My Rail Musings: light rail

Section 207 of PRIIA declared unconstitutional
Take: It's finally over. One hurdle for Amtrak's competitors has been obliterated.

CATS Blue Line Extension delayed
Take: Facepalm! I was hoping to catch the train from North Charlotte to the Arts District and Uptown this summer.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Tackling the Headlines 91

~~Amtrak to MIC next winter~~
~~Take: So, it looks like the national carrier is going to make the move after all. Also, check the last comment in this post.~~

Brightline latest

Take: Even with the nonsense going on in Tallahassee, AAF perseveres.

TX HSR
Take: This measure is exposing the legislature's true colors on rail in general.

L.A. Metro Orange Line

Take: It will finally revert back to its original use.

Edited on 5/17/17: So, there's yet another twist in the Amtrak-MIC saga. So, this now means that everything I said the day after Christmas once again stands. Oh well.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Tackling the Headlines 87

Feds approve future light rail station at NCCU

Take: This project is going places

Blaze Engulfs Historic Train Station In Berlin

Take: Really sad news

California high-speed rail agency seeks train operator

Take: It's getting serious. The critics can't say much of anything once an operator is selected

New hope for passenger rail between SA and Austin

Take: Time for TX DOT to talk to AIPRO members

Second Avenue Subway inaugural ride will be on New Year’s Eve

Take: Not quite 2016 but it will be a major relief for passengers in 2017

Commuter rail between Baton Rouge, New Orleans gets federal funds for planning; here are next steps

Take: The next few years will be crucial

Friday, October 2, 2015

Tackling the Headlines 78

XpressWest teams up with China

Take #1: Congratulations, I guess. No one on this side of the Pacific was willing to step up--Buy America rules, no funding for any type of HSR--so XpressWest had to do what it did.

Take #2: I'm pretty sure that once the line gets built that it'll only be an inevitability that CAHSR grants XpressWest trackage rights to Los Angeles.

NC pols hate light rail

Take: So much for letting local governments decide. If anybody is taking a step backwards, it's the General Assembly. Now that he's no longer Governor Pat McCrory's budget adviser, I seriously wonder if Art Pope is actually writing transportation policy for NC's legislative branch. After all, his John Locke Foundation has never had a kind word to say about any rail-related transit.

SEHSR: Slow and steady

Take: At this point, a scaled-back approach is the only way to go because the money for 110 mph service isn't coming anytime soon. Just getting two or four trains at 79 mph to use the S-Line would do wonders for anyone who's had to use the Carolinian or the Silver Star along the congested A-Line.

Eau Claire angling for its own Twin Cities route

Take #1: It's good to see that advocates in the area haven't given up on reviving service.

Take #2: Once again, it looks as though Minnesota will be doing the heavy lifting--until Scott Walker and his cronies leave office.

Take #3: Hopefully, implementation of this route will lead to a true rail system for the Badger State.

Take #4: Speaking of possible private operation: Somebody get Ed Ellis on Line 2...

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Rail and the 2014 Midterms

Florida

Part 1

Only in the Sunshine State can up be down. Over the summer, Rachel Dovey and Fred Frailey talked about how backwards the rail picture was in the state--the Tea Party-backed incumbent governor Rick Scott backing the private All Aboard Florida against ex-governor Charlie Crist who clearly prefers the high speed project Scott scuttled.

Other actors in the AAF saga are Treasure Coast residents and politicians who have exhibited a nasty form of NIMBYism. It's like these people have never seen a train before. They chose to live near an area where a major railroad frequently runs trains so it's ridiculous for them to make all of those demands. I can't help but wonder if these residents are actually upset that after 14 years of unfulfilled promises Amtrak is still nowhere close to implementing East Coast service between Jacksonville and Miami. If Treasure Coast residents want someone to blame, they should be pointing the finger at the feds for not funding the route during stimulus mania. These alleged problems would have never come up if Amtrak were already running trains through the area.

