1. It’s that time, again. Amtrak has put out the Fall 2009/Winter 2010 national timetable, and these things just keep getting better with every edition. Amtrak’s timetables are one of the few bright spots in the company; each one becomes more user friendly than the previous edition, and the design – which was stagnant for years – shows some zip and imagination.

   Notable are the number of paid advertisements by outside agencies and vendors. These people are obviously interested in the business which can be created by Amtrak’s passengers, and they are reaching them in the most expeditious manner, plus helping reduce the cost of producing the timetables.

   Whoever is creating the timetables needs to keep doing whatever they are doing. It’s working, and working nicely.

2. It’s begun. Yesterday’s San Francisco Business Times reports the California High-Speed Rail Authority is submitting a business plan to state lawmakers increasing the price tag of the California bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco by $9 billion, from $33.6 billion last year to $42.6 billion now.

   Ridership estimates have also fallen, from 51 million riders a year down to 41 million; the Authority says the lower ridership estimate is based on projected higher fares, from $68 to $104, now almost $105 instead.

   The cost increases for construction are due to inflation, more right-of-way purchases, and additional track work required.

   The Authority expects the intrastate project will be funded by $9 billion for 2008′s Proposition 1A approved by California voters, local funding of $4 to $5 billion, private funding of $10 to $12 billion, and you and me as federal taxpayers will kick in $17 to $19 billion over the life of the construction project, which isn’t planned to be completed until 2020, 11 years from now.

3. This will give you an end-of-the year giggle. There is a mini-crisis brewing in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital. Senator Paula Dockery, who lost the battle to defeat SunRail this go round earlier this month is never saying “die.” Her new approach: Ask for all of the e-mails swapped between various government officials, departments heads, etc., relating to SunRail. Senator Dockery has particularly been gunning for the Secretary of the Department of Transportation.

   Here’s the fun part: Florida has very strong sunshine laws governing all public communications, including intra-governmental e-mails. It seems while the legislation was being formed, Florida’s Department of Transportation was in constant contact with CSX, the main beneficiary of the law; CSX is selling its right-of-way and infrastructure to the State of Florida to make SunRail in Central Florida possible.

   Horrors! says Senator Dockery. Florida DOT, as it was crafting legislation, was in contact with CSX, the beneficiary of the legislation. Something crooked must be going on!

   Most likely, it never occurred to Senator Dockery, in all of her vitriol and seeking revenge against CSX and Florida DOT, perhaps, since both parties are going to have to agree to this deal, if the parties communicate while the deal is going on, there will not be a prolonged period at the end for negotiations? Perhaps, if agreements are made incrementally, then upon final drafting of the deal, only signatures will be required instead of more and more negotiations?

   That’s what a reasonable person would think.

   The folks at Florida DOT didn’t help themselves, though, by creating what is now known as “Wafflegate.” It seems the DOT people MAY have wanted to avoid public records disclosure searches by labeling all of their e-mail pertaining to SunRail with the names of breakfast foods.

   Yes, you read that correctly. E-mails traded between DOT officials had subject headers of “pancakes,” and “French toast.” When the initial public records search was made using key words such as “SunRail,” “CSX,” and “commuter rail” the search engines somehow completely ignored “pancakes” and “French toast.”

   So, a tempest in a teapot has come to be. Somebody, drinking the breakfast tea, should have used better judgement in labeling e-mails. A very good commuter rail project is now mired in election year political backbiting and witch hunts because somebody was just being foolish.

4. Does everyone understand the concept of an unfunded mandate? This is what Congress and the federal government frequently do; laws are created everyone must follow, but no money is provided often for the billions of dollars it will cost for private industry or individuals to follow the new law’s mandate.

   Positive Train Control, as mandated for 30 of our nation’s railroads in the Amtrak reauthorization signed last year by President George W. Bush is an unfunded mandate, which the railroad industry estimates will cost $10 billion to comply, says ProgressiveRailraoding.com. The railroads (including Amtrak) will be required to install the monitor-and-control system. Industry benefits on the $10 billion investment are expected to be about $600 million, far, far short of the cost of installation.

   As a result of this, some railroads are looking at their track networks and trying to figure out how much of the networks have to have PTC by the mandated start date. Some railroads, such as CSX, are looking at lightly used main lines, like the Sunset route east of New Orleans into Florida, and making decisions not to upgrade that track, electing instead to move freight trains over a nearly parallel route further to the north, and dropping back into Florida for the gateway at Jacksonville to all of Florida’s peninsula.

   Other Class I railroads are correctly doing the same. With a mandated investment in the billions, and return on investment in the low millions, railroads have to take a rational approach to PTC. No track is being torn up, but routes are being downgraded until the long term business climate looks more favorable.

   This puts Amtrak in a bit of a difficult position. Any route expansions or restorations have to take into account for the first time whether or not PTC infrastructure is in place. If not, the cost of the expansion includes the addition of Positive Train Control on the new track.

   Some TWA readers have wondered what all of this is going to do to Amtrak as it shakily stands today.

   Most likely, the host freight railroads are going to look to Amtrak as much as possible to bear the cost of PTC on their lines, especially on routes which are lightly used for freight movements, but constantly used by Amtrak. Parts of the Southwest Chief route on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway qualify under this condition.

   The freight railroads will look at Amtrak like one of their investment bankers; Amtrak has less controversial access to cash from the federal and state governments than the private railroads. Don’t be surprised sometime in 2010 or soon after for Amtrak to make a large grant request to Congress, perhaps in the hundreds of millions of dollars, solely for the purpose of PTC upgrades along established routes.

   This only makes sense; it was Congress, in its rush to prove its chops after the many fatalities of the Metrolink crash in Southern California earlier in 2008, which said any line carrying passenger trains and certain hazardous freight loads must be PTC equipped if used in regular, scheduled service.

   If Congress believes its own publicity and believes it acted correctly with the Amtrak reauthorization in 2008 which included PTC mandates, then it should have little, if any, problems coming up with the big bucks it’s going to take to fund Positive Train Control.

   Since Congress mandates host railroads MUST handle Amtrak trains, and Congress mandates host railroads MUST offer the safety of PTC, the Congress MUST pay for all of this. It’s one thing to make railroads host passenger trains, it’s entirely another to penalize them with additional expense to create a multi-billion dollar mandate nearly 40 years after Amtrak was created.

5. Here is the latest from Ken Orski at Innovation NewsBriefs. This is Volume 20, Number 24; for further information, consult www.innobriefs.com.
   

   December 12, 2009

   Using the Jobs Stimulus to Reform the Transportation Program

   Writing recently in the National Journal’s Transportation blog, we observed the new Obama-proposed job stimulus might dim the prospects for an early enactment of a long-term surface transportation authorization. “The jobs stimulus,” we wrote, “or rather its infrastructure component, could be the death warrant for any foreseeable reform of the federal surface transportation program.” (“What Have We Learned from the Recovery Act”, December 9, 2009, http://transportation.nationaljournal.com)

   The crowded senate calendar, we reasoned, means congressional action on the second stimulus proposal — or at least its $50-70 billion component dealing with new infrastructure spending — must wait until next year and may not reach the President’s desk until late Spring 2010. With the newly authorized infrastructure funds added to the still unspent $16 billion left over from the Recovery Act (ARRA), federal stimulus spending for transportation projects could stretch well beyond 2010.

   Assuming the job stimulus becomes law, we asked, does any one think Congress would still have any appetite to enact a $500 billion multi-year authorization in 2010, on the eve of a congressional midterm election? Most likely, we concluded, a multi-year authorization would be delayed until 2011and some pessimists think that with a new Congress and an increased emphasis on deficit reduction, an even further slippage could occur. “Is the tradeoff worth it? You decide” we wrote.

   Well, the response is in and it largely supports our point of view. It came in the form of responses from fellow bloggers and in a December 9 Newsweek column by David A. Graham, entitled “Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Could a transportation-based jobs stimulus stymie infrastructure reform?” Wrote Graham: “The stimulus bill would spend tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure but do little to remake a flawed financing and planning system. That’s a missed opportunity, according to some observers, who are concerned a stimulus, while better than nothing, would fall short of its potential by ignoring the issues the surface transport bill aims to address.” The column goes on in a later paragraph to say: “The worry is that by pumping large sums into infrastructure this spring, Congress might kill any appetite for a meaningful overhaul of surface transportation funding any time soon.” It quotes my fellow National Journal Transportation blogger James Corless, director of the liberal Transportation for America coalition as “very concerned.” “We worry greatly,” the column quotes Corless, “that putting tens of billions of dollars into these existing stovepipes is not going to have the intended outcome,” i.e. a true reform of the surface transportation program.

