crash. She said there were various types of freight on the train.

She said the train was delayed, but the extent of the delay was unknown.

BNSF and the sheriff's station are conducting investigations. McCarey was booked into the Victor Valley Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

"It just obliterated the car when it struck. The vehicle went up into the air. The engine was dislodged and flew out in another direction," Cunningham said. "It was unbelievable." - Katherine Rosenberg, The Victorville Daily Press

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WILL THE TRAIN TOOT AGAIN?

CHASKA, MN -- Amid the pregnant waters of the Minnesota River, a motor boat full of people puttered back and forth last Thursday inspecting a dramatic scene of twisted rail and submerged railcars.

It had been almost two weeks since a Union Pacific railroad bridge buckled, dumping railcars full of sugar into the river near Carver, rendering the line unusable and raising questions about the future of the tracks that run through downtown Chaska, Minnesota.

Photo here:

[www.chaskaherald.com] train.jpg

The investigation is ongoing, but it appears fast-flowing floodwaters washed away the bridge supports, said Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Gene Hinkle. Four train cars were submerged in the water, he said.

Union Pacific worked with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to monitor water conditions. There was some sugar in the water, Hinkle said, and it appears one car was torn open. Because sugar washed away, none was concentrated enough to damage aquatic life.

Hinkle said the train cars are scheduled to be removed the week of April 16. High waters and the remote location of the bridge, 1,000 to 2,000 feet upstream from Carver's downtown trestle, have made the removal process a challenge.

But Chaska City Administrator David Pokorney told council members that there was a question as to whether or not Union Pacific would rebuild the bridge at all, a notion that would open up all sorts of opportunities for Chaska.

When asked if the bridge would be rebuilt, Union Pacific media representative James Barnes said in a phone message there was "nothing new to share."

Trucking option

So will this be the last train to ride the downtown line?

Currently, the line that runs through downtown Chaska serves only United Sugars on Stoughton Avenue. The 137-year-old line was stubbed at the United Sugars factory in the early 1990s, with the easterly portion of the former Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway line being converted to a trail.

According to Ray Smith, a representative with United Sugars Corporation in Edina, the sugar factory was receiving three switches a week prior to the March accident. In a switch, trains drop off cars full of sugar and picked up empty cars.

United Sugars has 14 full-time employees, as well as a number of seasonal workers. They produce liquid sugar for use in canning and ice cream.

Ray said they expect to resume that schedule and again receive sugar from their plants in the Red River Valley via train. "We're relying on the railroad to replace the tracks," he said. "It's still the most efficient way to get sugar to us."

According to Smith, they have been told by Union Pacific that it will be at least a month to a month and a half before the line could be repaired. Meanwhile, United Sugars will be relying on its existing product.

Development opportunities

Though United Sugars expects to resume their rail deliveries, Chaska city officials have already indicated that abandoned tracks would create opportunities along the line they would be interested in pursuing.

"There are four or five sites in downtown that would have re-use possibilities," said
Pokorney. "There would also be residential uses along the line."

According to Pokorney, the southern corners of highways 41 and 212, as well as the southeast corner of Highway 212 and Walnut Street and the area near the Chaska License Center, would all benefit from an empty-track scenario.

"The Walnut Street corner could become very significant," he said.

But Pokorney was quick to point out that they weren't running United Sugars out of town.
"The city wouldn't be interested in trying to buy up right of way unless there was a viable option for (United Sugars)," he said. "We don't want to see that become unused."

Pokorney said that they have been in talks with the Twin Cities and Western railroad, which operates a line in northern Chaska, to put together a proposal for a rail-to-truck program that would bring sugar to the factory via truck at a similar cost.

Smith indicated little interest in that plan, saying that trucking is an added cost for them.
Freight is an important part of our business," he said. "It wouldn't make sense to truck the sugar in." - Mollee Francisco and Shannon Fiecke, The Chaska Herald

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INTERMODAL VOLUMES UP SLIGHTLY IN FIRST QUARTER; RAILROADS CONTINUE TO INVEST IN INTERMODAL

Intermodal shipments for the first quarter were up slightly over the first quarter of 2006. According to data from the Association of American Railroads, intermodal shipments were up 0.4% through March 24 to 2.7 million.

