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Railroad Newsline for Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS


DENVER TV STATION COVERS UP SNOW PLOW OPERATIONS

Click on the link below to view a news clip from KUSA in Denver, Colorado regarding the Union Pacific's rotary plow operations in eastern Colorado and western Kansas:

[wm.kusa.gannett.edgestreams.net]

- KUSA-TV9, Denver, CO

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BNSF ISSUES SERVICE ADVISORY REGARDING WINTER WEATHER DELAYS IN NEBRASKA

Extreme winter weather conditions across the BNSF Railway Company tracks in the state of Nebraska have had a negative impact on the normal flow of traffic throughout the state. Ice, snow and wind are all contributing to delay of traffic over this territory which is affecting train movement and signal conditions.

Due to the length of the power outage and back log of traffic, customer may experience delays between 48 to 72 hours on traffic moving through this corridor. - BNSF Service Advisory

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LANDOWNERS OBJECT TO RAIL PLAN

Donley Darnell and Rick Wehri are ranchers in the Thunder Basin National Grassland in northeast Wyoming, where the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad plans to lay new track to the Powder River Basin coal mines.

When the railroad project first started rolling about 10 years ago, they went to Cheyenne to point out what they believed were inequities in Wyoming's eminent domain laws.

"When we went down there and talked to the legislators, the railroad said they didn't plan to use eminent domain, and that put a whole quash on the debate. Now, here we are eight years later being threatened with it," Wehri said.

He said he received a letter from DM&E with a post date of Oct. 4 requesting access to his ranch as soon as possible, and the company asked for a response by Oct. 18. The railroad offered a one-time $200 payment for access to the entire ranch without specifying where it intended to survey, according to Wehri.

"We said we wanted to know where they wanted to go, and they fired back a letter and told us we were being uncooperative and that they'd see us in court," Wehri said.

Darnell said the good-faith pledge that corporations recite to legislators seems forgotten when encountering a landowner who doesn't take what's offered. He said that kind of one-sided negotiation happens because there's no formal process determine whether a company is negotiating in good faith.

"If DM&E wanted to condemn your house for their headquarters, there's nothing stopping them from doing it," Darnell said. "Why should this business have the right to say their business is more important than mine?"

Wehri said the prospect of going through eminent domain under Wyoming's current laws weighs heavily on several families in northeast Wyoming. He asked: Is it fair that a rancher's land can be taken for what's appraised at agricultural value when it's going to be used for an industrial purpose?

"It's not fair market value, because it's not for sale," he said. - Dustin Bleizeffer, The Casper Star-Tribune

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BNSF MANIFEST TRAIN DERAILS AT SANBORN, CALIFORNIA

At approximately 02:55 CT Monday, January 01, 2007 BNSF Railway Company train M BARBAK1 31 derailed 15 cars blocking single main track at Sanborn, CA. This location is approximately 61 miles North of Barstow, CA.

The current estimate for returning the main track back to service is 23:30 CT, Monday, January 01, 2007.

Customers may experience delays between 24 to 36 hours on traffic moving through this corridor. - BNSF Service Advisory

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DOODLEBUGS LIVE ON IN HISTORICAL TRAIN INFORMATION

TEMPLE, TX -- Few romantic ballads were written about the old Doodlebug trains of yore. Other than a novelty song or two, the Doodlebugs fail to live on in the misty reminisces of railroad lore. But they do live on in memory.

The technical name for the Doodlebug was gas-electric motor passenger cars. They have been described as “a temperamental marriage of internal combustion to steel rail, whose operation was foreign to the sensibilities and preconceptions of most any railroad man.”

The motor car’s original purpose was to allow more passengers to ride the rails than would have been possible solely with the steam engine “full service” trains. What it lacked in aesthetics and comfort, the Doodlebug somewhat made up for by being efficient in bad weather as well as good, and it was easy on the track in those places where great speed was not a requirement.

“It could pull a few freight cars and be easy on track in the process,” John B. McCall wrote in his 1977 book “The Doodlebugs.”

“The steady pull of a geared engine truck didn’t have the pile-driving reciprocation of steam power and, for this, rotten ties and antique rail could be thankful.”

And it was economical. It required no fireman and freed full service trains to attend to business elsewhere.

Locally, a Doodlebug train ran for several years between Temple and Brownwood, Brownwood and San Angelo and what McCall describes as a “particularly strenuous one from Temple to San Angelo, through Brownwood, over the western section of what was originally the main line of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe.”

The Temple-Brownwood local used M150 and M151 (the M stood for motor car) over its 260-mile round trip.

