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Railroad Newsline for Friday, April 20, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

CANADIAN NATIONAL ENDS LOCKOUT OF STRIKING WORKERS

TORONTO, ON -- Canadian National Railway Co.'s conductors and yard workers may return to work today after the country's largest railroad ended a one-week lockout where employees had resumed a strike.

The lockout ended late yesterday, after Canada's lawmakers passed a back-to-work bill that will force the railroad and the United Transportation Union, which represents the 2,800 striking workers, into government-led arbitration, company spokesman Mark Hallman said today in an interview.

"The UTU is in the process of instructing its members in Canada to return to work immediately,'' Frank Wilner, a Cleveland-based spokesman for the union, said in an e-mailed response to questions.

The back-to-work bill was passed by the House of Commons under an expedited process after Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said the stoppage, which targeted freight operations, was hurting the economy. It aims to end a labor dispute that has disrupted shipments of auto parts, grain and other commodities at North America's fifth-largest railway since Feb. 10.

All of the union's members "have been invited back to work, and we expect a good return of the employees,'' Hallman said in a telephone interview.

The railroad locked out workers last week in eight locations where the employees began picketing, including Vancouver and Oakville, Ontario, after the union rejected a one-year contract in a vote on April 9. They had suspended strike activity, which began Feb. 10, after two weeks to conduct the balloting. Their previous contract expired on Dec. 31.

Best Offer

The bill, passed by the House of Commons on April 17 and the Senate yesterday, will force the union and Montreal-based Canadian National to submit best-offer proposals to a government- appointed arbitrator, which will settle on one plan, Hallman and Wilner said.

"We are very disappointed that the government has interfered in our collective bargaining, but we have no choice,'' UTU Vice Chairman John Armstrong said in a statement. "The process the government has imposed is a winner-take-all process, designed to compel both parties to move to the center.''

Shares of Canadian National fell 66 cents, or 1.2 percent, to C$55.79 at 09:48 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. They've gained 13 percent this year.

'Paralysis,' Losses

Canada's factory shipments declined 0.2 percent in February, a second consecutive drop, Statistics Canada said on April 17. Shipments by chemical producers, who lobbied the government to force an end to the rail strike, fell 2 percent to C$4.2 billion.

The strikes may cause "major paralysis throughout the Canadian economy,'' the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association, representing local operations of Dow Chemical Co. and more than 60 other companies, said in a statement last week. "Operations are now still struggling to recover from the last strike.''

Delays caused by February's two-week work stoppage cost grain suppliers to the Canadian Wheat Board C$150,000 ($132,164) a day in demurrage fees charged by ships stuck in the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, the marketing group said in February. The strike resumption had threatened to disrupt shipments of 10 million tons of grain, it said April 13. - Rob Delaney, Bloomberg News

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RUSSIA PLAN WORLD'S LONGEST UNDERSEA TUNNEL TO ALASKA

Russia plans to build the world's longest tunnel, a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait to Alaska, as part of a $65 billion project to supply the U.S. with oil, natural gas and electricity from Siberia.

The project, which Russia is coordinating with the U.S. and Canada, would take 10 to 15 years to complete, Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at the Russian Economy Ministry, told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday. State organizations and private companies in partnership would build and control the route, known as TKM-World Link, he said.

A 3,700-mile transport corridor from Siberia into the U.S. will feed into the tunnel, which at 64 miles will be more than twice as long as the underwater section of the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and France, according to the plan. The tunnel would run in three sections to link the two islands in the Bering Strait between Russia and the U.S.

"This will be a business project, not a political one," Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia's agency for special economic zones, said at the media briefing. Russian officials will formally present the plan to the U.S. and Canadian governments next week, Razbegin said.

The Bering Strait tunnel will cost $10 billion to $12 billion and the rest of the investment will be spent on the entire transport corridor, the plan estimates.

"The project is a monster," Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist with Trust Investment Bank in Moscow, said in an interview. "The Chinese are crying out for our commodities and willing to finance the transport links, and we're sending oil to Alaska. What, Alaska doesn't have oil?"
Czar Nicholas II, Russia's last emperor, was the first Russian leader to approve a plan for a tunnel under the Bering Strait, in 1905, 38 years after his grandfather sold Alaska to America for $7.2 million. World War I ended the project.

The planned undersea tunnel would contain a high-speed railway, highway and pipelines, as well as power and fiber-optic cables, according to TKM-World Link.

Investors in the so-called public-private partnership include OAO Russian Railways, national utility OAO Unified Energy System and pipeline operator OAO Transneft, according to a press release which was handed out at the media briefing and bore the companies' logos.

Russia and U.S. may each eventually take 25 percent stakes, with private investors and international finance agencies as other shareholders, Razbegin said. "The governments will act as guarantors for private money," he said.

The World Link will save North America and Far East Russia $20 billion a year on electricity costs, said Vasily Zubakin, deputy chief executive officer of Hydro OGK, Unified Energy's hydropower unit and a potential investor.

"It's cheaper to transport electricity east, and with our unique tidal resources, the potential is real," Zubakin said. Hydro OGK plans by 2020 to build the Tugurskaya and Pendzhinskaya tidal plants, each with capacity of as much as 10 gigawatts, in the Okhotsk Sea, close to Sakhalin Island.

The project envisions building high-voltage power lines with capacity of up to 15 gigawatts to supply the new rail links and also export to northern America.

Russian Railways is working on the rail route from Pravaya Lena, south of Yakutsk in the Sakha republic, to Uelen on the Bering Strait, a 3,500 kilometer stretch. The link could carry commodities from east Siberia and Sakha to North American export markets, said Artur Alexeyev, Sakha's vice president.

The two regions hold most of Russia's metal and mineral reserves "and yet only 1.5 percent of it is developed due to lack of infrastructure and tough conditions," Alexeyev said.

