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Railroad Newsline for Monday, 05/14/07
Author: Larry W. Grant
Date: 05-14-2007 - 02:50
Railroad Newsline for Monday, May 14, 2007
Compiled by Larry W. Grant
In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006
RAIL NEWS
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TRACKS: PARTNERSHIP, PRIVATIZATION OF TEXAS STATE RAILROAD CLEARS LEGISLATIVE HURDLES; RIDERSHIP COULD DOUBLE OR TRIPLE IN NEXT FIVE YEARS WITH KID-FRIENDLY PROMOTIONS
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[www.lufkindailynews.com]
[b]The Texas State Railroad is on track for privatization after passage of Senate Bill 1659 which allows the creation of a railroad partnership between the cities of Palestine and Rusk.
The bill, authored by Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville), will allow the newly-created Texas State Railroad Operating Agency to lease out operations of the railroad to a private entity but still remain under the supervision of the partnership.
The operating agency will consist of seven members, three from each city and an appointed individual, said Palestine Mayor Dr. Carolyn Salter.
"The people of Anderson and Cherokee counties have worked so hard to keep the railroad running," Nichols said in a press release. "I'm extraordinarily proud to be part of their efforts and pass my first bill on behalf of the Texas State Railroad."
Salter said the communities wanted to show the Legislature they could work together and "do due diligence to the railroad."
A fund-raiser spearheaded by former state senator and current State Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples (R-Palestine) collected $100,000 that was used for the formation of the operating agency and for hiring a lobbyist, Salter said.
The railroad was slated to become a museum on Sept. 1 unless funding came available.
A task force created in 2006, charged with finding a way to save the railroad, looked at privatization as the best option.
"They interviewed four operators and selected American Heritage Railways," Salter said. "They felt (American Heritage Railways) could best protect the railroad's assets and allow it to operate in a profitable way."
Salter said the company, which is headquartered in Durango, Colorado, will be able to market the railroad in a way that was impossible under the authority of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
"The Texas State Railroad did not have a marketing budget," Salter said. "A lot of things they did to raise revenue, they didn't get to keep. The money from the gift store went into the general fund. When a film came in (the railroad) was responsible for paying personnel, but were not able to keep any revenues from the film. Those also went into the general fund."
With American Heritage Railways at the helm, Salter said ridership is expected to double or triple in the next five years.
"They've already scheduled Thomas the Tank in October," Salter said. "And The Polar Express, to which they own the rights, will be coming after Thanksgiving until Christmas."
The Polar Express is a child-themed trip to meet Santa Claus, where kids can ride in their pajamas and enjoy a read-along of the book by Chris Van Allsburg.
Without privatization, Salter said she believes the future of the railroad would have been grim.
"Every two years people were having to go to Austin and fight to keep funding for the railroad," she said.
The legislation requires the railroad not be converted to a static display and that it must remain in its current location. After eight years, American Heritage will own the real estate, but not the rails or right-of-way.
"You can't run a railroad without rails or right-of-way," Salter said. "Those will stay with the state forever."
Opponents to privatization have been vocal about keeping the railroad under state authority.
Dr. Michael Banks, a Jacksonville dentist and president of Save Texas Parks, said his group is disappointed the legislation passed the House because "we feel the railroad would be best operated by the state."
Banks is critical of the $12 million that will go to the railroad authority from state funds.
"We really struggle with this because with $7.6 million, the state could run the railroad for another two or more years," he said. "(The railroad authority) is going to be making improvements with taxpayer dollars that will benefit the private operator."
Banks said it is possible, but not likely, that something may occur in the next couple of weeks that could prevent the privatization of the railroad.
"We're still optimistic that there's some avenues where privatization could be defeated," Banks said. "We'll play those out and see what happens. We still believe state funding would be the best option for the railroad, but it does look like the railroad is going away and is going to be operated privately."
Salter says she is excited about the opportunity to work with American Heritage Railways.
"This will draw in tourism and get new people to visit our community," she said. "The railroad is important for the Pineywoods experience. It's an important entertainment venue for East Texas." - Denise Hoepfner, The Lufkin Daily News
RAILROAD ENDS A LONG RUN ON A SHORT TRACK: GRIZZLY FLATS INSPIRED WALT DISNEY, EXCITED NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILIES AND BROUGHT JOY TO THE FAMILY THAT OWNED AND RAN IT
It was short in length -- but long in its reach.
The Grizzly Flats Railroad's steam engines traveled for 70 years along a 500-foot-long stretch of rails next to the San Gabriel home of Betty and Ward Kimball.
Along the way, the Kimballs' picturesque narrow-gauge line helped inspire Walt Disney to build the famous passenger train system that circles Disneyland.
Now, though, its locomotives, vintage cars and caboose have been hauled away, and workers have finished pulling out the steel rails and wooden ties. Soon, the antique-looking Grizzly Flats train depot will be dismantled. The old train barn and firehouse will be demolished.
"It's an emotional thing. But it has to be done," said John Kimball, the couple's 66-year-old son.
"We grew up here. When I was a little kid I didn't know until I was in the sixth grade that it was unusual to have a railroad in your backyard. When I went to Temple City High School, I used to have parties in the caboose."
Ward Kimball, an animator who worked on Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Dumbo," "Fantasia," "Pinocchio" and "The Three Caballeros," died in 2002 at age 88. By then, he had already started downsizing his beloved Grizzly Flats Railroad.
In the beginning, Kimball's backyard railroad sprouted its tracks almost by accident.
Kimball was a lifelong train fan. On his first date with Betty, he had taken her to a rail yard to measure a box car. He and his new wife purchased 2-1/2 acres of a San Gabriel orange grove and were preparing to build a home in 1937 when he decided to buy a surplus train car to house his growing model train layout. For $50 he bought an abandoned narrow-gauge passenger coach (used on 3-foot-wide track instead of the standard 4-feet, 8-1/2-inches) that Southern Pacific had operated in the Owens Valley.
A year later, he bought a similar-sized 1881 steam engine that was being scrapped by the Nevada Central Railroad. Later, he would also acquire a 1906 box car and caboose, a 1917 gondola and a 1915 stock car, along with a small 1907 switch engine used at a Hawaiian sugar plantation.