The train made stops in Lampasas and Lometa and was reportedly much beloved locally. Who could not like a train called the Doodlebug, even if the ride was described as “not unlike a wild ride in an unsprung wagon?”

The Doodlebug motor car’s original mission was to provide additional passenger schedules to complement the conventional steam engines on full service lines. - Clay Coppedge, The Temple Daily Telegram

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ICY TEXAS PANHANDLE ROAD LEADS TO TRAGEDY

Photo here: [www.amarillo.com]

Caption reads: A vehicle traveling south on Georgia Street, just north of McCormick, slid on ice across the gate at a railroad crossing on Saturday, where it was hit by a BNSF Railway Company freight train. Three of the five occupants of the vehicle were killed. Amarillo Globe-News Photo by Henry Bargas.

AMARILLO, TX -- The family had celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional spread, and they'd enjoyed a Mexican feast for Christmas. To ring in the New Year they'd planned a seafood dinner.

Arron Jimenez had been shopping with her half-brother, Patrick Suhl, and her three children, Kandice, 3, Anjolina, 1-1/2, and Richard James, 4 months. They'd accomplished their mission, having bought enough crab legs for the family. They were only a couple of miles from the home of Arron's father, Kevin Suhl.

It was dark and cold - below freezing - and a northwest wind was blowing at a steady 18 miles an hour, gusting to 23, according to the National Weather Service. Two inches of ice and snow were on the ground. When Arron tried to stop at a railroad crossing on Georgia Street south of Hollywood Road, her vehicle slid onto the tracks.

It was a mishap.

Then it was a nightmare.

When it was over, Kandice and Richard had been killed by an oncoming train. Patrick, 20, was also killed as he tried to rescue the children from the car.

"It was so wet and slippery and icy and I couldn't stop and we basically jumped the railroad tracks and landed on top of it," Arron said. "At that point, we were in shock, and the only thing we could see was the train coming at us. We unbuckled Richard. Patrick had Richard, and I got out. Kandice was still in the car, and I told Patrick to grab her. I started running and the next thing I knew, the train hit the car, and I jumped on top of Anjolina."

Eve Suhl, Patrick's mother, received a frantic, hysterical call from her stepdaughter soon after the accident. Her cell phone dropped the call before she could learn the details. A few minutes later, Patrick's father called and relayed the news.

"I don't know what I was thinking. I just knew I had to get there. The roads were awful," Eve said about driving to the scene. When she arrived at the scene, Patrick's body had just been found. Her stepdaughter was inconsolable. "She was feeling guilt for something she had no control over." Eve paused. "There's no one to blame."

Joe Faust, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, said he did not know how fast the train was traveling, though the railroad is conducting an investigation.

Trooper Wayne Beighle, public information officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said this was not the first accident at this railroad crossing.

"I've been there on fatalities before," he said.

Santana Jimenez, Arron's husband, is a U.S. Marine serving his third tour of duty in Iraq. "Arron's a good mother," Eve said. "She's a military wife, struggling to keep her children happy. Arron's done a good job with those kids, being mommy and daddy."

Santana had been told about the accident and would be home in several days, Eve said. Plans for the funeral are on hold.

Kandice's nickname was "Chicken," a family joke, because the little girl, who loved to play in the dirt, was fearless. Her little brother was trying his best to learn to turn himself over.
Patrick had worked at the family's business, ABC Automotive, since boyhood. He had a soft spot in his heart for stray dogs.

Anjolina has been told her brother and sister died, though the family said they weren't sure if she understood.

"My son died trying to save the two things he loved the most," Eve said. "Why God decided to take them, I don't know. I'll never know." - Josh Burton and Andy Obermueller, The Amarillo Globe-News

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DRIVER KILLED WHEN CAR HIT BY AMTRAK SUNSET LIMITED IN LOUISIANA

VINTON, LA -- A driver was killed after a train hit his car at a railroad crossing here - the fourth person killed at the intersection in a little more than two years, Fire Chief Jerry Merchant said.

Larry Gauthier of Vinton was northbound on Eddy Street at about noon Friday when the eastbound Amtrak Sunset Limited passenger train hit his car, causing it to roll sideways and off the track, Merchant said. It then rolled repeatedly until it wound up in a drainage ditch, he said.

Gauthier died instantly. No one aboard the train was injured.

Merchant said the crossing has been a major source of controversy in the town over the past few years. It's the only one of the four Vinton crossings that doesn't have protective railroad arms to prevent traffic from crossing as a train approaches.

The crossing has a double-X painted on each side of the road and track crossing signs.