Rail links in Russia and the U.S., where an almost 2,000 kilometer stretch from Angora to Fort Nelson in Canada would continue the route, would cost up to $15 billion, Razbegin said.

With cargo traffic of as much as 100 million tons annually expected on the World Link, the investments in the rail section could be repaid in 20 years, he said.

"The transit link is that string on which all our industrial cluster projects could hang," Zubakin said.

Japan, China and Korea have expressed interest in the project, with Japanese companies offering to burrow the tunnel under the Bering Strait for $60 million a kilometer, half the price set down in the project, Razbegin said.

"This will certainly help to develop Siberia and the Far East, but better port infrastructure would do that too and not cost $65 billion," Trust's Nadorshin said. "For all we know, the U.S. doesn't want to make Alaska a transport hub."

The figures for the project come from a pre-feasibility study. A full feasibility study could be funded from Russia's investment fund, set aside for large infrastructure projects, Bystrov said. - Yuriy Humber and Bradley Cook, Bloomberg News, The Seattle Times, courtesy Dick Seelye

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AMTRAK ENGINEER STILL HOSPITALIZED AFTER ATTACK

SACRAMENTO, CA -- An engineer on Amtrak's Capitol Corridor service remains hospitalized following a Monday night attack by a group of young people that had been blocking the tracks in West Sacramento.

The engineer, identified by Amtrak only as a man in his 30s, suffered injuries from thrown rocks and bottles when he left the cab. He was expected to be released from the UC Davis Medical Center on Thursday.

Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said the eastbound Capitol Corridor train #546 was approaching the I Street bridge after 22:00 hours when the engineer stopped for a group of roughly seven people blocking the tracks.

He had already been alerted to the presence of "trespassers" on the tracks and had reduced his speed, according to Graham.

Both the engineer and a conductor left the train to try to clear the group when they were attacked, she said.

The conductor was not injured and a student engineer brought the train the short distance to the Sacramento station.

"We've had small acts of vandalism on this stretch of the rail line for generations," said West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon. "But the magnitude, the barbaric quality of what happened Monday evening is what we're really concerned about."

Train crews interviewed by News10 said they're concerned as well.

In a separate incident the day after the West Sacramento assault, another Capitol Corridor engineer was slightly injured by a rock thrown in Richmond.

"We're basically under attack every day," said Capitol Corridor engineer Roy Cocreham. "It's actually a very common thing. Getting rocks thrown at us, getting shot at."

Graham said there's no specific policy regarding crews leaving the trains. She said the incident remains under investigation and security procedures are being reviewed.

Police questioned several people following the Monday night attack. One juvenile was charged with attempted murder and faces 14 felony counts, including assault with a deadly weapon, train robbery, vandalism and criminal street gang activity.

Because of the severity of the attack, Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig is charging the 17 year old as an adult.

A D.A.'s office spokesman said the teen is a documented member of the infamous Broderick Boys street gang. The gang was the target of a February 2005 injunction increasing penalties for gang members committing crimes in West Sacramento.

The teen is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday. - George Warren, KXTV-TV10, Sacramento, CA, courtesy Coleman Randall, Jr

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UNREGULATED PRIVATE RAILROAD INTERSECTIONS A DEADLY PROBLEM

GILBERT, AZ -- Edward Gilliam felt his car flying through the air but didn't know what had happened. Before he could stop and think, his Toyota Avalon flipped upside down and slammed onto the gravel near a fence.

Watch audio slideshow here:

[www.eastvalleytribune.com]

Then he noticed the train.

He had heard the horn echo through the area as it neared the privately owned Gilbert road, but it was too late.

Gilliam blacked out for a moment. Then he climbed out through his crumpled back window and called 911.

Private railroad crossings, such as the one where Gilliam collided with a Union Pacific train on April 2 near Baseline and McQueen roads, make up more than 25 percent of all crossings in Maricopa and Pinal counties. Although the roads are often accessible to the public, they rarely have crossing arms or signal lights.

About 13 percent of all collisions nationwide and more than 40 percent of railroad deaths in Arizona occur at private crossings, but federal law does not require placing warning signs at these tracks.

Union Pacific officials said it's not their job. And the Arizona Corporation Commission, which conducts railroad inspections under federal authority, said it has no jurisdiction over private crossings.

Local police and city officials said they also lack jurisdiction.

"It's very concerning to us at the police department," said Gilbert Sgt. Andrew Duncan. "We cannot dictate to the owners of private property."

Private railroad crossings are found on places such as farms or industrial complexes where the road is privately owned and not maintained by any public authority. In Arizona, an average of four collisions with trains took place each year on private roads from 2003 to 2006 while 35 per year occurred on public roads.

A handful of vehicles has collided with trains over the years at the Gilbert intersection where Gilliam was injured.

Paramedics whisked the 48-year-old Mesa man to a local hospital following the collision, and he survived with a concussion, a few scratches and some soreness.

"I'm surprised that he's alive," said Rex Young, who owns the road and a storage yard south of the tracks. "He came in the next day and we couldn't believe it."

Gilliam can't help but wonder why there weren't more obvious signs alerting drivers to the train.

"If you're standing there and looking, you wonder how can anyone miss a train?" Gilliam said. "But there were no flashing lights, no arms that dropped, no nothing."

Although the law doesn't require such devices on private crossings, the number of crashes nationwide has prompted the Federal Railroad Administration to take a closer look at safety issues surrounding private crossings.

Last summer, federal officials began holding a series of public meetings across the country to solicit input from private crossing owners, railroads and others regarding who should be responsible for safety at private crossings, the adequacy of warning devices and the possible benefits of a uniform approach to improving safety at private crossings.

The meetings have not yet come to Arizona.

"The vast majority (of crashes) we believe are avoidable," said Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flatau. "But there's got to be some process in place."