   Meanwhile, the objectives of the proposed second stimulus are becoming more elastic as we speak. At a December 10 Brookings Institution forum on Infrastructure, U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said he sees no reason why some of the infrastructure funds in the stimulus program should not be allowed to be diverted to fund the operating expenses of transit systems which have been hard hit by the economic recession. It’s difficult to see how such a move would help to promote job growth, but then the entire rationale and objectives of the second infrastructure stimulus have been poorly articulated and, not surprisingly, are coming under increased scrutiny.

   Hopefully, by the time Congress is ready to act — most likely, only after the President’s State of the Union address in January — the hemorrhaging of jobs will stop and Congress will be able to shift its focus, as several of my fellow bloggers suggested, from “ready-to-go” maintenance projects (which seem more effective at preserving existing jobs than at creating new jobs) to a longer lasting goal of investing in infrastructure projects that improve national connectivity, increase metropolitan accessibility and enhance economic growth. Such action would make it less urgent to enact a multi-year transportation bill, whose prospects of passage in 2010, we still believe, are anything but certain.

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1. Finally, at last, after waiting oh, so very long (Too long, in fact.), SunRail, the 61 mile long commuter rail system in Central Florida serving the Metropolitan Orlando area is about to be a reality.

   Just hours ago, the Florida Senate, meeting in a special session, passed HR 1, a bill to create SunRail and to also permanently fund South Florida’s Tri-Rail system.

   Life is good.

   SunRail had failed twice before in the Florida Senate, two years in a row in the legislature’s regular annual sessions. The Florida House each time overwhelmingly passed the proposal, but a spiteful state Senator from the small city of Lakeland, Senator Paula Dockery, did her best to kill SunRail because she was mad her husband’s original, too-expensive, ill-advised bullet train scheme was made to go away by former Governor Jeb Bush almost a decade ago.

   In a rare change of places in politics, the Republicans were pushing for SunRail, and the Democrats were mostly against it. Senator Dockery, who is now running for governor in next year’s state elections, is also a Republican.

   Overall, SunRail had bipartisan support on many fronts, but the trial lawyers were originally against it because the original bill protected CSX, which is selling the track and infrastructure to the State of Florida for hundreds of millions of dollars wanted reasonable risk protection for any freight trains it would continue to run in off-hours when SunRail wasn’t running between Deland, a far northern suburb of Orlando in Volusia County (near Daytona Beach), through the heart of downtown Orlando via Sanford (home of Auto Train’s southern terminus), Casselberry, Longwood, and Winter Park all the way down to Poinciana, to the southwest of Orlando, near the theme park area of Orlando (Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Studios).

   There was a fuss by the unions, who claimed the Republican-ruled State of Florida government was union-busting. At the last moment, they came to an agreement through some sort of backroom deal, and the unions relented and allowed the Democrats to vote for SunRail.

   But, mostly, for the first two years, SunRail failed because of one Senator, Paula Dockery. She used every piece of disinformation and distortion she could find to kill SunRail out of spite, and she cut deals with as many other senators as she could on unrelated topics to buy their votes in her favor. It took the untimely death of a longtime Senator from here in Jacksonville, who supported the concept of SunRail, but voted against it due to a deal cut with Senator Dockery, for the bill to finally pass. The dearly departed Senator’s elected replacement was one of the chief paid lobbyists for SunRail the previous year, so his vote was an automatic “yes.”

   In the end, it all came down to politics and perception. SunRail was touted as a job creator (no doubt about that), and it was touted as a budget buster, taking money out of the mouths of babes and education opportunities away from school children, not to mention all of the alleged hospitals and clinics which wouldn’t be built because of the cost of SunRail.

   It was only when the Republican majority in the Florida Senate realized it wouldn’t be prudent to go against the Republican President of the Senate and the Republican Governor that some sense came into focus.

   In the mean time, United States Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood came to Florida earlier this year and made it very, very clear if SunRail was not approved, and a funding source found for Tri-Rail, then Florida would be completely out of the running for any federal stimulus funds to build the proposed high speed rail routes in Florida. Added to Secretary LaHood’s admonishment were similar dire warnings from Republican Senator George LeMieux and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson (of NASA and space travel fame), as well as a varied assortment of Members of Congress.

   So, no matter how good the plan, how good the plan is for the citizens of Florida and Central Florida’s tens of millions of annual visitors from around the world, it all came down to a few votes and a lot of political pressure.

   Is that any way to run a railroad?

2. Here is who will benefit from the SunRail/Tri-Rail bill:
   • The majority of SunRail will run fairly parallel to Interstate 4, the main highway through the very middle of downtown Orlando. Interstate 4 is best described as a slow moving parking lot any time between 7:00 A.M. and about 8:00 P.M., and if there is a wreck, well, don’t plan on being home for dinner on time.

     As with all commuter rail systems, the sudden appearance of commuter trains will do nothing to alleviate traffic congestion; you couldn’t run enough trains with a two minute headway on a triple track mainline to take care of Central Florida’s driving problems. The benefit of SunRail is it will provide a reasonably priced, reasonable time alternative to driving on Interstate and surface roads, so almost every commuter in and out of downtown Orlando or commuters traveling from one side of Metropolitan Orlando to another will have the opportunity to take the train and possibly benefit.

   • The Orange Blossom Expressway, a second proposed commuter rail system in Central Florida will also benefit. This much smaller system will connect in downtown Orlando with SunRail, coming from far suburban counties to the north of Orlando. This system will travel over rails currently owned by a short line railroad. The start of SunRail could prompt this feeder system to get off the ground faster.
   • Everyone in the engineering and related fields, plus many in the construction industry will benefit, almost immediately.

     SunRail is probably one of the projects which is actually “shovel ready” and will have a relatively short construction window before beginning service. The current CSX infrastructure is excellent, and it won’t take much to upgrade what is already there to make it commuter-system ready. There will be some double tracking required, and the construction of local stations will take place, but none of those are years-long projects, especially with the year-round, construction friendly warm climate of Central Florida.

   • CSX will hugely benefit; it’s selling 61 miles worth of infrastructure it currently pays taxes on to the State of Florida for over $400 million, and it still gets to run as many freight trains as it wants over the tracks in off hours for – are you ready for this? – $1.00 a year. (Yes, one dollar.)

     Additionally, CSX gets more tens of millions of dollars to upgrade the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad main line through Ocala to divert trains from the former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad main line through Orlando it is selling to the State of Florida for SunRail. The money for diverting the traffic will go to more infrastructure improvements on the old SAL line such as grade crossings, more sidings, better signaling, and the construction of several highway and road overpasses in congested areas.

     CSX will also build a brand new Intermodal facility southwest of Orlando in Polk County, abandoning its older, smaller, more expensive to operate facility in Orlando that is currently on the SunRail route. The upgraded CSX/SAL line via Ocala will handle the diverted traffic from Orlando and the old Intermodal facility and take it all to the new facility.

   • Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties, the host counties of Tri-Rail, will all benefit from this legislation. In lieu of the desired $2.00 per day surcharge (A nice synonym for “tax”) on rental cars in each of the three counties, excess state transportation funds will be used for Tri-Rail. Each of the three counties will still contribute to Tri-Rail finances on an annual basis, but the three counties will not be solely responsible for funding the commuter rail system.

     This will also most likely clear the way for a huge expansion of Tri-Rail into a “Y” shaped system. The former inland SAL main line Tri-Rail now calls home parallels – in some cases just by a matter of city blocks – the current main line of the Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC), a private subsidiary of RailAmerica, based here in Jacksovnille. The FEC for years has been hoping for a similar deal CSX received over two decades ago to sell its track and infrastructure to an expanded Tri-Rail system, while retaining similar rights as CSX has to run over Tri-Rail in off hours.

     As with CSX, the FEC would be relieved of the tax burden of ownership and the costs of maintenance and insurance on about 75 or so miles of very expensive, urban track and infrastructure if Tri-Rail buys its line from the north of West Palm Beach (Around Jupiter, Florida.), south all the way into downtown Miami.

     Since Henry Flagler and the FEC in the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries were the original builders of all of the East Coast of Florida south of St. Augustine for all practical purposes, the FEC line has a superior route through the middle of downtowns and urban areas than the old SAL line which was not completed into South Florida until the Florida Land Boom in the 1920s. The FEC had all of the downtowns and track which hugged the South Florida beaches, and the Seaboard was forced to build further to the west in the suburbs and swamplands on the edge of the Florida Everglades south of West Palm Beach where the line swung east from its route through Winter Haven, Sebring, and skirting Lake Okeechobee.

     Tri-Rail plans to keep its current system, and add trackage to the north and south of West Palm Beach on the FEC. This is the same trackage which is part of Amtrak’s high speed rail proposal for Florida, vying for part of the $8 billion in stimulus money to be awarded later this Winter.