Part 2

Now that Scott has been elected to a second term, All Aboard Florida should all but be in the clear to proceed so Treasure Coast residents need to get over themselves. It really is strange that the same governor who relied on a highly biased study to finish off an HSR project that operators like Virgin were ready to run could go down in history as the guy who restored Florida's status as a major passenger rail hub--albeit accidentally.

As for Crist, it would have been next to impossible for him to have revived the Florida High Speed Rail route just due to the fact that he would've at best dealt with a House of Representatives who has zeroed out federal HSR funding ever since it flipped to the GOP four years ago. His adversarial stance towards AAF demonstrates the overall problem I have with most Democrats. The TC residents' resistance to private sector operators hurts passenger rail (a Metro Jacksonville moderator hit the nail on the head).

The biggest thing missing over the "which train project is better" debate is the fact that neither Crist nor Scott showed any interest in corridor service along existing routes. The way to have a robust system is to work with what you have. The infrastructure is in place so foresight and selecting operators committed to producing world class service are the only things needed.

Midwest

The only way passenger rail is going to advance in the Buckeye State is for communities and advocacy groups to continue taking the lead since John Kasich is guaranteed to leave Columbus in 2019. Given the recent fiasco in Indiana over the operation of the Hoosier State, I hope that All Aboard Ohio and other groups have enough foresight to talk to other operators about the Hoosier Extension and the Columbus-Chicago routes especially if Amtrak's a no-go.

Mark Dayton and Scott Walker won their reelection campaigns as well but by single digits. Dayton's DOT will continue picking up the whole price tab for not only the feasibility studies of a second Chicago-St. Paul frequency but when the trains actually operate.

When it comes to the new equipment for the Midwestern trains, IL and MI will get their share and give WI leftovers. If anything, the Hiawathas will consist mostly of leftover Horizon Cars. Any Badger State resident hoping for rail service off of the Chicago-Milwaukee-La Crosse-St. Paul route had better pray that Ed Ellis not only turns the Varsity into a regular route but expands his shortline empire.

North Carolina

In Wake County, Democrats turned a 3-4 disadvantage on the Board of Commissioners into a 7-0 board. These results will make having a referendum on light rail easier. The trick will be convincing the voters to join its northwestern neighbors.

National Outlook

Barring a 2006-like backlash against right wing rule in D.C., HSR won't be getting a dime until 2023 at the earliest. Even though anti-HSR Californians will hold some powerful positions in the House and continue making life miserable for the CAHSR project, the nation's only Express HSR project to be funded with stimulus funds will rely on state and private sector financing until it begins service.

Amtrak will likely see its funding slashed--maybe even significantly--but the real question is whether the new Congress will allow real competition, which would be the national operator's primary threat. With both houses soon to be in the opposition's hands, the Grand Bargain should be front and center as the alternative to the now-myopic national HSR vision President Obama laid out 5 1/2 years ago.

Noel Braymer's editorial on how Republicans are the only ones who can save the long distance trains may very well be tested now. In order to prove Amtrak's advocates wrong, the GOP should implement any one of the three suggestions Braymer laid out. Second, congressmen and women should talk to their constituents who are starving for more train service as well as advocacy groups who want more trains in their states but aren't relying on "America's Railroad."

TIGER grants will be phased out in all likelihood. The currently negotiated TIGER VII grants will be the last funds the Obama Administration gives out to rail operators of all stripes.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Tackling the Headlines 71

Latest CAHSR happenings

Opponents decided to shift their focus south after the CA Supreme Court smacked them down.
Take #1: These NIMBYs just need to give up, and besides, the Tehachapi Route is the most important segment of not only the CAHSR route but passenger rail as well.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are getting serious about CAHSR.
Take #2: Where in the world are the Europeans? Where's DB? Where's Renfe? Where are the British operators?

NC & VA's new strategy: Roll SEHSR out slowly

Take: This is probably the only way to do this project because there are no signs of the federal government stepping in to give more money to any passenger rail projects outside of TIGER. The most important thing is restoring that missing link between Norlina and Petersburg.