The weekend "steam-ups," as the Kimballs called them, attracted crowds. Workers and executives from Hollywood film studios often wrangled invitations, as did neighbors.
"You'd pull in the driveway and see all of this train stuff," said Bob Kredel, who was 9 and living in Arcadia when his next-door neighbor -- a friend of the Kimballs -- invited him to tag along for a steam-up.
Young Kredel ended up helping toss wood into the huffing steam engine's firebox, and a lifelong appreciation of trains and an eventual career was set in gear. "I never was exposed to electric trains as a boy. When I wanted to play with trains, I'd go to the Kimballs," said Kredel, who supplies vintage trains for movie productions.
Barbara Andrews, a retired office manager living in San Marcos, remembers riding on Kimball's train in the mid-1960s. "I lived right around the corner. The train didn't go far, but it was so much fun. Ward would also give kids a ride on his antique firetruck. It was like having your own amusement park in the neighborhood," she said. Neighbor Rick Griffith said he won numerous bets from golfing buddies who didn't believe him when he told them he lived down the road "from that little train station up by Temple City" -- the Grizzly Flats depot. "Ward Kimball was a character from the get-go," said Griffith, a movie studio millwright.
For decades the Kimballs regularly hosted friends and other train lovers who delighted in riding the rails next to Ardendale Avenue. One frequent visitor was Disney, who had hired Kimball in 1934.
Train historian and writer John Smatlak recalled how Disney was impressed that Kimball ran a real steam engine while other train enthusiasts operated model railroads or miniature "live steamers."
At a backyard party in 1945, Kimball gave Disney a chance to take the throttle and operate the 1881 locomotive that Kimball had dubbed the "Emma Nevada." That's when the Disneyland Railroad was born, according to Smatlak, a Woodland Hills resident who serves as vice president of collections for the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Riverside County.
Disney's eyes -- and his grin -- got big as he nudged the locomotive to life. "It was at that moment that he decided that the trains in the park he was planning someday had to be real steam trains," Smatlak recalled Kimball telling him.
In 1949 Disney gave Kimball the train depot set that Disney Studio workers had constructed for the film "So Dear to My Heart" starring Burl Ives, Beulah Bondi, Bobby Driscoll and Harry Carey. Kimball reassembled it, added a back wall to the three-sided structure and turned it into a small museum.
Kimball quit running the coal-burning Emma Nevada in 1967 as the orange groves around him gave way to homes. The backyard train excursions were powered instead by the cleaner, wood-burning Hawaiian switch engine he called "Chloe," after his youngest daughter.
As he grew older and maintenance of the rolling stock became harder, Kimball donated most of it to the Orange Empire museum, along with money to build an engine house to store them. "It was close enough that I could still have a little fun with it," he said as the Emma Nevada was hauled away in late 1992.
John Kimball and sisters Kelly, of Altadena, and Chloe, of Tujunga, at first were disappointed.
"We were shocked. At the time we thought of the Grizzly Flats Railroad as a family thing. I ran that sugar plantation locomotive for 50 years," said Kimball, himself a retired animation director who lives in Pasadena.
"I'd always dreamed that maybe the state would take it over as a museum. But now we know it was the right thing to do. We could see it was deteriorating and none of us could really take care of it."
The caboose, with its wood-burning, pot-bellied stove that John Kimball partied around as a teenager, was donated to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The Chloe locomotive and the last of its cars were turned over to the Orange Empire museum several months ago. The Grizzly Flats Railroad's track was pulled up two weeks ago.
The old depot was offered to the Orange Empire museum but was rejected because of the cost required to convert it from a flimsily built movie prop into a structure open to the public, Kimball said. Instead, it is being given to collector John Lasseter, a Sonoma resident who is chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.
The antique wooden water tower will also be offered to Lasseter when his representatives come in a week or so for the depot, Kimball said.
"My mom will live out her life here. She said she will live to be 100. She's 94 now, going on 95," Kimball said.
Grinning, he paused one more time outside the Grizzly Flats Station, the one with the old-time railroad sign: "Elev. 492 -- Pop. 5." - Bob Pool, The Los Angeles Times
UNION STATION: A NEW DAY DAWNS FOR DENVER'S HISTORIC TRAIN DEPOT
DENVER, CO -- For more than a century, Union Station has been a symbol of mobility. In the early days, Denver residents relied on its trains to connect them with the rest of the nation. Once highways took over that function, the depot was left to decay in a tangle of freight lines. Now it comes to life only twice a day when Amtrak's California Zephyr passes through, the station's cavernous waiting room silent otherwise. All that will change, as work starts on a regional transportation project connecting metro residents to points far beyond.
When it won the contract to redevelop Denver's historic Union Station and surrounding property six months ago, Union Station Neighborhood Co. moved into a ground-floor office on site.
View page one of a Union Station photo gallery, as it appeared in the newspaper (PDF):
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As contract negotiations continue for the $1 billion, 19.5-acre project, the team has kept busy by polishing its original plan.
The routes of bus lanes that will be buried underground have been shifted, for example, allowing space for a moving sidewalk between the light-rail tracks and the station. And items that block a full view of the building -- canopies, steel storefront and mechanical systems on the west side -- will be removed.
"We're focusing on design refinement and details of the transit solution," said Mike Reininger, the team's managing partner.
Formed last year during the competition for the project, Union Station Neighborhood Co. is a partnership between Continuum Partners and East West Partners. Both companies have offices just blocks from the century-old station, but they decided in February to open a new office.
"We felt it was important for us to have our feet here on the ground," Reininger said. "There certainly is a buzz in the neighborhood and the marketplace about what could happen here."
Spending time in Union Station has given the team an active presence in the community, and it has given them a close-up look at the building's potential.
An Amtrak ticket counter now stretches along the east wall of the station's waiting room. The team plans to move it, creating a sense of transparency so that people looking at Union Station from the Wyn koop Street side can see through to the Central Platte Valley, Reininger said.
View page two of a Union Station photo gallery (PDF):
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Once the contract has been signed, the team can start transforming the old station into Denver's new regional transportation hub. Their work will include burying existing rail lines to the west, building a station for new FasTracks transit lines from throughout the region, and filling the vacant Central Platte Valley with residential, office and retail buildings.