Despite the fact that Union Pacific typically owns about 30 to 50 feet of land on either side of its railroad tracks, the company is not required to place any signs on its property.

In Gilliam's case, Union Pacific had placed signs in front of its tracks as part of a voluntary program to add more signs, but witnesses said the southside sign was bent over and not clearly visible to drivers when Gilliam collided with the train.

"Until they have a fatality or a lawsuit, they're not going to do anything about it," local car recycling center owner Mark Buessing said of Union Pacific.

Mark Davis, Union Pacific spokesman, said posting warning signs is the landowner's responsibility, and vehicle-versus-train collisions are always the fault of the motorist.

"It is so sad that there's been injuries there because the drivers are not heeding the right of way to the trains," Davis said.

He said Union Pacific has placed signs at many of its private crossings, despite the fact that no law requires them to do so. In Gilliam's case, Union Pacific had placed a stop sign and a small white sign with an "X" and the words "private crossing" on either side of the tracks.

"The signs don't really catch your attention," Gilliam said. "Those are so uncommon. They look like signs for littering."

Gilliam said he is accustomed to railroad crossing signs that are large and yellow, like those at public crossings.

"After the crash last week, someone came and put the sign back up," Buessing said. "It was bent over before."

At the same Gilbert crossing, police located records for three crashes there since 1996. But nearby business owners remember two others: one that occurred about four months ago and one in late 2003.

Two collisions occurred within four days at the crossing in 1996.

During the first incident, car parts were propelled across the scene after James Raymond Roscoe's speeding car was struck by a train. Witnesses told police the man never stopped or slowed to check for a train.

In the second crash, a vehicle was thrown about 60 feet after it was struck by a train while crossing the tracks. Like Gilliam, the driver said he did not see the train until he was already on the tracks.

Federal Railroad Administration officials said half of all collisions occur at crossings without advance notice.

Young, the owner of the road, said he has had a hard time cooperating with Union Pacific over the years. He said he wishes Gilbert would take over ownership of the road, which has no name and is often identified by an address on Baseline Road.

"The city won't take it," Young said. "I own part of Baseline Road!"

Young said Union Pacific tried to close his road about four years ago. But he objected, saying the road is needed for access to his storage business.

Also, Young said he is frustrated by the collisions for affecting his business and the train stalling in front of his road. He said he believes signs or lights in front of the crossing are Union Pacific's responsibility because they own 30 feet on either side of the tracks.

"But they're not going to fix it," Young said. "You can get a hold of God quicker than you can Union Pacific."

Davis said Union Pacific has an emergency hotline available 24 hours a day that Young can call.

Also, he said if the signs were not visible when Gilliam collided with the train, it could have been reported -- although Union Pacific wouldn't be responsible anyway. - Katie McDevitt, The East Valley Tribune

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AMERICA'S RAIL DANGER

Congress has at last recognized and moved to fix a gaping breach in America's homeland security: railroad and transit system security. Unfortunately, the Senate and House bills come with veto provocations. The Senate bill enacting much of the 9/11 commission's recommendations has a provision authorizing collective bargaining by aviation security workers. The House bill embraces whistleblower protections for employees involved in security projects. Both bills apparently are nonstarters in the White House's view.

But while these tangential matters raise political issues, al-Qaida is increasing its use of improvised chlorine bombs (chlorine and other hazardous materials move over the U.S. rail system daily in great volumes), and terrorists for some time now have turned to the world's vulnerable rail and transit systems to wreak their havoc. This is simply not the time for a political standoff on nonessential side issues.

The essential issue is the rationality of the government's present transportation security policy -- specifically, its degree of support for surface transportation security. America's surface transportation system consists of about 140,000 miles of track in the national freight rail network, 23,000 miles of track used for rail passengers, 7,000 miles of urban rail transit systems, and more than 4 million miles of interstate, national highway and other roads open to the trucking industry. Almost 2 million loads of hazardous materials or chemicals are transported by rail each year. As shown by recent tragic events in London; Madrid, Spain; and Mumbai, India, rail traffic is increasingly the target of choice for organized and careful terrorists.

The Transportation Security Administration states that it fully appreciates the threat posed by an attack using hazardous materials or chemicals moving by rail. Yet the administration's budget request for TSA includes $5 billion for aviation security and only $41.4 million for surface transportation security. There are more than 40,000 personnel involved in aviation security and only about 100 TSA employees dedicated to the sprawling surface transportation sector.

The imbalance between aviation and surface transportation has severe consequences. It also raises significant policy issues. If the commitment to aviation security comes out of a relatively finite set of funds available for overall transport security, the surface modes and their shipping and traveling constituencies, not to mention the communities through which they pass, pay the price. The biggest adverse impact has been on the private-sector rail industry, which, unlike truckers (and airlines), builds and maintains its own infrastructure.

The emphasis on aviation security shortchanges surface freight. Detonation of a tank car loaded with chlorine, or any other dangerous chemical moving by rail, in a populated area would have disastrous results. Indeed, al-Qaida is turning to makeshift chlorine bombs as improvised weapons of mass destruction. Municipalities are attempting to force rerouting of hazardous rail traffic away from highly populated areas. One hopes the House bill, which calls for the development of security plans for the movements of hazardous commodities, will bring a rational approach to the routing issue by introducing a comprehensive hazardous material policy to replace the current scattershot approach.

America's transportation security policy fails to assist the railroads at a level commensurate with their needs, risks and vulnerabilities. The private-sector railroads are responsible for their infrastructures. This is massively expensive. The rail industry is among the most capital-intensive of the nation's industries. Furthermore, enormous traffic increases are predicted for a rail industry approaching or at capacity limits. The infrastructure investment necessary simply to meet this demand leaves little or no financial ability to undertake significant security projects.