The Town Council allocated money in its 2002-03 capital outlay budget to pay for cross arms at an estimated cost of up to $200,000. But maintaining the cross arms would be up to the railroad, which has declined the responsibility.

In 1997, both sides of the crossing were barricaded by Southern Pacific Railroad as part of a federal program to reduce railroad-related accidents. But it was reopened a year later because some residents felt they had lost access to their main street.

The last fatality at the crossing occurred in July 2005, when a mother was killed and her 4-year-old daughter injured after driving into the path of a train. - The Associated Press, The Baton Rouge Advocate

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BILLINGS BLEW CHANCE FOR A RAILROAD UNDERPASS

I distinctly remember my father, who was an engineer on the old Northern Pacific Railroad that traveled from Forsyth to Laurel, Montana, tell us over supper one evening in 1944 or 1945 that the Billings, Montana city fathers wanted the NPRR to build an underpass in Billings. I was a junior in high school at that time.

So what has the Billings government done in the past 61 years? Most major cities along the old NPRR have underpasses and/or overpasses, with the exception of Fargo, ND, and Billings and Helena.

The cost now for an underpass compared to the '30 or '40s is not economically feasible. Some people have gone to sleep at the switch over this one. - Letter to the Editor, Jim Creecy, Laurel, MT, The Billings Gazette

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PROPERTY POWER STRUGGLE

GILLETTE, WY -- Some say the cowboy is nothing more than a romantic image of an ideal that simply doesn't exist today in the West.

So is the notion that owning property means you can keep people out and conduct your own business on your own terms.

Growing numbers of property owners in Wyoming are demanding reform of the state's eminent domain laws to protect what they say might be a dying Western value.

Rancher Eric Barlow recently toured his neighbor's ranch in Powder River Breaks country between Gillette and Buffalo and noted a property line dividing the flat-bottom valley pasture between two brothers' ranches. On one side a coal-bed methane company had cut a long ditch carefully meandering to one side of the bottomland so it didn't disturb much of the pasture. On the other side of the property line, the man-made ditch was ripped zigzag from one side to the other, as if it were purposely cut to damage as much of the bottomland pasture as possible.

This, said Barlow, was no mistake. He believes it was meant to punish the one rancher for not agreeing to the company's terms. The company initiated eminent domain proceedings to cut the zigzagging ditch and force coal-bed methane water onto the ranch where it isn't wanted.

"A coal-bed methane company will not pass up an opportunity to make an example of a rancher, just to show the rest what they are capable of," Barlow said.

What coal-bed methane companies are capable of is taking private property for their own economic gain. They're not the only ones.

Under Wyoming's current set of eminent domain laws, a private company, municipality, railroad, utility, telecommunications firm -- most any entity -- can take private property. And not just for major power lines, roads and other things that can be construed as a benefit to the general public. Improving a company's bottom line -- disposing of wastewater, for example -- might be reason enough.

"Now they use eminent domain just to rush things along," Barlow said. "It's there, and it's real. It basically stamps 'rush' on a project."

In the year ahead, the question of preserving private property rights in the midst of a booming energy economy will play prominently throughout Wyoming. Legislators are under unprecedented pressure to both reform the state's eminent domain laws and to preserve them as they have existed for some 100 years.

The contentious issue was handed to the Joint Agriculture Interim Committee this year, which promised to introduce a draft bill in January. That draft bill has already received much criticism from both sides of the debate.

And both sides are powerful.

The battle lines

The desire to preserve the laws comes from the very entities that work the hardest at lobbying state legislators: the oil and gas industry, utilities, municipalities and the state itself.

They say tinkering with eminent domain laws would not only upset decades of case law on the subject, but would strangle the state's ability to grow its economy and maintain vital infrastructure such as highway systems and the power grid.

Where would Wyoming's economy be, after all, without natural gas wells, pipelines, roads and power lines?

"If you make the cost of constructing facilities so expensive, either companies won't build or consumers end up paying for it," said Larry Wolfe, managing partner for the law firm of Holland & Hart, who has argued against changing Wyoming's eminent domain laws.

On the side for reform of eminent domain laws is the Landowners Association of Wyoming, which says it is anything but a legion of Birkenstock-wearing obstructionists placing themselves across the road of development. The group is backed by a growing number of Wyoming landowners and businessmen who have long embraced the pumpjack and the power line.

Ranchers including Barlow, Taylor Haynes, Rick Wehri and Gary Packard, and businessmen such as Bill Valdez consider themselves socially conservative and pro-development. Yet they never before imagined the prospect of playing host to hundreds of gas wells.