The team will begin by renovating the depot and building the light-rail station, with a target date of 2009. By 2011, it plans to complete the rest of the transportation and street-level improvements, and begin its retail development.
Although plenty still needs to be done at the station, the Regional Transportation District has spent more than $5 million on repairs and renovations during the six years it has owned it, said Richard Rost, manager of facilities engineering for FasTracks.
Revenue generated from the parking lots paid for work that has included elevator modernization, HVAC upgrades, parking-lot renovation, roofing upgrades and window replacements.
Improvements planned for this year have been put on hold as RTD also waits for contract negotiations to conclude, Rost said. - Margaret Jackson, The Denver Post
AMTRAK TO INCLUDE ON-BOARD ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM IN COAST STARLIGHT SLEEPER PACKAGE PRICE FOR SUMMER
OAKLAND, CA -- Effective this month and through the end of the summer, Amtrak Coast Starlight sleeping car passengers can enjoy movies, TV shows, video games, cartoons, music videos and music on a complimentary portable digEplayer™ XT system from Railway Media® and digEcor™. This program extends existing on-board rental options and is part of a pilot to enhance service on the Los Angeles-Seattle Coast Starlight.
The digEplayer's success throughout the Amtrak system has shown that it is a valuable option in on-board entertainment for our passengers. By providing these devices, Coast Starlight sleeping car passengers can play games, listen to music or view first rate movies and videos from the comfort of their rooms or from other locations throughout the train at no additional cost," said Emmett Fremaux, Amtrak's Vice President of Marketing and Product Management.
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[www.amtrak.com]
"The digEplayer™ XT is the most advanced portable media player in the world," said Joshua Wallack, President and CEO of Railway Media. "This on-demand video and audio entertainment system has been very successful at our station kiosks and will delight sleeping car passengers traveling long distances on Amtrak."
The latest model of the player features an 8-1/2 inch LCD screen, two independently controlled headphone jacks, a 12-hour battery and AC adapter that will allow unlimited use.
Movies programmed this month include Dream Girls, Eragon, Flags of our Fathers, Happy Feet, Pursuit of Happyness, The Queen, Charlotte's Web, Eragon, and Night At The Museum, along with TV shows such as The West Wing, Scrubs, and Friends. Video games on the XT include Disney's Classic Games®, Sodoku, Tetris, Checkers, Invasion, Chess, Centipede, Poker, and Solitaire.
During this pilot, Coast Starlight sleeper passengers can pick up their complimentary digEplayer™ XT at one of four Railway Media kiosks along the route (Los Angeles, Emeryville, Portland and Seattle) before boarding or while on-board the train. They can either return the units to their sleeping car attendant prior to detraining or at one of the station kiosks.
The digEplayers™ are also available at Railway Media rental kiosks at Amtrak stations in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Emeryville, California, Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida. Amtrak's market research indicates that passengers assign a high value to this entertainment venue, as part of their travel experience, and its usage has been expanding steadily since it was first introduced last year.
Amtrak's Coast Starlight, operating daily between Los Angeles and Seattle, offers passengers a unique travel experience with superior service, spectacular scenery, fine dining and exceptional amenities, in coach or sleeping car accommodations. The train connects some of the most popular destinations on the West Coast, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. - Vernae Graham, Amtrak News Release
BNSF HOSTS FIFTEENTH CUSTOMER ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Last week, the BNSF Railway Company hosted its fifteenth Customer Advisory Board (CAB) meeting in the Kansas City area. "Working Closer -- Moving Forward," was the theme that focused on BNSF’s efforts in assessing future trends to help customers move forward and on how BNSF is preparing to meet and exceed customers’ future shipping needs.
On May 2, Matt Rose, chairman, president and chief executive officer, discussed rail capacity and infrastructure needed to ensure fluidity of freight mobility to meet the increasing appetites of the nation’s consumers for goods and of industries for raw materials. CAB members also toured the following locations:
· BNSF’s Technical Training Center (TTC), Overland Park, Kansas, located on the campus of the Johnson County Community College, provides instruction for locomotive engineers, conductors/yard crew, maintenance and engineering, mechanical, signal systems and telecommunications employees. In 2006, TTC instructors trained 13,000 individuals at the TTC and 31,000 current railroad employees in the field.
· BNSF’s Argentine Yard: With capacity to classify 2,400 cars a day, Argentine is the largest rail classification yard on the BNSF system.
· The Argentine Flyover: Eliminates the at-grade train conflicts of 100 or more BNSF and other railroads trains per day by enabling east/west traffic to "fly over" north/south traffic on elevated track.
· Sheffield Flyover: stretches more than three miles through the northeast industrial district of Kansas City, Missouri, and was constructed to increase the speed of as many as 250 trains a day by eliminating the conflicts between several railroads at four at-grade rail intersections.
"The Kansas City area is a crucial part of BNSF’s network, situated at the strategic junction of our rail routes between Chicago and Southern California and between the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast," said Carl Ice, BNSF executive vice president and chief operations officer. "It is the nation’s second-busiest freight rail center, with more than 400 trains passing through every 24 hours. More than one-third of these trains are BNSF trains."
On May 3, John Lanigan, BNSF executive vice president and chief marketing officer, and Ice led discussions about the future of freight mobility and key economic development plans to meet future demand.
"The CAB meetings allow BNSF the opportunity to share ideas on current issues facing the transportation industry with representatives from diverse businesses," says Lanigan. "The main focus is communication; we facilitate open dialogue and in turn gain critical knowledge from our customers that helps drive us to be a better company."
Members of BNSF’s CAB include executives from the following companies:
· ADM de Mexico
· Anacostia & Pacific Railroad
· Archer Daniels Midland
· Badger Mining
· California Steel Inc.
· CH Robinson Company
· Chemical Lime
· ConocoPhillips
· DeBruce Grain, Inc.
· Duke Energy
· Jarden Corp.
· Kohl’s
· Lyondell Chemical Company
· MacMillan-Piper
· Maersk
· Montana Grain Growers Association
· Oxy Chemicals
· Port of Tacoma
· Schneider National, Inc.