Given the terrorists' "discovery" of existing chemicals for bomb materials, the relative ease of access to chemicals in rail transit, and the increasing tempo of attacks on the world's railroads, we need to rethink our overall transportation security policy. Just as the aborted Dubai port deal shifted the public's security concerns from the airlines to the ports, this is the time to focus on the rail industry. - Commentary, Charles H, White, The Baltimore Sun (Charles H. White Jr., former senior railroad policy official at the Federal Railroad Administration, is a senior research fellow at Dartmouth College's Tuck Graduate School of Business.)

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GALA CELEBRATION AND AMTRAK EQUIPMENT DISPLAY TO OPEN RESTORED HATTISBURG DEPOT

HATTIESBURG, MS -- Long known as The Hub City, Hattiesburg now has an Intermodal Transportation Facility at 308 Newman Street that will enable passengers on daily Amtrak Crescent trains to enjoy visiting the Pine Belt community of more than 130,000 and to connect with local transit.

In order to celebrate the official opening of the depot this weekend, a black-tie Grand Gala will be held at the station this Friday night and a ribbon-cutting will be staged this Saturday afternoon. Amtrak will display railcars and a locomotive at the station during the gala on Friday night and following the ribbon-cutting at 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 this Saturday evening.

Hattiesburg is served twice daily by the Amtrak Crescent, with afternoon departures of Train 19 to New Orleans at 16:19 hours and morning departures of Train 20 to Birmingham, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York at 09:47 hours. Last year, 8616 tickets were sold by Amtrak to or from Hattiesburg, a figure that is sure to increase with the completion of this project.

The first $25,000 of the $10 million renovation and restoration came as seed money from the former Great American Station Foundation, a nationwide effort recently reconstituted by Amtrak.
"Stations are more than just a place to catch a train," said Alex Kummant, Amtrak President and CEO.

"Many stations have deep historical and cultural roots in their communities. A growing number have started new lives as community centers, intermodal transportation centers, commercial businesses and museums - many while continuing to serve rail passengers.

"Further down the road, we also hope to establish a small matching fund to help other communities get started in the good work of improving their station program," Kummant added, pointing out the Hattiesburg story will soon be featured on the greatamericanstations.com website sponsored by Amtrak.

"The Hattiesburg Train Depot is the key to understanding the city's past and is the key component of Hattiesburg's future," said Mayor Johnny L. DuPree, Ph.D.

Depot History

Early in 1998, the City of Hattiesburg began negotiating with officials of the Norfolk Southern Railroad to purchase the Hattiesburg Depot, a 14,000-square foot Italian Renaissance structure built in 1910. The transfer of the depot and surrounding land to the City of Hattiesburg was completed in summer 2000.

One of the larger and more elaborate surviving passenger depots in Mississippi, the building exhibits a high level of architectural sophistication. The depot has been continuously active since its construction, now serving Amtrak and Norfolk Southern rail traffic, and will be the primary transfer point for Hub City Transit.

The depot is located in Newman-Buschman Railroad Historic District, the city's oldest neighborhood and once the site of Newman Lumber Company. The depot site links Newman-Buschman, a locally designated historic district, with Hub City Historic District - Downtown and Hattiesburg Historic Neighborhood District.

The Hattiesburg depot is considered by some music scholars to be the historic birthplace of rock and roll music. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll reports Hattiesburg was a recording location of Blind Roosevelt Graves and his brother, Uaroy Graves, who, along with piano player Cooney Vaughn, recorded two songs in 1936 that "featured fully formed rock & roll guitar riffs and a stomping rock & roll beat." The Graves Brothers and Vaughn - performing as the Mississippi Jook Band - recorded the songs "Barbecue Bust" and "Dangerous Woman," reportedly at the station.

In addition to local matching funds, other monies for the project came through the State of Mississippi/Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Transit Administration, along with other federal funds through Mississippi's Congressional delegation. - Marc Magliari, Amtrak and John H. Brown, City of Hattiesburg Joint News Release

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U.P. PROFITS JUMPED BY 24 PERCENT IN 1ST QUARTER

OMAHA, NE -- Union Pacific Corp. Thursday reported a 24 percent jump in net income in its first quarter, driven by improved pricing and increased efficiency.

Net income for the three months ended March 31 was $386 million, or $1.41 per share, compared with $311 million, or $1.15 per share in the same quarter last year.

The results beat projections the Omaha-based railroad made in January, when it forecast first-quarter earnings per share of $1.25 to $1.35.

Union Pacific said it expected earnings growth of 10 percent to 15 percent in its second quarter.

U.P.'s stock rose more than 2 percent in early trading today on the New York Stock Exchange, to $116.28.

The stock of all major freight railroads in North America received a boost earlier this month, when Warren Buffett disclosed that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, had an 11 percent stake in Union Pacific rival BNSF Railway Co. Buffett also said Berkshire had invested in two other, unnamed railroads.

Shipping volume during Union Pacific's first quarter fell 2 percent, but revenue increased 4 percent to $3.85 billion from $3.7 billion the year before. Winter storms - particularly in Nebraska and Wyoming - and a softer housing market contributed to the decline in volume, the railroad said, as did decreased domestic intermodal volume, or the hauling of goods in containers that can be transferred to trucks.

Efficiency, as measured by the railroad's operating ratio, improved 2.4 points to 81.3 percent, a first quarter record, said Jim Young, chairman and chief executive officer. Railroads generally shoot for operating ratios of 80 percent or lower.

Quarterly average train speed improved 0.4 mph to 21.7 mph compared with the same period last year, and the amount of time trains spent idling in terminals dropped 13 percent to 25.3 hours from 29 hours. Operating income grew 19 percent to $719 million compared with $605 million in the same period last year.

"We're making good progress on improving profitability and increasing operating efficiency," Young said.

