United Rail Passenger Alliance

First off, some unfinished business: Amtrak leadership.

We hear from the UTU that the contract of Amtrak’s President Joseph Boardman has been extended to 2013, leaving only the Amtrak Board incomplete for the upcoming year.

The Board is now more populated than at any time since the Clinton administration, but one opening remains. Representation of the West has been less than sparse in recent decades, and somewhat surprisingly comes news that both Senators from the State of California, and 24 of its United States Representatives, noticed this fact and sent a letter to President B. H. Obama, calling for the lone open seat to be filled by a Californian:

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

July 7, 2010

President Barack H. Obama

Dear Mr. President:

We write you today to urge you to consider a qualified individual from California with a clear understanding of the unique California Amtrak system as you make nominations for the remaining vacancy to the Amtrak Board of Directors.  Currently, no states west of Texas are represented on the board.

The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 states that the President shall “try to provide adequate and balanced representation of the major geographic regions of the United States served by Amtrak” when nominating members to the board.  As it stands, no such balanced representation exists.  The lack of geographical diversity on the board is contrary to Amtrak’s authorizing language.

California has the highest Amtrak usage of any state in the country.  In 2009, one in five of Amtrak’s 27 million passengers rode in California.  Three of the top six most traveled routes in Amtrak’s system are in our state.  In addition, California’s Amtrak system has a unique and highly successful partnership with the State, and California is likely to be the first to integrate the needs of high speed rail and Amtrak.  We believe that with seven voting members appointed by the President, at least one individual with expertise in California’s passenger rail system is warranted.

The role of passenger rail is as vital to the West as it is historic.  We urge you to consider Amtrak’s significant presence in California by nominating a qualified Californian to the Board of Directors.  Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

(signatures by the following)

U.S. Senators:  Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer

Members of Congress:  Jane Harman, George Miller, John Garamendi, Henry Waxman, Linda Sanchez, Jackie Speier, Zoe Lofgren, Mike Honda, Adam Schiff, Lois Capps, Jim Costa, Judy Chu, Laura Richardson, Bob Filner, Diane Watson, Brian Bilbray, Ken Calvert, Jerry McNerney, Grace Napolitano, Mike Thompson, Gary Miller, Dennis Cardoza, Lucille Roybal-Allard, and Loretta Sanchez

It is a testament to the many who have created the California rail renaissance that members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are increasingly taking notice.

Whither the Sunset?

Looking eastward, the anticipated Sunset Limited service changes have neither proceeded, nor failed to proceed. The town of Maricopa (in Pinal County, not Maricopa County which contains Phoenix) has protested against a schedule change, on the not unreasonable grounds of public safety. The poorly designed depot there has a platform far too short for the Sunset to stop, so the train will stop once to change crews, move a hundred feet or so, stop for the first sleeper, move again, stop for the coaches, and so on. This can take ten or even twenty minutes, during which time the train blocks the state highway and bisects the town, isolating new homes from the fire department and causing large traffic jams.

The Arizona Rail Passenger Association passed  a resolution in support of daily service, but something needs to be done about Maricopa. Something like finding a way for the train to directly serve America’s fifth largest city of Phoenix, perhaps.

Norfolk Service Planned

Now to the eastern seaboard, where there is excitement in Virginia over a new train which has received state funding. The Commonwealth seeks to create an entirely new route between Norfolk, and Petersburg, just south of Richmond, and on into the Northeast Corridor to Boston. You can read the Executive Summary at the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation site.

Norfolk, the huge military and industrial hub, is part of southeast Virginia’s sprawling Hampton Roads region, which includes major population centers on two sides of the James River and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Included are Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, and Newport News. Any of these cities by themselves are larger than most stops in the Amtrak system. Newport News has always had Amtrak service, including two daily trains today. But, it takes an Amtrak Thruway bus connection to make it across the bridge into Norfolk.

John Lee writes us,

There is much to like about this proposal, but one key flaw.

A piece of railroad track owned by Norfolk Southern, which hasn’t seen passenger service since the 1950s when it was the Norfolk & Western Railway, will again be hosting a daily passenger train. The train will originate in the City of Norfolk, which itself by any passenger rail carrier has not seen service since well before Amtrak.

Norfolk at one time was a major passenger rail hub, especially during World War II when the Navy and other military were the predominant force in the Hampton Roads area. Norfolk had a large, grand station, which included an office tower above the head house. Sadly, that structure, when only about 50 years old, was destroyed in the name of urban renewal for downtown Norfolk in the destructive years of the 1960s, as was the fate of the Pennsylvania Station in New York City.

In the 21st Century, Norfolk is building a new station for new service. But, the flaw in the service being commenced by Virginia and Amtrak is the train will begin in Norfolk, and after stopping about 10 miles out at Bower’s Hill, travel non-stop, first west and then north — right through the highly populated city of Suffolk — to Richmond, the state capital.

Suffolk, a city of 67,000, is eleven miles west of Bower’s Hill but (according to Google Maps) a twenty-five minute drive away. The train also will pass through Windsor (population 3,000), Wakefield (a town of about a thousand, the “Peanut Capital of the World” and home of the famous Virginia Diner), and Waverly (population 2,300) without stopping.

There is an incorrect expectation that potential Suffolk passengers will drive east to take a train west and north. Under the current plan, all the population in the five farm counties – about 100 miles worth – between Suffolk and Richmond which have no other means of transportation other than surface road transportation and a couple small airfields, are ignored.

The two trains to Newport News will continue to operate, and enjoy intermediate stop business at the tourism mecca of Colonial Williamsburg. Petersburg will continue to have service for the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Palmetto, and Carolinean. But, it is again going to be a classic example of “you can’t get there from here” for Norfolk and the surrounding countryside.

Virginia officials are enthusiastic about spending $93 million of Commonwealth  monies to start this service, and it’s a good start. They proclaim a second frequency will soon come, after the first frequency shows its chops, as the new service on the westerly Norfolk Southern line between Lynchburg and the Northeast Corridor has shown. But, the Lynchburg service, which is showing a profit (no state subsidies required since ridership and revenue is much above projections), also has the second frequency provided by the Crescent. The new Norfolk service is only one frequency in the beginning.

As this plan goes forward, and, so far, most of the plan has been sound, will Virginia and Amtrak entertain modifying their plan to allow other areas to provide local stations? Suffolk certainly is large enough to warrant a station, and at least one of the other towns along the route should be considered for a truly regional service.

For decades, people serious about passenger rail have clamored for more than one station stop in major metropolitan areas. In Florida, the Central Florida/Orlando area has four Amtrak stops in less of the geographic area than the new Virginia service, and all of those stops produce good ridership. Yet, just down the track, in Tampa, that huge area, comparable to Hampton Roads, only has two stops, and the rest are serviced by Amtrak Thruway busses. Tampa could easily support at least one more metropolitan area stop in Plant City.

“Build it and they will come” is true to a certain extent. The new Norfolk to Richmond to Boston service is a good start, and it should enjoy decent ridership. But, what is being left on the table? If at least two more stops were added, which would only add to operating costs in a minuscule way (It does cost diesel fuel to stop and restart a train), how much more ridership and revenue would be gained?

This is a state subsidized train, which means Other People’s Money is being used to start the service and maintain the service. When using OPM, it is always best to look at all possible scenarios to make every dollar spent work as hard as possible to create revenue to repay that dollar as quickly as possible.

Next time, we intend to look at Republican U.S. Representative Mac Thornberry’s call to allegedly save $1.2 billion over a decade by axeing Amtrak’s first class service.