. Scoular Grain
· The Dow Chemical Company
· TransAlta Corporation
· U. S. Xpress, Inc.
· United Parcel Service, Inc.
· West Fraser Timber Company, Ltd.
· Weyerhaeuser Company
- BNSF Today
TRAIN SPEED TO INCREASE
MARION, IL -- Residents in Marion and West Frankfort, Illinois beware. Those Union Pacific trains that pass through town each day will be traveling at a faster clip beginning next week.
John Schumacher, public safety officer with the St. Louis division of Union Pacific Railroad, said the speed will increase from about 30 to a maximum 49 mph after signals are aligned on Thursday.
"We're presently running anywhere from five to seven trains a day each way for a total of 10 to 14 trains," Schumacher said. "I don't think the added speed will result in any additional trains coming through for now."
BNSF Railway Company trains, by comparison, pass through Marion about a dozen times every 24 hours.
In an effort to increase resident awareness, Union Pacific officials will host free train rides to the public from 07:30 to 11:30 hours on May 22 at the crossing next to the Dollar General Store on Goodall Street in Marion and on May 23 on the northeast side of St. Louis Street in West Frankfort.
Marion Assistant Police Chief John Eibeck said officers will be writing citations to any motorist who fails to obey the railroad traffic signals.
"I want to stress to our residents that when it comes to a car versus train, the train is always going to win," Eibeck said. "It's a simple matter of physics. So make sure you look both ways before crossing the tracks. Don't rely upon the signal lights or signal arms."
Eibeck said it's against the law to cross the tracks any time the red lights are flashing.
"What concerns me the most are those intersections in town without crossing arms," he said. "Trains can appear to be moving a lot slower than what they actually are because of their size."
Eibeck said Marion officers would be providing peripheral support for Union Pacific officials during the train rides. - John D. Homan, The Carbondale Southern Illinoisan
TRANSPORTATION A HOT TOPIC SINCE RAIL DAYS
SAN ANTONIO, TX -- National Transportation Week may seem as unlikely a reason for a party as celebrating electricity or the water supply. Yet it is just as important as those cornerstones of modern civilization.
And just as finding the best way to generate electricity can be controversial, so, too, can how we move ourselves and freight, for the same reasons.
San Antonio has been grappling with transportation issues since the failed investment by the city and Bexar County in a railroad from Indianola in 1850. The fear of losing the military to Austin forced the city to invest in another railroad in the 1870s, and we have not looked back since.
The first automobile agency, selling one-cylinder Oldsmobiles, opened in 1900 at a bicycle shop on West Houston Street where the Majestic Theatre now stands. In 1910, projects to widen narrow city streets began. In the late 1920s, the first communities to eschew streetcars, Olmos Park and Terrell Hills, were created. In 1933, San Antonio became the first city in America to abandon street railroads.
Our first civilian airfield was opened by the Stinson family in 1913, making the facility one of the oldest continuously operated airports in the country. What we now call the international airport opened in 1944 and has been expanding since. As opportunities arise, especially the designation of San Antonio as an official port of entry, the original "modern" terminal, built in 1953, is to be replaced, though its original appearance disappeared decades ago.
Our first limited access freeways opened in the 1950s, speeding the process of suburbanization, which began in the 1920s. One of the issues we continue to struggle with is that new developments are built without any requirement to build or improve the roads needed to service the vast increase in traffic that inevitably follows. What is happening at Loop 1604 and Potranco is only the latest chapter in a long series of similar problems. It can take decades for the road network to catch up.
Funding the ever-expanding road system has become a red hot political potato. Imposing tolls is incredibly unpopular. Raising gasoline taxes in the era of $3-plus per gallon seems equally impossible, but the money is going to have to come from somewhere.
In the modern world, we regard wide, safe roads as our birthright. Like proverbial ostriches, we ignore the huge costs involved, not to mention the staggering rate of accidents. There are far more road related deaths than homicides. It is seemingly too painful to remind ourselves of how lethal transportation can be.
By contrast, raging arguments about tollways versus freeways have made the transportation blog one of the most popular on this newspaper's Web site.
Each year there is one overarching transportation story. In 2004, it was the number of railroad accidents. In 2005, it was the lack of Loop 1604 median barriers that allowed appalling head-on collisions. The toll issue of 2006 seems to be cooling off, and we are turning to congestion caused by narrow country roads accessing Loop 1604.
There is nothing new in this cycle. The redevelopment of Main Plaza follows the huge project to widen downtown streets in the 1910s and the narrowing of these same roads in the 1970s. The more you learn about San Antonio's history, the more you realize our city is like a living creature. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
And just as the railroads endowed San Antonio with unparalleled access to the north, south, east and west, allowing the creation of Fort Sam in the 1870s, the development of Port San Antonio, located at the former Kelly AFB, has the potential to make San Antonio not only the crossroads of North America but the world.
With its huge runway and access to first-class freeways and railroads, plus the space on site to build huge warehouses and nearby to establish any number of manufacturing businesses, Port San Antonio has the potential to create a bigger economic impact than even the new Toyota plant.
Maybe putting on your party hat for Transportation Week is a good idea after all. - Commentary, Hugh Hemphill, The San Antonio Express-News (Hugh Hemphill, Texas Transportation Museum manager, is author of "The Railroads of San Antonio and South Central Texas.")
RIVERSIDE BREAKS GROUND ON RAIL-CROSSING UNDERPASS
RIVERSIDE, CA -- The city broke ground Friday on the $26.7 million underpass it will build at the Union Pacific Railroad crossing on Jurupa Avenue next to Martha McLean-Anza Narrows Park.
Riverside Councilman Ed Adkison said it will mean street traffic can keep moving even when trains are passing by. It will reduce pollution because cars will no longer idle at the crossing, and will eliminate the need for trains to blow their horns as they pass by the crossing.
The ceremony took place almost 13 years after a car swerved to avoid a stopped vehicle, crashed through a lowered crossing arm at the tracks and collided with a Metrolink train, killing all four people in the car.