Analyst Rick Paterson with UBS said Union Pacific's efficiency improvements were impressive.

"What was impressive here is that U.P. held costs in check despite severe weather disruptions, something we haven't seen from them for a long time," Paterson said in a research note on the quarter.

Union Pacific said its revenue from hauling chemicals was up 9 percent; agriculture, up 8 percent; and energy and intermodal, each up 4 percent. Automotive revenue was down 2 percent, and revenue from transporting industrial products was down 3 percent.

Fuel costs rose slightly to $1.90 per gallon from $1.87 per gallon in the first quarter of last year.

Union Pacific also repurchased more than 2 million shares of its stock in the first quarter at an average price of $98.68 per share.

Revenue for the year could grow by about 4 percent to 6 percent, depending on the strength of the economy, Young said. In January, the railroad projected revenue growth of 6 percent to 7 percent.

However, the railroad's efficiency should improve as projected, with an operating ratio projected at below 80 percent for the year, Young said.

"The economy may stay slower, but operating efficiency is key," Young said. - Joe Ruff, The Omaha World-Herald

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TRIBE DERAILS YUCCA PLANS

RENO, NV -- A federal proposal to ship up to 4,500 casks of nuclear waste by train through Reno and Sparks to Yucca Mountain on the so-called Mina Route has been dealt a severe blow by the Walker River Paiute Tribe, who withdrew permission for a new railroad line to cross its reservation about 50 miles southeast of Reno.

The tribal council adopted a resolution Tuesday that dropped its participation in a federal environmental impact study for the route, said to be cheaper and shorter than the Caliente route in Eastern Nevada studied for the past decade.

"After considering the information we had gathered to date and discussions with our membership, the tribal council made the decision not to continue with the Department of Energy's process," tribal Chairwoman Genia Williams said in a news release.

"The tribe will not allow nuclear waste to be transported on rail through our reservation," Williams said.

The tribal council had faced pressure from tribal members, who had second thoughts about the tribal decision to become involved in the study last June, Williams said.

Bob Loux, head of the Nevada Office of Nuclear Projects, said he had heard from several dozen Schurz residents in the last few months.

"The growing and continued concern among tribal members in general is what pushed them over," he said. "We heard from some tribal members who were not comfortable with the information they were getting."

Reno and Sparks officials were becoming increasingly worried about nuclear waste traveling through Northern Nevada and the possibility of an accident, sabotage or terrorist act. Yucca Mountain would store up to 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste from the nation's power plants and from other sources.

"I'm a happy camper," Sparks Mayor Geno Martini said of the tribe's reversal. "We are very appreciative of what they did and we will let them know."

At same time, Martini said he remains cautiously optimistic.

"As many times as this thing has died, hopefully this is the end of it. But you never know," he said.

With the loss of the Mina route, Loux said only a few rail shipments may go through Reno and Sparks, saying most shipments from the Pacific Northwest probably would continue south through the Central Valley, over to Las Vegas and onto Yucca Mountain.

Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said he also is pleased with the tribal decision. "That had put Reno and Sparks in a real tight box," he said.

Cashell said he remains opposed to Yucca Mountain until the cities are guaranteed continual funding for training and equipment for first responders to deal with a nuclear incident as well as money to keep the railroad tracks through the cities in top shape.

Using a "suite of routes" ending with the Mina corridor in Western Nevada, Loux and state consultants predicted up to half of the trains carrying nuclear waste would use a southern route to cross the country. These trains would use the southern route and then head north up the Central Valley in California, go over Donner Pass, through Reno and Sparks and then connect with the Mina route at Hazen.

A southern route and central Union Pacific route would provide more security against a terrorist attack and serve as a backup route during stormy weather and maintenance, Loux and state consultants said.

Once Yucca Mountain was to open, the shipments would occur over 24 years. It's not expected to open for another 10 to 15 years if it opens at all.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a staunch opponent of the federal plan to entomb the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada, hailed the tribe's decision as another blow to the Yucca Mountain project, which he said was "on its last legs.
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"We will keep fighting any route that keeps putting nuclear waste through Reno and Sparks," Martini said. "We aren't going to lose sight of the main point and that is to fight Yucca Mountain."

A bill that died last week in the Assembly would have required railroad yards to submit security plans to the state, partly in response to the nuclear shipments. Martini and a railroad official, driving a borrowed car, recently toured the entire Sparks railroad yard without being stopped. Martini called the experience scary and an eye opener.

But those accounts had nothing to do with the tribe's decision, Williams said.

"As a sovereign nation, we make a lot of decisions that are in the best interests of our tribe," Williams said.

About 900 people live in Schurz, the center of the 325,000-acre reservation. Loux said the only benefit the tribe would have received is a new railroad line on tribal lands north of Walker Lake, relocating a line that runs through the town.

Allen Benson, an Energy Department and Yucca Mountain spokesman in Las Vegas, said the tribe's decision means the Mina corridor will be dropped from the department's choices of potential rail lines to Yucca Mountain. But Benson said the Energy Department still would include the Mina route in an impact statement expected to be released in October.

Elimination of the Mina corridor "certainly simplifies DOE's options," said David Blee, executive director of the U.S. Transport Council, a coalition of nuclear waste shippers. - Susan Voyles, The Reno Gazette-Journal

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UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD EMPLOYEE SPURS FLAG PROJECT

EAGLE GROVE, IA -- Bruce Ferguson is a man on a mission.

For more than five years, the Union Pacific Railroad employee has been raising American flags to symbolize his support for the men and women involved in the war effort and is now hoping to send flags, along with messages of support, to troops abroad.

''We've got a lot of kids in uniform (at Union Pacific),'' said Ferguson, a mechanic in charge. ''It's a way for us to say 'thank you.'''