Speaking of North Carolina and Virginia...

The light rail projects in the Triangle and Norfolk are advancing to the next stages.
Take: At least, there's some type of advancement going on. Now, all eyes are on the southeastern portion of the Triangle.

Englewood Flyover opens

Take: Now, if the the rest of the CREATE project would also take place, Chicago would be a less congested place.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Addendum: Alternative History

Feasibility: High. Southern held out of Amtrak for almost eight years and was still able to run a top notch train (Crescent). Meanwhile, the Seaboard Coast Line nearly stayed out of Amtrak so it would make sense if the ACL and SAL had merged with other railroads instead of each other, they would still be running trains today.

Feasibility: Moderate to high. If the federal government had reduced the burdens it imposed on the railroads much earlier, then, the U.S. would still have the world's best passenger rail system. Of course, the side effect would be that no one would be talking about high speed rail due to the efficiency of the networked rail system.

Also, the effort to provide a national intercity rail system composed of nine major railroads would have the support of the Bush 43 and Obama Administrations.

Feasibility: High. Both railroads reluctantly joined Amtrak, but they could have easily have gone the other way. If the Santa Fe and the SCL had joined the six holdouts, there's no doubt that those two railroads would have continued operating trains to this day.

Amtrak would be a reduced entity because of NS's push to mandate competition in the intercity passenger sector. Section 214 of PRIIA and Amtrak's losses when it comes to bidding would have likely been a campaign issue in 2016 with Republicans wondering whether if Amtrak needs to exist at all when various host railroads and independent operators are dominating the intercity rail market.

Feasibility: Low. As ideal as it might have been, the Democrats were very firm in their opposition to giving federal money to private railroads, so there wouldn't have been enough votes to do anything but to nationalize the passenger trains.

Moderate. It comes down to how much willpower the Erie and the DL&W had to serve New York City proper.

Streetcars: High

Subway: High

Other rail modes: Low. Maglev is expensive and would have been excluded from the 30/10 Plan. The Airtram idea may have been scrapped just due to time. There was a limited amount of time for the People Mover to have been built, and if no tracks had been laid down by 1981, then, it just wasn't going to happen. The Monorail may have been built--only if the original subway system had already been in place. The Carveyor was just an idea that was too futuristic.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Alternative history #6

Scenario

Los Angeles builds its subways much earlier, keeps its streetcars, and is actually the beacon for transit in America

Point of Departure

Throughout the 20^th century

Storyline

The Kelker & DeLeuw Subway Plan is gradually rolled out in 1925 after voters narrowly ignore entrenched interests' opposition. Due to this type of forward thinking, 90% of the subway system is completed by the time mass transit is transferred from the private sector to the public in the 1960s.

Henry Huntington is forced to give up some of his streetcar routes to Southern Pacific so there'd be competition. When all streetcars are handed over to MTA, only the easternmost suburbs see buses supplant routes.

Joseph Strauss continues the Airtram idea is continued after George Rowan's death in 1936--but it's built after World War II. Meanwhile, the Carveyor was built in the 1960s. The People Mover is connected to MTA's plan to serve LAX, which is a lot more architecturally creative and has been the world's busiest airport since the 1984 Summer Olympics.

A reduced monorail system is built until former Mayor Antonio Villarogosa made completing it a part of his 30/10 plan for MTA in 2010.

Maglev right of way is in place between Ontario Airport and west Los Angeles but funding is still scarce.

Today’s Likely Outcome

The Subway Plan came to full fruition by the early 1980s--the delay was due to MTA wanting to "spread the wealth" with other transit modes.

The entire streetcar system is nicknamed "Red Cars" in honor of Huntington's Pacific Electric. The Red Cars are very popular--even more popular than San Francisco's cable cars. L.A. is the only U.S. city where rail-based modes provide more transit mileage than buses.

SP's Burbank Branch Line has served streetcars since 1938. Light rail, while a part of the MTA system, is primarily a suburban system.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Tackling the Headlines 58

CAHSR gets treated like a yo-yo

Take: These recent moves are setbacks for the project, but the project will continue--just in a compressed amount of time.