Photo here:
[www.pe.com]
Caption reads: The project will move the entrance of Martha McLean-Anza Narrows Park and close Mountain View Avenue at the crossing. (Ed Crisostomo/The Press-Enterprise)
The fatal accident helped the city obtain $5 million toward the cost of the underpass from the state Public Utilities Commission.
Becky Lopez, 42, said her cousin, Ramon Cabrera Jr., was the driver of the vehicle in the 1994 accident. It was good to see something positive come from the tragedy, she said.
Drivers often have trouble seeing if they head west on Jurupa into the sun, Lopez said.
Map here:
[www.pe.com]
She and her neighbor Barbara Walker, 44, said speeding drivers take side streets to avoid the trains that block vehicular traffic, putting at risk neighborhood children playing outside.
With the underpass in place, Walker said, "Everything is going to be perfect."
Funding for the work comes from a mix of sources, including $14 million from the federal government, $5 million from the state, $500,000 from the Riverside County Transportation Commission, $3.6 million from the county's half-cent sales tax for transportation projects, and $1.1 million from Union Pacific.
The city contributed about $2.5 million.
The project will also involve relocating the entrance to Martha McLean-Anza Narrows Park and a permanent closure of Mountain View Avenue at its railroad crossing a block south of the underpass site. - Doug Haberman, The Riverside Press-Enterprise
CP RAIL'S FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT, CEO SAYS
CALGARY, AB -- Rising global demand for commodities, led by grain, sulphur and fertilizers, are helping to paint a rosy outlook at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.
"This bodes well for resource rich nations like Canada and railways with a strong bulk franchise, like CP," CEO Fred Green told shareholders Friday at the company's annual general meeting in Calgary.
Green was upbeat about the business potential for Canada's second-largest railway, even with 1,200 of CP Rail's maintenance of way employees now in a position to serve 72-hours strike notice.
The collective agreement with these employees, members of Teamsters Canada, expired Dec. 31. The workers handle the day-to-day maintenance of the track and structures along the network.
Green said CP Rail will not meet the union leader's demands, calling them a substantial premium to other agreements the company has signed.
Union leader William Brehl confirmed talks with CP Rail have broken off. Brehl said he should know by this morning when a strike notice will be served.
"As far as we know, CP Rail is not coming back to the table. They have not responded to the last two offers we have given them for settlement," he said.
In the event of a strike, Green said these workers will be replaced by more than 1,300 trained management employees for the duration of a strike.
"We really don't want that to happen. We hope it doesn't happen, but in situations like this, you have to keep the railway running, and we will," Green told reporters after the AGM.
Meanwhile, talks with the railway's Canadian conductors and engineers, also Teamsters, are progressing as expected, he said.
Earlier this month, CP Rail reached a tentative contract settlement with the Teamsters representing the 440 locomotive engineers on its U.S. subsidiary, the Soo Line Railroad.
Looking ahead, Green said CP Rail is well positioned in the marketplace, with modest exposure to the North American sectors that are struggling -- such as forest products and domestic autos -- but with great ties to sectors linked to the booming economies of India and Asia.
A previously announced deal with Toyota that will see CP Rail handle the volumes from the automaker's new plant at Woodstock, ON, set to open in 2008, is expected to generate at least $25 million in annual revenue for CP Rail.
Of future benefit also to CP Rail is the combined $1.25 billion in expansion plans announced last year by some of its customers for a range of products, including potash, steel and ethanol.
Business overall will continue to be enhanced by efficiencies in service derived from CP Rail's new operating philosophy, Green said.
"We will move rail cars faster, maximize the revenue-generating capacity of our corridors, yards and locomotives, and provide consistency of service for our customers," Green said.
On the public-policy front, Green alerted shareholders to a bill introduced in the U.S. Congress that, if passed, would provide a 25-per-cent investment tax credit for investment in any U.S.-rail-related structure. He said this would put Canada's ports and railways at a competitive disadvantage.
He said management has had talks with the Canadian federal government on the importance of policy harmony between the U.S. and Canada, noting the U.S. legislation could jeopardize the effort Ottawa is putting into the Pacific Gateway corridor strategy.
CP Rail shares closed up $1.20 to $74.09 Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. - Gina Teel, CanWest News Service, The Regina Leader-Post
GROUP SEEKS SUPPORT FOR PASSENGER RAIL ROUTE
BOZEMAN, MT -- After an hour one thing was clear: Restoring passenger rail service to southern Montana is not going to be easy.
James Green, president of the Montana Association of Railroad Passengers, held an informal meeting Friday at the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce, trying to drum up support for a passenger rail line from Missoula to Billings, including stops in Bozeman and Livingston.
But the sparsely attended meeting seemed to produce more questions than answers, including who would use it, who would run it and who would pay for it.
So far, the idea of restoring passenger rail service to the region has received little support from the state Legislature.
“The thing we're really pushing to get done is to have a (legislative) committee or commission set up, so we can work on this,” Green said.
A resolution to put $150,000 in the state budget for a feasibility study fizzled during the regular session. It's unclear if the money will appear in the final state budget, which lawmakers are working on during this weekend's special session.
‘We tried to get them interested and to get a feasibility study done,” Green said. “They never did it.”
In the meantime, Green said, the association has wrangled some college students into doing a survey to see if people would actually use the service if it were established.
Green said the initial goal was a one-train-a-day run from end to end.
That plan didn't sit well with those hoping for a useful commuter link for the estimated 1,800 people who commute between Bozeman and Livingston every day.
“There seem to be two desires here,” said Torsten Prahl, president of the Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce. “What Livingston is looking for is a link between Bozeman and Livingston.”
Joe Skinner, chairman of the Gallatin County Commission, agreed.
“That's the county's concern, too,” Skinner said. “We want to have that link to Livingston for commuters. A once-a-day schedule would definitely not fill that need.”
Running both travel and commuter lines would require at least three passenger rail cars, Green said. But with modern passenger rail cars selling for as much as $2 million each, Green offered no solid ideas on where the money would come from.
“We're working on a business plan,” Green said. I've asked two places for grants. We've got one that would buy five of these (cars.)”
Green said an undisclosed individual might offer as much as $15 million to the group, but acknowledged no formal application had been made.
A federal bill to fund Amtrak, and another bill that offers rebates to new commuter lines, might provide some financial help, Green said. But that still leaves questions about who would operate the line -- if any company is even interested.