On Wednesday, a Marine Corps flag was packaged with a green ledger book at the Union Pacific Railroad station in Eagle Grove. The flag will travel around the country with Union Pacific train crews who will pass it to employees at other stations.

Each crew will add their own comments for the troops and pass it on until April 2008 or until the book is filled.

Next week, the Marine Corps flag will be taken to Mankato, Minnesota, and exchanged with an Army flag, which will be brought to Eagle Grove before being taken to Des Moines and the rest of the country.

Ferguson first got the idea after being approached by Ralph Schiring, a lifelong railroad employee who works at the Union Pacific headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, who asked him to come up with something for the troops.

Darrin Deppin, who worked with Ferguson and was formerly in the Marine Corps, turned out to be the inspiration behind the project. In his honor, Ferguson decided to start the project by sending the Marine Corps flag first. He hopes to have flags representing all branches of the military circulating and, around May 2008, they will be sent to the Union Pacific headquarters in Omaha.

John Chiumento, manager of yard operations at the Eagle Grove station, said Ferguson approached him and George Zettles, manager of train operations, to ask for their help.

''He came up with a plan for putting the flag on something and ... transporting it around our system,'' said Chiumento. ''To me, it (seemed) like something that just about anyone would support.''

In 2006, Union Pacific Railroad, which operates under the Union Pacific Corporation, was named by G.I. Jobs magazine as the nation's top ''military-friendly'' employer for the second consecutive year. Ferguson said the company continues to pay wages for employees called to duty, though it isn't required to. - Obaid Khawaja, The Fort Dodge Messenger

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STILL TIME TO SAVE

Our Texas state parks and historic sites attract some 10 million visitors a year, apparently none of whom serve in the Legislature. If lawmakers had visited our state parks, they wouldn't be so penurious in the funding they are about to approve for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Simply put, the amounts our state representatives and senators are poised to approve probably will force the closure of some parks and make others unsafe for the thousands and thousands of Texas families who enjoy them. As it is, some facilities, including Barrington Farm at the birthplace of Texas in nearby Washington on the Brazos and the Fanthorp Inn in Anderson, are forced to close two or more days a week - denying many Texas schoolchildren a chance to experience first-hand the places where this great state was born.

For too long, our state parks have been neglected. Maintenance -- much of it critical -- has been postponed again and again because there isn't enough money. Park staffs have been gutted, leaving too few employees to keep parks open and maintained.

Only a few months ago, though, it looked like everyone from Gov. Rick Perry to key lawmakers understood the problems and had agreed that the parks system needs much more money. And the money is there and has been for more than a decade.

In 1993, the Legislature agreed to set aside the money from the state sales tax on sporting goods equipment and apparel for state parks. Today, that tax generates some $110 million a year -- money that would solve most of the funding problems of our state parks. But, in typical fashion, lawmakers turned around and decided to spend less than a third of the sporting-goods sales-tax dollars on our parks. And then, they have spent even less than that - only about 20 percent - on parks.

For a while last fall, it looked like our state leaders were ready to allocate the full amount. The people of Texas were encouraged that our beloved parks would be restored and maintained at the level we demand.

Alas, once again, our lawmakers are poised to let us down. We should be used to it, but it still makes us angry. The House and the Senate are about to leave our state parks no better off for the next two years. Because of continued delays in maintenance without enough state funding, our parks will continue to deteriorate.

Under the House and Senate plans, some state historic sites would be transferred to other entities. For instance, The Parks and Wildlife Department asked for $11.8 million to keep the Texas State Railroad running from Palestine to Rusk. It is the only place many Texans have a chance to experience a train ride, even though the railroads were critical to the development of Texas, including communities such as Navasota, Bryan-College Station and Hearne.

The House bill provides no money for the Texas State Railroad. The more "generous" Senate bill includes $2 million - but only to match $10 million in federal funds and turn the Texas State Railroad over to the Texas State Railroad Authority. Would it cost the latter agency any less to operate the railroad? Of course not. It is a legislative shell game, one that sounds the death-knell for the state railroad.

Parks and Wildlife officials requested $38.6 million to save the venerable Battleship Texas from rusting in place. The Senate bill includes no money. So much for honoring our war veterans and remembering their sacrifice for Texas and this country.

Gone from the two bills in the Legislature is a $25 million fund to help construct local parks.
Shamefully, Texas ranks 49th in per-capita spending on state parks. We could and should do much better. Perhaps it isn't too late. If enough of us let our lawmakers know that we expect much more funding for state parks -- indeed the entire amount of the sporting goods sales tax -- perhaps, just perhaps, we can save our parks.

To the right is a list of our elected Texas leaders. Call them today and demand they fund our parks adequately for all of us. - Editorial Opinion, The Bryan-College Station Eagle

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RAILROADS PUSH HIGHER RATES FOR 2007

Railroads are seeing relatively flat volumes but using rate hikes to make up for it in the revenue column.

CSX Corp. said it expects to raise its prices by up to 6% in 2007. CEO Michael Ward told Reuters that CSX's second-quarter rail freight volumes have so far been up on the first quarter and the railroad may end the quarter either 1% down or "close to" volumes in the same period in 2006."
Ethanol shipments are expected to increase dramatically, Ward said, by as much as 50%.

In a recent note to clients Bear Stearns analyst Ed Wolfe says, "Firm pricing despite signs of quickly weakening truck pricing is an important part of the rail story. CSX gave strong evidence that rail pricing is holding up well. We don't expect our year EPS numbers for CSX or the sector to come down despite continued down year over year volumes into strong yields and improving productivity (outside of some near term weather issues, particularly in Canada)."

Union Pacific reported strong first quarter financials despite decreased volumes and says it expects rail freight volumes to be flat to up 2% in 2007 compared to last year, while revenue will rise 4-6%. - Dave Hannon, Purchasing Magazine

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THE LOST CITY UNDER PENN STATION

Book Review: Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels by Jill Jonnes, Viking Adult, 368 pages, $27.95.