   • Every other proposed commuter rail system in the country will benefit from the passage of the SunRail bill because from the beginning, the bill has been a model of rational, reasonable planning, with no pie-in-the-sky ridership figures, too-conservative costs, or too-extravagant revenue figures. SunRail was conceived and planned using real world numbers and real world expectations. Like the Northstar system in Minneapolis, and the Trinity system in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, SunRail most likely will exceed expectations on opening day.

     The deal struck with CSX, similar to the deal the Commonwealth of Massachusetts struck with CSX to expand its state commuter system outside of Boston, most likely will become a model for all future deals with CSX, which is good. CSX will receive huge benefits from the deal, which is to be expected as CSX acts on behalf of its shareholders. While CSX will benefit, the public will also benefit in any number of ways, not the least of which is access to private railroad infrastructure CSX has no duty to share with anyone else it doesn’t choose to do business with on any particular day. But, both the SunRail and Massachusetts projects demonstrate how everyone can win, and life goes on with everyone benefitting.

   • Amtrak will greatly benefit from SunRail; it will have the benefit of the upgraded infrastructure necessary for SunRail, plus the upgraded shared station facilities, and more friendly dispatching since there will be very little freight train activity south of Jacksonville (Where ALL freight trains came into Florida to be funneled south into Florida’s peninsula) on the former ACL line/now SunRail line for 61 miles in Central Florida. For about 210 miles from Jacksonville to the Auburndale cutoff where Amtrak trains turn from the former ACL line onto the former SAL line for the run into Miami, Amtrak trains should have a mostly clear shot of clean dispatching with very little freight train interference. This could lead to a shortening of Florida schedules since the northbound Silver Meteor and Silver usually arrive into Jacksonville ahead of schedule.

     Another benefit to Amtrak will be a heightened awareness of passenger rail travel by the commuters on SunRail; passenger-train-aware people are more likely to be receptive to long distance train travel. Hopefully, Amtrak will make the most of this by heavily promoting Amtrak trains at commuter stations.

   • U.S. Railcar, which is now the proud owner of the former Colorado Railcar designs for both single and bi-level commuter trains should benefit greatly from today’s vote. The original plan, when Colorado Railcar was still a viable company, called for that company’s DMUs to provide all of the motive power and consists for SunRail, and it’s highly likely any expansion of Tri-Rail in South Florida will also use these same DMUs which have undergone field tests on Tri-Rail in the past few years. Perhaps this will help U.S. Railcar with its request for a federal grant to construct a factory in Ohio to build these self-propelled railcars.
   • Transportation planners in Jacksonville to the northeast of Central Florida, and in the Tampa Bay area to the southwest of Central Florida have won a major victory. In addition to the creation of SunRail and the funding of Tri-Rail, the enabling legislation also creates two new state programs to deal with all present and future commuter rail systems in Florida. As far as state government is concerned, commuter rail in Florida “has arrived.”
   • Real estate developers and entrepreneurs will benefit greatly. Even though Central Florida is very densely built-out and populated, look to new mixed use housing and retail and office developments to spring up within walking distance (Even in the Florida heat and rain in the Summer.) of the new SunRail stations.
3. Here is who will not benefit from the SunRail/Tri-Rail bill:
   • Anyone who intentionally buys or builds a home near an existing railroad track which has been in place since the late 19^th Century. The NIMBYs lost; the train tracks which were built to handle traffic will continue to do so, and those opposed to trains will have to find a life elsewhere.
   • The anti-rail talking heads who make careers out of making arguments which are usually a couple of French fries short of a Happy Meal against commuter rail and any other type of rail. Often, what’s old is new, and commuter rail is making a comeback in this country and will have a happy life alongside the automobile and sport utility vehicles of the world. While the return on investment in SunRail and Tri-Rail may not happen in exactly the same way or following the same formula which works for building more and more roads and highways, the ROI on commuter rail has a proven record of success beyond the tired “green” and “sustainability” arguments which are – by themselves – no complete arguments at all for huge projects such as commuter rail.
   • Asphalt and concrete manufacturers. Instead of laying literally miles and miles of asphalt and concrete on new roads, these folks will have to settle for acres of new asphalt and concrete on new commuter rail station parking lots and access roads.
4. As a final note, we should examine Amtrak’s role in all of this. Some had suggested in order to go around various liability questions with CSX and other issues before this bill was passed Amtrak should simply be the operator or SunRail, and many of those issues would go away.

   Amtrak is consistently the most expensive commuter system operator in the country, with a less than stellar record (See the immediate previous issue of TWA to this issue and the discussion of Amtrak’s failures in California operating the Pacific Surfliner service on behalf of California.).

   Here is something to think about: If Amtrak were no longer America’s best kept secret, and the company promoted itself like any other American company, more Americans would know of and understand passenger rail.

   Reading the online news articles about SunRail and the accompanying idiotic, knee-jerk reactions to SunRail by uninformed readers was a tragic exercise. It appears a certain element of our society absolutely hates anything to do with passenger rail, and think it should be consigned to museums and Third World countries. These people have no idea, nor rational concept of the many economic and social benefits of passenger rail. Many of these people would rather give up their firstborn child than their automobiles.

   There is nothing wrong with choice, just as there is nothing wrong with someone choosing to only travel in their personal vehicle. That’s the kind of choice we take for granted in this country, and we cherish to right to make that choice.

   But, while keeping that same right to choose, we should not be taking away the rights of others who choose to travel by a means other than a personal vehicle.

   Amtrak carries two tenths of one percent of America’s travelers, which is hardly a blip on anyone’s screen. Amtrak is – and remains – statistically irrelevant to American transportation.

   If Amtrak chose to be a healthy, relevant passenger carrier, then many of the arguments made against SunRail out of ignorance simply would not have added anything beyond puffs of hot air to the discussion. That was not the case, however; SunRail failed twice because no one knew how to make a rational argument for passenger rail against a determined foe, because no one knows about passenger rail.

   That is something Amtrak can do something about; it can stop being statistically irrelevant, and create a vision for the future which includes conventional passenger rail as part of our domestic transportation network. Until that happens, more prospective commuter rail systems are going to be delayed or shot down in flames because no one can talk intelligently about the sins and virtues of passenger rail in America.

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see also: (Wikipedia)SunRail, Orange Blossom Expressway

1. The folks on the Loonie Right – you know the type, they drive the BIG Hummer, not the wimpy small version, don’t care much about the cost of gas, and keep a hunting rifle handy in case while they’re driving home from work they want to shoot Bambi for dinner – are adamantly opposed to high speed rail, transit, and any type of transportation other than the automobile, pickup truck, or SUVs.

   Then, there are the folks on the Loonie Left – you know the type, they hate automobiles, demand walking paths everywhere, want the price of gas to be taxed through the roof, adore the use of transit, no matter how inconvenient, and want everyone on the subway to join in singing a few choruses of Kumbaya between station stops after they have led a scintillating group discussion on the myriad benefits of herbal tea – who always know what’s best for everyone, and think the higher and more confiscatory taxes are, the better.

   A survey of talking heads, columnists, allegedly learned academicians, and experts on various types of transportation produces such extremes in opinions it’s difficult to find any common ground.

   As high speed rail and expanding transit has been discussed this year, conservatives, citing the same statistics over and over and over, demand no money be spent for high speed rail or transit because more money is needed for roads and air travel. These folks cite the absolute, complete freedom of personal vehicle travel, such as the ability to leave and arrive at will, total control over stops and route, and choice of speed. They go on to cite airline statistics, and repeatedly say Americans only want to drive or fly; who has time for other types of what they call wasteful and expensive surface transportation?

   Coming from the liberals, who apparently must swear they adore transit in order to receive their cherished government identification papers, is the argument to build! build! build!, sparing no expense or higher taxes to put new transit and high speed systems in place, hoping someone will want to ride them. Never mind the ongoing costs of operations or maintenance, just build the systems so we can save the planet.

   Ugh.

   Here’s a reality check. As said in this space many times before, not every rail project is perfect, and any rail projects which are ultimately built must be of the highest quality and have the best chance for success so other projects may follow without controversy.

   For all of us who live in suburbia, and plan to stay in suburbia, don’t force us to do anything against our will, no matter how smart you think you are, and how much you just know it’s for our own good, so it must be the right thing to do.

   Instead, provide us reasonable options.

   Now, is that so hard?

   Let’s talk about Amtrak, our favorite monopoly common carrier. One tenth of one percent is Amtrak’s market share of domestic transportation output. Less than 29 million people a year climb aboard an Amtrak train of any description, and since the same person is counted twice for round trips and repeat riders, the actual number of Americans riding Amtrak is significantly smaller, probably in the range of 10 million or so.

   Yet, we know it’s important to have a balanced mix of transportation options in our domestic network. Passenger rail is an important part of that mix, and it should grow in an orderly and financially responsible manner.

