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Railroad Newsline for Monday, June 11, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

SHIPPERS TO FIGHT RAILROAD EMBARGO OF BRANCH LINE

CORVALLIS, OR -- The Portland & Western Railroad has announced a shutdown of a branch line running south from Corvallis beginning June 16, but shippers and local officials say they will fight the move.

A railroad executive, citing safety concerns, said the move is the first step toward permanently abandoning the Bailey Branch, a 23-mile spur that serves fewer than a dozen cargo shippers in south Benton County.

"Due to the track's condition, it has become unsafe to operate down there," said P&W President Bruce Carswell. There have been five minor derailments on the Bailey Branch in the past five weeks.

Customers include Western Pulp Products in the Corvallis Airport Industrial Park, grass-seed producer Venell Farms and the historic steam-powered Hull-Oakes Lumber Co. mill at the lines terminus in Dawson.

Former Hull-Oakes partner Wayne Giesy, a spokesman for the south county freight shippers, said his group isn't about to give up on the line.

"We plan to contest it," Giesy said of the abandonment plan.

"Its disappointing," said Benton County Commissioner Linda Modrell, a longtime rail-service advocate. "We will continue to push on this, but I also understand their problem."

The problem is a combination of poorly maintained tracks and low freight volumes.

The Bailey Branch has been in sad shape since the Portland & Western -- also known locally as the Willamette & Pacific -- began leasing the tracks in 1993, first from Southern Pacific and now from the new owner, Union Pacific.

Portland & Western officials have been threatening for years to abandon the line but have always backed off in the face of fierce opposition from shippers, elected officials and others determined to maintain the service.

Abandonment requires approval from the federal Surface Transportation Board. The request would have to come from the Union Pacific, which previously has declined to make it.

Despite some $350,000 in state-funded repairs over the last few years and some additional work by the railroad, rotting crossties and light-gauge rails still limit freight trains to 7 mph, even slower on the worst stretches.

Freight volumes have never been high on the line and they continue to fall. Last year the Bailey Branch moved just 630 railcars, down nearly 100 carloads in just two years. The industry standard for a shortline railroad, Carswell said, is 100 carloads annually per mile of track. - The Associated Press, The Portland Oregonian

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VANCOUVER PORT PROJECT TO HELP SEATTLE-PORTLAND RAIL TRAFFIC

PORTLAND, OR -- The Port of Vancouver is set to begin developing a $100 million rail extension to ease congestion for passenger train traffic between Seattle and Portland and boost freight train access to the port from the east.

The port's first rail extension will help clear a bottleneck for trains in Vancouver, Washington.
Tracks entering from the Columbia River Gorge cross tracks running north to south between Portland and Seattle in what amounts to a T-intersection.

"For trains that want to make a left turn (from the gorge) and come down into Portland, there's two tracks," Kevin Jeffers, a project manager with the Washington State Department of Transportation, said.

"But if they want to make a right and go to Seattle," Jeffers said, " then things get bottled up because there's only one track."

Northwest ports and train companies say all of the region's train traffic would benefit from the project. Highway traffic would also eventually decrease, they say, as more cargo moves off of trucks and onto trains as the rail system capacity grows.

"That traffic is on a network that interfaces with our traffic, and anything that addresses some bottlenecks is very important," said Bruce Carswell, president of Portland and Western Railroad, a short-line railroad that operates in Oregon.

Oregon rail support pales next to Washington state.

The port's project only begins to address the Portland and Vancouver region's largest congestion issues, which occur just south of the Washington border, according to a 2003 rail capacity study by the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The Vancouver bottleneck is one of 10 projects dubbed "high-priority" by the ODOT study. It's unlikely that any of the remaining projects, which would cost about $115 million combined, will begin any time soon — mostly because they're on the wrong side of the border.

"Washington state can march along because they have several hundred million (set aside) just for rail; that's a good place to be in," Kelly Taylor, rail division administrator for ODOT, said. "Oregon has ConnectOregon, but it's $100 million and it isn't just for rail."

The five-phase Vancouver rail project, to be funded by the port and rail companies, will build and update track from the Union Pacific rail bridge over the Columbia River to the flushing channel on the port property's boundary.

All of the port's available industrial space is leased, and the rail extension will accommodate further growth on the busy site, officials say. - The Associated Press, The Portland Oregonian

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NEW RAILYARD PLANS SPARK EXCITEMENT

SACRAMENTO, CA -- More than 100 people attended one of the first community meetings to discuss the new Sacramento Railyard project.

The Railyards, located on 5th and I streets in downtown Sacramento, is the largest infill site in the region.

Developers are looking to transform the 240 acre lot into an urban district.

The new plans call for building 12,000 housing units, at least 1,000 hotel rooms and more than three million square feet of office, retail, and entertainment space.

"We've got a great performing arts center, historic shop buildings with vibrant uses," said Thomas Enterprises vice-president Suheil Totah.

Thomas Enterprises, the developer of the project, bought the railyards this past December from Union Pacific. The City of Sacramento owns the title to the depot.

Some residents who looked at the plans are looking forward to the project becoming a reality.

"An urban community feel where you can walk out of your house or home, go the parks, go to the restaurant, move about your life in an area without having to jump in your car and drive around," said Sacramento resident Bill Taylor.

The plan does not include an arena, but city leaders are keeping their options open.

"Without the solid funding mechanism, it's not going to happen," said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo. "We'll just have to see whether or not someone comes forward with a plan that might be able to finance an arena."

According to Totah from Thomas Enterprises, an arena can still be added to the plans.

"The project is not dependent on the arena, but if the plan comes together for one, we can incorporate it in the plan," said Totah.

For some residents, with or without an arena, the Railyards project is an opportunity for others to notice Sacramento.

"I think when they (people) come into Sacramento, they are going to see that and they are going to want to be here and not anywhere else," said Ashley Tovar. - Monika Diaz, KXTV-10, Sacramento, CA, courtesy Coleman Randall, Jr.