Railroads are investing in new intermodal facilities. Canadian National recently announced it will construct a $17 million intermodal terminal in Prince George, BC, for the export of containerized products to and from Asian markets through the new Port of Prince Rupert, BC, rail/maritime intermodal facility.

In February, Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway launched a new intermodal train service that will add train capacity and expand intermodal rail service between Los Angeles and the Southeast. - Dave Hannon, Purchasing Magazine

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BLAST FROM THE PAST

Photo here:

[www.sequimgazette.com]

Caption reads: Kathy Monds, executive director of the Clallam County Historical Society, is dedicated to preserving the past of Clallam County and sharing it with both tourists and the people who already live on the peninsula. (Photo by Ashley Oden)

SEQUIM, WA -- Railroads.

Most people are familiar with what railroads are, from popular children's books like "The Little Engine That Could" and "The Little Red Caboose" if nothing else, but have no idea how deep a part of history they are in world, let alone Clallam County, according to Steve Hauff, recreational rail historian.

"Our history in the USA is all based on railroads," Hauff said. "Arguably, the railroads in the twentieth century did more to change the face of the economy's industrial industry than any other single thing."

Railroads on the peninsula were made useful because of logging, Hauff explained. "Virtually all 30 railroads in Clallam County had something to do with the timber industry."

Because Hauff has such an interest in rail transport, he volunteered to head an exhibit for the Clallam County Historical Society Museum at the Carnegie, on Lincoln Street in Port Angeles. The exhibit opens April 4 and will continue through the end of December.

Guests should make a point to view the exhibit more than once, Hauff advised, because it will change quarterly. "We will make significant additions that will interest visitors, even those who have already seen the display," he said.

To start with, "Railroads Here and There, Then and Now," features historical photographs of the Port Angeles Pacific Railroad that ran in the area of where the truck route and Tumwater Creek are today, the Office Mill on Lincoln Heights where Lincoln School is now, Fillion Mill where Angeles Millwork stands today, and the Spruce Railroad around Lake Crescent. Not to mention some Sequim sites like where 7 Cedars Casino and McLeay Hall are today.

A railway motorcar -- known to train buffs as a "speeder" -- is on display, as well as railway artifacts, toys, tools and more.

Railroads will always be a part of Clallam County's history.

"We might not have a railroad anymore, but we do have a Railroad Avenue in memory," Hauff said.

Railroads: the past and present

There're no two ways about it. Railroads play an important part in American history.

The country's first railroad, the 13-mile Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was chartered by the state of Maryland in 1827 and completed in early 1830. Twenty years later, more than 9,000 miles of railroad lines were in operation, providing the means for cities and towns to develop in areas previously considered inaccessible.

By 1917, when the federal government took control of the rail industry during World War I, 1,500 or so U.S. railroads operated around 254,000 miles and employed at least 1.8 million people -- far more than any other industry, according to the Association of American Railroads.

The Depression, however, devastated railroads. Rail industry operating revenue was cut in half from $6.2 billion to $3.1 billion in a five-year period.

By the 1970s, regulations combined with fierce competition from other modes of shipping drove the rail industry to the brink of extinction. Virtually ever major railroad in the Northeast filed for bankruptcy, the Association of American Railroad stated on its Web site.

Railroads haven't reached their peak again, but are still active in parts of the country. In Washington, 19 freight railroads still exist, operating more than 3,000 miles a year and employing more than 5,200 Washingtonians. And that's just one state.

More information is available online at www.aar.org.

Preserving history on the peninsula

The Clallam County Historical Society, which formed in 1948, is dedicated to keeping the story of the north Olympic Peninsula alive.

"You can learn a lot from the past," said Kathy Monds, executive director. "What's funny about history is that it repeats itself. The scenarios might be different, but the problems are the same."

Hauff agrees with his counterpart. "If you look at newspaper articles from the past and replace 'railroad' with 'widening Highway 101,' it's virtually the same problem," he said.

For Monds, her position at the museum is about more than just preserving history -- it's about making people happy.

"Museums are a trip down memory lane and that makes people feel good," she said. "When people feel good, I feel good about what we are doing here."

