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Railroad Newsline for Friday, May 11, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS[/b]

[b]TEXAS STATE RAILROAD BILL AWAITS GOV. PERRY'S SIGNATURE

AUSTIN, TX -- House Bill 3113, to establish the authority to privatize the Texas State Railroad passed on Wednesday night and now awaits the governor’s final approval.

“From the very beginning I wanted the Texas State Railroad to stay a state park,” Rep. Chuck Hopson said in a prepared statement. “I am disappointed that that now seems to be impossible. But I am glad that we have a bill that will keep some control in state hands. Everybody knows that we’ll be watching to make sure that an East Texas landmark is not destroyed by commercialization.”

Hopson continued, “I know a lot of good-hearted people, including Sen. Robert Nichols and Rep. Byron Cook, worked hard to find a solution if the state decided not to fund the train. In the end our goals were the same: keep the wheels turning.” - The Tyler Morning Telegraph

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CN SUES FIRST NATION NATIVES OVER APRIL BLOCKADE

TORONTO, ON -- Canadian National Railway (CN) is suing the protesting natives of the Bay of Quinte Mohawk Nation for their illegal blockade of the railroad last month, resulting in no rail goods or passengers passing for approximately 30 hours.

CN is seeking unspecified damages for its trouble during the blockade, which was meant to pressure the government into speeding up a land claim issue the Mohawk tribe has in the area over a quarry permit.

The blockade started early on a Friday and lasted into Saturday, preventing millions of goods on 50 trains from going by on the Toronto-Montreal corridor. The court is also being asked to extend the temporary injunction CN was granted to prevent protesters off the rails in future.

Protest organizer Shawn Brant told the National Post the protest was necessary to bring the issue to the government and the public's attention over the quarry issue.

"Honestly, when we were out there on the tracks, I felt sick and I understood the seriousness of it," Mr. Brant said. "The whole time I'm shaking my head saying 'This is over a quarry. How can this be over a quarry?' I didn't want to be there but I had to."

Mr. Brant has already been charged by police over the blockade. - Danielle Godard, AHN Media Corp.

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BLET, BNSF REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT ON CONTRACT

CLEVELAND, OH and FORT WORTH, TX -- The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and BNSF Railway Company have agreed in principle on a BNSF-specific contract that would augment the national settlement between BLET and the nation's major railroads. The agreement is subject to ratification by BLET members on BNSF and is contingent on ratification of the national agreement's terms.

The BLET/BNSF agreement would provide unprecedented levels of profit-sharing and secure the scope of BLET members' job responsibilities in the future, particularly as train control technology advances. The agreement also provides improvements in "certification" pay, health and welfare benefit eligibility standards, meal allowances and territory familiarization pay. A new "system" rule governing the bidding and bumping process is also a highlight.

"BLET is pleased to have reached this tentative agreement with BNSF," says BLET vice president Stephen D. Speagle. "It reflects BNSF's unique position in the railroad industry and will enable BNSF locomotive engineers to participate fully in the railroad's long-term growth."

"This agreement is a major step forward in the already constructive and valued relationship between BNSF and BLET," says John Fleps, BNSF's vice president, Labor Relations. "The agreement demonstrates in the plainest way the good that comes when labor leaders and management work hard together to solve the large issues which face the company and our employees. We appreciate BLET's professionalism and willingness to discuss progressive approaches to work and pay issues on a BNSF-specific basis; we look forward to our locomotive engineers' playing a key role and sharing in the company's success for many, many years to come."

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is a Division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Its predecessor union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, was the senior national labor organization in the United States and also North America's oldest rail labor union. The BLE marked its 140th anniversary in 2003 and was founded in Marshall, Mich. on May 8, 1863, as The Brotherhood of the Footboard; a year later, its name was changed to The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The BLE merged with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and became the BLET on January 1, 2004.

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF Railway Company operates one of the largest North American rail networks, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, carries the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough low-sulfur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com. - BNSF News Release

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STORMS DISRUPT BUSINESS FOR UNION PACIFIC

OMAHA, NE -- It could take two weeks or longer for Union Pacific Corp. to repair tracks, resume coal shipments at full speed and otherwise recover from violent storms in Nebraska and other parts of the Midwest, railroad officials said Tuesday.

Up to 8 inches of rain fell over the last several days in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri, washing out some bridges and weakening or destroying sections of track, the railroad said.

Tornadoes, including one that destroyed the community of Greensburg, Kansas, caused damage as well. Some rail shipments could be delayed up to 48 hours, railroad officials said.

Heavy rain in Wyoming flooded coal pits and slowed production in the Southern Powder River Basin, just as the mines were recovering from outages caused by heavy rain and snow in April.

More than 80 coal trains were unable to move Monday, and challenges continued Tuesday, Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said.

An additional 4 to 6 inches of rain could fall in the next few days in the Midwest, railroad officials said.

"We estimate that our recovery will take about two weeks unless conditions worsen," the railroad said in a Monday letter to customers. "We will keep you apprised as conditions change." - Joe Ruff, The Omaha World-Herald

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BNSF, ALLEN GROUP FINALIZE AGREEMENT ON GARDNER INTERMODAL FACILITY

BNSF Railway Co. has finalized its agreements the firm that will develop the distribution and warehouse facilities at its proposed rail-hub center in Gardner, Kansas.

The Allen Group, a San Diego-based industrial development firm, has completed land purchase rights and pre-development agreements with the railroad, which is building an intermodal facility in Gardner.

BNSF and the Allen Group originally announced their partnership last October.

BNSF currently owns 997 acres at the project site. The railroad will use 418 acres to build its intermodal facility, and the Allen Group will have the right to buy the remaining 579 acres for the development of facilities to surround the rail-truck terminal. The development is called Logistics Park-Kansas City.

The massive rail-truck hub project’s total investment is expected to exceed $1 billion and is expected to create up to 13,000 area jobs over a 20-year-period.

BNSF expects to open its Gardner intermodal hub in 2009. The railroad has similar operations in the Chicago and Fort Worth areas. - Randolph Heaster, The Kansas City Star

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YUMA HEARING TO CONSIDER RAIL SAFETY

YUMA, AZ -- Even though the Union Pacific Railroad is no longer seeking to build a new rail line through the Yuma, Arizona area, the Arizona Corporation Commission will be here gathering public comment on railroads Thursday.