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AMTRAK/ARMY PARTNERSHIP BUILDS POST-MILITARY CAREERS

WASHINGTON, DC -- Amtrak and the United States Army are joining forces to participate in the Partnership for Youth Success (PaYS) program which provides career opportunities to soldiers upon completion of their active duty service. The partnership launched today with a ceremonial signing in Washington Union Station.

Under the PaYS program, the Army will screen and select applicants to receive transportation related job training during their Army career, with the guarantee of an interview with Amtrak after completing their military service. The Army will provide formal skills and on-the-job training to eligible enlistees and Amtrak will conduct interviews and make job offers to qualified soldiers.

"These soldiers, who have served so admirably, should be given every opportunity to make a seamless transition from citizen to soldier to veteran to valued employee,” said William Crosbie, Amtrak chief operating officer. Amtrak is extremely proud to engaged in a partnership with the U.S. Army to make this transition as easy and rewarding as possible."

The signing ceremony today was attended by Crosbie, Lorraine A. Green, vice president of human resources, and Lt. Col. Burl W. Randolph Jr., commander of the U.S. Army Baltimore Recruiting Battalion.

About the Baltimore Recruiting Battalion

The Baltimore Recruiting Battalion’s activities span an area nearly 21,000 square miles through Maryland, the District of Columbia, northern and southeastern Virginia, and three counties in West Virginia. The Battalion consists of seven recruiting companies, 51 recruiting stations and 375 recruiters all working hard to tell the Army Story to ensure we remain Army Strong.

About Amtrak

Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail services to more than 500 destinations in 46 states on a 21,000-mile route system. For schedules, fares and information, passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit [www.Amtrak.com]. - Amtrak News Release

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DETOUR OF AMTRAK CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR TO TRACK HISTORIC TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD ROUTE

CHICAGO – Scheduled track improvements on the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in Colorado will require Amtrak to use an alternate route for the California Zephyr between Denver and Salt Lake City during five periods in July and August. The detour will follow the historic transcontinental railroad route through Wyoming and Utah.

On the following dates Amtrak will be unable to use the UP route between Granby and Glenwood Springs.

· July 5-8

· July 10 & 11

· July 15-18

· July 22-25

· July 29-Aug. 1

On those days, the California Zephyr will detour between Denver and Salt Lake City via a northern route through Wyoming, making no intermediate station stops.

On the days the train detours, Amtrak will provide alternate motorcoach transportation at Denver for westbound passengers to Glenwood Springs or Grand Junction and for eastbound passengers from Grand Junction or Glenwood Springs. Service to and from Fraser-Winter Park and Granby, Colorado; Green River, Helper and Provo, Utah, will be suspended on the days the trains are detoured.

Passengers traveling between Chicago and Denver or between Salt Lake City and Emeryville in San Francisco Bay Area will be unaffected. Amtrak has informed passengers between Denver and Salt Lake City who were ticketed during the 18 days of the detour and is offering the alternate transportation (schedule attached). Passengers have also been offered travel on alternate days or refunds.

The detour route will follow a portion of the original transcontinental UP route that was completed in 1869. While the scenery is less mountainous than the California Zephyr's regular routing, it offers broad vistas of the high plains and an opportunity to see a route that passenger trains have not regularly traversed since 1997.

Amtrak regrets the service disruption and has notified the affected communities. However, the UP has said the nearly 21 miles of rail improvement is needed to maintain safe and timely operation of all trains over the regular route.

The dates of these detours are correct as of the above date. If these plans are changed, Amtrak will notify passengers who have included personal contact telephone numbers with their reservations. - Marc Magliari, Amtrak News Release

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KCSR AND PARTNERS PROVIDE GCCI COURSES IN ARKANSAS

Annually, the Kansas City Southern Railway partners with Arkansas Operation Lifesaver (OL), Arkansas State Police, DeQueen and Eastern Railroad and Arkansas and Missouri Railroad to provide Grade Crossing Collision Investigation (GCCI) courses to law enforcement officers from across Arkansas. This week, courses were offered to Mena and DeQueen area officers. A course for Fort Smith is scheduled for September.

KCSR has 124 public at-grade crossings and 62 private at-grade crossings in approximately 160 miles of railroad operated in Arkansas. For that reason, the Shreveport Subdivision in southwest Arkansas and the Heavener Subdivision/Fort Smith branch in northwest Arkansas are target areas for these courses. GCCI courses are designed to help law enforcement officers better understand the grade crossing collision issue and how they can help prevent and investigate incidents.

KCSR and KCSM are avid supporters of the OL program in the U.S., as well as Mexico, where it is known as Alto Total. OL is a non-profit, international continuing public education program, first established in 1972 to end collisions, deaths and injuries at places where roadways cross train tracks, and on railroad rights-of-way. OL programs are sponsored cooperatively by federal, state and local government agencies; highway safety organizations and railroads. - KSC News

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A NEW LIFE FOR OLD TRAIN CARS

Photo here:

[stclairjournal.stltoday.com]

Caption reads: Aaron Sudholt photo - Four of the renovated carriages sit at the Mascoutah Train Depot in Scheve Park Monday afternoon.

MASCOUTAH, IL -- Beginning last month, visitors to Scheve Park in Mascoutah had something new to take a look at.

Six new railroad carriages were installed last month as part of a renewal project organized by the Mascoutah Improvement Association. The carriages are each about 100 years old and were donated to the park by local families and companies.

"They were used to haul freight to the depot and then store it until the trains got there," MIA Director Harold Knoth said. "They just came off the railroad."

Mascoutah had originally been home to a train depot for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, or the "L and N." When the company shut its doors in Mascoutah, the depot was moved to Scheve Park. An old passenger car sits in front of the depot as it had in the days when it was in prime use. Now, on its porch, rest the freight wagons.

The damaged portions of the century-old wagons could not be replaced.
"You can't even get the parts anymore," said Knoth. "We had to make new pieces."