About the museum

Almost 100 years ago, after fruitless attempts to open a Carnegie Library, Mrs. Jessie Webster, wife of the local newspaper publisher E.B. Webster, decided the time had come to push extra hard for a public library, according to the society's promotional pamphlet.

After four years, much correspondence and a trip to Washington, DC, the land was transferred from the county to the city, an application was accepted and construction began on a town library.

By 1962, the library's needs outgrew its space. The solution was to build a concrete block annex on the front lawn. But, by the mid-1990s, the library was out of space again. A bond was passed to build a new library in a different location and remove the box-like addition. At that point, the city of Port Angeles and the Clallam County Historical Society worked together to restore the building using more than $1 million dollars in grants.

The restoration was completed in 2004 and the society was able to open the doors to a downtown museum.

The Museum at the Carnegie has two main exhibits at any given time: one upstairs and one downstairs.

"Railroads Here and There, Then and Now" is downstairs and "Strong People: The Faces of Clallam County" is upstairs.

A downtown museum

The Museum at the Carnegie is handicap accessible and open for business 1-4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. The address is 207 S. Lincoln St. Special tours are available by appointment. Volunteers are welcomed. For more information, call the museum at 452-6779, the main office at 452-2662 or go online to www.clallamhistoricalsociety.com. - Ashley Oden, The Sequim Gazette

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Tracking History

Photo here:

[www.theunion.com]

Caption reads: A scale model of the 1885 locomotive replica being built from scratch at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad & Transportation Museum in Nevada City. (The Union photo/John Hart)

NEVADA CITY, CA -- Their backgrounds vary, but four retirees are working together on a passion: re-creating an old locomotive from scratch for the railroad museum in Nevada City, California.

Although they work three days a week, the men do it out of their love of history and for the camaraderie at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum.

"It's just a great group of guys," said Jerry Hall, 69, who also helped recently complete a three-fourths scale model of the old Chicago Park train station at the museum. The station was a fixture along the famous narrow-gauge line to Colfax, which served the area during the gold mining heydays.

"Getting to know the community and having things all come together is what we get out of it," said Hall, who used to run the computer center for Santa Clara County.

Team leader Rolf Laessig, 76, was born in Munich, Germany, and came here in 1960 to make satellites during the space race with the Soviets.

"It's a very simple technology," said Laessig of the old steam engine. "You just create steam and it drives the piston."

Laessig and his other team members have machined most of the parts for the locomotive from an old 1910 lathe they found rusting outside of the museum and restored.

"It's fun," Laessig said. "Why else do you think we would do it?"

Photo here:

[www.theunion.com]

Caption reads: Rolf Laessig is the team leader building a replica of an 1885 locomotive from scratch at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad & Transportation Museum in Nevada City. The locomotive is about one-third done. At top is a scale model of the locomotive replica. (The Union photo/John Hart)

Laessig has raised almost $14,000 for the project but figures he'll need another $21,000 to complete the replica of the 1885 Porter locomotive in 18 months.

The museum had an original one that was used in a Sacramento brickyard, but the owner reclaimed it. When he found out it would cost at least $100,000 to buy and restore another Porter locomotive, Laessig approached the museum board about building a new one instead.

Since they started last July, the wheels were the only part the men had to buy for the locomotive, and they found them on the Internet.

Team members also include Richard Schilling, 64, a former detective with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office, who loves trains and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.

"I'm from Chicago, and I used to ride the El (elevated train) all the time," Schilling said. "If I go into a town with a steam engine, I want to ride it.

"Working with my hands is where the enjoyment comes, and I keep learning. I never knew much about trains until I came here a year ago."

The fourth team member, Dick Marundee, 79, was a chemical engineer who has been volunteering at the museum for 17 years. He is the shop foreman at the museum and field master when the museum's pieces are shipped for shows.

"If you want to work in our shop, you have to 70 years old," Marundee said, "But that's just a joke. We actually need more volunteers. If you want to stay healthy and active, volunteer here. There's a lot of satisfaction, and it's better than watching the idiot tube all day." - Dave Moller, The Union of Grass Valley

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MONTANA MAN SURVIVES AFTER TRUCK HIT BY TRAIN

Photo here:

[leaderadvertiser.com]

Caption reads: Montana Highway Patrol officer Terry Rosenbaum takes measurements at the scene of last Friday's accident in Dixon. (Ed Moreth/The Lake County Leader)

DIXON, MT -- A St. Ignatius, Montana man was flown to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula on Friday afternoon after his pickup truck was struck by a train in Dixon.