The meeting, at 13:30 hours in city council chambers at City Hall, One City Plaza, is the first of two to be held in Yuma on railroad safety. Union Pacific's multimillion-dollar plan to "double-track" the Sunset Route through Yuma is expected to be a main topic of discussion.

"The Punta Colonet line is likely to come up even though Union Pacific has backed away from bidding on the contract," said ACC spokeswoman Heather Murphy.

In August, Union Pacific announced that it expected to bid on a project that would have built a new rail line from Yuma into Mexico to a planned megaport in Punta Colonet, Baja Calif.

The announcement caused mixed reactions among Yuma's officials. The company announced on May 1 that it would no longer bid on the proposed project for "strategic reasons," as previously reported in The Sun.

The ACC has no authority to tell railroads where they can and cannot build track. But the commission, through a relationship with the Federal Railroad Administration, oversees safe operation and maintenance of crossings, signals, track and cargo containers.

At the meeting, staff from the commission's Railroad Safety Section will make a brief presentation, and UP representatives will also attend.

Murphy said UP's plan for double tracks through the state is an important change, so the ACC wants to hear public input. The commission has already held meetings in Willcox, Eloy and Tucson on the project. "It is a major development for Arizona," she said.

The Sunset Route runs from Los Angeles to El Paso, Texas, and UP says it plans to have a double line along the entire length. This would allow a higher number of trains to travel along the route each day.

The second ACC meeting in Yuma is scheduled for 18:00 hours, June 12 in council chambers. Murphy said the goal is for all five commissioners to attend both meetings. The commissioners are Kristin Mayes, William Mundell, Jeff Hatch-Miller, Gary Pierce and Chairman Mike Gleason. - Jeffrey Gautreaux, The Yuma Sun

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TOWN BOARD WANTS RAILS CHECKED

FULTON TOWNSHIP, WI -- The Fulton Town Board is requesting an inspection of the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad line after two derailments in two months within 100 feet.

The board approved two resolutions Tuesday directed at the state Legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle concerning the rail line. The first, created by Town Chairman Evan Sayre and other town officials, asked for a mile-by-mile inspection of the line through Walworth, Rock and Dane counties by the Federal Railroad Administration.

The second, created by officials from the railroad, expressed support for upgrades planned by the state and the rail company in those counties.

The move comes after two derailments near Rock River Road in Fulton Township. On Feb. 16, 14 cars tipped over in one of the biggest Rock County derailments in recent memory. Seven cars derailed April 21 in almost the same spot.

Weather was blamed for both incidents. In the first, severe cold weakened the rail and caused it to snap under the train's weight, while warm weather caused the rail to expand in the second, railroad officials said.

But the underlying reason for both was track condition, said Ben Meighan, head of maintenance for Wisconsin & Southern.

"Bottom line here, the rail is worn out," he said at the meeting.

The problems go beyond general maintenance, railroad officials said. The company inspects the lines two to three times a week, more than federally required, said Ken Lucht, community development manager.

Since the derailments, the company has instituted a 10 mph speed limit in the area and installed extra rail ties to temporarily strengthen the track, he said.

"The issues that are happening in the town of Fulton aren't related to lack of maintenance or negligence on behalf of the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.," he said.

"What's happening in the town of Fulton is clearly aged and outdated rail that's over 90 years old and was originally installed and built to handle much lighter rail cars than we see today."

Although Wisconsin & Southern is responsible for maintenance of the rail lines, the state owns the track and the land it runs on. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation contributes 80 percent of the money for improvements to the track.

The governor's preliminary budget for the next two years includes $22 million for upgrades to the publicly owned railroad system. Wisconsin & Southern has requested $6 million of that for upgrades in Rock County, Lucht said.

The company drafted the resolution supporting upgrade money because it felt it would be more effective than an investigation, he said.

But the board still passed a resolution asking the state to request an inspection from the Federal Railroad Administration to ensure the track meets standards.

The administration would take such a request seriously, said Warren Flatau, a Federal Railroad Administration spokesman.

"FRA's practice is to investigate safety complaints," he said. "Certainly if we do receive such a request, we will seek to be as responsive as possible."

Rodney Kreunen, state railroad commissioner, said the town board is right to be concerned.

"In my 50 years of railroading, I've never seen two spills in the same spot with the same railroad within two months," he said. - Stacy Vogel, The Janesville Gazette

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TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY CENTER TUNNEL PROJECT MOVING IN HOUSE BILL

PUEBLO, CO -- Pueblo's Transportation Technology Center took a step toward getting an $18 million tunnel complex built at its railroad testing center when a House committee started deliberations Tuesday on a new railroad safety bill that includes the tunnel project.

Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., and other members of the Colorado delegation have been working to have TTCI made part of a federal anti-terror training consortium of several universities and federal facilities. As part of that effort, Salazar is asking the federal government to construct an $18 million above-ground tunnel complex at TTCI that would allow law enforcement and other first-responders to train in subway-like conditions.

The House Transportation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials conducted a hearing Tuesday on a wide-ranging railroad safety bill that also authorizes the tunnel project. Salazar sits on the larger House Transportation Committee and spoke at Tuesday's hearing in support of the project.

Stressing that TTCI is the most advanced railroad test facility in the nation, Salazar said, "The distinctive remote environment of TTCI allows such testing and training activities to be carried out at a secure location without disruption to the flow of passenger and rail traffic in and around urban areas."

The railroad legislation is an authorizing bill - giving congressional approval to the project, but not actually spending any money. The $18 million would come in a later appropriations bill.

Earlier this year, House lawmakers agreed to put TTCI into the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium - a federal partnership of training centers that receives $150 million a year in grant money to train first-responders. That effort failed in the Senate, when it was blocked by lawmakers representing the current members of the consortium. They include Texas A&M University, Louisiana State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining &Technology, and the Department of Energy's Nevada Test Center. - Peter Roper, The Pueblo Chieftain

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NATIONAL BUSINESS GROUP ON HEALTH HONORS UNION PACIFIC AS ONE ON BEST EMPLOYERS FOR HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

OMAHA, NE -- For the third year in a row, The National Business Group on Health, a national non-profit organization of 266 large employers, has honored Union Pacific for its commitment and dedication to combating obesity and promoting a healthy lifestyle for its employees.