   Let’s talk about SunRail in Central Florida, the proposed commuter rail system from the Northeast of Orlando to the Southwest of Orlando’s metropolitan area. Much of the proposed system will parallel Interstate 4, which runs from Daytona Beach on the Right Coast of Florida to Tampa on the Left Coast of Florida, and goes through the middle of downtown Orlando. Interstate 4, which most of time if it isn’t 3 A.M., resembles a long, long parking lot, is about to be expanded – yet, again. It already seems it’s a few dozen lanes wide at some points, but, hey, they want to make it wider.

   With the way Central Florida will continue to grow after this pesky recession abates, a larger I-4 will only be a larger parking lot unless it’s 3 A.M.

   Will SunRail stop that from happening? Most definitely not. Maybe, if Sunrail has three minute headways all day, and 10 car trains, it may make a trifling dent in I-4 congestion. But, it won’t. Instead, SunRail will offer a reasonable rush hour schedule with convenient schedules other parts of the day.

   But, what SunRail will accomplish (As Tri-Rail in South Florida, running parallel to Interstate 95 already does.) is offer a reasonable choice for those commuting from one point on the SunRail route to another.

   If you want to creep along on I-4, you can do that. If you want to zip along on SunRail, you will be able to do that, too, if the Florida legislature ever approves the project.

   The few hundred million dollars cost of SunRail compared to the cost of expanding I-4 is a reasonable investment. SunRail, because of a number of factors, has a good chance of financial success, so bloated predictions of budget-busting operating costs are scare tactics.

   Back to Amtrak, and making the case for an expanded Amtrak, including a healthy long distance system instead of the anemic and embarrassing skeletal system Amtrak boasts today.

   If Amtrak had the will – and, don’t even start the baloney about never having enough money, because that just isn’t true – it could find ways to partner with its host railroads to expand the long distance system (See the three press releases press release below.). Equipment costs too high? Nah, lease it. New station costs too high? Nah, let local governments, using Amtrak specifications, provide depots and stations. Operating costs too high? Nah, not if the service is priced honestly and marketed properly.

   Some Amtrak True Believers believe it should be a social program, with low cost transportation for all. Why is that? Amtrak isn’t some sort of museum or monument, or public beach – it’s a passenger railroad, tasked with moving people from one city to another in an efficient manner. Nobody said it has to be a welfare program like most transit systems think of themselves. Nobody is going to be penalized by not being able to get to work on Amtrak if a fair fare is charged for transportation; we’re talking about Amtrak’s true mission of long distance, intercity travel, not commuter rail.

   But, more True Believers wail, nobody will ride Amtrak if it’s priced too high. It’s too slow, it’s too shabby, it’s too non-cool to be competitive, so it has to be priced low to attract riders.

   Such uninformed piffle.

   Amtrak boasts it is the largest single passenger carrier in the Northeast between Washington and New York City. Okay, if Amtrak is as smart as it claims to be and can achieve that goal, why can’t it be smart enough to expand in the rest of the country?

   If you were the CEO of Amtrak, would you be boasting to your CEO buddies “Hey! My company commands one tenth of one percent of domestic transportation output, which is significantly lower than motorcycle riders!”?

   But, again, you wail, “All it takes is more money for poor, starved, emaciated Amtrak!”

   And, again, no, it doesn’t.

   What it takes is a refocusing, and a rededication to Amtrak’s core purpose of providing a national passenger rail system, not just a loose combination of distinct corridors with little connectivity.

   In reality, probably a refocusing of less than $100 million would be required to beef up ridership in the national system, using existing routes and trainsets. What would happen? A new wave of riders – many for the first time discovering America’s best kept secret, Amtrak – dropping money for fares into Amtrak’s coffers which would quickly replace that spent $100 million or less for sales and marketing.

   Is that so hard?

   How much vision does that take?

   How much initiative does that take?

   How much reality is Amtrak willing to absorb?

   Or, will Amtrak just continue on its slovenly way, happy to eat slops at the United States Treasury trough instead of even attempting to become somewhere close to self-sufficient?

2. If you have any reservations whatsoever about Amtrak not getting into the swing of things and not realizing what is happening in the railroad world around it, read this press release from the Association of American Railroads. The world of passenger railroading – whether it’s conventional or high speed – is very quickly changing.
   

   Freight Railroads Join Midwest Governors in Planning for High-Speed Rail

   Joint Rail Efforts Should Complement, Not Compromise Freight Rail’s Future

   Washington, D.C., July 27, 2009 – Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger today said the national rail network is critical to meeting the mobility needs of the 21 century. Speaking before the Midwest High-Speed Rail Summit in Chicago, Hamberger said striking the right balance between passenger and freight rail expansion is key to the success of high-speed rail in America.

   “America’s freight railroads support the goal of increased passenger rail investment,” Hamberger said. “It’s good for our economy and the environment when more people and goods move faster by rail.”

   He pointed out that the country’s privately owned freight rail network is the literal foundation for high speed rail in America. Railroads account for 43 percent of intercity freight volume — more than any other mode of transportation.

   “We are critical stakeholders that need to be engaged from the very beginning of project planning and development. Passenger and freight efforts to grow and expand must complement, not compromise one another,” Hamberger said.

   Governors that participated in the summit were Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn, Iowa Governor Chester Culver, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Missouri Governor Jeremiah Nixon, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle.

   Hamberger noted that each high-speed rail project needs to be examined and assessed based on its own merits, taking into account several important factors – including volume of freight traffic, terrain, number of grade crossings, and track configuration. These issues will help determine the feasibility of operating high speed passenger trains on the freight rail network. In addition, Hamberger emphasized that agreements addressing liability, compensation and increased maintenance need to be approved prior to project planning and development.

   # # #

   Editors’ Note: The Association of American Railroads is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association whose members include the major freight railroads, or Class I railroads, of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as well as Amtrak. Class I railroads represent 67 percent of the U.S. freight rail mileage and 90 percent of freight railroad industry employees. Railroads account for 43 percent of intercity freight volume — more than any other mode of transportation. To learn more about how freight rail works for America, the environment and for you, please visit: www.freightrailworks.org.

3. Now, take a look at these two press releases from Norfolk Southern; CSX is mirroring NS and saying much the same thing.
   

   July 20, 2009

   Rail Can Help Relieve Highway Congestion Crisis, Norfolk Southern CEO Tells Nation’s Governors

   NORFOLK, VA – Wick Moorman, CEO of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC), called on the nation’s governors Saturday to consider railroads as “a vital part of the solution to our nation’s transportation crisis.”

   Addressing the National Governors Association at Biloxi, Miss., Moorman said “railroads offer significant economic and environmental benefits while helping relieve highway congestion – which is fast becoming public enemy number one.”

   Our nation’s transportation network is a complex, interdependent system that demands our combined creative efforts to operate it most efficiently,” Moorman said. “Our experience at Norfolk Southern has shown that by working together in public-private partnerships, we can achieve far more in far less time and with far greater public benefits than any of us can by working alone.”

   Moorman cited two rail routes – the Heartland Corridor between the Port of Virginia and Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago, and the Crescent Corridor linking New Jersey to New Orleans and Memphis, Tenn. – as examples of how public-private partnerships “can create additional capacity in our rail transportation network, with public benefits of jobs creation, less highway congestion, lower environmental emissions, and fuel savings.” He said the Crescent Corridor project alone will result in 41,000 “green” jobs over the next decade and move more than a million trucks annually off the highways onto rail, saving more than 150 million gallons of fuel every year and reducing carbon emissions by nearly two million tons per year.

   “It’s clear we must do something,” Moorman said. “Freight volumes in this country are projected to grow 88 percent by 2035 alone. To handle that freight, we must improve our national transportation infrastructure.”

   Norfolk Southern Corporation is a leading North American transportation provider. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products.

   Norfolk Southern Corporation | http://www.nscorp.com

   July 23, 2009

   Norfolk Southern CEO Says Tax Incentives for Rail Capacity will Generate Economic Benefits, Create Jobs

   NORFOLK, VA. – Tax incentives to expand freight rail capacity would “make sense for America,” generating $1 billion in economic benefits and 20,000 green jobs, Norfolk Southern Corporation CEO Wick Moorman said today on Capitol Hill.

   “America needs more transportation capacity and needs it now,” Moorman said on behalf of the Association of American Railroads during testimony to a U.S. House subcommittee. Noting that today’s transportation network is not designed to handle the doubling in freight demand projected by 2035, Moorman said, “Railroads are the most affordable and environmentally responsible way to meet this demand, and that is why tax incentives for rail capacity would be good public policy.”

   Railroads have spent record amounts reinvesting in their own networks even during the economic downturn, Moorman said – a record $10.2 billion in capital improvements last year alone. “Since 1980, railroads have spent more than 40 percent of their revenues – some $440 billion – to maintain, improve, and expand their networks.