The project began when the Legendre family of Mascoutah, Robert Fritz Inc., and Mascoutah residents Joseph Behrman and Dale and Donna Mae Schlueter donated their old wagons to the city for the display, but they were in need of repair.

Originally, students at Mascoutah Community High School had offered to repair the wagons, but had told MIA they were unable to do so.

The wagons sat in pieces in a shed in Scheve Park until MIA was able to begin work on them.

"The high school took them apart and said they were in really bad shape," Knoth said. "They were just all over and in a pile."

Knoth said that Morton Steel donated a lot of steel for the wagons.

MIA had to construct many of the parts themselves. For example, on one wagon the running gear had to be remade out of three inches of oak wood.

"It was hard work," MIA volunteer Kenny Hamann said.

The immediate plans for each wagon are fairly straightforward. They will remain at the depot, but at the July Fourth Celebration at Scheve Park they will be used for something a little different.

"The Fourth of July we're are going to be playing Texas poker off them," Knoth said. - Aaron Sudholt, The St. Clair Journal

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NO MORE NEGATIVITY NEEDED IN THE 'BURG

Why not Galesburg?

A co-worker and I had a conversation the other day about Galesburg, Illinois and its massive inferiority complex.

None of us knows if the National Railroad Hall of Fame will raise enough money to be built, but I believe it will be. Many, however, seemingly have been convinced since day one that what could bring hundreds of thousands of tourists to Galesburg will never be built. Some think it may be, but expect only 5,000 or 10,000 people to visit it annually.

Galesburg was a village of about 800 people until what many years later became the BNSF Railway came to town. Then, in the late 1800s, local leaders, particularly Silas Willard and Chauncey Colton, overcame almost impossible odds to bring the Santa Fe Railroad here. These men of vision and, one would have to believe, positive thinking were largely responsible for the city growing to 37,000 people by 1960.

Not being a native of Galesburg, I have to wonder what happened in the almost 50 years since then. Our population is down to 33,000, including almost 2,000 inmates at Hill Correctional Center. For an apples-to-apples comparison, the number of Galesburg residents has dropped from 37,000 to about 31,000.

Many factors - Maytag moving to Mexico and, going back further, the closing of Galesburg Mental Health Center by the state - were largely beyond the control of local leaders. State and national trends drove these decisions.

But, we're not the only city that has lost industry and good jobs. Peoria and the Quad Cities may not be growing by leaps and bounds, but those cities at least have stemmed the outgoing tide. Peoria in particular has many exciting projects on the drawing board, including high-tech business parks, a new museum and Caterpillar Visitors Center on the Riverfront and an expansion of Glen Oak Zoo. Many Quad City projects are already complete, with more on the way.

Some are trying but others say Logistics Park-Galesburg will still be a farm field 10 years from now. This, despite the fact logistics and distribution are rapidly replacing manufacturing as imports must be shipped across the country.

There is much hand-wringing here about not being near Chicago and being on Interstate 74 instead of I-80, but that has not stopped growth in Bloomington-Normal, Peoria and the QCA. To its credit, GREDA, often criticized for not doing enough, realized we can't move the city closer to Chicago and struck a deal with two Chicago developers to attempt to get the word about Galesburg's potential into the Windy City and beyond.

We have seven BNSF rail lines going in and out of the city. We have I-74, as well as U.S. 34, which is four lanes to Monmouth. Someday, it will be four lanes to Burlington, Iowa, and beyond.
U.S. 67, which runs through Monmouth, is four lanes to Macomb, with the exception of a short stretch through Good Hope, and will one day connect to a planned interstate from Peoria, through Canton and Macomb, to Kansas City.

We have Knox College, Monmouth College, Carl Sandburg College and nearby Western Illinois University. Has anyone but a few visionaries ever talked seriously about a high-tech business park here? Why not a high-tech corridor with the Quad Cities, Galesburg, Peoria, Bloomington and Champaign?

Do we have a vision for our future? A vision that will bring good-paying jobs back to Galesburg? The railroad overpasses are a good start, but just a start.

Galesburg is my adopted hometown, but I hate that an air of despair continues to hang over the city, which reeks of negativity. Do companies considering locating here sense this? Of course.
It's time to move on from the pain of the recent past and plan a vision for what can, and should be, a Pearl on the Prairie. Finding a pearl takes some effort, but the payoff is worth it. Why not Galesburg? - John R. Pulliam, Business Editor, The Galesburg Register-Mail

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DISCOVERING NEW APPRECIATION FOR RAIL TRAVEL

Maybe the feeling was some kind of innate boys and trains issue, or maybe it was that I had the opportunity to see countryside not viewed from public roads, while enjoying the company of friends. Whatever the reason, I’ve found a new appreciation for rail travel.

The BNSF Railway Company hosted a series of short rides for employees, families and guests. Two were started from Sterling’s train yard on Wednesday, June 6. The ride from Sterling was only a short spur along U.S. Highway 6 to Hillrose and back, but it felt like a trip back in time.

Photo here:

[www.journal-advocate.com]

Caption reads: Some of the cars offered two decks of viewing for better sightseeing while relaxing. (Forrest Hershberger/Journal-Advocate)

The ride in a car or any other typical mode of transportation following U.S. Highway 6 would be uneventful on the average day. There would be the farms evenly divided on both sides of the highway, and the 20-mile drive would include passing traffic, from the farm implements moving from one location to another, to the yuppie awe-struck at the expanses of plants and animals.

Drivers would also likely have to watch for meandering deer, skunks and badgers.

None of these were a worry for those of us on the train.

It was a deliberately meandering journey, some parallel with the highway and at other locations offering a view that can only be seen from the train -- observation decks are great for these moments -- or by permission of the right landowner.

This mini-tour is also an excursion into the past, to a time when train tours were more common. This year’s tours stop in cities from McCook, Nebraska, to northeast of Great Falls, Montana.
The tradition of the BNSF Railway Special began in 2002, this year involving Boys and Girls Clubs in Denver; Casper and Gillette, Wyoming; and Great Falls and Havre, Montana. The BNSF Foundation has also pledged support to the national organizations, and to each of the local clubs in the five cities selected.