Union Pacific is one of 41 employers to receive the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award at the Leadership Summit sponsored by the Business Group’s Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity. The railroad is one of eleven companies to receive a Platinum Award for health programs to improve employees’ lifestyle behaviors.

"We are again honored to receive this recognition from the National Business Group on Health," said Barb Schaefer, senior vice president-Human Resources. "We’ve been working to improve the health of our employees for more than 20 years, and we know that supporting our employees and their families in their efforts to stay healthy is a win-win decision. That’s why we continue to support existing programs, and roll out new health and wellness initiatives across our system."

Union Pacific’s health improvement programs include HealthTrack, a "health index" report card that provides feedback to managers related to their support of health and safety efforts at the railroad. This unique system provides key health metrics to managers at each major company site. Additionally, Union Pacific has introduced aggressive intervention programs to reduce workplace accidents and improve employee health.

Across its 23-state operating area, Union Pacific integrates its health messages and programs into the business structure of its mechanical shops and transportation service units. Health screenings and health fairs are conducted during regular business meetings. A network of regional health coordinators and onsite occupational health nurses ensures that wellness activities are part of employees’ daily lives.

"We are very pleased to honor Union Pacific for its support and dedication to providing a lifestyle improvement program designed to reduce obesity and promote healthier lifestyles," said Helen Darling, President of the Business Group. "Union Pacific understands the importance of supporting employees’ efforts to choose a healthier way of life."

Now in its third year, the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles awards acknowledge and reward those employers that recognize the urgent need to improve their workers’ health, productivity and quality of life. The underlying goal of the program is to serve as a catalyst to encourage all employers to take action.

Winners of the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles awards were honored in one of three categories: Platinum, for established programs with measurable outcomes; Gold, for creating cultural and environmental changes that support employees who have made a commitment to long-term behavior changes; and Silver, for those employers that have launched significant programs or services to promote living a healthier lifestyle.

In recent weeks Union Pacific also received a Platinum Well Workplace Award from the Wellness Council of the Midlands (WELCOM). Union Pacific was one of three recipients of a Platinum award -– given to businesses with a corporate culture that completely embraces wellness and is achieving measurable outcomes. - James Barnes, UP News Release

BNSF SPEICAL WILL OFFER TRAIN RIDES TO BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS CHILDREN

Children in Casper, Wyoming, are looking forward to hopping aboard a special vintage train this summer.

The BNSF Special will chug into Casper June 12, to take 330 children and adults on an afternoon train trip. The BNSF Railway Company will also donate $10,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming that will go toward scholarships and supplies.

"It's going to be a tremendous opportunity for the kids," said Ashley Bright, chief professional officer, Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming. "Many of our kids have never been on a train."
The BNSF Special offers trips as an employee and community outreach effort.

Boys & Girls Club children receive tickets when they register for Boys and Girls Clubs’ summer programs and will also receive matching T-shirts to wear on their day trip.

This year’s BNSF Special will operate on portions of the railway’s North Central segment, beginning in McCook, Nebraska, on June 5, and concluding in Alliance, Nebraska, June 26. Boys & Girls Clubs in Denver; Great Falls and Havre, Montana; and Gillette, Wyoming, will also have an opportunity to ride on this year’s BNSF Special. - Source: Barbara Nordby, The Casper Star-Tribune, BNSF Today

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RAILROAD OFFERS TO BUY TRUCKS TO SERVE LA-LONG BEACH PORTS

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. said Tuesday it would invest more than $75 million to buy cleaner-burning trucks for hauling cargo containers from the nation's largest port complex to a proposed rail transfer hub.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad operator has been trying to generate community support in favor of building the facility, dubbed the Southern California International Gateway.

Some residents have raised concerns over the potential for pollution and noise from truck traffic moving between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the proposed facility, north of Terminal Island and about four miles from the adjacent ports.

To help ease those concerns, the company said it was prepared to purchase a fleet of new trucks to reduce fuel emissions. The trucks would be limited to travel on nonresidential routes, the company said.

"We anticipate needing about 400 trucks," said Lena Kent, a BNSF spokeswoman.

A clean air initiative approved last year by the ports includes a measure to replace diesel trucks at the port terminals with clean-fuel vehicles within five years.

Other measures proposed by the company include giving local residents priority for new jobs at the facility; building a wall to reduce the impact of noise from freeway traffic; and installing landscaping to improve air quality and aesthetics.

Martin Schlageter, spokesman for the Coalition for Clean Air, said the move by BNSF represents a significant commitment on the part of the company but added that it shows there are problems with the project.

"We've got grave concerns about the location of this facility and the pollution that it's going to bring to a neighborhood that's already overwhelmed with port-related pollution," Schlageter said.

The company said the proposed facility is needed to help accommodate the volume of cargo container traffic from the Far East, which is expected to at least double during the next 15 to 20 years, by some estimates. The port complex handles 44 percent of all U.S. import cargo containers.

Rail capacity at the ports is nearing full capacity. Cargo that cannot be loaded on rail cars at the ports is trucked to downtown Los Angeles to another facility for transport.

The rail-transfer hub would connect directly to the Alameda Corridor, a stretch of railway separated from street traffic that carries cargo from the Los Angeles ports to destinations across the U.S.

The company estimates the gateway facility would divert at least a million truck trips annually from Interstate 710.'

An environmental impact report on the project has yet to be completed. The ports' harbor commissioners are expected to vote on whether to approve the project early next year, Kent said. - Alex Veiga, The Associated Press, The San Jose Mercury News

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MODEL TRAIN SHOW HIT BY BURGLARY

LOCKPORT, NY -- More than a dozen model train enthusiasts were the victims of an overnight break-in last weekend during the 21st annual Railroad Showcase in the Kenan Center arena.

And some of the victims Tuesday termed their losses as sentimental -- much deeper than replacement values.

