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Railroad Newsline for Monday, May 21, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

BNSF ISSUES UPDATE ON BRIDGE OUTAGE AT BAYOU BOEUF, LOUISIANA

This is an update to the swing span bridge outage at Bayou Boeuf, Louisiana, which occurred at approximately 17:00 hours CT, on Sunday, May 13, 2007. This location is approximately 73 miles west of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The bridge was repaired and restored back to service at 00:15 hours CT on Saturday, May 19, 2007.

This region is estimated to return back to normal operations by Tuesday, May 22, 2007. BNSF and its connecting carriers have rerouted trains via Memphis, Tennessee and Birmingham, Alabama to keep freight flowing while minimizing impact to customers due to the backlog of traffic. - BNSF Service Advisory

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UP TRAIN INCIDENT PUTS MAN IN HOSPITAL

LONGVIEW, TX -- A man fishing from the railroad trestle on FM 2087 just past West Loop 281 around 15:30 hours Thursday was hospitalized after he either was hit by the train or jumped from the track.

Leroy Green, who said he witnessed the incident, said he saw the train approaching the man but could not tell if the train struck the man or if the man jumped from the track to avoid being hit.

"He jumped up and started to run. By the time he got to the end, the train was already there," Green said.

An officer with the Gregg County Sheriff's Department said the man, whom he did not identify, was taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center by another witness. His condition was not known late Thursday.

"Everyone here at Union Pacific sends our thoughts and prayers to the young man," Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona said.

This is the third incident involving a Union Pacific train in the past two weeks. On May 10, a freight train collided with a crossing 18-wheeler along U.S. 80 at the intersection of Branch street in Hallsville. A four-wheel all-terrain vehicle was the other party involved in an incident near the H.G. Mosley Boulevard crossing May 7.

Arbona said Union Pacific wants to remind people to look both ways when crossing railroad tracks and always yield to the train. He said the rate of speed at which trains travel, combined with the amount of the train that touches the track, require 1 to 1-1/2 miles to stop the train.

"People sometimes take railroad tracks as shortcuts," Arbona said. "If anyone sees a person on the railroad tracks at undesignated areas, we would urge them to call our safety line."

The Union Pacific safety telephone service is available 24 hours a day seven days at 1-888-877-7267. - Lauren Thompson, The Longview News-Journal

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OFFICIALS SAY DESPITE RECENT TRAIN DERAILMENTS, MONEY IS SHORT FOR TRACK IMPROVEMENTS

JANESVILLE, WI -- Two Fulton Township, Wisconsin residents held signs Friday as a Wisconsin & Southern Railroad passenger train passed reading "Gov. Doyle" and "Help us."

While it's unclear how the people holding the signs felt about the Wisconsin & Southern, they effectively summed up the railroad's message to state and county officials Friday.

The railroad hosted about 30 officials from the state Department of Transportation and several counties, including Rock, on a trip from Janesville to Madison. Passengers experienced rail conditions firsthand in the "theater car," which included plush seats and a transparent back wall to see the track.

Wisconsin & Southern President Bill Gardner said the railroad hosts several of these trips a year, but Friday's trip took on extra importance coming after two derailments in Fulton Township in a two-month span.

Gardner described the first derailment, Feb. 16, as the worst derailment he'd ever had. The incident cost the company $1.2 million.

Railroad officials blamed both derailments on the condition of the track, which is publicly owned. Much of the track in Rock County is more than 80 years old and was built to handle much lighter cars than the ones that travel it today, they said.

"That rail that was laid in 1924 is just not capable of handling what we're running today," Gardner said.

Passengers immediately felt the difference as the train switched from newer, 115-pound track to the 80-year-old, 90-pound track in Milton. While the first part of the trip was smooth and quiet, the train was swaying and noisy on the older track.

Gardner emphasized the need for money in the state budget to lay new track between Milton and Madison.

"We're really short of the funding that we need for this railroad," he said.

The railroad falls under a mix of public and private jurisdiction: The Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission, made up of representatives from eight counties, owns the track, the state owns the right-of-way and the Wisconsin & Southern runs the trains.

While the Wisconsin & Southern is responsible for track maintenance, the state pays for 80 percent of the improvements. The railroad and rail commission each pay another 10 percent.

The state has under-funded improvements for years, Gardner said. Meanwhile, it's difficult to slow rail expansion because local economies depend on it.

The next proposed state budget includes $11 million a year for state-owned railroad, an increase of $5 million over previous years, but much of that will be used to buy new track, he said.

Wisconsin & Southern would need $20 million to rebuild the track between Milton and Madison over the next two years, said Ben Meighan, head of maintenance for the company.

That's much easier said than done, said state Rep. Kim Hixson, a passenger on Friday's trip.