During the 12 days of operation, the special train, made up of 13 vintage passenger cars, is expected to carry more than 8,000 passengers. According to Jeff Schmid, operations manager, each of the sleeper cars is named after a mountain pass, while the coaches are named after specific views. The cars on this train include a diesel-electric locomotive at the front and at the end of the train; a power car; two crew sleepers -- the Marias Pass and the Cajon Pass; an office car -- the Santa Fe; a baggage car; the lounge car -- the Valley View; the diner car -- the Fred Harvey; the Missouri River office car; four coaches -- the Fox River, Colorado River, Flathead River and Powder River; and a dome car called the Bay View.

Photo here:

[www.journal-advocate.com]

Caption reads: The banquet hall seats 28 in a family-style seating arrangment. The kitchen is just beyond the doorway at the top of the picture. (Forrest Hershberger/Journal-Advocate)

The Bay View is a high-level lounge car that offers a panoramic view from the upper-deck, full-length dome, and has seating in the lower level. It has a total capacity of 114 people and was built in 1954.

One of the special sites -- or cars -- is the Missouri River car, an office car. This car reflects what happens when a craftsman is set loose with quality wood and a design. This car, somewhat reminiscent of the “Wild, Wild West” television show, was a combination of reading room and lounge car, with a master bedroom toward the middle of the car, true luxury traveling by rail.

Photo here:

[www.journal-advocate.com]

Caption reads: If you are one who travels alone, away from other people, this is not the first choice. This car’s design invites interaction with your traveling party and with anyone else on the train. (Forrest Hershberger/Journal-Advocate)

This year’s routes follow the rail lines of one of the BNSF predecessors, The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB & Q). The CB & Q expanded west after the Civil War. The CB & Q has the honor of running the first diesel locomotive in the United States, the Pioneer Zepher in 1934. That year, the CB & Q launched one of the greatest transportation events of its time -- a 1,000-mile, non-stop trip from Denver to the World’s Fair in Chicago.


The Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe Pacific Corp railroads merged in 1995, resulting in at least 390 different railroad lines from the Gulf Coast region to British Columbia, Canada.

The two-hour tour brought us back to the starting point with the feeling of a mini-vacation, although we never left what is familiar. - Forrest Hershberger, The Sterling Journal Advocate

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FATHER-AND-SON TEAM ROLLS WITH THE RAILROADS, WINS BUFFETT'S ENDORSEMENT

The Hodges Fund, run by the father-and-son team of Don and Craig Hodges, has outperformed all but one competitor in the past five years by buying unloved stocks, especially railroads.

The $700 million fund's strategy is winning endorsements from investors Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn. Both purchased shares of rail companies in the past six months.

Railroad shares represent 9 percent of Dallas-based Hodges Fund's assets, and they more than doubled in value since Don Hodges began purchasing the shares in 2004. BNSF Railway Co., the biggest holding, rose 176 percent, eight times faster than in the previous three years.

"Everybody thought we were crazy when we started buying Burlington," Don Hodges said in an interview in New York. "Now nearly every client we have owns Burlington, and they're tickled to death."

The Hodges Fund has gained an average 24 percent a year since June 2002, trailing only the Fidelity Leveraged Company Stock Fund among 142 tracked by Bloomberg News that buy shares of companies with above-average earnings growth. The Fidelity fund has surged 34 percent.

This year, the Hodges Fund advanced more than 12 percent through May, placing it 27th of 171 similar funds.

The Hodges Fund also owns railroad operators Union Pacific, its fourth-largest holding, and Norfolk Southern, its 15th largest. Both have doubled since Hodges first built up stakes three years ago.

Don and Craig Hodges said offshore oil and gas drillers may be the next industry to take off as railroad companies have. They started buying shares of Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore driller, in November 2005 at $58.99 and now own 182,000 shares, making it the fund's No. 3 holding. Its shares have increased by more than 50 percent since they began buying.

The fund also owns 170,000 shares of Schlumberger Ltd., the world's largest oilfield-services company, and 255,000 shares of No. 2 Halliburton Co.

Don Hodges, 73, and his 43-year-old son purchase out-of-favor companies with the potential to rebound because of competitive advantages. The fund owns about 110 stocks, and every night, Don Hodges spends half an hour reviewing a list of 900 to see if any warrant buying or selling.

Three years ago, Don Hodges read an article in the weekly Canadian Record that alerted him to increasing demand for rail capacity from importers, trucking companies and farmers producing ethanol. He then looked into BNSF.

"What used to be considered a cyclical business is now moving into a growth vehicle," said Craig Hodges.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought 38 million shares of BNSF since the end of September, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Icahn bought a $122 million stake in CSX Corp., the third-largest U.S. railroad, in the first quarter, when the stock rose 16 percent.

"There's an element of our style that's similar to what Buffett does, but we'll buy some crazy things that he wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole," Don Hodges said.

Crocs Inc., the Niwot, Colo.-based maker of the colorful resin shoes, is an example. Though the fund owns 80,000 Crocs shares, Don Hodges said the casual shoes have a fad appeal that may lose luster. The fund bought the stock in November at $46.50, and it now trades at more than $85.

The Hodges Fund hasn't always beaten its benchmark. It gained 7.6 percent in 1999, trailing the S&P 500's 19.5 percent advance. The next year, the fund tumbled 29 percent, triple the loss of the S&P 500.

When stocks rebounded in 2003 after a three-year bear market, the Hodges Fund surged 80 percent to the top of its class. The performance "erased a lot of fears that they'd lost their touch," said Jeff Tjornehoj, an analyst at Lipper investors service.

Along with railroad shares, steel stocks including Chaparral Steel and U.S. Steel boosted the Hodges Fund in the past two years. Hodges began buying steelmakers in the third quarter of 2005, anticipating stronger demand from China and India. - Bloomberg News, The Omaha World Herald

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RAILROAD SUES FORMER WORKERS

ALBANY, OR -- The Albany & Eastern Railroad of Lebanon is suing two former employees for allegedly taking $350,000 from the company and failing to repay a $77,500 loan to the company.