Most of us know how the story of the original Penn Station ends: The breathtakingly grand neoclassical structure-designed to be a suitably splendid entryway to the nation's largest city-was razed by the cash-strapped Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1960's and replaced by the current charmless depot that we, unfortunately, know so well today.

Photo here:

[www.observer.com]

The beginning of the story is equally compelling in historian Jill Jonnes' new account, Conquering Gotham, subtitled A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels.

Great achievements of the past have a way of seeming inevitable after the fact. That's certainly true of the tunnels that link Manhattan to New Jersey (i.e., the mainland United States). Conquering Gotham does an admirable job of conveying just what an engineering challenge the construction presented, as well as the urgency of the need by the late 19th century.

At that time, the only rail connection between New York and the rest of the country came into the city from the north, across the Harlem River, to the current Grand Central Terminal. This lone railroad, privately owned by the Vanderbilts, was inadequate to the needs of the growing city, Ms. Jonnes says.

The Pennsylvania Railroad was the nation's largest, yet its trains came to an abrupt end in Jersey City. By 1901, 80 million rail passengers disembarked in New Jersey and were ferried into the city each year.

"With each passing decade, the situation became more untenable, more disastrous," Ms. Jonnes writes. Sometimes, in the winter, the Hudson was too icy to navigate; at other times, the river was simply log-jammed by the boat traffic.

Alexander Cassatt, who became president of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1899, was determined to find a means of getting its trains into the city. He flirted with a bridge across the Hudson; after all, the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883. But by 1899, it was still the biggest bridge ever built, and the mile-wide Hudson would require one almost twice as large.

Ultimately, Cassatt didn't want to shoulder the entire cost of a bridge-estimated at $100 million-since the Pennsylvania Railroad would be required by federal charter to share access with its competitors. (It's rather mind-blowing that, at that time, private corporations undertook such mammoth projects without any public funding.)

In 1901, Cassatt decided to build tunnels instead, but this was no simple matter: A separate attempt begun in the 1870's to connect New York and New Jersey had been stymied by one disaster after another as the silty riverbed proved unpropitious for tunnel-building. The half-completed tunnels were abandoned in 1891, and the man who championed the doomed project died bankrupt.

Nonetheless, Cassatt laid out an ambitious plan. The Pennsylvania Railroad, which also owned the Long Island Rail Road, planned to spend $40 million to $50 million to build 16 miles of tunnels, running from Weehawken, NJ, underneath Manhattan and then under the East River to Long Island City, with a new Penn Station at the system's center.

Not only was the undertaking financed entirely by the railroad, but the company fought with the city for permission and wound up agreeing to pay New York an annual franchise fee of more than $75,000, to rise to more than $110,000 annually after a decade.

Cassatt hired Charles McKim, an architect who designed much of the Mall in Washington, DC. The classically inclined McKim was given a great deal of financial leeway: His Penn Station would be the fourth-largest building in the world, built of glass and Milford granite, with a 150-foot-high domed ceiling and 60-foot Doric columns.

Altogether, the project took seven years to complete, and the cost rose to $100 million. Cassatt, who had staked his reputation on the project, died before its completion.

Conquering Gotham is a well-written and well-researched account of an astoundingly ambitious undertaking. Ms. Jonnes skillfully weaves together the multifarious aspects of the project, from the technical complexities and political wrangling to the personalities of Cassatt and McKim.

It's a bit rich at times. She occasionally veers toward hagiography, presenting the Pennsylvania Railroad and its president as embattled pillars of rectitude in a corrupt world. When the railroad tried to buy up land around 32nd Street on the cheap before its plans were made public, word got out.

"Sensing his corporate enemies gathering, Cassatt felt forced to press forward before he was truly ready," she writes.

You feel sorry for the poor guy-until you remember that he was no neophyte, but rather the president of the nation's largest railroad in an era in which the railroads wielded unprecedented economic and political power.

Still, it's a good story, well told. Knowing how it ends doesn't detract, but rather lends pathos. It's difficult to imagine reading this book without sighing over the untimely demise of all that grandeur. - Adelle Waldman, The New York Observer

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TRANSIT NEWS

OLD KC STREETCARS COULD FIND RAIL USE

KANSAS CITY, MO -- If a panel discussion last week on mass transit is any indication, many people don't want Kansas City to wait 10 years to move ahead with light rail.

Maybe a potential answer is waiting in the woods of Pennsylvania. But first, some background.
At the forum held by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Tom Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and one of the panelists, urged the city to get started with a basic light rail line within five years.

Hoenig, who travels a lot, noted that every major city around Kansas City - Denver, Dallas, St. Louis and Minneapolis - have light rail up and running.

Two of the other panelists, Mark Huffer, general manager of the Area Transportation Authority, and Joni Roeseler, an official with the Federal Transit Administration, laid out a federal application process that felt agonizingly slow, particularly when you consider all that's been studied about light rail here in recent years.

Clay Chastain, another panelist, insisted on a quick start on his plan voters approved last fall. There seemed to be common ground among all the panelists about where that first section should run, between the Country Club Plaza and downtown and perhaps a bit beyond the river.

One bold idea was for the city to just get started with a basic line, using its own money, and apply for federal funding on a parallel track for future expansions. Other communities have done that as a way to jump-start the process.

Enter Ed Metka of Windber, PA.

On his property deep in the hollows of the Allegheny Mountains are 10 old Kansas City streetcars, among the last to be purchased by the former Kansas City Public Service in the late 1940s.

They left town 50 years ago and wound up eventually in Philadelphia, which used them until 1984.

"I rescued these cars because I was able to get enough of them to have a fleet," Metka said. "To have original equipment would make Kansas City truly unique. Most communities have to get cars that are replicas."