Or that a company would use the power of eminent domain just to run wastewater across his ranch.

Or that a railroad asking to borrow $2.3 billion in public funds would offer only $200 to access thousands of acres of private property.

Or that his business could be forced to move to make way for a turning lane.

Laurie Goodman, president of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, said supporters of eminent domain reform aren't asking to stop economic development. They're just asking that it doesn't happen at the detriment of their livelihoods.

"If you take something, you should pay for it," Goodman said. "These people are not asking for anything other than to be treated as if they actually have a stake in what happens on their property. Not one of them wants to stop economic development."

The issues

Both sides of the debate claim to be in "defensive" mode. Landowners say they're overrun by entities wielding the power of eminent domain when they refuse the terms offered by developers; industry leaders tend to portray reform supporters as opportunists seeking exorbitant payoffs and threatening economic progress for the general public.

"At its heart, the debate is, should a small group of landowners be in a position to say, 'No, you can't cross our land?' Society's determination is that in those circumstances, eminent domain can be used," Wolfe said.

Constructing power lines and pipelines that connect Wyoming to interstate commerce for thousands of miles is no easy -- or inexpensive -- task. Such projects are always at risk because they cross federal lands, which trigger a formal review process in which seemingly unaffected parties can object and stop a project from happening.

In its comments to an interim legislative committee regarding eminent domain reform, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming argued that convenience and project profitability are indeed reasons to invoke eminent domain.

In its formal comments to the committee, the association testified, "It is important to note that costs are minimized, ease of access is pursed and permits are obtained for a project to ensure that it is economic and viable."

Wolfe said Wyoming's eminent domain laws represent society's desire for smart growth, and they have evolved over many years of careful legal review.

"Our forefathers recognized that society as a whole needs to have the right of eminent domain, and that just compensation be paid," Wolfe said.

Protections exist for private property owners, and when there's a "taking," there is compensation for it. Wolfe said whether the compensation is just is in the eyes of the beholder.

"Those mechanisms are already in the law, and they work quite well. And we know they work quite well because we don't have very many condemnation actions," Wolfe said.

That point, as well as others, is a flagrant attempt by industry to mislead the public on eminent domain issues, according to those involved with the Landowners Association of Wyoming. Rick Wehri, a rancher in the Thunder Basin National Grassland who faces potential condemnation by the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, said the power of eminent domain is wielded without formal proceedings.

Wehri said many landowners accept deals they think are unfair rather than fighting big corporations that have the financial wherewithal to sustain a long legal fight, especially when eminent domain laws seem to favor development.

"There's a lot of weight in the fear of going to court and paying a lawyer. It's just a great big club that's hanging over you," Wehri said.

Supporters of reform also dispute the notion that development is bogged down in Wyoming due to landowner objections.

In fact, Mike Eggl, spokesman for Basin Electric Power Cooperative, said his company has never had a project stopped in Wyoming due to objections from landowners -- although Eggl attributes his company's successful track record to its commitment to working in good faith with landowners.

Those opposed to reform also warn of "unintended consequences" of tinkering with Wyoming's eminent domain laws, alluding to the potential to undermine economic development. Barlow said just the opposite is true.

"This is not about creating new property rights. Right now we're dealing with the unintentional consequences of how eminent domain was never meant to be applied," Barlow said. "Everything that happens in a free market should be available to the property owner, and the economic burden should not be placed on the unwilling seller."

Worthy battle

While touring his neighbor's ranch last week, Barlow offered both criticism and praise for the coal-bed methane industry. The truth is, he said, that many ranchers depend on supplemental income from oil and gas development. It's true that most of the time landowners and developers strike amicable business arrangements.

But with the sheer volume of activity on the land today, the disturbance sometimes outweighs the benefit to the landowner and increases the potential for disagreement. Barlow said that when both parties begin reaching for the law books, they should find legal remedies that don't bypass the notion that a property owner has something of value.

The doctrine of owning property and having a say in how development occurs on that property is not insignificant, Barlow said.

"Right now it's like they already own your property, and you just deal with what's left," he said. - Dustin Bleizeffer, The Casper Star-Tribune

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PRESERVING SIOUX CITY'S RAILROAD INDUSTRY

SIOUX CITY, IA -- The railroad industry was once the "backbone" of Sioux City... moving men and machines from place to place. The Historical Railroad Association is working "full steam ahead" to preserve it. But, they need your help.

Follow the tracks to this roundhouse in Riverside. It's where more than 500 workers repaired locomotives. It's the only one to survive out of the six originally built in Sioux City. And it's one of only seven roundhouses left nationwide. But, after the rail yard shut down in the early 80's, this site came to a crossroad.