The company’s attorney, J. Channing Bennett of Salem, filed the lawsuit May 15 in Linn County Circuit Court. It asks for both the $350,000 and the $77,500 from Tamra and Shawn Boyes. Their employment with the railroad ended in March.

Lebanon Police Chief Mike Healy said his detectives did an investigation and sent it on to the Linn County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Jason Carlile said the case is under review.

According to the lawsuit, Tamra Boyes worked for Albany & Eastern from September 2000 until March. The suit wasn’t clear about Shawn Boyes’ tenure with the railroad, except that he worked for the company while he and Tamra allegedly converted $350,000 of company money for personal use.

Further, Albany & Eastern gave the Boyeses a loan for $77,500 in December 2005, with the agreement they would make $600 payments every other week beginning in January 2007.

The suit alleges the Boyeses used company money to begin paying back the loan, but it doesn’t say how much of the loan was repaid.

The Boyeses could not be reached for comment. Their attorney, David Corden of Corvallis, declined to comment. - The Albany Democrat-Herald

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PITCAIRN TRAIN DEPOT IS THE NEXUS OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE IN PITTSBURGH

Photo here:

[www.post-gazette.com]

Caption reads: The Norfolk Southern Intermodal Yard in Pitcairn Yard. (Post-Gazette photos)

PITCAIRN YARD, PA -- As a mechanical lift grips a 40-foot steel container in its jaws, Patrick Hobbs is seated on top, his feet dangling not far from the blue letters -- COSCO -- signifying the box as an import from the China Ocean Shipping Co.

"Hold on," says the president of AGX Intermodal, a rail-to-truck carrier.

The 8,730-pound capsule groans and creaks as it hoists its human cargo 30 feet in the air. From a perch high atop a stack of containers meant to hold material weighing as much as 188,000 pounds, it is easy to see how this railroad yard has become a new node in the flow of international commerce through the Pittsburgh area, thus reclaiming part of its past.

Photo here:

[www.post-gazette.com]

Caption reads: An eastbound Norfolk Southern train pulling container cars rolls through Ardara, PA.

Scattered across Mr. Hobbs' hillside yard are 750 containers bearing foreign icons from shipping companies in China, Taiwan and Japan -- China Shipping, China Ocean Shipping, Evergreen, Hanjin and Nippon Yusen Kaisha. All arrived from foreign ports via a 250-acre depot run by Norfolk Southern, which powers 50 to 75 trains each day through eastern Allegheny County, bringing in textiles and sporting goods that originated overseas and sending back out steel scrap, metal shavings, chemicals and wood.

There was a time when the train yard, which opened in 1892, was one of the largest rail centers in the world -- with the Pennsylvania Railroad doing the heavy hauling for the big manufacturing industries of Pittsburgh -- and thousands were employed here. During World War II, 200 trains came through here each day, carrying troops, supplies and material critical to the war effort.

The place was so important that guards armed with rifles patrolled the tracks. But its influence waned as the railroad gradually rerouted traffic elsewhere in the latter part of the 20th century, leaving only a few daily trains to motor through by the 1980s.

The station's revival began in the late 1990s with the decision by Norfolk Southern to reopen the yard as an "intermodal" center, a place for lifting and moving large cargo containers from rail to truck and back again.

Rail is increasingly gaining favor as a way to get goods from point A to point B, especially when dealing with buyers and sellers overseas, and the Pitcairn Yard is benefiting from the ever-increasing U.S. demand for foreign goods as well as the appetite for raw material in such fast-growing places as China and India. For those reasons, no doubt, the number of lifts at the Norfolk Southern train yard has risen 30 percent in the last five years, according to Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband, while the number of trucks moving in or out of Mr. Hobbs' hillside yard, the storage home of AGX Intermodal, rose 19 percent in the last two years.

While no specific export-import figures exist for the entire metropolitan area, more goods are hauled through Pitcairn from abroad than the other way around, according to local transportation experts, mirroring the larger U.S. deficit in international trade ($58.5 billion in April). One local freight expert estimates that imports are 60 to 65 percent of the local international traffic and exports 30 to 35 percent.

Photo here:

[www.post-gazette.com]

Caption reads: A container is taken from a tractor-trailer truck being moved about the AGX Container Yard, where storage containers are stored for trans-shipment after being received at the yard.

The same is apparently true for air cargo -- at the Pittsburgh International Airport, imports as measured by dollar value in 2006 were more than triple the amount of exports, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau's foreign trade division.

"There is an imbalance," said John Wilson, general sales manager for Moon-based R.L. Swearer, a local customs broker.

The two biggest importers of foreign material, according to several officials who handle goods in Pitcairn, are Findlay-based retailer Dick's Sporting Goods and Upper Burrell-based Leed's Inc., a maker of notebook and corporate promotional products.

Dick's is the biggest importer in the Pittsburgh area "hands down," Mr. Wilson said.

With 300 stores in 34 states, Dick's routes 80 to 200 containers a week through Pitcairn and the trucks of AGX Intermodal, which delivers the material from the train to the warehouse. Asked where Dick's goods originate, the 37-year-old Mr. Hobbs said: "All you have to do is look at the shirts and golf clubs and fishing poles -- made in China, made in India, made in Pakistan, made anywhere but the U.S."

Dick's could not be reached for comment.

Leed's, the other big local importer, unloads six to nine containers every night in Pitcairn, according to Leed's inventory control manager Larry Whitney. Much of its container cargo (notebooks, shirts, pens, bags) originates in China, where it deals with 30 suppliers and where 80 percent of what it buys leaves ports in Shanghai and Hong Kong. It costs the company about $4,100 to move cargo from Asia to the U.S. ports of Long Beach, California, and Tacoma, Washington, and then to Pitcairn. Total transit time is 28 to 30 days. The company does bring in material by air, too, but that is more expensive. Rail remains the least costly option, Mr. Whitney said.