Green said he's been trying hard for years to gain support for the plan, with little luck. After seven years in existence, the association has just 30 dues-paying members, Green said.
“If we don't get something going in the next two years or so, I'm going down the tracks myself,” Green said. - Dave Richardson, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
RAILROAD CROSSING SOLUTION YEARS AWAY
GALESBURG, IL -- The effort to direct traffic either over or under the well-traveled BNSF Railway Company tracks that slice through Galesburg, Illinois got started Wednesday night.
But the ultimate solution is years away, said city engineer Wayne Carl, who led a public hearing at the Galesburg Community Center.
"Right now, it's a blank sheet of paper for this project," he told the crowd, which included several city officials and more than 50 interested members of the public.
It may take 18 months to three years, he said, before he could tell people whether their property will be affected by whatever plan emerges from a series of meetings that will include the public as well as officials.
"Our main focus is to get input from the public," Carl said.
Anyone who has driven through the city is familiar with the problem. More than 100 trains a day tie up vehicle traffic all through the city and cause jams after the trains pass and the traffic untangles.
For now, Carl is interested in alleviating the problem only on the Chillicothe Subdivision, which crosses West Main Street and North Seminary Street.
That track carries 103 trains daily, but traffic is expected to increase to 121 by 2015, he said. Currently, the track ties up vehicle traffic for 5.5 hours, which would increase by one hour in 2015.
Beyond the simple inconvenience, Carl pointed out the danger involved as a passing train creates a barrier to access for fire trucks, police and ambulances moving from north to south or vice versa.
Carl showed a tentative plan, which, he stressed, was only for discussion purposes and includes grade separations on West Main Street and North Seminary Street.
Nothing will happen, he said, until input has been gathered from various sources, including the public, business owners and anyone else who would be affected. A series of public meetings are planned and people were encouraged to join a panel of citizens that will be involved in the effort through to the finish.
"That way, we're getting the whole community's input before we put pen to paper," he said.
After Carl's presentation, the meeting broke into groups and concerns were raised. Some people wondered how many times an ambulance or fire truck has been delayed by trains. Someone asked if fire insurance rates would decrease as the response time for firefighters diminished. The answer was that they would, but only slightly.
Will other crossings close? Will train speed increase? Would pedestrians be able to use whatever is built for cars and trucks?
Carl and his staff will consider the questions raised as the plan goes ahead.
After the meeting, Mayor Gary Smith said the benefit to the city would be obvious and immediate. One, of course, would be safety, he said.
"We're essentially cut off from the hospitals," he said. Any plan decided upon would make hospital access easier and faster.
But it also would allow the railroad to move more trains through Galesburg at a slightly faster speed.
"People think the railroad will be here forever," he said. "We're constantly competing with larger areas - Kansas City, Memphis. Anything we can do to strengthen the relationship with the railroad is a benefit."
Rick Danielson, terminal superintendent for the railroad, said any plan that would accomplish what Carl discussed would be good for both the city and the railroad.
"It's a positive thing for downtown Galesburg," he said. "When we can reduce exposure at crossings ... that's a good thing."
He said train speeds could increase, but not to 55 or 60 mph as some at the meeting feared.
"There is a possibility of a 5 mile per hour increase," he said.
The next public meeting to discuss the effort is scheduled for 18:30 hours, June 7 at the Community Center. - Ron Jensen, The Galesburg Register-Mail
MAN'S ACTIONS PREVENT TRAIN FROM COLLISION
Photo here:
[www.timesdaily.com]
FLORENCE, AL -- Harlan Knight credits an orange hunting cap for helping him stop a Norfolk Southern train bearing down on a car that was stuck on the tracks.
It was Dec. 12 and the local dentist and his son, Ben, were about to hit the woods on some property he owns south of Haleyville, Alabama.
It was about 16:00 hours and they were going to visit their tree stands to see if they could spot deer.
Before they could get in the woods, Knight said he heard a loud noise and saw a car rise up near a railroad crossing and come to rest on the tracks.
He looked into the car and saw a man with a bloody forehead. The driver frantically attempted to get his car off the tracks but blew out both rear tires in the process, Knight said.
The driver finally exited the car and Knight told him he had notified police.
“About that time, I heard a train whistle coming south out of Haleyville,” Knight said.
The man started running back toward the car, but, at Knight’s urging, decided against trying to move his car again. Instead, the man ran into the woods.
Knight told his pre-teen son to run off behind a nearby house where he would be safe.
Knight ran up the tracks and attempted to stop the train even though it was getting dark.
Then he remembered his orange hunting hat. He grabbed it and began waving it frantically.
The engineer finally saw him and slammed on the brakes, stopping within about 100 feet of the vehicle, Knight said.
“Had Dr. Knight not come along, there would most likely have been an accident with injuries,” said Charles Wickwire, a claims agent with Norfolk Southern Railroad. “He stopped one of our trains and prevented an accident with a vehicle.”
Wickwire said it took some time to find Knight.
Knight was belatedly honored for his heroic action Friday at his dental office in Florence.
Wickwire presented Knight with a limited-edition replica of a Norfolk Southern locomotive, an award normally given to employees.
“These are given to those who perform special service to the railroad or a heroic act,” Wickwire said. “They’re generally given to employees for some extraordinary service.”
Knight said he was concerned with the safety of his son, the safety of the driver of the car and preventing the train from striking the vehicle.
“The engineer said if he hadn’t seen the hat, he wouldn’t have seen him,” Ben Knight said.
Wickwire said the train was hauling freight.
"The presentation was made to express the railroad’s appreciation for “a most unusual act,” Wickwire said.
To help someone who ever gets into a similar situation, Wickwire said there is an 800 number posted at all Norfolk Southern railroad crossings that will put the caller in touch with railroad police.
“A hero is a fellow who says ‘I did what anybody would do that had to be done,’ ” Wickwire said.