Lockport, New York police estimated that 18 dealers-exhibitors lost nearly $12,000 worth of property, ranging from moderately priced plastic cars, telephone booths and benches that cost $1 to $15, to steam engines and engines with digital sound chips that cost from $200 to $400.

Detectives Capt. Lawrence Eggert said the burglar kicked in a garage door panel overnight Saturday and it appears he was very selective about what he stole.

Tom Reed of Lockport, whose Niagara Orleans Model Engineers sponsors the annual railroad show and rents the Kenan Arena, said some items may be impossible to replace.

“Some model companies do limited runs. Some people think of these as toys, but they don’t realize the value of some of these pieces. A steam engine with a computer chip for sound can cost as much as $500,” he said.

On the other hand, some lower priced items carry huge sentimental value, like deliberately weathered buildings and carefully crafted pieces that are landmarks of elaborate railroad displays.

James E. Brooks, president of the Model Railroad Club of Buffalo, and Reed said the thief targeted mostly HO models, Conrail items and automobile racks and auto box cars.

Brooks said his club, based in Tonawanda, and a hobby shop have been targeted for similar thefts over the past few years. The club, he noted, lost $20,000 in property to thieves in 2003 and more in 2005. Brooks said he believes the thefts are related.

Brooks also targeted Kenan Center security.

“All the vendors are upset,” he said. “I’ve talked to them and 95 percent said they wouldn’t be back.”

“Most shows provide security,” he said. “With vendors inventory, there’s a million dollars worth of equipment in there. By not having (a guard overnight) you are taking a big chance.”

Kenan Center Executive Director Susan Przybyl said there is a security system in place but center officials will be conducting a review in the wake of the thefts.

“It is an absolutely a wonderful show,” Przybyl said. “People are very passionate about their exhibits and the community loves to come out.

“We usually review our security system annually, but this will call for an immediate review.” - Nancy A. Fischer, The Buffalo News

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LEAKING 'TORPEDOES' ARE FOUND AT RAILROAD MUSEUM

GREENPORT, NY -- Don Fisher saw the amber-colored liquid trickling from a half dozen containers filled with gunpowder at the Railroad Museum of Long Island in Greenport, New York.

The liquid was oozing from railroad "torpedoes," explosive devices with nearly as much power as a stick of dynamite. The devices are an obsolete, low-tech, crash-avoidance system on the rails.
"I said, 'This is not good,'" said Fisher, a museum trustee and an assistant site manager. 'This is not safe.'"

The defective torpedoes, which date to the 1940s, prompted Fisher to call the police Monday. Anyone who jostled them could have triggered an explosion, but they were stable in a display case during the time patrons visit the museum, he said.

"They're dangerous," Fisher said, adding that torpedoes can spew shrapnel 50 feet.

Railroad torpedoes have been part of railroad safety since the late 1800s.

The devices are used when one train has stopped and the crewman needs to alert other trains traveling the same track.

Part of a crewman's "grip," or briefcase, torpedoes were strapped onto the train track itself. The metal containers, usually a 2-1/2-inches square and wrapped in red paper, were placed as much as a mile and a half in front or behind the stopped train, spaced up to 150 feet apart.

An approaching train's weight detonated the device, creating a loud bang -- so loud the train's driver could hear it above the locomotive's engines.

A series of the loud bangs was a slowdown signal for a train's engineer, Fisher said.

On Monday, Fisher was setting up "Many Hands: A Representation of Rail Workers," when he decided to check an old grip for torpedoes.

It was about 16:30 hours when Fisher took the unsafe torpedoes to the museum's loading dock and called Southold Town Police Department, fearing they were unstable.

"It's bigger than an M-80, but smaller than a stick of dynamite," Fisher said, adding that the devices were probably donated to the museum years ago.

Suffolk County Emergency Service hauled them away at about 21:00 hours for disposal.

Fisher said he never feared for his life, and that thousands of patrons who visit the museum each year were never in danger. The torpedoes were in the grip, which was housed inside a glass case, he said. The grip had been there for more than a decade.

"It was in a secure location," Fisher said.

Southold Police Capt. Martin Flatley said his officers' role was to ensure safe disposal. "I have no reason to believe there are going to be any others around," Flatley said of the torpedoes. - Keith Herbert, Newsday

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PIONEER A PORTAL TO THE FUTURE

SEATTLE, WA -- At first sight, the modest entrance to the Pioneer Tunnel in Washington’s Cascade Range belies the ambitious future proposed for it.
“We’re standing on it,” University of Washington physicist Wick Haxton said during a recent trek to the 80-year-old tunnel.

From this angle, however, though the Pioneer’s entrance is only a few feet away, the only evidence of the “portal” is the small stream of runoff water exiting the tunnel.

Absent permission to enter BNSF Railway Company property, this is as close as Haxton can get on this day. “Managing a rail line is a little like the FAA,” Haxton explains. “If you get out on the tracks, someone will be out here in a hurry.”

The view from the other side of the tunnel, from the old Cascade Highway, is no better. The Pioneer Tunnel is just 8 feet tall by 9 feet wide, and the small entrance is hidden by a small but dense stand of trees and brush.

Appearances, however, can be deceiving.

The Pioneer is 5.3 miles long, burrowing deep into the Cascades -- at one point 3,400 feet under the peak of Cowboy Mountain. That depth is useful to physicists, who use deep labs to shield experiments from noisy cosmic radiation.

In the relative radiation silence of underground labs, researchers look for wispy subatomic particles, such as neutrinos. They search for an even more mysterious substance called “dark matter” -- so far undetected but which may account for 85 percent of the Earth’s gravity. They try to detect the decay of protons -- theorized but never observed.

The National Science Foundation has declared underground science a national priority.

Haxton leads a group of physicists who are proposing that the NSF name the Pioneer Tunnel as its preferred site for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory, or DUSEL.

Three other proposed sites are:

-- The Homestake gold mine in Lead, SD, now closed and owned by the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority.

-- The Henderson molybdenum mine near Empire, CO, a working mine, owned by a company willing to allow scientists to build a lab.

-- The Soudan iron mine in northern Minnesota, owned by the state of Minnesota and where the University of Minnesota already operates an underground lab.