Larry Obermeyer, Historical Railroad Association, says "The complex fell into disrepair due to misuse. It was used as a farm salvage yard and a junkyard."

Then, the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association took over and spent more than a million dollars on new windows and repairs. Now, it wants to turn this section of the roundhouse into an exhibit gallery, volunteer training center, welcoming atrium, and artifact library. And the sand tower is also on track for a face-lift. The Iowa Department of Transportation awarded the Milwaukee Railroad Shops a $264 thousand grant. The catch? The Association has to come up with matching funds.

Obermeyer says "We have $55 thousand right now. So, we have another $62 thousand or $63 thousand to go."

In honor of the year this building was built ... 1917... the Historical Railroad Association is sending out fliers asking folks to donate $19.17 to help restore this building and ensure the museum's future.

Obermeyer says "We have to raise the money, I would say in the next 30 to 60 days to actually secure the federal grant."

Construction would then chug along starting in the spring.

Photo here: [www.ktiv.com]

Obermeyer says "This is an industrial site. This is where people worked for a livelihood and created a neighborhood built around it. So, it's really tied into the fabric of the community."

A fabric that's seen wear and tear and is now relying on community support to keep this piece of the past present in the future.

The new exhibit will also have a digital recognition board featuring the names of those who worked at the local railroads.

The museum is open on Saturdays, from 09:30 to 16:00. - KTIV-TV4, Sioux City, IA

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PRESERVATION CHALLENGES TO BE DISCUSSED AT MEETING

EUREKA, CA -- Eureka historian, author and tour guide Ray Hillman will present “Twenty Years of Preservation Challenges in Humboldt County” during the Humboldt County Historical Society’s program meeting on Saturday at 14:00 in the first-floor conference room of the Humboldt County Library in Eureka. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

The presentation’s title is inspired by Hillman’s interest in how many structures have been preserved or lost in Humboldt County over the past 20 years, a news release stated.

Often referred to as a “watchman of the community’s resources,” Hillman is frequently sought for his vast knowledge of local history, according to the release.

In contrast to last year’s program, in which Hillman focused on changes within Eureka, his new presentation looks at changes everywhere else in the county, from Orleans to Orick and from the Mattole River to Tip-Top Ridge, the release stated.

In a program fully illustrated with color slides, Hillman will chronicle the challenges and changes to a wide variety of historic structures, including old bridges, schoolhouses, historic ships and steam locomotives.

The struggle and eventual demise of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, the disappearance of the Iaqua School, the demolition of the Upside-Down Bridge, the preservation of the Mad River suspension bridge and the loss of the Brizard Store in Orleans are a few of the varied subjects in often out-of-the-way places that Hillman will discuss, the release stated.

For more information, phone the Humboldt County Historical Society at 707-445-4342. - The Eureka Reporter

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FIFTY YEARS AGO, LOCOMOTIVES COLLIDED, SHATTERING THE EARLY MORNING QUIET

Photo here: [www.journal-news.net]

Caption reads: Emergency personnel carry the remains of one of the Jan. 1, 1957, train crash victims away from the wreckage. It took many hours for rescuers to remove the remains. The trains collided at less than 40 mph.

MARTINSBURG, WV -- Jan. 1, 1957 could have turned out to be just another New Year’s Day for residents of Berkeley County. There could have been black-eyed peas eaten for good luck. There could have been resolutions made, and then broken. But instead, in the wee hours of the morning, an entirely different scene started to unfold.

That morning, one minute after midnight, a report went out that a 160-car train would be leaving West Cumbo Yard, and that other trains traveling in the opposite direction should steer clear of track No. 4, from West Cumbo to Miller Tower.

The message should have resulted in warning flags placed at Miller Tower, according to a government report on the matter. But those flags were never displayed, and when an eastbound freight train passed by the area, it had no warning to stop. At 1:35 a.m., it collided head-on with train No. 6498 West, which had just left Cumbo Yard.

Both of the locomotives were traveling at speeds of less than 40 mph when the crash occurred on the “low grade,” in Northern Berkeley County. Still, cars were thrown from the tracks, forming a pile that looked as though the giant hunks of metal had been tossed on top of one another. At other points along the track, the trains’ cars ended up side-by-side, zigzagged in what looked almost like a piece of corrugated cardboard.

Almost as the scene was created, emergency responders were on-hand. Officials with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad discovered that the two trains were headed toward their demise and contacted ambulance crews from Martinsburg, reports show. There was no way, however, to stop the trains themselves, and they headed on a course toward destruction.