In this case, Knight was that person. - Russ Corey, The Florence Times Daily
TRAIN STORE FINALLY DERAILS: MODEL TRAIN HOBBY SWITCHES TRACK WITH THE INTERNET AGE
CULVER CITY, CA -- Allied Model Trains is leaving the station. This week, one of the nation's largest model train stores is closing its longtime home in Culver City - a half-block-long replica of Los Angeles' Union Station. And fading along with it, says owner Allen Drucker, is the model train industry.
"It's just a dying hobby," said Drucker, 58. "I always told myself I didn't want to be the old man running the train store." After 32 years at the miniature railroad hub, Drucker is selling to new owners, who will move the business to a smaller Art Deco-style building he owns across the street. He'll rent the Union Station look-alike to a camera shop.
With real estate values rising and competition from the Internet barking at his heels, he decided it was time to sell his business -- a favorite stop for local boys and girls and train buffs for generations. Among them were celebrities including Frank Sinatra, who had a building shaped like a train station at his desert estate.
"He had a huge Lionel layout and all along the walls were shelves full of trains," said Drucker, who visited Sinatra's home several times. "He had a real Santa Fe caboose too, as his workout room." Sinatra's collection was acquired by Canadian business mogul Jim Pattison, along with Sinatra's desert home. The crooner was one of several celebrity train collectors who shopped at Allied. Among Drucker's other customers, he said, are musicians Rod Stewart and Bruce Springsteen and actor Donald Sutherland.
Model railroading dates to the early 20th century, when Lionel introduced its first electric-powered train. The business enjoyed a golden age during the 1920s, when heavy metal locomotives and cars were the most prized possessions of many boys.
After U.S. model train production stopped for World War II, the industry boomed again in the 1950s when trains were the No. 1 toy for boys. Video games are among the many competitors for children's time and interest today, so the industry's fan base is fading. Model Railroader magazine's circulation has dropped to 162,000 from 272,000 in 1993, a spokeswoman said.
Photos here:
[www.amarillo.com]
[www.amarillo.com]
Average railroaders, however, spend an estimated $1,555 a year on their hobby, almost twice as much they did in the early 1990s. "It has become increasingly more difficult to run a single store like mine in a major metropolitan area," Drucker said. Among his challenges have been paying electric bills of $3,000 a month to help keep his display trains running and maintaining a staff big enough to look after the place. Then there is the looky-loo hobbyist who, he said, comes in, checks out the latest model trains with powerful lights and digital sounds, but buys almost nothing.
"He says, `Wow, I would love that.' Then he walks out of here with a tube of glue and a magazine and buys it online from some guy working out of a barn in the middle of Kansas," Drucker said. "Folks like that are the first ones to scream, `I can't believe you're leaving.' " But the real problem with the model train industry, Drucker said, is that its biggest fans are growing older and haven't been able to pass along much of their passion to the next generations.
Customer Randy Miller endures gentle mockery from his children. "'He's 55 and still playing with trains,' my daughter says. `I think he's losing it.' " Miller drove down to check out Allied's closing sale and walked out with $300 worth of Lionel boxcars in a big sack. He's restoring his late father's old train set and enjoying memories, recently using his skills as a machinist to restore a toy water tower his brother broke in the 1960s. "My father never got over that," Miller said. "Now it's fixed."
One hobbyist who is trying to encourage another generation of enthusiasts is Steve Lind, a retired Marine pilot and commercial banker who says he owns thousands of miniature train cars and is grateful that his wife, Nancy, "puts up with all my toys."
He had his 4-year-old grandson, Ryan, in tow at Allied to look at some S-gauge rigs chugging effortlessly through a Lilliputian landscape. "I'm getting him started on trains," said Lind, who grew up in Chicago watching the Burlington railroad. "He's going to inherit quite a few." So although the fan base is aging, the hobby should always hold appeal for some grown-ups who want to escape the grinding uncertainties of life, said Brent Lambert of the National Model Railroad Association. "You can create your own little world you can get away to," he said, "where things are exactly the way you want them to be." - Roger Vincent, The Los Angeles Times
TRANSIT NEWS
METROLINK RIDERS TO PAY MORE
RIVERSIDE, CA -- Ticket prices on the Metrolink commuter railroad will increase by an average of 3.5 percent a year for three years starting July 1 as a result of a fare increase plan approved Friday.
The Southern California Regional Rail Authority board unanimously approved the increases at a meeting in Los Angeles.
Nobody spoke at a public hearing earlier this month on the issue, although more than 500 people either sent e-mails or joined online petitions opposing the increase.
The additional revenue is intended to offset the increasing cost of diesel fuel, which powers the trains' locomotives. The rail authority also faces increases in personnel, insurance and other costs, according to spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell.
The fare increases will take effect on July 1 of this year, 2008 and 2009. Most one-way tickets from the Inland area will increase 25 cents to 50 cents each year, according to the railroad's Web site, [www.metrolinktrains.com].
While the board approved the fare increase, it also called for monthly updates on the performance of the Riverside Line, which starts in Riverside and includes Inland stops in Pedley and East Ontario before continuing to Union Station in Los Angeles. Many of the riders who joined the petition effort complained that fares should not have been increased until service on the Riverside Line improves.
"We were late today and the day before that," Riverside Line rider Vicki Russell said Thursday afternoon after her train pulled into the downtown Riverside station almost 20 minutes after its scheduled arrival. "If it were on time, I'd be home right now instead of just getting off the train."
The Riverside Line has been plagued by delays as a result of work by Union Pacific, the freight railroad that owns the tracks. But, Tyrrell said, that project is now finished, and the line had a 98 percent on-time rate in April.
"That is pretty good," Tyrrell said. "But if you were the person on the train when it was late, that (achievement) is irrelevant."
Also of concern is how the fare increase will affect ridership on Metrolink, which aims to reduce the number of vehicles using regional freeways. The railroad will monitor passenger numbers during the next few months to determine whether train riders go back to driving, Tyrrell said.
Fare increases typically cause an initial drop in ridership on any form of mass transit, although there usually is a rebound over the ensuing months, she said.
"We'll have to see how that pans out," Tyrrell said.
Eric Giron, who lives in Moreno Valley and works in Pasadena, will see the cost of his monthly pass increase by $10.25. But he said that is palatable "compared with driving and spending 2-1/2 hours on the freeway."