   “Yet as much as railroads are investing, it isn’t enough to meet projected demand,” he said. A recent study found a $52 billion gap between the $148 billion needed for expanding freight rail capacity and the $96 billion railroads can expect to generate. Tax incentives “provide a sensible way to help bridge this gap,” Moorman said.

   In addition to creating economic stimulus and jobs, public benefits would include reductions in fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and highway congestion, as railroads are more fuel efficient than trucks, and a single train can haul as much freight as 280 or more trucks, Moorman said.

   “Numerous states are partnering with us,” Moorman said. “Thanks to the leadership of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, and others, we are already investing to expand our system to meet the looming demands of moving our nation’s commerce. Congress should bolster these efforts by enacting tax credit legislation to encourage additional freight rail investment,” he said.

   “America today has the best freight rail network in the world. Still, it is clear that rail capacity must increase as the economy and population expand in the years ahead. Tax incentives provide one way to ensure that happens,” Moorman said.

   Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is a leading North American transportation provider. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products.

   Norfolk Southern Corporation | http://www.nscorp.com

   Why is this important? Because, as private railroads are warming to the idea of government help on infrastructure for freight movement, you can bet the mortgage money government strings will come attached to that help, most likely in the way the government will require any expansion plans to include capacity for passenger trains, either at conventional speeds or high speeds.

   So, again, the question: Will Amtrak have the vision and be capable of handling this type of expansion? Or, will it be just another wasted opportunity on the part of Amtrak?

4. The comments keep floating into This Week at Amtrak about the horribly flawed Gulf Coast Report on restoration of service east of New Orleans. Here’s the latest comment.
   

   Re: Former IG Fred Weiderhold

   AMTRAK = Always Managing To Remove Anyone Knowledgeable

   I like to “have fun” with acronyms.

   Anyway, welcome to August, 2009, the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille. Imagine SCL–L&N using Camille as an excuse to discontinue the Gulf Wind! Hell, the ICC and state PUC’s would have attacked SCL like a swarm of killer bees!

5. And, there was one gentleman who sent this comment.
   

   Here is a SMART [The ad hoc private group working to restore the Sunset east of New Orleans and make it a daily train] recommendation draft currently in circulation:

   “There is one configuration that would appear to keep everybody happy and also have the potential for the most ticket sales. It is a Double Y Concept. The eastbound Sunset Limited from Los Angeles to Florida would continue to drop a sleeper and a coach in San Antonio for routing to Chicago on the Texas Eagle (the first Y). Later it would pick up another sleeper and coach in New Orleans coming in from Chicago on the City of New Orleans (the second Y) and carry them on to Florida. Westbound would reverse the procedure.

   “This gives Amtrak the opportunity to sell through tickets to and from Florida to both Chicago and Los Angeles. It vastly extends the ticketing routes of both the Sunset Limited and the City of New Orleans.

   “This solution provides a backbone for national coverage to a large part of the nation, including the second, third, and fourth largest cities in the United States. It covers all of the south and much of the central part of the country. Regional trains can easily connect into this backbone at many locations. All of Amtrak’s “options” are covered.

   – Dan Pugh

6. Former Amtrak Chairman of the Board John Robert Smith has found a new vocation.
   

   John Robert Smith Named Reconnecting America President And CEO

   Four-term Meridian, Miss., mayor recognized for initiatives to promote sustainability, affordability, livability

   Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Mississippi, has been named President and CEO of the national nonprofit Reconnecting America. He has served on Reconnecting America’s board for five years, and was a founding partner and board member of Reconnecting America’s predecessor organization, the Great American Station Foundation, voting to expand its mission and change its name in 2004.

   Smith will replace Shelley Poticha, who has been appointed Senior Advisor for Sustainable Communities at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she will advise Deputy Administrator Ron Sims and help facilitate the interagency partnership of HUD, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

   John Robert Smith was elected mayor of Meridian in 1993 and was re-elected three times before deciding this year not to seek re-election to a fifth term. He has been an active member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and has served Amtrak as both Chairman and as Board member.

   Mayor Smith was an early practitioner of transit-oriented development, having successfully renovated Meridian’s historic downtown train station, a project that helped leverage the revitalization of Meridian’s downtown. That experience made him a passionate advocate for the power of station renovation projects to link transportation and community revitalization. He has also been recognized in local, state and national arenas for his initiatives to promote sustainability, affordability and livability.

   “John Robert Smith brings real-world hands-on experience to the work that Reconnecting America does. He has initiated and managed the kind of projects that Reconnecting America has long advocated,” said Reconnecting America Board President Janette Sadik-Khan, Transportation Commissioner of the City of New York. “He understands how transit-oriented development can breathe new life into communities and help generate lasting public and private returns.”

   While in office Mayor Smith oversaw a number of development projects to boost investment in Meridian’s downtown and several declining inner-city neighborhoods, including the redevelopment of the historic Union Station, the construction of a new performing arts center and restoration of the Grand Opera House, and the development of a HOPE VI mixed-income housing project. He has been a longtime advocate for the performing arts and raised significant arts funding for Meridian. He also built a coalition that was successful in restoring daily Amtrak service from Atlanta to New Orleans, and has been an influential advocate at the national level for investing in and improving the national passenger rail system.

   “I have been involved in transportation on a national level for many years, due to my passion for inner-city and urban revitalization,” Mayor Smith said. “With the next-generation transportation bill being crafted by Congress now, it is vital that the voices of those who believe in a connected, multi-modal approach to transportation are heard. Transportation touches every aspect of life in cities of all sizes and I am looking forward to working with our nation’s leaders at all levels to incorporate smart urban planning and connections to people across the United States.”

   Reconnecting America provides an impartial, fact-based perspective on development-oriented transit and transit-oriented development, and seeks to reinvent the planning and delivery system for building regions and communities around transit and walking rather than solely around the automobile. Reconnecting America manages the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, the only national nonprofit effort funded by Congress to promote best practices in transit-oriented development.

   Reconnecting America’s main office is in Oakland, California, and you can visit its web site at www.reconnectingamerica.org .

7. In the last issue of This Week at Amtrak we discussed Amtrak’s RFP for 130 Viewliner 2 single level passenger cars, of which approximately 25 are to be sleeping cars. Since that TWA was published, the Russians have announced they are purchasing 200 new sleeping cars for their trains, which will be compatible with most other systems in Europe through a changeable system to accommodate different track standards.

   It’s also notable since the last TWA the federal government has rushed – without debate – to put an additional $2 billion in place for the cash for clunkers automobile replacement program.

   When will Amtrak allow itself grow and be at a point of prosperity so it can be at the point of saying it needs a quick $2 billion without extended debate?

8. Even Trains Magazine, normally a blindly compliant cheerleading magazine for Amtrak is beginning to question why Amtrak seems adrift these days. In the just-out September issue, author Bob Johnston has a major article entitled “Amtrak, time to claim your destiny.” The subhead of the article is, “With an infusion of stimulus money and a new authorization, can America’s passenger railroad ‘be all it can be?’ Here are six things Amtrak can do immediately to capture more riders and chart its own future”

   Particularly interesting is Mr. Johnston’s suggestion for Amtrak managers and members of the board of directors to experience the rigors of overnight coach travel.

   The refreshing article is a good read. It appears Mr. Johnston and Trains Magazine are as anxious as the rest of us about the future of Amtrak unless it makes major changes in its corporate culture.

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1. It’s the “little things” that often start the biggest stories. Progressive Railroading Online featured a story on May 19th about Amtrak launching construction on the much-needed new Auto Train station in Sanford, Florida. The story went on for four paragraphs talking about this new $10 million facility being paid for with federal stimulus fund monies.

   It was the last line in the last paragraph which really matters the most. “Amtrak plans to seek other places throughout the country where it can launch other Auto Train services.”

   Wow.

   Auto Train, in concept and operation, has consistently been a winner, and has huge potential. Apparently, now that Amtrak is out of full-retreat mode, it thinks so, too.

   Today’s Auto Train, with daily service between the Washington, D.C. suburb of Lorton, Virginia, and the Orlando suburb of Sanford, has a “cost recovery” ratio at the farebox of 121%, in Amspeak. In the real world, it makes a profit. The current load factor for the Auto Train is 63.6%, up from 50% where it was for years. Considering this train has no intermediate stops, 63.6% makes this train – even though it is (gasp!) profitable – underperforming. Mostly this is due to seasonal migration of cold-weather states denizens and Canadians coming to the warmth of Florida, or those same people escaping our intolerable heat and humidity of the summer for the cooling breezes of northern climates.

   Yes, we need more of this, and good for Amtrak to be looking for other route opportunities.