The subsequent crash left three people dead and five others injured. Other crew members who had been on board the train that morning managed to jump to safety, according to news reports.

The collision claimed headlines across the country, and that afternoon, The Journal referred to it as “one of the worst accidents in recent Baltimore and Ohio Railroad history.”

It was a scene of carnage and was no easy task to clean up. Exhuming the bodies from the wreckage took hours, and as the efforts continued, hundreds of onlookers came out to see the tragedy.

William McLean Senior, of Hagerstown, said he was among the first residents to show up. He and his wife were in their car traveling with their three children from Virginia to Maryland when they heard the news over the radio, he recalled Saturday. Having an interest in railroads and a love of photography, he and his family decided to go see the scene for themselves.

But what he viewed that morning was worse than he could have ever imagined.

“You wouldn’t have believed it, seeing it, that those heavy, heavy cars, loaded with white sand, were on top of one another,” McLean said. “It was practically a blind-curve. They had no way to stop. I just thought it was beyond belief that two trains could run into each other.”

McLean walked around the scene for nearly an hour, snapping photographs of the collision and the crowds that gathered in the background. It was a remote location, but it didn’t stop interested people from coming out to view the accident.

“It was way back, and it’s not close to the highway to see. It was a little country road with very few residences,” he recalled.

It was a scene of tragedy, one that has stuck with McLean, now 90, ever since the day he saw it.

“I still have the camera that I took the picture with. I got it out yesterday and looked at it. I kept it because of the accident and the suffering that was encountered by the family and the crew members,” he said Saturday.

Following a government investigation on the matter, engineers who had been working at Miller Tower that morning were held accountable for the incident, and charges of involuntary manslaughter were almost filed against them. Instead, they were fired, records said.

Still, McLean said he doesn’t blame the railroad industry itself.

“Railroads really don’t want these things to happen and take all kinds of precautions,” he said.

Gary Sease, a spokesperson for CSX Railroad, agreed. His company took over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1987.

Since the fatal Berkeley County accident of 1957, many safety measures have been put in place by CSX, he said.

Technology has improved significantly since that time, he noted. GPS units are now placed on all locomotives so that their location is always known. Signaling technology has also improved, as have radio voice communications.

“Technology over the last dozens of years has certainly changed the way railroads operate,” Sease said.

Training has also increased over that period, he added. All of CSX’s engineers are federally certified. Other support personnel must undergo training as well, he noted.

“They’re some of the best in the business,” Sease said, adding that a train’s “crash worthiness,” has also increased. - Naomi Smoot, The Martinsburg Journal-News

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TRANSIT NEWS

SOUNDER PROJECTS CHUGGING AHEAD

Photo here: [heraldnet.com]

Caption reads: This is an artist's rendering of what Sound Transit expects its new Mukilteo Sounder station to look like. Construction is scheduled to start in the spring.

MUKILTEO, WA -- Sound Transit's commuter rail trains chug through Mukilteo every weekday without ever stopping.

That likely will soon change.

After years of discussing where to build a station, transit officials now know where the $18.2 million station will be built, and work likely will start this spring.

"We've wanted to have service in Mukilteo ever since we started Sounder between Everett and Seattle," said Bruce Gray, a Sound Transit spokesman. "It has just been a very tough nut to crack because there have been so many entities involved."

Construction of the Sounder station is just one of many projects that Sound Transit has planned for Snohomish County in 2007.

The agency expects to launch or continue working on Snohomish County projects that together cost more than $100 million, Gray said.

The new Mukilteo station likely will load its first passenger onto a Sounder train in early to mid-2008, shortly after construction of the first of two loading platforms is expected to finish, Gray said.

A second platform on the other side of the tracks and a pedestrian bridge to connect the two aren't scheduled to open until the second half of 2009.

Among other projects Sound Transit plans to tackle in 2007, construction is expected to start on a permanent Sounder station in Edmonds by the end of the year, Gray said. The hope is to open the $12.9 million station by the end of 2008.

Sound Transit has used a temporary loading platform in Edmonds since service started in 2003. As in Mukilteo, construction has been delayed to give The BNSF Railway Company time to sort out how it wants to realign its tracks through the area, Gray said.

Also in 2007, Sound Transit hopes to add two more round-trip trains to the two trains it now runs from Everett to Seattle, Gray said.

"We're still in the negotiations with BNSF to get that third train on as soon as possible," Gray said. "We're optimistic by the middle of '07."

The agency's original goal had been to get both trains rolling by the end of 2007, but now it looks like the second one may not start service until sometime in 2008.