"We do have limited resources in the state budget, and everyone wants a slice of the pie," he said.

Hixson said the trip helped convince him of the need for more money for railroad upgrades. The railroad should be a priority, especially as new industries that depend on rail, such as ethanol plants, come into the area, he said.

"We're talking the safety of people, the safety of the environment and the economic issues," he said.

Hixson supports the additional money in the proposed budget but isn't sure if he could support the extra money the Wisconsin & Southern wants, he said.

"It depends on what we would have to give up to get there," he said.

Meanwhile, Fulton Township residents might have to be prepared for more derailments if the state doesn't provide the upgrade money, Gardner said.

"If the money doesn't come, I don't want to see it happen, but it's going to happen," he said. "There will be more derailments." - Stacy Vogel, The Janesville Gazette

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DEVELOPER MIGHT PAY FOR TRAIN QUIET ZONE

ENCINITAS, CA -- Encinitas, California residents may get a break from train horns if the city pairs up with the developer of a downtown condominium-retail complex to silence the blasts.

John DeWald, developer of Pacific Station, said he was considering paying for more safety equipment at the E Street rail crossing near his development to eliminate the need for train horns.
He is the first developer in North County to offer to pay for a so-called quiet zone, said Jerome Stocks, the Encinitas councilman who is chairman of the North County Transit District board of directors, which owns the tracks.

Quiet zones are federally approved crossings that have additional safety features so train engineers are not required to give warning blasts before approaching – though they retain the option.

Cities along the rail line have been considering quiet zones to placate residents who say the horns play havoc with their sleep and sanity. So far, no city in the county has established a quiet zone.

The city of San Diego may be the closest to navigating the costs and federal requirements. It expects to install 13 quiet zone crossings near downtown by September.

In Encinitas, Pacific Station, which is expected to break ground in six to eight months, will include 47 condos and roughly 51,600 square feet of retail, office and restaurant space at 687 S. Coast Highway 101.

DeWald's offer to pay for a quiet zone would be ineffective unless the city helps him meet federal standards.

Quiet zones must be at least one-half mile long. But the E Street crossing is only 100 yards south of the D Street rail crossing. To make an E Street quiet zone possible, there must be one at D Street as well, Stocks said. The city would need to consider footing the bill for that crossing, and Stocks said he planned to ask the City Council to consider the issue.

“We have people from various parts of the city who want quiet zones, but no one wants to pay for them,” Stocks said. “This is a very refreshing development.”

DeWald said he needed to know the price tag before making a decision. The expense varies depending on existing safety equipment, the way the crossing was built and its history of accidents, Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flatau said. Stocks said he hoped the cost in Encinitas would fall between $250,000 and $750,000.

Cities that wish to establish quiet zones must first assess the risk of accidents at those crossings.

The D and E streets crossings have had accidents, according to Federal Railroad Administration records.

The D Street crossing had five accidents between 1978 to 2005, one of which involved a pedestrian injured while stopped on the crossing. Others involved cars stopped or stalled on the crossing. No motorists were injured because everyone got out of the cars before the trains hit.

At the E Street crossing, four accidents occurred between 1975 and 2003. A pedestrian on the tracks was killed. One motorist driving over the crossing was injured and the other two motorists escaped injury by abandoning their cars.

Safety measures that qualify a crossing as a quiet zone include:

Quadruple gates across the road.

Fiberglass medians that separate traffic lanes to prevent motorists from driving around lowered gates.

Cameras to catch violators.

The conversion of two-way roads to one-way.

Most cities along the rail line -- except Solana Beach, which has no crossings -- have discussed establishing quiet zones.

Oceanside is considering assessing property owners to raise the $7 million to $9 million needed to establish quiet zones at five crossings. - Angela Lau, The San Diego Union-Tribune

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RAILROAD WORKS TO PREVENT FIRES

Photo here:

[www.durangoherald.com]

Caption reads: A 6,500-gallon tanker sprays water 50 feet in each direction at the Pinkerton siding north of Hermosa on Friday. (Ted Holteen/The Durango Herald)

DURANGO, CO -- If 2007 proves to be a bad summer for wildfires in La Plata County, Al Harper wants to make sure it's not the train's fault.

"We learned a lot in 2002 -- the wrong way -- but a lot," said the owner of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Aboard a private train Friday, Harper and his crew demonstrated fire mitigation efforts to 20 local officials, including county commissioner Kellie Hotter and Director of Emergency Management Butch Knowlton as well as fire chiefs and other emergency personnel.

"We've spent about a million dollars on diesels and firefighting equipment in the last five years. It takes a lot of effort, and I'm proud of the job they're doing," Harper said.