2. The saga of SunRail in Central Florida continues, with its supporters racing to a deadline of June 30, 2009 with CSX to close the deal, even though the Florida Senate would not vote to approve the deal week in early May. SunRail supporters are looking for a way around the Florida Senate to get the project going. This should be an interesting exercise in government creativity. Despite the fact every leftie in and out of Florida wanted to paint CSX – the current owner of the tracks SunRail will hopefully travel upon after the tracks are sold to SunRail – as evil, money-grubbing, anti-American, anti-human, anti-everything, no rational person can blame CSX for looking for an outcome that will best benefit the company and its shareholders. Everyone seems to forget railroads are not public utilities, but private businesses which have a primary responsibility to create benefits and profits for owners. Anyone who believes CSX should not live up to that responsibility in the best way it can is living in a dreamland.

   But, now, some thoughts on Amtrak and some opportunities to prove it’s really an organization dedicated to the proliferation of passenger rail and being an honest provider of transportation, not just dedicated to extracting maximum rents from gullible public agencies.

3. For an exercise, suppose you are a planner in Amtrak’s planning department. Suppose your goal was to harvest the low hanging fruit of opportunities, where passenger train service could be expanded with minimum impact on the need for additional equipment, the establishment of new stations, or blazing new trails, but “closing gaps” in the national system and expansion based on sound matrix theories. What are your obvious choices?

   That question has a number of good answers, but we’re going to focus on several easy choices, including extending the Palmetto south from Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida; pushing the former Kansas City Mule/current Missouri River Runner services to Omaha, Nebraska; extending the California Zephyr from Emeryville, California to Los Angeles, taking the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Crescent to Boston; extending the Capitol Limited to Florida; and turning the pretty-much wasted Heartland Flyer into a real route, extending it on both ends to form a Chicago-Oklahoma City-Fort Worth-San Antonio route.

4. In the 1980s, at the instigation of United Rail Passenger Alliance, the Amtrak Board of Directors granted an experimental program extending the New York-Savannah Palmetto route to Jacksonville, Florida, an additional 148 miles that includes the route of the Silver Meteor and Silver Star. Ostensibly, the Palmetto hauled some U.S. Mail, but the extension mostly benefitted passengers.

   Originally, the Amtrak planning department opposed the move, saying the only traffic which would be picked up by an extended Palmetto was local traffic between Jacksonville and Savannah, never taking into account the realities of extra frequencies and how much of a traffic generator going from two trains a day to three trains a day produces. The extension started off with a bang, and much to the dismay of Amtrak planners, Jacksonville passengers wanted to go other places than just Jesup, Georgia or Savannah, they wanted to travel to every station along the route, even all the way to New York City! The extension did well for a period of time, and then came the realignment of Florida service, and the Palmetto was extended to Tampa, and given a new name, the Silver Palm. Despite a number of changes, the train continued to do well for over a decade, until yet another realignment and cuts, including the end of Amtrak Express and mail haulage, which was big business for the Silver Palm (Remember, Amtrak managers are judged on how much money they save in a budget, not how much revenue they produce.), and the Silver Palm went away, and the Palmetto returned, this time only to Savannah. The reason, as quoted by an Amtrak spokesman, was Savannah produced better crew turns than Jacksonville, so the train ended there instead of Jacksonville.

   Essentially, Amtrak said the needs of passengers were not important, but the needs of the operating department were paramount.

   Moving the southern terminus of the Palmetto would cost relatively little; there is already the required crew base in Jacksonville for the train and engine crew and the onboard services crew, no extra equipment would be required, and the only inconvenience would be abolishing the car cleaner jobs in Savannah and moving those jobs to Jacksonville. Also, the hours the Jacksonville station is open would need to be extended. So, the 296 extra train miles a day, and a few extra hours for the Jacksonville station to be opened are the only large considerations. The route matrix of stations increases from 20 stations (including terminals) to 22 stations, adding Jesup, Georgia and Jacksonville. The possible city pair combinations leap from 190 city pairs with 20 stations to 231 city pairs with 22 stations, nicely increasing the travel possibilities. In the final days before the Palmetto was extended to Tampa and renamed the Silver Palm, it was not unusual for the Palmetto to board up to 40 or more northbound passengers in Jacksonville on a daily basis.

   As reported in the last edition of TWA, Amtrak says the Palmetto has a cost recovery ratio of 96%; no doubt, with the additional addition of the two new stops that ratio would easily go into the black, which would make the Palmetto profitable, even under Amtrak’s arcane accounting system. The Palmetto has a 51.3% load factor, using only two train sets of one club-dinette, four coaches, and one baggage car.

   To recap:

   • No extra equipment
   • Only 148 additional route miles in each direction
   • No extra train and engine crews or onboard services staff (T&E crews on the Silver Meteor already run between Jacksonville and Florence, South Carolina, where the Palmetto’s southernmost crews board on their way to Savannah.)
   • Minimal costs to keep the Jacksonville station open longer hours
   • Southbound and northbound schedule can remain as is with additional time added in the evening and the morning to accommodate run to Jacksonville
   • City pair combination possibilities jump from 190 to 231 city pairs
   • Increased frequency makes train travel more attractive for every city along the route because two more stations have been added, including the Jacksonville metropolitan area market of over 1 million souls

   What’s not to like about this proposal?

5. Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner, the service with the snappy new name instead of the older Kansas City Mule, operating between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri via Sedalia is an opportunity to turn a local, state supported service (Illinois, are you listening?) into a regional service connecting three of Amtrak’s long distance routes with a simple extension. Take the River Runners to Omaha, Nebraska, thereby creating a route from St. Louis to Kansas City to Omaha. The extension would be less than 200 miles, and, with some clever scheduling, would tie together for hubbing the routes of the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, and Texas Eagle. But, really, if you’re going to be aggressive about this, run the trains all the way from St. Louis to Chicago on the Texas Eagle route (Or, for extra credit, be really creative and go beyond the Texas Eagle route and bring the trains into Chicago on the City of New Orleans route, therefore connecting four, instead of three, long distance routes.).

   Too many of Amtrak’s current routes begin and end a hubs like Chicago or Los Angeles, but you “can’t get there from here” from anywhere but endpoint hubs, making Amtrak virtually useless for anyone who dares to want to travel in anything but a straight line.

   The current fad (as in, hopefully, will go away, like all fads) for Amtrak is to milk money from state governments to run trains which come to a screeching halt at state borders. There is no thought of federalism, or (horrors!) of reducing costs to states (after all, it’s only taxpayer money) by extending state routes and turning them into regional routes. Taking the Missouri River Runners and letting them sprint all of the way from Omaha to Kansas City to St. Louis (and, even into Chicago) creates viable regional connections which provide feeder service from one long distance route to other long distance routes.

   Today’s Kansas City-St. Louis service, despite having two daily frequencies, boasts of a depressing 37.4% load factor, carrying 151,700 passengers a year, or just 104 passengers on average per departure. That 37.4% load factor, believe it or not, is based on a train consist of two Horizon coaches and one club-dinette car for one train consist, and three Horizon coaches for the other train consist. Train consists this small are designed for failure and constant government dependance.

   If you’re comfortable spending other peoples’ money, and not really caring about financial accountability, it doesn’t matter to you what kind of load factor trains have, just as long as trains run on a route. The three routes involved with hubbing in this concept, the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, and Texas Eagle, all have better than average load factors, but all have room for improvement. The Zephyr’s is the lowest, at 52.3%, followed by the Chief and Eagle, both at 63.8%. While technically a long distance route is sold out at 65%, both of these trains today are suffering from short equipment consists, so adding a single car to each consist could produce a great amount of revenue for new travelers with better hubbing opportunity and a greater number of city pair combinations.

   To recap:

   • Create a regional route connecting three (or four) major long distance routes for greater hubbing and matrix benefits; a poor performing, state sponsored route expands into a greater money maker and provides more transportation output
   • Route extension is less than 200 miles
6. The extension of the California Zephyr from Emeryville, California southward to Los Angeles was a favorite of the late Adrian Herzog, Ph.D., one of URPA’s early luminaries. Dr. Herzog, who was considered one of the country’s best computer modelers for passenger train routes (He was an astrophysicist/rocket scientist by trade.), considered the addition of an overnight run down the Coast Starlight route on the very western edge of California to have huge money-making potential.

   Today’s California Zephyr westbound arrives in Emeryville, California from Chicago everyday at 5:10 P.M., and departs eastbound the next morning at 9:10 A.M.

   The Coast Starlight makes the run between Emeryville and Los Angeles in just a tad over 12 hours. Adding that travel time onto the schedule of the Zephyr, plus allowing from some station dwell time, would permit the westbound Zephyr to depart Emeryville at 6 P.M., and arrive in Los Angeles before the morning rush hour, anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30 A.M. Departing eastbound, the Zephyr could depart Los Angeles in the middle of the evening sometime beyond 7:30 P.M., and be in Emeryville for the scheduled departure back to Chicago at 9:10 A.M., allowing a full 12 hours in Los Angeles for the train to be cleaned and maintained, all during daylight hours.