Pioneer Tunnel history

The Pioneer Tunnel is owned by the BNSF Railway Company, but it’s not, strictly speaking, a railroad tunnel. Rather, it’s a “pilot” tunnel, driven partway into the Cascades in the late 1920s to support the construction of the 7.8-mile Cascade Tunnel.

The Cascade Tunnel was an engineering marvel. (It’s still the longest tunnel in the United States.) The tunnel was driven in record time using the “American method.” Here’s how it worked:

The Pioneer was driven first, just 66 feet to the south of the Cascade’s route. That allowed workers to excavate four rock faces at once. One crew worked east from the west “portal” or entrance. Another crew worked west from the east portal. Two crews worked east and west from the middle of the tunnel, hauling waste rock out through the Pioneer.

When the Cascade Tunnel was complete, the Pioneer was sealed, though it still provides drainage from the main tunnel.

The BNSF Railway Company supports the lab proposal.

Horizontal advantage

Initially, the National Science Foundation rejected the Pioneer Tunnel and five other sites, choosing Homestake and Henderson as finalists. Haxton, however, argued that the NSF had overlooked the strengths of the Pioneer proposal, and after a formal appeal, the NSF reopened the selection process. “We had to really hustle to get a proposal in,” he said.

Haxton was an early supporter of Homestake, but he was disillusioned by the reluctance of mine owner Barrick Gold Corp. to relinquish control. Then he was disheartened by Barrick’s decision to turn the underground pumps off.

Haxton first proposed drilling a horizontal tunnel into a Mountain near Icicle Creek in the Cascades, then he switched to the Pioneer Tunnel, which is closer to Seattle and which already is excavated.

Haxton is especially passionate about the tunnel’s horizontal access. “That’s one of the reasons I fell in love with this site,” Haxton said.

Entrance to all three other proposed DUSEL sites is by vertical shaft, with powerful hoists that would have to overcome gravity.

Haxton envisions an enlarged Pioneer Tunnel that could accommodate standard 20-foot cargo containers, switched directly from the BNSF main line to a siding leading into the tunnel, which has a grade of just over 1 percent.

That means it would take less energy to move equipment and personnel into a Pioneer lab. “I think there’s a significant difference in cost,” Haxton said.

With the Cascade Tunnel and the main line of the Great Northern route just 66 feet away, the Pioneer Tunnel also enjoys the quickest access by rail of any of the four sites. That’s important, Haxton said, because large experiments would be shipped by container to the site, off loaded and hauled into the lab, with a minimum of re-assembly required. “You can ship here with great ease and with great safety,” Haxton said.

Campus climate choices

Haxton said the Pioneer proposal follows the model of the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy, which is in a horizontal tunnel under the Apennine Mountain range west of Rome.

Gran Sasso has a surface campus a few miles away, with 110,000 square feet of space for offices, classrooms, labs and maintenance facilities.

Haxton envisions a similar campus outside the Pioneer Tunnel, and his team is considering about eight different sites.

Climate might determine the final choice.

At an elevation of about 2,200 feet, access to the Pioneer Tunnel would rarely be blocked by snow -- once a decade, Haxton said -- but 10 miles away, at 1,500 feet, snow is even less frequent. And 17 miles away, it never snows.

That’s the “mild coastal climate,” Haxton said, which is in sharp contrast to Soudan in frozen northern Minnesota, Henderson at over 10,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains and Homestake in the snow belt of the Black Hills.

Pioneer plan at 3 levels

The Washington plan offers two access options.

The Pioneer Tunnel could be enlarged, probably by a large tunnel-boring machine similar to those used to build the Chunnel under the English Channel.

An 1,800-foot ventilation shaft would be sunk to the tunnel from Mill Creek, east of Cowboy Mountain. Emergency exits would be through “crosscut” tunnels to the Cascade Railroad Tunnel.

But Haxton also thinks it might be even cheaper to drill a new tunnel parallel to the Pioneer, using the older tunnel for emergency access and ventilation. “It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s where we wind up.”

Either way, “stage 1” of the Pioneer plan calls for horizontally accessible labs and shops 3,400 feet under Cowboy Mountain, where large containers of any weight can be unloaded and which Haxton said is deep enough for many physics experiments.

But Haxton also has a plan to go deeper.

A large-diameter shaft would be sunk from deep inside the Pioneer Tunnel to the “stage 2” level, about 5,800 feet under Cowboy Mountain.

“As long as there are no experiments that want to go very, very deep and that are also very large, we don’t see an argument for going deeper at this point,” Haxton said.

Instead, he proposes that U.S. researchers continue to develop their ongoing relationship with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, a lab in Ontario that’s 6,800 feet underground. That lab is accessible via the 7,000-foot-deep Creighton No. 9 shaft.

If researchers need a bigger lab underground -- something Haxton says might not happen for years -- or if the SNOlab in Canada closes, then Pioneer’s “stage 3” could be built.

Stage 3 would be almost 7,700 feet underground -- as suggested in Haxton’s current proposal -- but that depth could be adjusted to meet the needs of experiments.

Homestake is 8,000 feet deep, and the South Dakota proposal calls for pumping water out of the mine then putting a deep lab 7,400 feet underground. It would be the deepest lab in the world.

But Haxton thinks the need for such a lab is far in the future, and it’s not part of the initial Pioneer plan. “It just looked to us like going immediately to a third level was just a waste of money,” he said.

The experiments

All four lab proposal suggest ranges of underground experiments -- not just in physics but also in geoscience and biology.

Two particular kinds of experiments stand out in the Washington proposal: so-called “mega-ton” detectors and an underground “target” for neutrino beams created thousands of miles away.

The mega-ton detectors, also called Cerenkov detectors, are so named because they use giant tanks containing hundreds of thousands of tons of very pure water. These detectors require huge caverns -- 200 feet wide by 200 feet tall by 600 feet long in one design.

These experiments require huge underground cavities -- 200 feet wide by 200 feet tall by 600 feet long, in one design.

“This is pretty much an ideal site for a very large detector,” Haxton said. “We’ve actually gone through a plan for how to excavate a cavity.”