In 2002, the Missionary Ridge Fire burned more than 70,000 acres north and northeast of Durango.
Because the extremely dry conditions, the railroad temporarily suspended steam-engine trips to Silverton

Vintage locomotives run on red-hot coal cinders, and it's inevitable that some of those will end up in the forest that surrounds the train's route from Durango to Silverton. Harper and his superintendent of operations, Evan Buchanan, said during the summer, when the D&SNG sends three to five trains a day up the Animas Canyon, flying cinders start about six fires daily. Thanks to recent efforts, most of the fires don't stand a chance.

"These guys are great," Buchanan said of his crews. "You ride along with them, and they can smell fires you have no idea are there."

The crews have no shortage of firefighting resources at their disposal. The railroad keeps 6,500-gallon water tanks in Hermosa, at the Pinkerton siding and in Rockwood, with two diesel locomotives ready to pull the tanks to any area threatened by fire.

Each passenger train pulls a boxcar containing a 1,000-gallon tank, compressor and hose with a 400-foot range. Onboard a brakeman with a radio watches from the rear for smoke. The steam locomotives are fitted with two screens that act as spark arresters, as well as a stack sprayer -- a metal ring of nozzles that create a mist around the smokestack. A motorized patrol car follows each train, and in the drier summer months a fire wagon follows with 350 gallons of water and a four-man crew.

Buchanan said the most critical area for fire danger is Hermosa Hill, an area populated with homes where engines work harder and spew more cinders to generate climbing power.

"As the fire danger grows, our response gets tiered up with how we operate," he said.

To keep the south-facing hillside between Hermosa and Rockwood from drying out, the large 6,500-gallon tanker cars are pulled at 5 mph while spraying water 50 feet in each direction from the tracks. Excavation equipment also was used to clear a wide fire line between the tracks and the forest in critical stretches.

Deputy Chief Allen Clay with the Durango Fire & Rescue Authority provided wildfire training to all D&SNG crews and said they were quick learners.

"We've been working with them for years, and they're been doing a great job in reducing the possibility of a fire starting," Clay said. "Years ago most of this was never done, and Al and all his people should be commended. It's been a great working relationship with all the fire services and the railroad."

Marketing Manager Andrea Seid said more than 166,000 people rode the train in 2006, the highest number since the Missionary Ridge Fire in 2002 when the train had 129,000 passengers. - Ted Holteen, The Durango Herald

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NO-SHOW RR REPS UPSET IBERIA PARISH COUNCIL

NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA -- The Iberia Parish Council is questioning why representatives from the BNSF Railway Company the Louisiana & Delta Railroad did not show up Wednesday to discuss the increasingly poor conditions of railroad crossings in Iberia Parish and in particular New Iberia.

Parish Councilman Caesar Comeaux, who brought up the issue, said the crossings are in “horrible condition,” and though the companies recently received a $60,000 grant to repair them they’re in even worse shape.

But Councilwoman Maggie Daniels, a member of the local Railroad Task Force, said the companies and the state are apparently focusing on closing, not fixing, some of the crossings. “I don’t agree with it, either,” she told Comeaux of that plan.

The firms will be invited to a future council meeting to explain their latest plans for the 23 crossings, 14 of which do not have safety-crossing arms. In November, the New Iberia City Council voted to use $1.6 million from the Federal Highway Bill to install cross-arms and lights at crossings, but nothing has come of that plan yet.

New Iberia City Councilman David Broussard said he protested that measure because the vote was to redirect the money from an overpass-underpass allocation to a safety-crossing arms allocation. But one of his pet projects, he said, is to have an overpass in New Iberia. He has lobbied some legislators this session not to switch the priority, and he said he might have succeeded.

“It doesn’t look like it’ll be moved,” Broussard said Friday. “It ($1.6 million) is sitting there. I’m in favor of keeping the overpass alive, and I don’t think that money will be used for that (crossing arms). It’s the railroad companies that have got to come in and fix it (arms) themselves.”

An overpass could cost up to $20 million, however, and would take years to build, state officials have said. And for now, Mayor Hilda Curry said she is still hopeful the money will be moved for use on new crossing lights and arms, where it’s needed.

“For the immediate safety of our citizens,” Curry said Friday, “it’s important we protect them at our crossings. And if we had appropriate lights, that would bring immediate safety to our citizens. It’s important, because we’ve had numerous accidents at some of these crossings.”

On the parish side, local Railroad Task Force Chairman Larry Richard said Friday he is also trying to set up another meeting of that group for next month.

At the last meeting in February, state Department of Transportation and Development and other officials noted that Louisiana ranks in the top 5 percent in fatalities at crossings nationwide. In 1991, the Federal Railroad Association said the goal was to close 25 percent of highway-grade crossings across the U.S., but Louisiana has closed only 2.2 percent since that time.

BNSF said it would pay $35,000 per crossing for each one New Iberia would close, though talk of the closures has met with resistance from residents and parish and city officials. But that doesn’t mean the parish won’t at least look into the idea, Richard said.