Montana Highway Patrolman Terry Rosenbaum, who was investigating the accident, said the train was traveling southbound "with horns blazing" as 52-year-old Kamille Murray Samuels approached the railroad crossing on Second Street, across from the Dixon Post Office. The train engineer, whose name was not released, said the man stopped his truck on the eastbound tracks, located just a few feet away from the westbound tracks, but as the train got close, he suddenly drove across the train's path. The incident occurred at 12:18 hours.

Samuels was flown by Life Flight helicopter to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, where he was in intensive care as of Saturday evening. Rosenbaum said the man was trapped in his vehicle, but rescuers were able to quickly get him out of the truck without the use of the Jaws of Life.

Samuels was wearing his seatbelt. Before being placed in the helicopter, which landed in a field nearby, the man was in and out of consciousness and was periodically responsive to questions by emergency personnel, Rosenbaum said.

The train, traveling about 45 mph, dragged the 1987 Chevy S10 pickup truck 195 feet. Officials said the truck was struck at the back end. The pickup came to rest on the north side of the tracks just a few feet from the train.

Its canopy was found on the opposite side of the tracks, 78 feet from the impact; one of the rear tires flew some 40 feet away, and the pickup's bed was still lodged under the front of the train engine 915 feet from the crossing where the train came to a stop.

The Montana Highway Patrol and Montana Rail Link are conducting investigations into the incident. Rosenbaum said that alcohol does not seem to be a factor in the accident, although they planned to take blood samples for testing.

Lynda Frost, spokesperson for Montana Rail Link, could not comment about the investigation. She said she was unaware of any other accidents at that crossing, which has no lights or crossing guard, but does have a railroad warning sign on each side of the tracks.

Several emergency services units responded to the accident within minutes of the crash, including fire and ambulance units from Charlo, St. Ignatius, and Dixon, along with members of the Tribal police, Montana Highway Patrol, and Sanders County Undersheriff Rube Wrightsman and Deputy Brent Nierman.

The train included two engines, a box car of hazardous materials equipment and 19 empty gasoline cars. The train had just off loaded 570,133 gallons of gasoline at Thompson Falls and was on its way back to Missoula for another load. - Ed Moreth, The Lake County Leader

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TAGGERT' 'ART' HAS MUSEUM DIRECTOR CLIMBING THE WALL

BROOKSVILLE, FL - Virginia Jackson was ticked off when she pulled up to the Russell Street Depot Tuesday morning. There, scrawled across the back side of the freshly restored 1880s railroad car, someone had spray-painted their calling card in huge black letters.

It was bad for two reasons, said Jackson.

"One, it's just plain wrong," Jackson offered with a mild snarl. "And the other thing is it means I'm probably going to be the one that has to go out there and paint it again."

Painting is not the kind of activity that the director of the Hernando Historical Association particularly enjoys. She would rather be putting the finishing touches on the inside of the building where the museum houses its genealogy records and numerous pioneer artifacts.

"This kind of stuff gets to me," said Jackson. "We work so hard to do positive things for the community and then we see this. The world's getting crazier all the time."

Jackson said that as far as she knows, the depot, which sits at the edge of Russell Street Park in South Brooksville, has never been a target of vandals.

"We've had a broken window once, but that was about it," she said. "They didn't even try to get inside."

The graffiti that were left across the side of the antique train car is similar to that found in urban areas where gangs "tag" their turf with spray-painted symbols and street names.

Brooksville police Detective Randall Orman said he didn't know if the markings are gang-related and that his department plans to meet with investigators with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office to try to identify the culprit.

"It's a concern," said Orman. "We don't normally see this kind of stuff in this area."

Built of cypress planking, the railroad car, which once served as a galley for a central Florida lumber operation, is a source of pride to the museum association. CSX Railroad donated it to the museum in 1996. In 2004, the Landmar Group offered to pay for its restoration in exchange for using as a temporary sales office at its Southern Hills Plantation development.

Jackson hopes that the vandalism is just an isolated incident. Still, she plans to add a special graffiti-resistant coating over the new paint.