(See photos of the cars in use at [www.davesrailpix.com].)

Only Boston, New Orleans, San Francisco and Philadelphia have streetcars running that are original to those cities.

Metka said the Kansas City cars are restorable and could be brought back to life for about $1.5 million each, about half the cost of a new car. That price tag would include installing air conditioning and a lift to make them handicapped accessible.

A few years ago, he sold five streetcars to Kenosha, Wis., which restored them and is now using them on a 2.5-mile route linking downtown with the lakefront. Philadelphia also has reopened a streetcar line using restored cars of similar vintage.

The Kansas City cars accommodate 45 people seated and up to 100 standing, and can reach 45 mph at full speed.

"I've followed Kansas City's activities for a long time," Metka said. "When the election came up last year and Clay Chastain's proposal was passed . I felt it was an ideal time to reintroduce the idea."

Streetcars, while they're powered by electricity and ride on rails, are not the same thing as a light rail line, but some people think they may be a cheaper, quicker way for the city to get started.

Dave Scott, president of the Urban Society of Kansas City, said his group is exploring the concept of using a rapid streetcar line to link downtown with the Plaza.

"It could be built a lot faster and for less money," he said. "What we're looking for is the most useful system we could afford to build and have up and running in five years as opposed to 10 years."

Scott is intrigued with the idea of reusing Metka's old Kansas City fleet as part of a startup line.

"It's worth looking into," he said. "A lot of people would find historic streetcars running on our streets as being cool." - Kevin Collison, The Kansas City Star

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RAIL GIANT TO OPEN SHOP IN SALT LAKE CITY

SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- The Utah Transit Authority says it scored a bargain, buying 28 used light rail cars from California and convincing one of the world's top rail car manufacturers to set up shop in Salt Lake City:

Photo here:

[www.kcpw.org] Images/rail car.JPG

Caption reads: Graffiti-covered TRAX car from San Jose, CA awaits refurbishing.

"We had to have these cars rehabilitated one way or the other," says UTA General Manager John Inglish. "The nice thing is they're doing the rehabilitation in our facility, which means we're not renting, through them, another facility in another part of the country."

Inglish says the 40-million dollar contract with Bombardier Transportation Group is several million less than it would have cost to ship the cars to the East Coast for refurbishing. Over the next three years Bombardier will hire about 35 mechanics and engineers to fix up more than 50 used TRAX and commuter rail cars. Bombardier President William Spurr says the contract could turn into something more:

Photo here:

[www.kcpw.org] Images/rail loco.JPG

Caption reads: New Frontrunner commuter rail locomotive gets finishing touches at UTA rail center.

"We hope this can be just the beginning of great things to come," says Spurr. "There's a possibility after we do this work that we can make it a center of refurbishment for the whole Western United States."

Bombardier will lease space at the former Union Pacific rail service center, which UTA recently acquired in Salt Lake City. - Julie Rose, KCPW Radio, Salt Lake City, UT

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REGIONAL COOPERATION IS THE TICKET

WAUKESHA, WI -- After serving almost one year as mayor of Waukesha and attending two Milwaukee 7 meetings, it is clear to me that there are unique and historic opportunities for regional cooperation for southeastern Wisconsin. The two issues that cry out for a 21st century new vision are water and transportation. I believe they are key for both economic development and real regional cooperation.

Most people know that the City of Waukesha is seriously investigating whether Great Lakes water is our best long-term water source. Few know the fact that in the last 19 years, while our city has grown 17 percent, our water use has actually gone down 25 percent.

In 2005, the Waukesha Common Council passed a water conservation plan that I've been told is the most comprehensive in the Midwest. Last year, with our daytime sprinkling ban in effect, our water use went down 7.5 percent.

Right now, we are the first community in Wisconsin to ask the Public Service Commission to change the way we charge our heaviest residential water users. Currently they pay less for more water use, and we believe they should pay more.

Waukesha is also studying whether return flow to a Great Lakes tributary like the Root or Menomonee River can be done in an environmentally positive way for the river, the Great Lakes and southeastern Wisconsin. If we eventually do decide to apply for a Great Lakes diversion, our goal would be to submit a role model application that would prevent 98 percent of the world from access to Great Lakes water. It would set a high standard of conservation and return flow that other communities in eligible counties would have to follow.

In this scenario, if we were able to negotiate with the City of Milwaukee for the purchase of water after a successful Great Lakes application, we could accomplish an historic win-win solution for both our cities and the region. It would be a stark contrast to the water and annexation fights that former Mayor Frank Ziedler outlined in his book on local government and the antiquated conflicts that have historically been the norm.

Once we can envision regional cooperation on water, the next logical issue would be addressing the long needed action on transportation.

The proposed KRM commuter train line between Milwaukee and Kenosha (which has commuter rail service to Chicago) is the obvious first part of connecting what the United Nation calls one of 25 mega cities of the future (the Milwaukee-Chicago area). The visionary next step, supported by the mayors of Milwaukee and Madison, would be a high-speed train between our state's two biggest cities. My bias, as mayor of Wisconsin's seventh-largest city, would be a quick stop in the Waukesha area.

Reading Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" makes it clear we all need to change the way we think about the world. As someone who grew up in Milwaukee, received an undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and later a master's degree at UWM, and lived in Waukesha for the last 31 years, the historic hostilities between these communities have never made sense.

The key to regional success in the 21st century is to put past prejudices aside, embrace visionary groups like the Milwaukee 7 and find ways to resolve issues like water and transportation so we, the region of southeastern Wisconsin, can become the leading region that our potential says can be a reality. I challenge other area leaders, both public and private, to join me in this 21st century vision. - Commentary, Larry Nelson, The Milwaukee Small Business Times (Larry Nelson is the mayor of Waukesha, WI)

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THE END