Once the material arrives, AGX trucks it to Leed's Westmoreland County headquarters, where the bags and shirts and notebooks are decorated with the appropriate corporate logos.

With each year, Leed's brings in more from abroad -- 2,618 containers in 2004, 3,220 in 2005 and 3,736 in 2006. The company predicts 4,000 container loads this year. Because of its inexpensive buying strategy (one factory in southern China producing bags for Leed's pays wages of $100 to $380 a month), Leed's is now one of the largest privately held companies in the Pittsburgh area, with revenues up 66 percent in the last two years, to $275 million. More than 1,000 people now work at its factory in Upper Burrell, double what that number was five years ago.

Photo here:

[www.post-gazette.com]

Caption reads: Containers are stored for shipment after being received at the Pitcairn depot.

Here in Pitcairn, there does not appear to be a single dominant producer of exports from the Pittsburgh area, or at least none using rail (some may choose barge or truck to get their material to the coasts). But several products remain in demand, including chemicals. Moon-based Nova Chemicals moved more than 2,000 containers of Beaver County-produced plastic beads through Pitcairn last year, the products destined for Mexican construction panels and concrete forms; the company expects the number of Pitcairn containers to drop to 1,000 this year as its carrier routes more cargo through a rail depot in Cleveland instead, according to spokeswoman Stephanie Franken.

Scrap metal hauled from an array of local dealers also is a big product destined for foreign markets through Pitcairn. Dennis Casarcia at Pitcairn-based Rose Transportation Inc., who depends on international cargo for 40 percent of his business, cited a recent shift from finished goods to raw material -- especially scrap. Rose, for example, is no longer carrying "beers or TVs," said Mr. Casarcia. "We're shipping scrap metal."

Much of that scrap, he said, will end up in China to feed the country's voracious demand for new infrastructure.

"They are buying a lot of our used metal," he said.

Michael Sieckmann of Allenport-based American Iron Oxide Co. is noticing the same trend (as are many others -- statewide exports to China increased 198 percent in 2006). The marketing vice president said his company ships 45 to 60 containers a month through Pitcairn, all destined for China. The iron oxide is used by the Chinese to make magnetic components that are then shipped worldwide, even perhaps back to the United States.

American Iron Oxide cracked the China market only five or six years ago, and as a result, it no longer supplies to the United States.

"It is a sign of the times," he said. - Dan Fitzpatrick, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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TWO BETHLEHEM MEN CHARGED WITH STEALING FROM RAILROAD CARS

BETHLEHEM, PA -- Bethlehem and Norfolk Southern Corp. police officers caught two men Thursday night who allegedly were part of a group that stole items from boxcars, including soap, coffee, cheese and steak sauce.

According to affidavits filed at the office of District Judge James Narlesky of Bethlehem, Norfolk Southern officers were conducting an undercover operation near the 300 block of E. First Street, Bethlehem, because of several recent theft from boxcars in the area.

Norfolk Southern officer Anthony Dragani said he and several other officers saw three men cut door seals off several stopped railroad cars and start removing products about 23:30 hours.

The men tried to leave the area with the items, worth about $2,300.

According to the affidavits, a foot chase ensued, and two of the men were caught with the help of Bethlehem police: John Renner, 27, and Brian Cerino, 43, both of 210 Schaffer St., Bethlehem. The third man got away.

Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband declined to comment.

Renner and Cerino were both charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, possessing instruments of crime, criminal conspiracy and attempting to commit a crime.

Both were sent to Northampton County Prison, Cerino under $15,000 bail and Renner under $25,000 bail. - The Bethlehem Morning Call

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TRANSIT NEWS

WOMAN KILLED AFTER FALL BENEATH LIGHT-RAIL TRAIN; OPERATOR UNAWARE OF ACCIDENT UNTIL FIVE STOPS LATER

Map here:

[origin.twincities.com]

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- It was a full five stops before the operator of a light-rail train realized that he had rolled over and killed a pedestrian who apparently lost her balance on the platform at the Franklin Avenue Station in Minneapolis on Friday afternoon.

Evelyn L. Cotton, 79, of Minneapolis, was identified as the victim.

Photo here:

[origin.twincities.com]

When the train pulled up at the Metrodome stop minutes later, a passenger waiting to board had a clue: The side of the train was splattered with blood.

Minneapolis police Capt. Mike Martin said it appeared from security video taken of the 13:35 incident that Cotton had been walking alongside the train when she stumbled. She reached out to balance herself on the side of the train as it was rolling out of the station and was dragged into the space where two train cars are coupled together.

Another person standing on the platform attempted to pull her back but was unsuccessful, the video suggested.

Someone standing on the platform called 911, but the train's operator did not realize what had happened until pulling into its final stop at the Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue Station. It was then that the operator received a call from the Metro Transit command center about the accident.

Dakota Fujan, 16, of St. Paul, standing at the Downtown East/Metrodome Station's platform, two stops from the accident, could only wonder why the train was still running when it rolled up with gruesome stains on its side.

"They heard knocking on the doors, then they heard 'Bup, bup, bup, bup,' " Fujan said of what the train's passengers had told her. She added that passengers said they saw blood splatter on the side window.

"They said that she, like, got pulled under, she was, like, knocking on the windows and (at) the second (car), where it was connected, it just pulled her under."

She said it bothered her that the train -- which she refused to board -- then continued on from the Metrodome station.

"That's just -- it seems wrong," she said.

But Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons said the operator was apparently never contacted by passengers -- a process made easy by a button-operated intercom inside the passenger cabin.

"Passengers can communicate with an operator if they're on the train. Our understanding is no call was made," Gibbons said.

The Warehouse District platform is five stops, and about 10 minutes, from the Franklin Avenue platform. Gibbons said the train stopped at every stop.

Gibbons initially said witnesses reported a woman was at the station, running alongside a moving northbound train and tapping on a window, apparently trying to get it to stop. But Martin, the police captain, said a review of surveillance video suggested that was not the case.