Waste rock, by the way, would be loaded on railroad cars for direct shipment to the booming Puget Sound construction industry -- or to the railroad for use as ballast.

Haxton said Pioneer also was at a good distance for targets for neutrino beams generated at Fermilab near Chicago or at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.

In the longer term, Haxton said, the Pioneer Tunnel is best situated as a target for a so-called “neutrino factory” -- a powerful accelerator that would generate an extremely energetic beam of neutrinos straight through the earth to a target 7,500 miles away.

Pioneer, Henderson and Homestake all fall within neutrino-factory range of an accelerator in Europe, Haxton said, but only Pioneer satisfies the “magic baseline” distance requirement for an accelerator in Japan.

A big city, urban utilities, low cost

Like supporters of a Henderson lab, which would be less than an hour from Denver, Haxton argues for a Pioneer lab near the Seattle-Tacoma metroplex -- a densely populated area that includes high-tech companies such as Microsoft, Intel and Boeing.

That urban environment solves the “two-body” problem -- that is, “a technically trained spouse” who also will be looking for a job.

The Pioneer Tunnel also is just 90 minutes away from the University of Washington, which has one of the nation’s leading physics programs, and there are six major research institutions within 200 miles.

But like Homestake, Henderson and Soudan, Pioneer also offers quick access to a rural environment. The nearest community to the Pioneer portal is tiny Scenic and the nearest town is Skykomish -- a small tourist community. The Pacific Crest Trail is nearby and so are the Wenatchee National Forest, the Wild Sky Wilderness and the Stevens Pass ski area.

Haxton also points out that the lab lies almost directly on a “federal energy corridor,” ensuring plenty of power, and there also is access to the fastest research Internet connections.

Through use of horizontal access, international cooperation and close ties to existing research facilities, Haxton thinks that, while initial costs of a very deep lab at Pioneer might be higher than other sites, the long-range plan would be cheaper.

He emphasizes international cooperation “so, given the limited amount of money, as much money can be spent on science as possible.”

Some time in the next few weeks -- this month or next --the NSF will announce which of the four sites makes the final DUSEL cut. The winning proposal will get $15 million over the next three years to develop a detailed science and engineering plan.

“That’s a wonderful start the NSF has made,” Haxton said. “I think you’re going to need every bit of those three years.”

The Pioneer Tunnel DUSEL proposal: pros and cons

Pros:

-- Horizontal access, which takes less energy and allows quicker, cheaper delivery of bigger equipment.

-- Easy access to a major rail line, a major electric power corridor and the fastest Internet lines.

-- Quick access to the Seattle metro area and six major research institutions.

Cons:

-- Expanding the current tunnel and sinking an air shaft, or drilling a new parallel tunnel, could be more expensive at first.

-- Expensive to go very deep, one of the DUSEL goals.

-- Surface campus could be 10 miles or more from the tunnel.

For a comparison of all four sites being considered, go to [www.rapidcityjournal.com]. - Bill Harlan, The Rapid City Journal

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GILBERT TOWN COUNCIL SAYS NO TO 'QUIET ZONE'

GILBERT, AZ -- The Gilbert, Arizona Town Council on Tuesday night decided against establishing a "quiet zone" that would have silenced noisy trains moving through town.

"I think it's a waste of money and waste of time," Councilman Don Skousen said.

Gilbert has received complaints over the years from some residents about trains blaring horns as they travel along the Union Pacific Railroad, which runs diagonally through town.

Train operators must sound horns when approaching road crossings. However, the Federal Railroad Administration also allows cities and towns to enact "quiet zones" to silence horns as long as road crossings meet certain safety standards. Gilbert's crossings would have needed at least $1.1 million in improvements as a result.

In other council business, council members decided to ban smoking in public parks.

However, council agreed that there should be designated smoking areas in parks so as to not exclude certain residents.

An ordinance still must be crafted and voted on by council members at a later date before the ban can take effect. - Mike Walbert, The Arizona Republic

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RAILROAD OFFICIAL PRAISES CSX INVESTMENT

WASHINGTON, DC -- The federal government's top railroad official, who has been critical of CSX Corp. in recent months, on Tuesday praised the company's decision to invest $6.4 billion over four years to improve tracks and equipment.

CSX's plan reflects "a wise commitment to making the kind of funding priorities needed to improve its operations and better safeguard neighboring communities," Joseph Boardman, the head of the Federal Railroad Administration, said in a prepared statement.

"We look forward to learning exactly how and when the additional safety funding will be invested across CSXs rail network," he said.

In late March, federal railroad officials found more than 3,500 problems with CSX railroad properties in 23 states, a probe started in response to a series of accidents involving the company's trains.

The railroad administration's inspection, conducted over four days in January after a derailment on Jan 16 in East Rochester, NY, recommended that CSX be fined for 199 violations, including failure to replace defective rails, failure to make repairs and improper handling of hazardous materials.

Last month railroad officials found 79 problems with CSX tracks across New York after an inspection in March.

CSX announced the investment plans Tuesday as part of an overall effort to repurchase an additional $1 billion in company stock and raise its dividend by 25 percent.

CSX shares rose 60 cents Tuesday to close at $46.50. - The Associated Press, Kiplinger.com

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INDIA PLANS TO BORROW $15 BILLION FOR RAILROAD OVERHAUL

Indian Railways, Asia's oldest network, plans to borrow $15 billion from commercial banks over the next five years to build new tracks, add passenger cars and modernize stations, the company's chairman, J. P. Batra said recently.

The funding is part of the state-run network's plan to spend as much as $56 billion by 2012 to meet rising demand for transportation in the world's second-fastest growing major economy after China.

Goldman Sachs estimates that India's $854 billion economy will grow at an average of 8 percent each year until 2020. That expansion will raise annual goods movement by 51 percent to 1.1 billion tons and passenger traffic by 31 percent to 8.4 billion people a year by 2012, Batra said.

"We realize that such high growth would be difficult to sustain without adequate capacity augmentation," Batra, the top bureaucrat in the Ministry of Railways, said in an interview in Kyoto on Sunday. "A number of major Japanese and European banks are keen to lend money to us."