Gray said the agency remains hopeful that both will run by the end of 2007.

Provisions in the $258 million agreement between the two agencies require that at least one new train start running by August 2008, two years after Sound Transit obtained all the permits the railroad needed to make improvements to the track.

"(The railroad) has always been a good partner for us, and that's why we're working with them to move up that window," Gray said.

Adding more trains will give riders more flexibility, which the agency hopes will boost the number of daily riders, Gray said. Currently, about 365 people per day ride the two trains.

In the beginning, the new Mukilteo Station likely will bring in an extra 100 people per day, and as many as 250 per day by 2030, agency officials said.

Sound Transit also plans to work on the following projects in 2007:

* Construction will continue on a $30.2 million park-and-ride in the middle of I-5 at 112th Street SE in south Everett.

The project started this year and is expected to finish in mid- to late 2008, Gray said.

Ramps connecting the park-and-ride to I-5's carpool lanes are planned, and 112th Street is scheduled to be widened to six lanes, said Travis Phelps, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. The state and the city of Everett are partnering with Sound Transit on the project.

* Construction on two new parking lots and a pedestrian bridge at Everett Station is budgeted for $26.8 million, Gray said. Construction is expected to start in mid-2007 and finish in early 2008.

Between the two new parking lots, busy Everett Station will get 770 new parking stalls. The pedestrian bridge will connect one of the parking lots to the station.

* Construction of the Canyon Park Freeway Station on I-405 is expected to finish in summer 2007, Gray said.

Already well under way, the $10.7 million project includes bus stations on either side of I-405 at its intersection with the Bothell-Everett Highway. A pedestrian bridge will connect the two stations. - Lukas Velush, The Everett Daily Herald

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Wanted: New Metrolink station

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA -- R.A. "Barney" Barnett thinks he has a solution to clear up some of the traffic mess on local freeways.

The 68-year-old is leading an effort to build a Metrolink station just south of Grand Terrace.

Barnett is pushing transportation officials in San Bernardino and Riverside counties to make the project a priority.

The biggest obstacle, he says, is finding someone to buy about 35 acres of vacant land to build the station.

More than 2,000 homes are slated to be built starting next spring in Highgrove, an unincorporated Riverside County area bordering Grand Terrace that Barnett has called home since 1947.

"All this development is going to bring a lot of traffic to Highgrove," said Barnett, who publishes the Highgrove Happenings monthly newspaper with his wife, Ardie. "If we don't do something, the whole area is going to be jammed."

But Riverside County transportation authorities question if there would be enough riders to warrant a station.

"We're doing a thorough analysis to determine if it's feasible," said John Standiford, spokesman for the Riverside County Transportation Commission. "If only a few people are going to ride it, it's not worth the investment."

The commission on Jan. 10 is scheduled to hear a report on the feasibility of a station.

In addition, San Bernardino Associated Governments' Commuter Rail Committee is expected to discuss the project on Jan. 18.

Barnett said there are now 48 Metrolink trains a week that pass through Highgrove between Riverside and San Bernardino on the Inland Empire-Orange County line.

The proposed stop is seven miles from the Metrolink station in San Bernardino and 3.5 miles from the Riverside station, he said.

Standiford said he doesn't know if the land proposed by Barnett is for sale. The pie-shaped parcel, which is owned by a land trust, is bordered on two sides by different sets of railroad tracks.

Barnett said the site is large enough for shops and restaurants to serve rail commuters getting on and off trains. Bus riders would have close access to the station from a route that goes through Highgrove between Riverside and Loma Linda, he said.

Barnett has received support from elected officials in Grand Terrace and Loma Linda. Both cities have passed resolutions in favor of the station.

"If it does anything to alleviate traffic on the freeways, I think that's a good thing," said Grand Terrace Mayor Maryetta Ferre.

San Bernardino County Supervisor Dennis Hansberger believes there is enough demand for a Metrolink station in the Highgrove area.

"It's a very worthwhile objective," Hansberger said. "Unfortunately, the people in Riverside County who have jurisdiction have not shown a lot of interest. But we're willing to try to get that discussion going." - Stephen Wall, The San Bernardino County Sun

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LIGHT RAIL STATION IN DOWNTOWN SAN JOSE CLOSES TUESDAY

SAN JOSE, CA -- The light rail station on First and Second streets in downtown San Jose will close Tuesday for five months for renovations.

The Valley Transportation Authority is midway midway through a project to improve four light rail stations downtown to allow level boarding and exiting to every train car. Riders can get on light rail at the St. James and Paseo de San Antonio stations, about a block and a half away.