“It’s not that we don’t want to close any of them,” Richard said. “But we want to make sure we work in conjunction with the city so we don’t close the ones that would hinder operations. Even though BNSF says they’ll give $35,000, we’d want to close the correct ones.” - Steven Landry, The Daily Iberian

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AIR QUALITY OFFICIALS TO APPEAL TRAIN-IDLING DECISION

RIVERSIDE, CA -- Regional air pollution officials decided Friday to appeal a federal court ruling last month that bars them from limiting the length of time locomotives can idle while parked in train yards.

In an effort to reduce pollution from diesel soot, the South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted rules that limited locomotive idling to 30 minutes and required the railroads to track idling times.

The rules also required railroads to assess the health risks faced by residents living near 19 rail yards in Southern California.

Diesel soot has been linked to cancer, heart disease and other health problems.

The air district's rules were struck down by U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter in Los Angeles after railroad companies sued.

Railroad officials contended the air quality agency had no authority over locomotives and successfully argued that the rules are pre-empted by federal regulations protecting the free flow of interstate commerce. - The Riverside Press-Enterprise

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MISSING THE MAGIC OF TRAIN TRAVEL

Tuned in again to that lonesome train whistle. It echoes along the valley hills on starlit nights.

It sounds a melancholy wailing, a note so long that it could only come from a ghost train, I've concluded.

It's calling out to all the great trains that went before, especially those in the 1940s and '50s, when America led the world in train design and train travel.

That's why I sometimes take my peanut butter sandwich and park over by the Salinas depot as I did again Tuesday -- just to recapture a sense of what was once.

On the one hand, the Salinas rail yards are depressing with their rows of boxcars covered with chalk graffiti.

Yet you can still gaze track-side at the red Southern Pacific caboose No. 726. Built in 1916, it rocked through the decades past city and town, reaching the end of its line in 1965.

Next to the caboose sits Engine 1237. Of 1918 vintage, the hefty hauler is now enjoying its golden years, too.

As for the station itself, it's an underappreciated classic. The interior -- toasty on a cold gray day -- is a mix of Art Deco and Southwestern. Features include ornate green tiles, 50-foot murals of the Rodeo and valley field scenes and wood-slat waiting benches.

I found a 1950s baggage wagon, the type with big spoke wheels, sitting on the platform waiting for the next Amtrak arrival.

For a sense of what it was like to travel during the 1940s and '50s, check out the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller "North by Northwest," not that you'd have Eva Marie Saint or Cary Grant for traveling companions.

Today, of course, we move by air, but air can't rival the trains of yesteryear for a sense of excitement in getting up and going. In an airplane, you're wedged in the cheap seats.

Aboard the train, you maybe rode in your own cabin. You supped on roast turkey or grilled rainbow trout as your train clicked and clacked and chased the setting sun.

Trains still offer many of those amenities, but the magic of the era when depots coast-to-coast teemed and rail travel ruled is missing.

The memory of all that is why I still poke my head in the door of the old Salinas depot once in awhile. It's also why I keep listening for that distant train whistle. - The Salinas Californian

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TWEETSIE WILL KEEP CHUGGIN' THROUGH 2010

CHARLOTTE, NC -- A landmark Wild West theme park nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina will remain open through 2010, despite skyrocketing land prices that threatened to shutter its doors.

The Tweetsie Railroad theme park was up against a 2007 deadline to renew land leases or close, but owners negotiated deals so the family-run park could operate for at least a few more years at its current location in Blowing Rock. The park, which opened for the season May 4, celebrates its 50th season of entertaining families this year.

The vast theme park has live shows, an animal park, amusement rides and its main attraction and namesake -- a historic steam locomotive called Tweetsie No. 12.

Tweetsie No. 12, one of two steam engines used on the excursion railroad, is the last surviving engine from the 50-mile, narrow-gauge Eastern Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad that ran through the mountains from Boone to Johnson City, Tennessee, beginning in the late 19th century.

Locals named the train the "Tweetsie," after the shrill steam whistles that echoed through the hills.

The popular mountain attraction is one of a handful of theme parks surviving from the era when most such theme parks were family-operated. But Tweetsie faced an uncertain future two years ago, as its current land leases were set to expire at the end of this year. The deal allows them to remain where they are for now.

"It's been a long battle, and it's just one more step toward a final resolution," park general manager Chris Robbins said. "We have a little sigh of relief, but we still have a long way to go." - Ieva M. Augstums, The Associated Press, The Wilmington Star-News

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LITTLE TRAINS THAT COULD

Photo here:

[seattletimes.nwsource.com]

History was made this week as two trains chugged across the most fortified national borders on the planet. North Korea and South Korea, enemies for six decades, are now linked by a tendril of train service.