Batra said that the Indian Ministry of Finance is in talks with its Japanese counterpart to arrange $4 billion of loans to finance a dedicated freight corridor in India. He did not name the banks with which Railways is negotiating for loans.

Indian Railways is building two freight tracks along the country's busiest routes. The first will connect India's financial capital, Mumbai, in the west, to New Delhi in the north. The second track will run between Ludhiana in the north and Calcutta in the east. The first phase of the project involves 2,700 kilometers, or 1,700 miles, of track at a cost of about $6.5 billion, Batra said.

The plan to refurbish the railroad is part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's plan to invest $320 billion by 2012 on improving the country's roads, ports and other infrastructure, all of which are strained. Singh wants better utilities to encourage investment in factories, generate jobs and accelerate economic growth to eradicate poverty in the world's second-most populous country.

The railroad, which has 1.4 million people on its payroll, plans to spend $7.7 billion in the current financial year, ending on March 31, to increase capacity.

Batra said that the railroad would rely on its surplus cash to make the investments. It earned a surplus of $4.5 billion in the year that ended March 31, and expects a surplus of $5 billion this year, he said.

"The major focus in the next five years will be on rolling stock such as the locomotives and passenger cars," Batra said. The plan is to almost double the annual capacity to produce passenger cars and locomotives to 4,500 and 700 respectively.

Indian Railways currently runs 11,000 trains a day, moving about 15 million people, or almost the combined population of New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Still, the fastest train in India clocks a maximum speed of 140 kilometers an hour, half the pace of the fastest train in Japan.

East Japan Railway, Japan's largest rail operator, is testing a new shinkansen, or bullet train, called the Fastech 360, which has a top speed of 360 kilometers an hour. No date has been set for its introduction and no decision has been made about whether to run the train at top speed if it is introduced.

"We are starting feasibility studies to introduce high-speed trains in India, covering a distance of 2,800 kilometers," Batra said. "This will involve a major participation from private companies."

India was the first in Asia to get a passenger railroad when British rulers opened a 34-kilometer track from Mumbai to Thane on April 16, 1853. The network now covers 63,000 kilometers.

Rail lines make up 2.3 percent of the country's economy, which grew 9.2 percent in the year that ended on March 31, the fastest pace in almost two decades. Growth has averaged 8.6 percent in the past four years, the quickest expansion since the country's independence in 1947.

India also needs to spend money to upgrade the network as the key railroad tracks connecting the nation's biggest cities are "saturated in most sections," according to a May 2002 report by the railroads.

As many as 2,500 people have died in rail accidents between 1960 and 2004, and as many as 6,830 trains have derailed in that period, according to the railroads. - Cherian Thomas, Bloomberg News, The Intrernational Herald Tribune

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LUXURY RUSSIAN TRAIN MAKES FIRST RUN

A super-luxury tourist train running from Moscow through Siberia to Vladivostok, near the Russian-Chinese border, began its inaugural run Monday.

The Golden Eagle, a $25 million joint Russian-British project, includes a shower cabin, heated floors and furniture, liquid crystal display TVs, Internet access, a hairdressing salon and a medical room, as well as a bar and two restaurant cars, the state-owned Russian Railways said.

Food includes Russian and Siberian items ranging from pelmeni, or Russian dumplings, to black caviar and vodka, the railroad said.

The 14-day rail trip -- costing $16,000 to $19,000, depending on class of service -- includes several stops and excursions.

Tickets are sold out until November, mostly to Europeans, rail spokesman Sergei Slutskov said.

"From winter, we will start actively promoting this trip to Russian tourists as well," he said.

The train also will be used for tours along the Silk Road, an ancient trade route through Kazakhstan, with stopovers at the Baikonur space center, the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and across the large and cold Gobi desert in China, with Beijing as the final stop, the Russian news and information agency RIA Novosti reported. - United Press International

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CASS LISTED AMONG NATION'S TOP SCENIC TRAIN RIDES
The May issue of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine has cited Cass Scenic Railroad State Park in Pocahontas County as among America's most scenic train rides, along with rides in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Washington. The park was mentioned in the "Family Travel Handbook" section of the magazine. An excerpt from the magazine follows:

"Deep in the Appalachians, the Cass Scenic Railroad is part of a state park that has a preserved lumber town at its center. The train switchbacks up 11 percent grades on the five-hour ride to Bald Knob, the state's second-highest point. Dinner trains feature bluegrass music or murder mysteries."

Cass Scenic Railroad State Park is home to the world's largest roster of authentic geared steam locomotives and some of the most unique accommodations in West Virginia's state parks, including restored company houses, overnight caboose rentals and a wilderness cabin accessed by train. The park offers free tours of the town and railroad facilities, views of a vast wilderness area and closeup encounters with the sights and sounds of original steam-driven locomotives. For more information, call (304) 456-4300 or (800) CALL WVA. - The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

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TRANSIT NEWS

UNION PACIFIC RAILS OFF THE TABLE FOR eBART

ANTIOCH, CA -- EBART officials have decided to focus on building a train system that would use Highway 4's median all the way to Antioch instead of peeling off in Pittsburg, California onto tracks that Union Pacific Railroad owns.

The plan now is to have the diesel-powered passenger trains travel along the center of Highway 4 from BART's Pittsburg/Bay Point station to the Hillcrest Avenue exit.

The cars then might use either the Highway 4 bypass or follow a route parallel to the railroad's freight tracks, said BART spokesman Linton Johnson.

That would entail buying land and building tracks along that corridor, both of which could affect the cost and timeline.

Calls to eBART Project Manager Ellen Smith regarding the matter were not returned.

Even before this latest development, eBART had generated widespread criticism as cost estimates rose dramatically, the project was scaled down, divided into two phases, and its launch date moved back.

Estimates in 2001 pegged the project at $200 million to $228 million, not including right-of-way acquisitions.

By last fall, the undertaking had become an approximately $1.3 billion project.

Susan Miller of Contra Costa Transportation Authority -- the funding agency that's building additional lanes on Highway 4 -- says it's still trying to determine how this change of course will affect the widening of Highway 4.

The hope is that eBART could start operating around 2013, a year or so after Highway 4 is widened to the Hillcrest Avenue exit, he said.