   One extra train set would be required for this extension. The major benefit from this extension would be a full second frequency, offering overnight service, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, two giant California markets. Not only would this relieve some pressure from the Coast Starlight, but it would also increase travel possibilities, opening up a huge vista of passenger opportunities.

   The city pair combinations for single train travel skyrocket from 561 city pairs on the current California Zephyr route to 946 city pair possibilities when you add the 10 stations in California south of Emeryville and down to Los Angeles. The California Zephyr has a load factor of 52.3%, with plenty of room to grow. It runs with one baggage car, one transition dorm/sleeper, two sleepers, one lounge car, a diner, and three coaches.

   To recap:

   • One extra trainset
   • Second frequency, providing desirable overnight service on a highly popular route with high revenue potential on a full service train
   • No new stations, but many stations will have to extend hours for an overnight stop
   • Two additional train and engine crews, one additional onboard services crew
   • Allows California Zephyr to have turn maintenance and restocking at full Los Angeles maintenance base instead of smaller maintenance base in Emeryville
   • Existing California Zephyr schedule remains as is, with additional running added before and after present schedule times
7. Moving the northern terminus of the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Crescent from New York City to Boston isn’t really much of a stretch. Today’s Meteor arrives from Miami in New York City at 11:38 A.M., and returns to Miami at 3:15 P.M. The Silver Star arrives from Miami in New York City at 7:16 P.M. and returns the next morning, departing Penn Station southbound at 10:52 A.M. The northbound Crescent arrives in New York at 2:06 P.M., and departs southbound the next day at 2:15 P.M. It’s obvious too many trains are sitting for too long in Sunnyside Yard in New York; the Meteor, Star, and Crescent each use four full consists under today’s scheduling.

   Take the whole bunch, and push them each to Boston, including the Lake Shore Limited, while keeping the separate Boston section, but setting it up as it’s own Boston-Chicago train as a second frequency between Boston, Albany/Rensselaer, and Chicago. All cities along the Northeast Corridor are horribly under served by Amtrak trains going east-west. It would require no extra equipment for any of these trains.

   Boston is already servicing the Boston section sleepers of the Lake Shore, and has a full turn maintenance base today, so moving each of these trains to Boston from New York will only impact the onboard services crews of the Lake Shore and Crescent, as the Meteor and Star are staffed by the Miami Crew Base.

   Since all of the track on the NEC between New York and Boston is either owned by Amtrak or Metro North, pushing these trains north is not a major consideration, and each train can keep its current schedule, just adding time before and after the current schedule for running between Boston and New York.

   Amtrak for decades has had an unsavory habit, except during the Christmas season, of running long distance trains on the NEC as “receive” or “discharge” only, preventing local business between New York and Washington. No matter what excuse may be given about time keeping, quick movement on the corridor, or, Amtrak’s favorite – the dog ate its homework – the only reason this is done is to funnel local revenue to Acela and Northeast regional trains instead of the long distance trains. With proper yield management in place, this receive/discharge system could be abolished, and passengers wishing to travel on a full service train with a complete dining car and private sleeping car accommodations could be filling empty spaces (particularly northbound) on these trains and adding to both food and beverage revenues and accommodations up charge revenues.

   As with other routes, the city pair combinations for same train service, by adding either the Shore Route or the Inland Route between Hartford, Connecticut and Boston go up dramatically.

   On the matter of sending the Lake Shore from Penn Station in New York directly to Boston, this merely creates a desirable “L” shaped route, which suddenly provides the passengers along the New York-Boston section of the NEC with more travel choices without having to change trains.

   On the other side of the coin, by creating a new train between Boston and Chicago via Albany/Rensselaer (such as the old New York Central train, the New England States), this ploy requires only additional dining cars, and, most likely, more coaches to keep up with the increased demand in business because of a second frequency along the current Lake Shore Limited route. The current consist of the Boston section of the Lake Shore is one baggage car, one sleeper, one Horizon food service car, and two coaches.

   Today’s Lake Shore Limited sits for 12 hours in Chicago before it heads back east, and the Boston section lays over for 14 hours on the east end. By keeping the current Lake Shore schedule (or, perhaps, departing Chicago 60 or 90 minutes earlier, the new Boston train could depart Chicago an hour later, providing the major metropolitan city of Cleveland, Ohio with a more marketable eastbound train time, from the current 5:05 A.M. to a slightly more civilized 6:00 A.M. and still arrive in Boston before late night because of eliminating the extra time in Albany for switching from one train to two trains. The same theory holds true westbound; by leaving Boston a bit earlier than its current noon departure, and eliminating the switching time of combining two trains into one, the new train from New England could be in Cleveland closer to midnight than 3:27 A.M., and still be in Chicago after 7:00 A.M.

   Let’s stop for a moment, and veer to the right. If you’re a resident of Cleveland, and want to ride the train, you better be a night owl. Cleveland’s Terminal Tower downtown station at one time was one of the busiest stations in the country, with dozens of trains serving this major northern city. Today, Cleveland is only served by the Lake Shore Limited and the Capitol Limited. The Capitol’s Cleveland times aren’t much better than the Lake Shore’s, arriving westbound at 1:55 A.M., and eastbound at 2:48 A.M., all at a relatively small Lakefront station. Even though the Ohio legislature and governor’s office are working on creating a new Three C Corridor of Cleveland-Columbia-Cincinnati, that will only provide daylight service, and the southern terminus of that route will be in Cincinnati, which at the moment is only served (you guessed it) in the middle of the night by the tri-weekly Cardinal running between New York, Washington, and Chicago. Cleveland and Ohio all deserve better than what Amtrak has provided lo these many years.

   As said before in this space, the most efficient answer to the problem of providing any type of adequate service to Cincinnati is to do what the Commonwealth of Virginia has done with its two new trains – extend an existing NEC train over the route of the Cardinal between Washington and Cincinnati. Amtrak has two daily trains which originate in New York before 6 A.M.; either of these trains extended to Cincinnati would arrive well before the Cardinal does at 1:03 A.M., not only providing a second frequency along this very scenic route, but bolstering the fortunes of the Cardinal, which Amtrak has indicated next year it will look at making a daily train. A return eastbound train from Cincinnati could launch from its terminal anytime after 7:00 A.M. and provide good daylight service until close to arriving in Washington, D.C.

   On the west end of the route in and out of Chicago, the Hoosier State operates on days the Cardinal does not, on the same schedule. Once the Cardinal goes daily, again, an opportunity opens for the Hoosier State to operate from Chicago earlier in the afternoon than it does now (about mid afternoon) and still arrive in Cincinnati before midnight, with the return westbound train leaving Cincinnati early in the morning during daylight hours and arriving in Chicago mid afternoon. This also provides the major city of Indianapolis with much improved passenger train service.

   But, back to the issue at hand, moving the northern terminus of all east coast long distance trains from New York City to Boston.

   To recap:

   • No additional equipment needed, except for fleshing out a new Boston-Chicago train by adding a diner and a couple of coaches because of added passenger demand
   • Minimal changes in crew bases; moving the Crescent food service crew base from New York to Boston, and moving the Lake Shore Limited crew base from New York to Boston. Boston already has a major crew base. No additional onboard services crews on existing trains, and only minimal additions for new Boston-Chicago train
   • Additional train and engine crews needed between New York and Boston, and 231 route miles added to each train between New York and Boston
   • Better equipment utilization instead of train consists having long layovers in New York’s Sunnyside Yard. No schedule changes south of New York City
   • Passengers better served by single train service for entire east coast to Boston; elimination of receive/discharge restrictions north of Washington allows for these trains to be better financial performers, and provide a new array of choices for local passengers on NEC
   • No additional stations costs
8. It’s time to revive an old idea at Amtrak that never made it to reality: taking the Capitol Limited south from Washington to Orlando, Florida. The way the current schedule for the Capitol runs, the train arrives in Washington early afternoon just after lunch, and stays in Washington until the next afternoon at 4 P.M. These trainsets spend more time sitting around than they do on the road; it’s less than an 18 hour run between Washington and Chicago. It takes three train sets today to run the schedule with one baggage car, 2 coaches, one diner-lounge, one lounge car, two sleepers, and one transition dorm/sleeper. The Capitol has a load factor of 66.9%, but with only two coaches, there is ample room for growth, even with an additional coach already added during high revenue periods.

   Extend the train down the former Atlantic Coast Line route of CSX via Rocky Mount, North Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina, and terminate the train at Orlando (Tampa would be better), making use of the excellent Auto Train maintenance facility in adjacent Sanford, just as the Sunset Limited in brighter days used the Auto Train maintenance facility.