Earlier reports that Cotton may have been pushed also were wrong, Martin said, adding that police have every reason to believe her death was accidental. It wasn't clear whether she might have gotten off the train that hit her.

Train traffic between the Lake Street/Midtown Station and the Metrodome was halted for hours. Passengers were instead shuttled around the scene of the accident by bus.

The Franklin Avenue station was ringed with yellow police tape, with puzzled riders approaching to see what had happened.

From the platform just south of the accident, the victim's body, covered with a blue tarp, could be seen on the tracks.

The operator, whose identity was not immediately released, was placed on a routine suspension while an investigation takes place.

Photo here:

[origin.twincities.com]

Gibbons said that as a train is pulling out of any station, the operator is required to lock the doors and focus all of his or her attention forward. Gibbons said that's important at the Franklin Avenue Station, for example, because a pedestrian walkway crosses the tracks 10 to 15 feet in front of where the train stops.

The death is the fourth involving light rail since the Hiawatha Line opened in June 2004.
In September of that year, an 87-year-old man drove his vehicle under the track's safety arm at East 42nd Street and Hiawatha Avenue and was struck and killed by a train going about 40 mph. In April 2005, a pedestrian was struck and killed at East 26th Street and Hiawatha by a train traveling about 55 mph. Last August, a bicyclist was struck and killed at Hiawatha and East 46th Street by a train traveling 20 to 25 mph. - Emily Gurnon and Tad Vezner, The St. Paul Pioneer Press

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TO THE DEPOT!

ST. PAUL, MN -- St. Paul folks believe they have a comfortable and friendly city but do not pretend it is the center of the universe. Over in M-town, however, there is a persistent belief that the moon revolves around the IDS Center, all roads lead to the Nicollet Mall and the Metrodome is where it's at.

When the Minneapolizing gets too bad, we feel the need to call a smug alert.

As we do now, after the scribblers in the Other Paper say that the light-rail train that will connect our two cities should not quite make it all the way to St. Paul's Union Depot. The M-town plan, apparently, is that this train should have all the bells and whistles and connections and tunnels necessary to get it safely through Minneapolis with minimal impact and should dive underground so as not to bump into an oblivious undergraduate crossing Washington Avenue at the U of M.

But once it gets beyond the pale, once it crosses the moat, once it departs the civilized universe that is M-town it can, for all they care, stop in the cornfields they imagine St. Paul to be made up of and discharge its riders onto burros and rickshaws.

OK, we're exaggerating. But this is a question of perspective.

The Central Corridor light-rail project has been envisioned and mapped as an 11-mile line that would run from the glorious Union Depot in downtown St. Paul -- the historic train station we are restoring for this rail line and for others in the future -- past the state Capitol, down University Avenue, through the University of Minnesota campus and to downtown Minneapolis. The Union Depot is not just a terminus; it is a hub of the future that will include Amtrak passenger trains, east metro light-rail and train and bus lines and who knows what else.

This project is not just a way to get more of us uncool types to the Nicollet Mall; it is a way of linking the two cities as equal and complementary partners, and cementing St. Paul as a hub for commerce and pleasure.

We don't pretend it's a slam dunk.

The Metropolitan Council is in charge of the Central Corridor project, which is in its planning phase, with construction tentatively scheduled to begin in 2010. Met Council officials have said they need to make some cuts in order to meet federal cost-benefit formulas. Three big-ticket items are on the table: a tunnel under the U to route the train away from congested Washington Avenue and the campus; a full reconstruction of University Avenue in St. Paul; and whether the line could be stopped in downtown St. Paul several blocks short of the depot. The Other Paper views the connection to the Union Depot in St. Paul as "first on the chopping block.''

At the University of Minnesota, parking and transportation director Bob Baker makes an eloquent case for a tunnel. He argues that the overall attractiveness of the line would be weakened if it has to crawl through the masses of cars, students, bikers, buses and emergency vehicles along Washington Avenue during the school year. We're sure there are also those who view the reconstruction of University Avenue in St. Paul as equally critical.

But how anyone not affected by the M-town smug alert can argue that the train should not begin and end at St. Paul's Union Depot -- with its past and future as an important rail hub -- is beyond us. Some give-and-take will be necessary. We encourage all sides to be reasonable. But the new train and the old Depot are made for each other. - Editorial Opinion, The St. Paul Pioneer Press

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CAN THIS WOMAN FIX THE LIRR?

Photo here:

[www.newsday.com]

As Helena Williams prepares to take the helm of the nation's largest commuter railroad next week, she faces challenges that have confounded some of her predecessors.

The Long Island Rail Road's safety record, financial strains that threaten to spike fares, and scrutiny from the public and politicians alike will all demand much of her attention. She also will steer the railroad through massive infrastructure investments that promise to change the future of commuting for thousands of Long Islanders.

Here is a look at some of those issues:

TIMELINESS

Riders can attest: The LIRR doesn't always run on time.

Last year, the railroad pulled in behind Metro-North and New Jersey Transit, with 93 percent of trains arriving within six minutes of their scheduled time. Metro-North scored 97 percent and NJ Transit 95 percent on the six-minute industry standard.

As commuter Eileen Ryan put it last week, after a widespread delay: "It's a very frustrating thing to be a commuter on Long Island Rail Road."

Williams has said that when she takes office next week, reliability of service is among her top priorities.

A range of factors contributes to the railroad's punctuality, railroad experts said. And comparing two railroads, said LIRR spokeswoman Susan McGowan, is like comparing apples and oranges.

The LIRR, the busiest commuter rail system in the country, is the oldest and one of the most complex.

It has more transfer hubs than its sister railroad, Metro-North, and while Metro-North has Grand Central all to itself, the LIRR shares Penn Station with both Amtrak and NJ Transit. That makes the LIRR vulnerable to delays caused by other railroads.

The LIRR already has a wish list of projects that would help increase its timeliness. Williams would oversee projects her predecessors have set in motion: a third track on the main line and a proposed second track on the Ronkonkoma branch, which would allow trains to bypass disabled vehicles.