"It's hard to go back to driving once you get used to taking the train," he said. - Phil Pitchford, The Riverside Press-Enterprise
eBART COST REVISED DOWNWARD
ANTIOCH, CA -- Keeping eBART in the median of Highway 4 is projected to cost about $481 million and be ready to roll around the same time as the alternative design the project's planners recently rejected.
Bay Area Rapid Transit officials presented the revised price and timeline this week to its advisory group for the commuter rail system, which promises to alleviate the daily stop-and-go grind East Contra Costa drivers endure on Highway 4.
BART representatives told members of the eBART Partnership Policy Advisory Committee on Thursday that if the diesel-powered trains remain in Highway 4's median from the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART station to Hillcrest Avenue in Antioch, construction costs would be far less than the $1.3 billion estimate they had calculated last fall for extending train service to Byron.
What's more, the job still could be finished by around 2014, they said.
Until recently, BART had been working on a design that called for the trains to veer north off Highway 4 on an overpass that would be built around the Loveridge Road exit in Pittsburg and continue along Union Pacific's railroad tracks.
Those plans unraveled last month, however, when Union Pacific decided to retain sole control of the tracks in case it needs to run freight cars on them instead of selling the 32-mile corridor of property to BART.
At Thursday's meeting, Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover surprised eBART planners with the news that the project might receive an additional $40 million -- half of that from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the remainder from BART.
MTC commissioners are expected to decide May 23 whether to make the disbursement official, and BART's board is scheduled to vote on the matter the next day.
But even if that windfall materializes, funding will remain one of the project's biggest uncertainties.
Officials wondered aloud during Thursday's meeting whether the money they're counting on will materialize when it's needed.
As it stands now, the first installment of the $150 million that the county's half-cent sales tax is expected to generate for eBART won't come through until 2015, a full year or more after the project is supposed to be done. What's more, that initial payout would be only $60 million, and there's no telling when the rest would be available, said BART consultant Eric Zell.
Members of the policy committee now intend to ask the agency responsible for disbursing Measure J money to send it their way sooner.
Although BART General Manager Tom Margro called this Plan B a "fundable, buildable project," Antioch Mayor Donald Freitas is skeptical.
"I have my concerns," he said, noting that BART already has moved eBART's completion date from 2010 to 2013. Planners have much to do before construction can start, he added.
"I guess I have a little cynicism," Freitas said.
Nor is Freitas convinced that BART can build the rail system without delaying East County's other two major transportation projects: building the Highway 4 bypass and widening Highway 4.
Despite assurances from BART employees, he says there simply isn't enough money to work on all three projects simultaneously.
"Once I see the money, I'll believe it," Freitas said. "The issue is, which project does East County want built first? We will have to make a choice."
That choice should be to complete Highway 4 as fast as possible, said Freitas, adding that Oakley City Councilman Brad Nix and Brentwood's representative on the policy committee agree.
BART officials sounded confident that the project would meet the minimum numbers MTC and BART have established as one way of determining whether to expand BART service.
By 2030, eBART trains along the Bay Point-Hillcrest corridor are expected to be generating 10,197 additional trips on average during the workweek; BART requires at least 10,200 for a project to be considered viable, said eBART Project Manager Ellen Smith.
MTC's housing policy stipulates that there must be an average of 2,200 homes within a half-mile radius of a proposed eBART station.
BART officials say that by 2030, when Pittsburg, Antioch and the county have developed as much land as their plans call for, there will be a total of 8,631 additional homes near the three eBART stations. - Rowena Coetsee, The Contra Costa Times
SEATTLE STREETCAR ALREADY RUNNING SHORT OF MONEY
SEATTLE, WA -- Seven months before Seattle, Washington christens its new South Lake Union streetcar, the expected operating costs are increasing.
And the income from train and station advertising, though robust, is going to arrive more gradually than planned.
So, Mayor Greg Nickels is asking the City Council to give the streetcar a line of credit -- up to $3 million -- to be repaid within 10 years. The council is expected to decide the issue next month.
The mayor's transportation adviser, Mike Mann, said new advertising money and fares paid by riders will eventually close the gap.
Photo here:
[www.king5.com]
Caption reads: This photo illustration shows what the proposed streetcar in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood would look like at the intersection of Westlake Avenue North and Valley Street. (City of Seattle)
Metro Transit, which will operate the trains, plans to bill the city $2 million a year, compared to the city's original $1.5 million estimate. Startup costs will add $500,000, compared to the early estimate of $144,000. The current shortfall is about $1.5 million for the first two years of operations, said a City Council staff analysis issued this week.
Rising costs would mean that the streetcar would soak up a greater share of Seattle's Metro Transit allotment than earlier thought, limiting bus-service expansion to other neighborhoods.
Workers are halfway done building the 1.3-mile line, from the Westin Hotel to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, set to open in December. The project has been controversial, as naysayers initially said the city was catering to billionaire Paul Allen's Vulcan, the biggest landowner along the route.
The city sought 10-year advertising deals, hoping a big up-front windfall would cover operating subsidies until mid-2009, when Metro would take over three-fourths of that cost. But the long-term deals didn't materialize, while the city dropped its plan to sell naming rights for the whole line.
The good news is that advertisers have pledged more than $1.1 million at surprisingly high short-term rates, averaging $28,400 a year per station. All three trains and six of 11 stations have sponsors, and officials hope to recruit five more by opening day. "There's a lot of confidence those will be snapped up," said Nickels spokesman Marty McOmber.
City Councilman Nick Licata, an early opponent, has long warned operating costs would rise.
"I think it's unfortunately indicative of how we're not paying attention to the more basic services around the city. How did Seattle become unaffordable? It's through a number of these projects that benefit a small sector of the population."
The public might not notice the difference, he said, since a big boost in bus service will happen anyway. Voters last fall approved a sales-tax measure, known as "Transit Now," for increased Metro service.
Licata said the streetcar may need a new neighborhood tax for operations. Landowners already approved a property tax to underwrite the $52 million construction cost -- making the streetcar a bargain to many city leaders. - Mike Lindblom, The Seattle Times
THE END
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 Railroad Newsline for Monday, 05/14/07 |
Larry W. Grant | 05-14-2007 - 02:50 |