"I hope it works," she said. "At my age, I don't like climbing up on ladders to paint anymore." - Logan Neill, The St. Petersburg Times

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TRANSIT NEWS

TRAX-LINE FIGHT GOES TO COURT

Map here:

[deseretnews.com]

DRAPER, UT -- Draper city and a group of residents took their battle over a voter referendum on a Draper light-rail TRAX line to 3rd District Court on Wednesday, where they made arguments over the number of petition signatures.

If the court determines the number of signatures is valid, Draper residents could vote on the location of a new TRAX line.

Judge Leon Dever said he would submit his decision on the case in writing.

Justin Heideman, attorney for Citizens for Responsible Transportation, which organized the petition drive, said the number of valid signatures was sufficient.

"It would be inappropriate to not let that referendum be voted by the public," he said.

The activist group formed late last year in opposition to a proposed light-rail line that cuts through low-density neighborhoods. The TRAX line would run on former Union Pacific Railroad tracks, which were purchased as a right-of-way by the Utah Transit Authority in 1993.

After a year of studies, the Draper City Council voted unanimously in November 2006 for the route. But opponents, many of whom live along the rail corridor, have pushed for an alternate alignment on State Street, along Interstate 15.

CRT filed for a referendum to take the issue to a citywide election. After 122 signatures were marked as insufficient, CRT appealed and eventually took the issue to court, accusing the city of wrongfully dismissing signatures.

At Wednesday's hearing, CRT asked that Draper stop all negotiations on the TRAX line until Dever makes his ruling.

"Do we want to have a chilling effect on those trying to exercise their referendum rights?" Heideman asked. "It has an obvious taint."

However, Doug Ahlstrom, Draper city attorney, said the decision on certifying those signatures is not up to the county clerks and the courts.

Since Draper straddles two counties, both Salt Lake and Utah counties checked and certified the petitions and sent them back to Draper Recorder Kathy Montoya.

Ahlstrom argued that the two county clerks and UTA should be named as parties in the lawsuit.

"The first point that I have to make to the court is Draper is not constructing the TRAX line. UTA is. Draper is not expending funds for the project," he said. "Bottom line is, your honor, they were short on the number of signatures that were required."

Ahlstrom also said that CRT is protesting an ordinance Draper passed, not a law. "You have to challenge a law," he said.

UTA, meanwhile, has said the referendum doesn't affect its plans because the dispute is over the city's ordinance.

Construction on the line could begin as early as 2009 and finish by December 2010. - Amelia Nielson-Stowell, The Deseret News

HOUSTON METRO BUYS MIDTOWN TRACT, DEVELOPER BUYS TIME

Photo here: [images.chron.com]

Caption reads: Metro is purchasing a piece of property between Main and Travis, bordered by Holman and Winbern, to promote transit-friendly development. (Steve Campbell/Houston Chronicle)

HOUSTON, TX -- Metro is buying two blocks along its light-rail line in Midtown Houston, Texas from a developer the agency expects will buy the property back and build transit-friendly residential and business space.

In a transaction unprecedented in the agency's history, the Metropolitan Transit Authority board voted March 22 to spend $7.2 million for the blocks bounded by Main, Holman, Travis and Winbern, next to the Ensemble station of Metro's light rail Red line.

The idea is to sell the tract back to developer Robert H. Schultz of RHS Interests for at least the same price after Schultz's partnership is ready to build. Schultz approached Metro with the proposal, he and Metro said.

Agency spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said Metro knows of no other instances in which a transit agency has bought land to hold and sell to a private company for what is known as transit-oriented development.

The board did not discuss the purchase publicly when it voted for the transaction, but Schultz and Todd Mason, Metro's vice president of real estate services, since have outlined the plan for the Houston Chronicle.

Schultz said Metro may join in developing a parking garage on the site that could be used by rail riders but that the agency chose not to invest in other parts of the project.
"They didn't want to extend that kind of money. They wanted to be much more conservative until they could see this thing was going to happen," he said.

Mason agreed, saying, "Metro does not want to be a developer and take on a lot of risk, but we want to be an enabler of projects like this one."