Upgrades have been completed at the Paseo de San Antonio and St. James stations. The Convention Center station could reopen in a couple of more weeks.

The work will raise passenger platforms to the same height as the light rail vehicle floor, an average increase of eight to 10 inches.

This fall the VTA will begin similar work on the Alum Rock to Santa Teresa line from the Children's Discovery Museum station south. - Gary Richards, The San Jose Mercury News

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WORD ON THE STREET ABOUT STREETCARS

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- The city’s budget for 2007 includes funding at the mayor’s request to continue studying options for bringing streetcars back to Minneapolis. Mayor R.T. Rybak has said transportation will be a major focus in the coming years, and streetcars are an important piece of his vision. So what do others think about streetcars? Are bus commuters as enthused about rail as the mayor? Below are highlights of interviews with city transit users.

Commuter Bruno Davis of Hopkins transfers through Minneapolis on his bus trips to and from work at Shop NBC in Eden Prairie. He used to be a bus driver in New Jersey, and one of the drawbacks with those vehicles he says is “you’re still at the mercy of traffic.” If Minneapolis leaders wants streetcars to run more efficiently than buses they need to give them their own lane, possibly down the center, he says. “You put it in the middle of the street and that’ll separate it from traffic.”

Retired painter Robert Boehmar, 62, says he’s seen in New Orleans how streetcars can give tourism a boost, but he worries rail transit is too inflexible and dangerous. “They’re not an improvement over buses. Buses give you a lot of options. If you’ve got construction Downtown, you can reroute buses. If you’ve got the Hollidazzle parade, you can reroute buses.” He says he worries about light-rail traffic across Nicollet Mall during the parade because of the number of young children in the area.

“I like the romantic notion of a streetcar,” said Annie U’Ren, a 23-year-old student and bookseller, as she waited at the Uptown transit station. U’Ren’s enthusiasm stems in part from experiences in European cities with rail systems that “worked great.” She also thinks streetcars would be more reliable than buses. “I pay an arm and a leg every month to ride the bus, and they’re not always dependable,” she says. “I would just love streetcars.”

“If there was a streetcar, it’d be here already,” said Dennis Stoddard, 56, of South Minneapolis, as he sat waiting for a bus, one finger wrapped up from a doctor’s visit that day. He remembers riding the city’s original streetcars as a kid and, like many others, perceives them as more efficient than buses. “I don’t know if the novelty would wear off, but I think initially people would embrace it.”

“It depends on where they put it. It depends on the capacity and how much they stop,” said ReAnna Robinson, 56, of her interest in streetcars. Still, any investment in public transit in Downtown or Uptown would be helpful, she said. On this day, she’s most interested in a route heading out to St. Louis Park past her home near Lake Calhoun. “It doesn’t run on time,” she said.

“I can’t see what benefit they would have over the current bus system,” said Alex Bolton, a 19-year-old University of Minnesota student, who was absorbed in a book at the Uptown transit station. “I think the bus system works fine enough,” he said. Adding streetcars to an already crowded street like Hennepin could make traffic worse, he said.

“If they run like the light rail, that’d be awesome,” said Diana Harris, 22, of St. Louis Park. The Hiawatha Light Rail line is much more reliable than her number 12 bus route home, she said, which doesn’t run as often as the train. She said she’d be OK with adding more buses instead, though, if it makes the system more dependable at a lower price.

Sue Watkins, who lives in the Stevens Square neighborhood, questioned the necessity of constructing a streetcar system in Minneapolis. “They can’t even keep the libraries open,” she said, waiting to catch a bus home after an afternoon of shopping. “You’ve got the bus already. I don’t see any need.”

Oswald Lopez, 77, of Venezuela, was visiting his daughter in Minnetonka last month and experienced the city’s transit system. “I’m used to seeing transit run on electricity,” Lopez said. As long as designers can make sure streetcars can hold up in Minneapolis weather, they’d be a good investment for their environmental benefits. “You’ve got the tires and you’ve got the contamination in the air. If they do it in Europe, I don’t see why they can’t do it here.”

Jim Vaitkunas of the Minnesota Streetcar Museum said a route connecting Uptown and Downtown would be a good starting point for streetcars. The two activity centers would generate some significant ridership, he guessed. The city should strongly consider dedicating a streetcar lane separate from other traffic. “You’re going to have to dedicate a center lane or eliminate parking. People are kind of used to buses. Buses get out of the way. They pull over to the curb. But people in this day and age are not used to driving and competing with streetcars.” - Dan Haugen, The Downtown Journal

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