Members of Congress weighing a U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement must take note. The prospects for peace between the north and south are bound up in the promise of that bilateral pact, the largest with any Asian economy.

Scheduled train service will not heal old wounds, but it will strengthen economic ties and nurture improved relations. South Korea will be able to move more tourists to a resort area in the north. The real prize is the ability to transport raw materials and workers from the south to the Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea.

The Los Angeles Times reports that 20 South Korean companies now have light-manufacturing operations at Kaesong, and long-term plans look to major expansions of business and tourist facilities.

Even a government as self-absorbed and paranoid as Pyongyang can see the advantages of a measure of stability and cooperation. South Korea was eager enough for this all to happen it paid the full $600 million of the cost to install the train tracks and get service rolling.

The U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement is no sure thing. The deal cuts tariffs on both sides, but 10 months of bare-knuckle negotiations did not eliminate worries and doubts about how U.S. automobiles and selected agricultural products got treated.

A recent understanding between the White House and congressional Democrats on including labor and environmental regulations in trade agreements with Peru and Panama has raised the question whether the pact with South Korea ought to be renegotiated.

The president's ability to request a fast-track decision out of Congress, with a straight up-or-down vote, expires in July.

A durable peace between North Korea and South Korea, bound up in their own self-interests, is the bonus that lurks within the U.S.-South Korea FTA. Defending the peninsula carries expensive overhead for American taxpayers.

Two good things appear in the offing: better relations between relatives overcoming a bitter blood feud, and a trade pact for the U.S. that could be a model with other countries. Peace and new markets. Not a bad outcome. Two trains on parallel tracks symbolize the opportunity. - Editorial Opinion, The Seattle Times

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TRANSIT NEWS

COMMUTER RAIL PROJECT MAY GET NORTH SIDE LEG

MILWAUKEE, WI -- Just six weeks away from a key federal deadline, funding remains uncertain for a proposed $200 million commuter train line linking Milwaukee to its southern suburbs and to Racine and Kenosha.

But that didn't stop a Milwaukee Common Council committee from calling last week to extend the 33-mile route by another 14 miles, using freight railroad tracks through the city's north side and Brown Deer to the Ozaukee County line.

Ald. Terry Witkowski argued the extension, up the 30th St. rail corridor and along the Milwaukee-Glendale line, would make the trains more useful by spurring economic development where it's needed and by connecting workers in neighborhoods with high unemployment to jobs in other areas.

Ald. Bob Bauman said the extension would improve the project's chances for winning funding because it would benefit more people.

Mayor Tom Barrett would back the extension as part of efforts to revitalize the neighborhoods around the rail corridor, said Barrett's chief of staff, Patrick Curley. And Karl Ostby, chairman of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority, said he would support studying the northern extension when the RTA discusses the issue Monday.

For that matter, Ostby said he hopes commuter trains eventually can run west to Wauwatosa as well. But neither the northern or western extension will be possible unless the RTA obtains funding for the first leg of the KRM Commuter Link, he stressed.

The KRM line would run 14 trains in each direction each weekday on existing tracks, timed for passengers to switch to Chicago's Metra commuter trains in Kenosha or Waukegan. With stops in downtown Milwaukee, the south side, Cudahy, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek, Caledonia, Racine, the Town of Somers and Kenosha, the KRM trains would focus on local service, unlike Amtrak's faster Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line.

Funding undetermined

Backers are trying to arrange state and local financing in time to meet a June 30 deadline for applying for federal aid. That would keep the project on schedule to start service in 2011, providing a new transportation option when reconstruction work begins closing lanes on I-94 between Milwaukee's south side and the Illinois border.

But the local share of the cash likely depends on action by the state Legislature in the 2007-'09 state budget. And Gov. Jim Doyle's budget does not include a way for the three-county RTA to pay for the trains, leaving that issue for legislators to decide.

If the Legislature doesn't act, the project could be set back by more than the one year until the next Federal Transit Administration funding cycle, warned state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), a KRM supporter on the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. It could face a two-year delay, until the next biennial state budget, he said.

The RTA has asked for a $13-a-car increase in its current $2 rental car tax in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. That proposal followed the collapse of an attempt to seek a local sales tax of up to 0.5% to not only pay for trains but also wean local bus systems off the property tax. The rental car tax then drew opposition from Milwaukee aldermen and Milwaukee County supervisors who wanted bus and train funding packaged together.

Stone, meanwhile, has been pushing an even broader overhaul of transit financing that would end vehicle emissions testing in southeastern Wisconsin, shift the money now spent on that program into the KRM line and earmark revenue from sales taxes on auto-related purchases for local bus systems. He is waiting to hear whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would allow the state to drop the federally required emissions tests.