He projected that the development could increase Metro ridership by 1,000 passengers a day at virtually no cost. "By comparison, a typical Park & Ride lot adds 1,500 riders but costs $20 million to $25 million," he said.

Not everyone's on board

But City Councilman Michael Berry, who chairs a council committee on transportation and is in the real estate business, disagrees with the whole approach.

"Metro has completely lost focus," Berry said. "They're supposed to be in the business of moving people, and instead they want to be real estate developers."

Schultz, who also owns the Continental Club in the 3700 block of Main, said he expects the project to cost in the "low hundreds of millions" of dollars. "It depends on how much garage and residential and office and retail we can get," he said.

Under discussion are up to 50,000 square feet of retail, 400 residential units (probably apartments) above the retail, and possibly hotel and office space, Mason and Schultz said.

By purchasing the land to hold until the time is ripe to build, Schultz said, "Metro is giving us a little bit of breathing room." He said that the project as planned would require some exceptions to building codes and that it will take several months to obtain the variances.

Both parties want to attract renters and customers seeking an urban environment in which they can get around on foot and by transit. For that, developers generally prefer parking garages rather than surface lots and buildings closer to the street than the 25-foot minimum now required.

"The code works well in the suburbs but not necessarily in a dense urban environment," Mason said.

Schultz said the planned garage would be above ground but surrounded by other buildings or otherwise "masked" architecturally. Because the project's eventual scope is not clear, authoritative maps or drawings are not available, Schultz said.

Desirable property

Although there is no buy-back guarantee, Schultz and Mason said that, if plans fall through, Metro likely will be able to sell the land for a profit. Mason described it as "a very nice two-block assemblage in the middle of Midtown that is very marketable."

Mason also said that, in recent years, parts of the neighborhood have been plagued by drug dealing and vagrancy. "Metro and the city and everybody want to see it cleaned up," he said.

Metro officials say that the agency does not use its eminent domain authority for development purposes and that no condemnations are included in this transaction.

Schultz said RHS Interests assembled properties in the two blocks from multiple owners. The Metro sale will be closed over the next four weeks, Schultz said, and then the clock will start running.

For the next 12 months, he said, RHS Interests will be able to buy back the property at the price Metro paid. For six months after that, RHS can maintain buy-back rights for the original cost plus interest. After 18 months, Metro may sell the property or use it as it wishes.

Lost tax revenue

Holding the land could cost taxpayers some lost interest on Metro money tied up in the deal. And since Metro doesn't pay property taxes, the city, county and other taxing entities will lose out on revenue while the land is off the tax rolls.

The property's most recent annual tax bill was less than $200,000, including city, county and school taxes, county tax office records show.

Metro says the development would generate far more than that in property taxes and that the increased transit use would benefit the public.

Roberts said the agreement was reviewed by Metro counsel "and is fully compliant with the law."
Mason said the cost could be prohibitive for a private company to just hold the property itself until ready to develop it.

If Metro did not step in, Mason said, the blocks could be developed in ways that do not provide the urban flavor and residential density the agency thinks will increase ridership. – Rad Sallee, The Houston Chronicle

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PROPOSAL FOR LIGHT RAIL KNOCKED BY MERCER ISLAND RESIDENTS

SEATTLE, WA -- Although Sound Transit officials might have outnumbered Mercer Island residents at Wednesday night's meeting about an Eastside light-rail proposal, the small group was vocal about discontent with the accessibility and effectiveness of a proposed boarding station.

About 10 citizens attended the meeting that discussed the potential location and structure of the Mercer Island station and addressed the conversion of the Interstate 90 center-HOV lanes into an exclusive light-rail route. Sound Transit's proposed design would add an additional HOV lane to westbound and eastbound lanes of I-90 as a replacement.

Residents seemed skeptical about the light rail's ability to serve their community, citing the location of the station as an obstacle for those not living in Mercer Island's downtown. The proposed design would place the station between 77th and 80th avenues southeast, next to the Mercer Island Park-and-Ride.

"Once you put all your money into light rail, how do you get the people to the light rail?" asked Tom Donahue Sr., 69. "I want transit that moves people, not transit that makes people's hearts race just because it's a train."

Lucia Pirzio-Biroli, a second-generation Mercer Island resident, supports Sound Transit's efforts to cut the number of single-occupant vehicles with the light rail.