And planned improvements for Jamaica station would, among other things, speed up transfers by extending platforms and allowing passengers to board all 12 cars of the train.

The railroad also plans to phase out its 180 M-3 cars -- its oldest, least reliable trains -- starting in 2015.

SAFETY

Williams has said repairing platform gaps will be job No. 1, but she also has pledged to look at the railroad's overall customer accident record.

Last year, there were 114 passenger gap falls, according to LIRR records. From January through March of this year, there were 39 gap incidents, which exceeds the number of gap falls during the same period last year.

The railroad already has addressed 74 percent of the system's 154 most dangerous gaps. Williams will be responsible for narrowing the rest.

Overall, the LIRR has reduced its customer accident rate by 52 percent during the past decade. From 1996 to 2006, the railroad's passenger injury rate fell from 9.97 injuries per million riders to 4.80 injuries per million riders. But the number of serious injuries requiring transport to a hospital, and a Federal Railroad Administration report, has gone from 43 in 2000 to 88 in 2006.

Last year, the LIRR saw 15 deaths -- 12 of them suicides. Those ruled accidental were trespasser and grade crossing accidents, the two most common causes of death on railroads across the country, according to the railroad administration.

The railroad is developing plans to address both safety issues with projects that will improve fencing near railroad tracks and eliminate on the main line in New Hyde Park and Westbury five grade crossings, places where streets cross the tracks.

But more grade crossings remain, including two in Mineola that will see so much train traffic after the Third Track project is finished, they will be virtually impassable during rush hour, railroad officials said. So far, neither the railroad nor the state Department of Transportation, which in the past has eliminated grade crossing, has plans to fix the two spots.

FINANCES

The LIRR is not immune to the financial troubles of its overseer, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Transportation experts say that a gap -- a financial one -- that the MTA is facing will mean fare hikes for the LIRR.

"The same financial problems that plague New York City's subways and buses are equally at play for the two commuter railroads" under MTA control, namely the LIRR and Metro-North, said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, a consumer watchdog group.

While the MTA expects a surplus of $270 million in 2007, that is expected to turn into a budget shortfall of as much as $1.78 billion by 2010 unless the agency receives financial assistance, according to MTA officials and a report released last week by the New York City Independent Budget Office.

In the best-case scenario, in which the MTA gets extra state and federal aid and implements revenue-raising measures such as congestion pricing for motorists who enter central Manhattan during rush hour, that could translate into 20 percent increases for LIRR tickets, according to the MTA. Average one-way LIRR fares of $5.58 would jump to $6.72.

Without the extra financial aid, transportation experts and the MTA alike agree that fares could increase even more.

MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said the predicted budget deficits were "due to a dramatic growth in uncontrollable costs, especially debt service on the borrowing that was necessary for capital expenses since the city and state reduced their contributions in the 1990s."

He said the MTA "will be presenting a preliminary financial plan in July" that would help determine what the fare hikes would be. "A fare and toll increase will only be considered as a last resort, but given the structural deficit, everything must remain on the table at this point."

THIRD TRACK

As the new president of the LIRR, Williams will usher in some of the biggest and most controversial projects in the railroad's history.

And one that has launched petition drives and heated community opposition is the Third Track project, construction of a 10-mile track to run along the main line from the eastern end of Floral Park to Hicksville.

It's part of a project that will complement East Side Access linking the LIRR to Grand Central and includes elimination/separation of as many as five grade crossings. Another track would provide capacity for the increasing number of reverse commuters, railroad officials say. The number of morning reverse commuters has grown 76 percent between 1998 and 2006, they say.

"It is absolutely vital for Long Island and for Long Islanders to reap the benefits of the East Side Access project," said Kate Slevin, associate director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a think tank.

Although the Third Track plan has come under fire from local civic groups, it also has friends in high places. Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg have voiced support. The project right now is undergoing environmental review, which is scheduled to go to the Federal Transit Administration this fall. Public hearings could follow early next year.

Bowing to local concerns, railroad officials recently scaled back the project from 11.5 miles. The properties expected to be affected by the third track have been reduced from 80 to 72. And potential property seizures associated with the grade crossing plan have been cut from 44 to between eight and 19.

Still, many questions remain, some opponents say. "There are still a very good number of properties on the chopping block," said Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray. "It is certainly something Helena is going to have to address and I think sooner rather than later."

POLITICS

With a new governor, a new MTA executive director and a new president at the helm of the LIRR, at least one proposal from the former regime is history.

MTA Executive Director Lee Sander has said that the authority will not pursue merging its two commuter rails -- the LIRR and Metro-North -- into one entity, a project announced nearly five years ago by MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow and the former executive director, Katie Lapp.

"I believe it is important to have a separate service identity for Metro-North and for Long Island Rail Road," Sander said last week, agreeing with detractors of the merger proposal who have argued that Long Island needs an agency that can respond to its unique needs.

The plan to consolidate the two railroads into a company called MTA Rail was lauded as a way to save millions and involved a streamlining of all MTA agencies. But the corporate-style reorganization never moved forward, facing opposition from several Long Island leaders who feared losing local control and representation.

"Each community deserves their own railroad," said MTA board member Mitch Pally, Suffolk County's representative. "You would need to have separate leadership with people who know what is going on in that area."

Though Sander will not move to merge the commuter rails, he said he will look to combine some support services of both the LIRR and Metro-North.

The merger proposal's demise may be just one political shift when it comes to the LIRR, but transportation advocates say the eyes of Albany will be on the railroad as it moves forward under Williams.

"I think the other players also are paying more attention to the railroad, including the governor's office," Pally said. "I think the fact that there is a new president is going to make that even more so -- they have a stake in her success." - Bart Jones, Jennifer Maloney and Joe Tyrrell, Newsday (ED. NOTE: I am including the following link to a series of four Newsday video clips regarding the LIRR gap issue. lwg)

Video Gallery here:

[www.newsday.com]

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THE END