Yet another option comes from the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, which is calling for legislation that would let any local government or group of local governments form its own regional transportation authority, funded by local sales taxes of up to 0.5%, to fund not only bus or train systems but possibly also local roads or even ferry lines. The state Senate Transportation Committee will discuss that concept Wednesday.

Separately, state Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi is warning the RTA that a congressional pledge of $80 million for the KRM line, included in federal transportation legislation, "is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless." Federal transit officials told him the project won't get any money unless it goes through the regular approval process and then wins a congressional appropriation, Busalacchi wrote in a letter to Ostby and Racine Mayor Gary Becker.

Also last week, the Milwaukee council's Steering and Rules Committee asked the RTA to study an E. Greenfield Ave. station instead of or in addition to the Bay View stop planned for E. Lincoln Ave. Ald. Jim Witkowiak said a Greenfield Ave. stop would serve housing and businesses in Walker's Point and the Fifth Ward. - Larry Sandler, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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RAIL BILL PASSES TEXAS SENATE

AUSTIN, TX -- A stalled measure that would allow more North Texas cities to join regional rail networks moved ahead on the Senate floor Friday.

As senators considered a bill to create a light-rail district in the border region of South Texas, Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, tacked on an amendment that would allow cities to ask voters to add a penny to the local sales tax for transit purposes.

The local sales-tax measure, which has drawn broad support from North Texas political leaders, has languished in committee in both chambers during the legislative session. Supporters say it would help ease the region's traffic congestion by expanding rail systems.

"This was an opportunity today, and I took it," Mr. Carona said. "If this amendment can manage to stay on, this is a huge step forward for meeting our transportation needs in North Texas."

Under the measure, cities could ask voters to approve a sales-tax increase of up to a penny to join Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Denton County Transportation Authority or the Fort Worth Transportation Authority.

Opponents have warned that a 1-cent increase in the sales tax could hurt local businesses and would have a disproportionate impact on lower-income residents. They've noted that in some cities, a 1-cent increase could have the effect of pushing the total sales-tax rate to 9.25 percent.

The bill now goes back to the House, where Mr. Carona said the House parliamentarian must decide whether his amendment fits the original bill. By the time the bill passed Friday, the House had adjourned for the weekend.

"We believe it's entirely germane, and it's the will of the people back home in our district overwhelmingly," Mr. Carona said. - Jake Batsell, The Dallas Morning News

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RTD MUST MOVE QUICKLY ON FASTRACKS DEFICIT FIX

DENVER, CO -- RTD has key decisions to make within the next month on FasTracks if it wants to keep plans on track for closing a $670 million deficit in its newly increased $6.2 billion budget.

Those decisions could be politically unpopular as the elected RTD board considers overturning the results of several years of community-based studies and public input to save money.

"Bear in mind any time you’re in a project of this magnitude, changes will be made as we go along," Chris Martinez, board chairman, told his colleagues Saturday during a lengthy meeting on the FasTracks budget.

"That’s just the nature of the beast."

RTD announced Friday that due to higher than expected inflation in construction costs the last two years and additions to the many projects within the FasTracks program, the costs had gone up from the $4.7 billion budget shown to voters in 2004 to nearly $6.2 billion.

And RTD only has $5.5 billion in financial resources to pay for it.

That leaves a shortfall of $670 million.

It comes down to this: FasTracks managers say the principal way to reduce the budget gap is to go out sometime late next year and seek private firms to take over some or all of the work on at least four of the new rail corridors.

RTD says that has the potential to reduce costs by more than $670 million.

To do that, RTD must decide two things in June: What kind of trains will run on those corridors and who will assist the transit agency in fashioning the solicitation to the private sector?

But there would be consequences if RTD votes to make all four new commuter rail corridors diesel powered passenger cars. It would effectively be vetoing community-based studies that are on the verge of selecting electrified trains.

An electrified commuter rail system is more expensive to build than a diesel powered line, mostly because of the cost of stringing overhead wires and installing power substations.

"We would be very upset," said Lorraine Anderson, an Arvada councilwoman who was among several dozen spectators attending the RTD board’s briefing.

Arvada is on the FasTracks Gold Line, originally planned as electrified light rail but, because of railroad insurance issues, now is headed toward electrified commuter rail. Diesel cars were rejected over years of studies and again as recently as seven months ago.

Anderson said the impacts of noise and vibration from diesel cars would be too great on residences in Arvada, where the tracks are very close to houses.

"We were sold on light rail and it’s taken quite a bit of time to convince people that electric commuter rail wouldn’t be much different than that," she said. "The RTD board needs to take into consideration the political ramifications of changing a process that’s been going on this far."

The Gold Line was originally to be light rail, but that was discarded last year after railroads vetoed light rail over insurance issues. But since it had been planned as light rail, the cost of electrification was already in the budget for the Gold Line.