   Keeping close to the current Capitol Limited schedule would provide a civilized 9 A.M. or so arrival in Orlando, perfect for starting the day in America’s family vacation capital. The return train would leave Orlando after 9 P.M., and resume the northbound Capitol schedule in Washington. Since the current misuse of equipment for the Capitol Limited takes three trainsets, this change would only require one extra trainset, and would most importantly resume through train service between Chicago, the Midwest, and Florida without blazing any new trails (or having an expensive reopening of any old trails). Since the route between Washington and Orlando is already served by both the Silver Meteor and Silver Star as well as the Palmetto (see above), the addition of a Florida-bound Capitol Limited would provide and additional popular frequency feeding passengers into Orlando from the Midwest with through-train service.

   An extended Capitol Limited would provide good marketing hours for major stops south of Washington, such as Richmond, Virginia; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Florence, South Carolina.

   To recap:

   • Requires one additional set of equipment, and makes more efficient use of current three sets of equipment which now have long, unprofitable layovers; also more efficient use of onboard services crews
   • No new stations or new routes
   • Provides single-train service from Chicago and the Midwest to Orlando, Florida
   • Makes more efficient use of Auto Train maintenance facility
   • Adds to frequencies on popular east coast routes to Florida
   • Combined with previously mentioned concepts such as extending the City of New Orleans east and south to Orlando, extending the Capitol Limited, too, would create a pair of strong services between the Midwest and Florida, with each train complementing the other, and creating huge matrix theory opportunities
9. Bless its steel soul, the Heartland Flyer is probably Amtrak’s most lovable, yet terrible route. Just 206 route miles long, this bump which sits atop the Texas Eagle schedule runs from Fort Worth, Texas almost due north to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with five intermediate station stops. Departing Fort Worth northbound at 5:25 P.M. after the Texas Eagle has called at Fort Worth in both directions, the Heartland Flyer arrives in Oklahoma City at 9:39 P.M., sits overnight, and leaves the next morning at 8:25 A.M., trundling back to Fort Worth and arriving at 12:39 P.M. in time for the southbound Texas Eagle.

   It takes one trainset of two Superliner coaches and one Superliner snack coach for this toy route, and the State of Oklahoma pays Amtrak millions of dollars to operate this train on its behalf. The Heartland Flyer generates $1,680,500 in revenue, with ridership of 80,900 passengers per year, or an average of 111 passengers per departure. The load factor, typical of a short run such as this, is 43%, even with a very short consist of equipment.

   There has been a good movement afoot, including the state governments of Oklahoma and Kansas, to expand this microcosm of passenger railroading to something useful that has half a chance of being financially successful in the process.

   The Heartland Flyer needs major surgery, in two easy steps. Get rid of its base in Fort Worth, and extend the southern terminus of the train either southwest to San Antonio (providing a much-needed second frequency between Fort Worth and San Antonio), or southeast to Houston via Dallas, restoring a long-lost Amtrak route which would reconnect by rail the two largest metropolitan areas in Texas.

   The second easy step is to extend the Heartland Flyer northward to Newton, Kansas (on the route of the Southwest Chief, and, coincidentally the near exact middle of the continental United States) and take the train to Kansas City or, even better, to Chicago or St. Louis.

   These two easy steps turn the Heartland Flyer from a nearly-useless and tragically expensive stub route into a powerhouse route serving major metropolitan markets and important intermediate stops, and, just as importantly, connects discreet existing routes with new travel opportunities so “you can get there from here” without having to go around the Horn of Africa.

   Concepts such as this take money-losing routes like the Heartland Flyer and turn them into real transportation providers, ignoring invisible boundaries falsely built by near-sighted executives who only seek to raid government treasuries instead of completing Amtrak’s real mission of being a truly national passenger railroad company.

   To recap:

   • Expands a poor-performing local route into a strong regional route
   • Connects two other long distance routes and major metropolitan areas through hubbing which has not previously been possible
   • Provides real transportation alternatives in lieu of what is essentially a high cost local train which provides no real transportation output
   • As a stand-alone route, the Heartland Flyer has 21 possible city pair combination. Combining the Heartland Flyer and its present connection to the Texas Eagle brings the city par combinations up to 1,128; extending this train and connecting it to the Southwest Chief route in Kansas explodes the number of city pair combinations to 3,160, a huge jump from the 21 combinations on the present route.
10. The battle for the hearts and minds and souls of Sunset Limited fans and admirers has gained momentum with lots of discussion going on over Amtrak’s proposed changes to the route of the Sunset, replacing America’s oldest continuously operating named train with three distinct new trains, and one of them being a renamed and extended Texas Eagle operating daily from Chicago to Los Angeles via San Antonio, Texas and then west on the Sunset route to Los Angeles.

    Here are a couple of ways to look at this.

    First, Amtrak has taken a proactive approach to ending the days of the Sunset being an unacceptable tri-weekly train, stuck with most of the overhead of a daily train but not with the earning potential. The extension of the Texas Eagle to Los Angeles and making it daily all the way with a new name such as resurrection of the respected “Golden State” name (formerly of the Rock Island Railroad) makes senses, because, as Amtrak has said, that has the greatest potential for earning revenue.

    While the creation of a second daily train on a daylight schedule to replace the Sunset between San Antonio and New Orleans is offensive to some because it will require a cross-platform change for those traveling all the way from Los Angeles to New Orleans, at least this – again – gets rid of unacceptable tri-weekly service and puts daily service on the line to important cities like Houston, Texas, and the many smaller cities between Houston and New Orleans. Amtrak has also speculated it will provide through-car service all the way from Los Angeles to New Orleans when more equipment is available through being rescued from the wreck line and re-manufactured at Beech Grove in Indiana. Since Amtrak has already restored the Boston sleeping car to the Lake Shore Limited, this bolsters confidence Amtrak is looking at concepts that work, and understands the strength of through-car business.

    And, Amtrak openly saying it will take some of the surplus sleepers from today’s Sunset after it is reconfigured and put them elsewhere where strong demand exists so it can capture the revenue from these cars is not only revolutionary coming from Amtrak, but highly welcome.

    The second way to look at this is Amtrak has cut and run from the constant bickering over the Sunset Limited name being used as a poster boy for bad management by both politicians and the news media, and is looking to replace what was once America’s only true transcontinental route with three trains (including whatever happens east of New Orleans) that has more consideration for Amtrak’s operating and maintenance departments than the comfort and convenience of its passengers.

    A third alternative was offered this week by the prestigious and highly respected Passenger Train Journal magazine, with a full article on how to “fix” the Sunset Limited, complete with reroutings and restructuring so the train has more major metropolitan areas to serve, and better connections with other trains.

    Since Passenger Train Journal, along with Progressive Railroading, are the two most important and credible national magazines regarding railroading, it’s tough to ignore what PTJ has to say without some serious discussions.

    No matter how you choose to look at the fate of the Sunset, there have been howls of protest from some who simply want what is there now with some improvements, and nothing more. But, these howls overlook the fact Amtrak is taking a critical look at much of its long distance system and attempting to fix some problems which have long needed fixing. While almost any changes to the Sunset as we know it today other than taking it daily are sure to be painful, it’s important to look at the big picture regarding the Sunset and seeking what is the best solution from a combination of interests, including financial, passenger services, and the ability of Amtrak to offer a worthwhile service. The way the Sunset is today accomplishes none of those goals. A changed and/or reborn Sunset under a new name has a chance to accomplish those goals, even if it takes some getting used to by those of us on the ground.

11. This resolution was passed by the attendees of the Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada and National Association of Railroad Passengers joint meeting in Los Angeles on May 2, 2009.
    

    Whereas the Rail Passenger Association of California is deeply concerned that there has been no new investment in rolling stock for the Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited, California Zephyr and Southwest Chief (the western overnight trains) since 1991, and

    Whereas currently up to 95% of Amtrak’s capital investments go to the North East Corridor trains and infrastructure, and

    Whereas there is a growing demand for rail passenger travel and these western trains are often sold out, and

    Whereas old equipment is expensive to maintain, is subject to mechanical failure, and is unattractive to passengers, and

    Whereas without new investment these trains and other routes will eventually be withdrawn for want of serviceable equipment,

    Therefore the Rail Passenger Association of California calls upon the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (“Amtrak”) to meet its obligation to provide a national network by allocating a reasonable proportion of its capital investment budget to purchase new coaches, sleeping cars and dining cars for the western overnight trains, to a common design that can also be used for corridor services.

    Amen.

    Before you start any conversation about the above suggestions, keep in mind, even after Amtrak funds the repairs to wrecked equipment through stimulus funds, there will still be another 200 or so pieces of equipment which can be repaired and put into revenue service. It’s all just a matter of priorities and how much desire Amtrak has to fulfill its mandate to provide a true national system of passenger trains, or its present plan to suck as much money as possible out of government treasuries while providing the least amount of service.