"I think we should be able to live in this region and not be so dependent on the automobile," said Pirzio-Biroli, 44. "Automobiles are not our future."

But she echoed Donahue's accessibility concerns.

"Mercer Island is developing a dense downtown area and it [light rail] will serve it well," said Pirzio-Biroli. "My concern is that there is transit from the rest of the island and that the light rail doesn't just serve downtown. I think that's got to be part of the plan."

Jim Horn, who served a one-year term as mayor, 15 years on the City Council and several terms as a state legislator, maintained that the light rail would not alleviate the Eastside's traffic problems.

"Why would I pay all this money for this if I care about the throughput of I-90 and people?" said Horn, 76. "There's a better way to do it."

He advocated improving existing bus transit, which he viewed as more cost efficient and safer.

Mercer Island was the third stop in a series of East Link meetings held by Sound Transit to get opinions from community members on proposed routes.

Sound Transit plans to hold two more public meetings in Overlake and Redmond.

East Link is part of Phase 2 in the construction of Sound Transit's light-rail line; it would link up with the segment being built connecting Sea-Tac International Airport to downtown Seattle.

Phase 2 comes with a $9.8 billion price tag, which will be included in a $16.5 billion Regional Transportation Investment District highway package slated for the ballot in November; the remaining $6.7 billion would go to projects involving Interstate 405 and Highway 520, and smaller road projects.

The $9.8 billion also would go toward expanding the line from Seattle to Tacoma and Lynnwood.
The proposed East Link route would cross Lake Washington on the I-90 bridge, head north to downtown Bellevue and on to Overlake and possibly Redmond. - Tiffany Wan, The Seattle Times

LIRR CUTTING MANY GAPS TO 5 INCHES

NEW YORK, NY -- The Long Island Rail Road is shrinking gaps at most of its end-of-the-line stations to 5 inches -- 2 inches less than the railroad industry's minimum gap standard.

Scattered from Brooklyn to Montauk, the stations have a total of 30 platforms -- 10 of which are on the railroad's top-priority list because they have gaps wider than 10 inches.
Industry standards created to allow for safe passage of freight trains correspond to a 7-inch minimum gap on the LIRR's straight platforms, though until recently the railroad has maintained an even larger minimum of 8 inches. The LIRR now is reviewing its own standard.

Railroad officials say they can reduce gaps at many terminus stations without risking collisions between trains and platforms for two reasons: There is no freight traffic along these platforms and passenger trains move past them at less than 15 miles per hour.

LIRR crews are narrowing the gaps by permanently tacking wooden boards to platform edges, said LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto. Gaps on straight platforms will be reduced to 5 inches; those on curved inches will be slightly wider, depending on the sharpness of the curve.

So far, six platforms at Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and one at Port Jefferson have been modified. Those stations originally had gaps as wide as 15.5 inches and 14.5 inches, respectively.

Three particularly wide platform gaps at Port Washington and Long Beach will also be narrowed to 5 inches. Other terminals slated for work include Long Island City, Far Rockaway and Greenport.

The railroad began addressing dangerously wide gaps after the August death of a Minnesota teenager, and Newsday reports of gaps as wide as 15 inches at some LIRR stations.

In a five-month investigation published in January, Newsday found that the LIRR - which has had about 900 gap incidents during the past 11 years - had known for three decades that gaps posed a hazard to riders.

The railroad does not know when it will complete all the end-of-the-line station adjustments, and officials said they could not estimate how much the work will cost. In February, railroad officials estimated that gap work throughout the system would cost at least $13 million.

Terminal fixes

The Long Island Rail Road is planning to shrink platform gaps at these 11 terminal stations, including a total of 10 priority platforms, where gaps measure more than 10 inches.

COMPLETED

Flatbush Avenue: 6 platforms

Port Jefferson: 1

TO BE COMPLETED

Port Washington: 2

Long Beach: 1

Long Island City: 2

Far Rockaway: 2

Port Washington: 2

Hempstead: 4

West Hempstead: 2

Long Beach: 3

Oyster Bay: 1

Montauk: 2 (1 completed)

Greenport: 2

SOURCE: LIRR

- Jennifer Maloney, Newsday

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THE END