Partly as a result, the Gold Line had the smallest change in cost of all the new FasTracks rail corridors.

But the East Corridor from downtown to Denver International Airport had been budgeted for diesel in the original FasTracks plan. Since then, community input showed a preference for electrifying it. But that adds at least $76 million to the construction cost.

The 23-mile East Corridor is the most expensive line in the program and is the one that increased in price the most, both in dollars and percentage jump. It went up 62 percent from its original budget, due to electrification, newly uncovered drainage issues, addition of three more stations and other issues.

Its cost is now pegged at nearly $1.14 billion, up from $702.1 million.

Board member Lee Kemp, the principal backer of going all-diesel, said money saved by not having to build electrified systems now could be used to lower the projected costs of the diesel system.

Liz Telford, FasTracks’ environmental manager, said reversing the apparent choices of electrified systems on the East and Gold Line corridors would require months of delay to go back in the study process and start again with public input.

Moving more quickly on privatization appears possible.

Last month RTD received six proposals from investment banking firms and their partners to lead RTD’s privatization effort. Four have been short-listed for interviews and one must be selected in June.

The decision on type of train must be made because the advisors have to craft the solicitation around the details of each transit corridor. RTD will specify the route, station locations, technology, schedule and other items for private companies to consider.

The chosen consultants would spend up to a year writing and publishing the request for private proposals. That could attract any number of firms willing to take on one to all four lines, or other pieces of the FasTracks project such as the smaller extensions to the T-REX and Littleton light rail lines. - Kevin Flynn, The Rocky Mountain News

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STREETCAR DESIRE: CAPITAL TROLLEY PLAN MOVES FORWARD

SACRAMENTO, CA -- A study shows Sacramento's proposed streetcar system can be built within five years for no more than $50 million.

West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon coined the term "short order streetcar system" because it would be built in a hurry on a tight budget with little or no federal support.

Tuesday afternoon Cabaldon and Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo met along the West Sacramento waterfront to jointly announce results of the feasibility study.

As proposed, the initial streetcar system would be just over two miles long, running from west of Raley Field in West Sacramento past the State Capitol to midtown Sacramento.

In parts of downtown Sacramento streetcars would share the tracks with the existing light rail system.

Unlike light rail, the streetcar system would focus on moving passengers a short distance in what's described as urban circulation.

Planners estimate the system would carry 11,00 0 passengers daily by 2030.

The mayors of the two cities are pushing for a new phase of the study to begin. Phase two would finalize the initial streetcar route and develop a financing plan. The study is expected to take another 15 months.

Advocates said they will be careful in seeking funding from the federal government so as to not compete with planned light rail projects. - George Warren, KXTV-TV10, Sacramento, CA, courtesy Coleman Randall, Jr

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COLORADO RAILCAR GOING AFTER PIECE OF THE FASTRACKS PIE

Photo here:

[www.longmontfyi.com]

FORT LUPTON, CO -- A company founded to build rail cars to haul tourists into the Alaska bush is branching out into the world of public transportation.

Colorado Railcar hopes the Regional Transportation District will choose the company’s diesel multiple-unit rail cars for use in at least one FasTracks rail corridor once RTD decides what kinds of transport it will use for the “heavy rail” portions of the $4.7 billion FasTracks project.

FasTracks is still in the environmental planning stages, and officials are still considering whether to use diesel or electric trains on certain corridors, FasTracks spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas said.

The majority of FasTracks will be light rail, similar to what’s already in use in Denver. Four corridors, including the Northwest -- which will run from Union Station in downtown Denver through Boulder to Longmont -- will use existing railroad tracks and will require heavier trains.

It is these corridors where Fort Lupton-based Colorado Railcar is hoping RTD will choose diesel over electric trains.

Colorado Railcar believes its diesel-powered DMUs are superior to electric-powered trains in cost, pollution and functionality.

“Today’s diesel technology is just as good as today’s electrical technology,” said Arthur Rader, the company’s director of sales.

Rader’s father founded Colorado Railcar in 1986, and four years ago it began building DMUs.

Tourism coaches are still a major portion of the business, Rader said, but DMUs, which are self-propelled passenger cars that can also pull other cars, are becoming more attractive to cities expanding their mass transit.

During a tour of the factory last week, Rader showed off a double-decker DMU his company is building for the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.

“This is the car we’d like to see RTD use,” Rader said.

A DMU ran the Miami-to-West Palm Beach line in 2004, and the Florida Department of Transportation thought the program enough of a success that it has ordered another one.

The double-decker seats 188, and can pull one, or sometimes two, coach cars behind it.

The double-decker DMU takes some of its design features from coach cars Colorado Railcar built for customers such as the Alaska Railroad.

The car’s windows -- which Colorado Railcar owns a patent on -- wrap around the body and make up half the ceiling, allowing for expansive views from inside.