The decision to switch gears was prompted during a recent closed-door meeting at which a board that advises BART on the project learned that eBART as proposed was a no-go.

"I think we all pretty much knew," Johnson said. "It would have been a shock if Union Pacific would have accepted our proposal."

The railroad company had declined eBART's most recent offer to buy its 32 miles of track that stretches from Loveridge Road in Pittsburg to Tracy, Smith said.

BART and Contra Costa Transit Authority, which both have been working on eBART since the project's inception, had made their most recent offer April 2.

Union Pacific responded by reiterating that it didn't want to relinquish use of the track in case it ever needed to move freight cars on that line.

This had been a major sticking point from the time negotiations started, said Jerry Wilmoth, general manager of network infrastructure at Union Pacific's Roseville offices.

BART had insisted that Union Pacific relinquish all its rights to that track because sharing it with freight trains could cause delays in passenger service, Johnson said.

The railroad company finally decided to break off talks after receiving eBART's most recent offer last month, Wilmoth said.

He declined to specify what the other points of disagreement were, saying he wanted to keep the content of the negotiations private.

However, Johnson said the parties also had reached an impasse over the price.

Running trains along a longer stretch of Highway 4's median always has been one of the two options eBART has considered, Smith said.

Until recently, however, she and her team had been focusing on establishing a train service that only would use the Highway 4 median from BART's Pittsburg/Bay Point station to Loveridge Road.]

At that point, the plan was to have the trains veer north across the highway on an overpass so they could travel the rest of the way on Union Pacific's so-called Mococo line.

eBART favored using this set of tracks because its trains could start operating sooner with an infrastructure already in place, Johnson said. - Rowena Coetsee, The Contra Costa Times

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HOUSTON'S METRO OK'S START ON FOUR CORRIDORS

HOUSTON, TX -- The Metropolitan Transit Authority board approved a $77.3 million agreement Tuesday with an Idaho-based engineering and construction firm to begin work on the city's next four rapid transit lines.

Under the contract, Washington Group Transit Management Co. will organize, schedule and perform early design and construction work on the North, Southeast, East End and Uptown corridors.

All four lines are expected to start out with Bus Rapid Transit, which uses trainlike buses in guideways, and be converted to light rail when ridership justifies the additional cost.

The project also includes a transfer hub, known as the Intermodal Terminal Facility, on North Main near the University of Houston-Downtown, where bus and light rail lines will meet.

The board also approved awarding the firm $2.5 million for precontract work.

Greg P.Therrien, president of infrastructure for the parent company, Washington Group International, said the design work would likely be completed by March.

The Metro board will take action on a separate design and construction contract in a later phase of the project, which could also include a contract to operate and maintain the completed line.

"I think it's very significant," board Chairman David Wolff said after Tuesday's vote. "It shows we're moving ahead. ... We made a commitment to the voters in 2003 when they passed a referendum that Metro would get Metro Solutions built, and this shows we're moving forward."

A combination of federal grants and Metro sales tax funds will cover the cost of the four lines, estimated at more than $1 billion, Metro says.

The lines will cover about 20 miles:

•North: UH-Downtown to Northline Mall.

•Southeast: downtown to Palm Center.

•East End: east side of downtown to Magnolia Transit Center.

•Uptown: Post Oak from Northwest Transit Center to Westpark.

The design contract approved Tuesday does not include the proposed University Line (from the University of Houston to the Galleria), which will be voted on later. - Rosanna Ruiz and Rad Sallee, The Houston Chronicle

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AS GOOD AS NEW: AFTER A COAT OF PAINT, CARS GET BACK ON TRACK

Photo here:

[www.stamfordadvocate.com]

NORTH WHITE PLAINS, NY -- With broad strokes and a bit of elbow grease, Metro-North Railroad cars look like new again.

In the railroad's paint shop, employees use gallons of red, blue, silver and black paint to transform aging rail cars into new-looking specimens.

"You guys make it look great, while the other guys make it work great," Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said during a recent visit to the paint shop.

The shop is repainting more than 200 of the New Haven Line's oldest rail cars as part of Connecticut's Critical Systems Replacement program.

All of the vital electrical components of the New Haven Line's 30-year-old M2 rail cars are being replaced to keep them running until new cars begin to arrive in a few years.

After the components are fixed, the cars are shipped to the paint shop, where the exteriors are repainted silver and red, the New Haven Line colors.

The 30-foot by 200-foot shop near the North White Plains rail station on the Harlem Line is part of a larger maintenance complex used primarily for fixing cars on the New York state sections of Metro-North.

Two to four rail cars per month pass through the shop. Each car takes about two weeks to be stripped and repainted before it returns to service.

The shop also repaints vehicles for television and movies. Photographs of a repainted FL-9 locomotive used in the 1998 film "U.S. Marshals" hang in the paint shop offices.

At the start of each job, the car comes into the shop and is washed. The old paint is taken off using about 15 gallons of paint stripper.

What's left behind looks like a black and white version of a New Haven Line rail car. Gone is the thick red strip along the side and the silver shine of the body.

The car then is examined for body damage, often found at the nose.

"A train runs into a lot of debris," said Nelson Rodrigues, superintendent of the shop. "Trees, garbage, grocery carts."

Dents are pounded out. The surfaces are sanded for a smoother finish. Grinders are used on Fiberglas "door-skins" so they can be installed at the head of the cars.

A coat of primer is applied before a color. Then sections not painted are taped with plastic.

The silver sections are blasted first, using a spray gun. Five gallons of silver paint are used, followed by two gallons of red and five gallons of black.

Once the paint is dry, Metro-North and Connecticut logos are attached. Using reflective tape, the red and white striped design is attached to the head of the car.

When the cars are finished, they are shipped to a facility in the Bronx, where they go through one more power-washing before they are put back in service.

The newer rail cars are being used on the Hudson and Harlem lines, and in two years will be used on the New Haven Line. But paint shop employees don't expect to slow down once the fleet is new.

"We're here painting cars, locomotives, gondolas that carry rocks," said Albert Cecere, facilities director for maintenance and equipment. "We can be here painting until 2050 and still have enough to do." - Mark Ginocchio, The Stamford (CT) Advocate

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THE END