The cars also feature cloth seats, high-speed Internet access and laptop plug-ins under the seats.
Rader notes that passengers riding the Alaska Railroad in these coaches pay $500 a day for the experience.

“RTD can give the transit rider the same experience for the $4 fare,” he said.

Two Detroit Diesel Series 60 motors -- 600 horsepower each, operating independently -- power the DMU. Advances in diesel technologies has made DMUs valuable as commuter rail vehicles, Rader said.

Rader said his company chose the Detroit Diesel motors because they are basically the same engines that power most semi-trucks on the road, so they are easy to maintain and repair.

In many ways, Colorado Railcar operates the way it did when Arthur Rader’s father, Tom -- who is president and CEO -- started the company.

The company uses tubular steel construction for the frame, which allows for greater strength and flexibility, Rader said.

All of the interior finishing is done inside the company’s 100,000-square-foot facility that sits on 19 acres near the Union Pacific tracks. Then the massive cars are wheeled out of the factory and into a nearby building for painting in what Rader called “Colorado’s largest paint booth.”

Once the trucks, or wheels, are put on, the finished product is sent down the rails to its destination.

A standard coach car costs $3.2 million to $3.5 million, Rader said. A single-deck DMU is about $3.7 million, and a double-deck DMU costs $4.2 million.

If Colorado Railcar wins a FasTracks contract, it could mean an additional 100 jobs for the company, which already employs about 150, he said.

Rader has given tours of his facility to RTD board members, but FasTracks spokeswoman Tonilas said no preferential treatment would be given to the company just because it’s local.

A decision on the east corridor and the northwest corridor to Longmont could come in early 2008, she said, while the Gold Line and the north metro decisions will likely come a year later.

After it’s decided what type of cars will be used, a competitive bidding process will begin, Tonilas said. - Tony Kindelspire, The Longmont Daily Times-Call

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TRANSIT'S POCKETS GET PICKED

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Sic transit gloria mundi is a Latin adage that show business celebrities and politicians should heed because its rough meaning is that "fame is fleeting."

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a movie star and a politician, finds himself, however, in a political battle over allegations that he would create sick transit in California with a $1.3 billion raid on the pot of money that provides operating funds to buses and other transportation services.

The way the governor and his aides tell it, the transit folks are the accidental beneficiaries of an unanticipated windfall from rapidly rising gasoline prices and should give up much of the money to help balance a deficit-plagued state budget.

Budget director Mike Genest has called the so-called "spillover" of sales taxes on gasoline into transit "ridiculously large" and argued that even after shifting much of it into other transportation-related spending, such as busing kids to school and transportation bond payments, transit systems would still receive historically high state operating subsidies. "We're saying ... you just got rich and we are not rich, and so we're going to ask you to pay for some stuff you didn't used to pay for, but it's in the law," Genest says.

The way the transit folks and their allies tell it, they've been starved for funds for years and are finally seeing some relief, only to have a self-described environmental champion send them back to the poorhouse. "You can't pose for the cover of Newsweek as the savior of global warming one day and then turn around and slash funding for public transit the next," says Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez.

Ironically, too, the governor expanded the raid -- originally $1.1 billion in his January budget -- just a couple of weeks after touting mass transit when two key freeway connector ramps in Oakland were closed by a truck explosion, an irony that the transit lobby has used to score debate points.

There are several ways to look at the transit shift, one of which is that it's not unprecedented. The state has a habit of dipping into pots of seemingly sacrosanct funds -- including local government treasuries -- to cover its deficits. And the Public Transportation Account has been tapped before; the California Transit Association says it's lost $1.8 billion in such general funds shifts in recent years, although the Legislature refused to do it last year.

Another viewpoint is historic. The so-called "spillover" results from a complex formula enacted in 1971 when the state extended the sales tax to gasoline. "The spillover mechanism was created as part of an overall plan to rescue transit in California," former state Sen. James Mills, an architect of the scheme, has written, contending that with mass transit ridership and operational costs both rising, "this source of funding is needed more than ever."

It should be noted, however, that state funds never have been more than a tiny share of transit systems' operating funds, most of which come from fares and local sales taxes.

Still another viewpoint is legalistic. The Legislature's budget analyst, Elizabeth Hill, contends that the proposed shift is "unworkable" because "in essence, the administration seeks to count the transportation funds simultaneously toward two separate (and mutually exclusive) legal spending requirements," one for schools, the other for transit.

That observation illustrates anew just how convoluted the budget process has become, with innumerable tax and spending formulae engraved into law by politicians and voters that often are either irrelevant to current circumstances or conflict with one another, thus forcing budget-writers to make it up as they go along.

It's not a good way to run a railroad -- or a state, for that matter. - Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee

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THE END