Dallas-Houston HSR train could be running by 2020

Take: The idea that they could get this finished before the first leg of the California project is quite astonishing.

Rail fix on track for 2015 passenger service

Take #1: A parallel route to the current Vermonter should pave the way for the Montrealer's revival and the possibility of eventually having three or four frequencies between Springfield and St. Albans would really make the Knowledge Corridor live up to its name.

Take #2: This also comes with a bit of bad news: Amherst would be replaced by a bus. This is primarily due to the fact that the Central Corridor did not receive any TIGER funding earlier this year. It's also worth pointing out that the New London-Brattleboro corridor is still being negotiated between the CT DOT and the NECR while the MA DOT is conducting a feasibility study on the corridor. While it's possible for an NECR shuttle train between Amherst and Brattleboro to supersede the bus, who knows when the NECR would be able to start full service between Brattleboro and New London?

Southwest Florida on the fast-track for proposed railroad corridor

Take: Is this thing on? Okay, Florida DOT officials, this is yet another community that is expressing an interest in operating some type of passenger service. Governor Scott and ex-Governor Crist need to get this point: The DOT needs to stop dragging its feet and produce its own intercity rail system!

The current DOT boss is waiting to see how successful the privately operated All Aboard Florida service is before committing to intrastate service. Instead of being completely reactive, Tallahassee needs to grow a spine before it has a mess on its hands--a series of disjointed or ill-timed commuter routes, spotty Amtrak service, and privately run FEC-AAF trains that skip small towns.

I'm not saying that that Amtrak should operate this system. If anything, Amtrak should only operate the East Coast route between Jacksonville and Miami as the "local stops" alternative to All Aboard Florida's initial service and northern extension that will end up as "express services." Florida has been innovative before, and it should be innovative once again. Contact Richard Branson, Bombardier, and the AIPRO and let them bid for the other corridors (including the "suspended" leg of the Sunset Limited and the S-Line route Amtrak foolishly abandoned nine years ago).

Transit experts: Orange, Durham not ready for light rail

Take: These "experts" primarily focused on neighboring Wake County and only made a passing judgment on the other two counties. Durham and Orange Counties got their act together while Wake fell behind due to the Tea Party backlash of 2010.

Advocating for better rail service

Take: Canada's clearly in worse shape than America. People here wonder what would happen if Amtrak only operated the Northeast Corridor and a few other routes. Via Rail Canada is the lab rat since it's primarily focusing on the Montreal-Toronto corridor. If residents along the affected portion of Via's recent cuts band together, then they could form a coalition so someone else can operate trains to their communities. Otherwise, the Wilner Plan would be more applicable (and appropriate) to Via Rail than Amtrak.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Rail and the 2012 Election Part 1

Rail-related referenda

The good

This was a mixed bag. Here in NC, Orange County passed a transit sales tax. Among the things approved will be a new Amtrak station in Hillsborough and the county's commitment to light commuter rail projects. This means that two-thirds of the Triangle are committed to developing a mass transit system of buses and trains. Wake County is a holdout due to conservative, anti-transit commissioners maintaining a 4-3 majority.

Residents in Virginia Beach want the Tide to be extended from Norfolk to their city. It's now up to the Virginia Beach City Council to approve an extension of the light rail route.

Heavy rail survives after a candidate favoring the Honolulu project wins.

The not-so-good

Anything from California requiring a sales tax increase took a beating. Both items fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to become law.

High speed rail

The divergent results in Congress--Republicans adding seats in the House and Democrats adding seats in the Senate--means HSR will be in a holding pattern until 2015 or '17 which means absolutely no funding whatsoever. Outside of California and the Northeast Corridor, advocates will have to hope that more private companies like JR Central and XpressWest step up to the plate to provide European-style rail service.

The overall impact on rail

At the state level

Minnesota's legislature flips to the Democratic-Farmer Labor Party while the GOP adds seats in Wisconsin. The overall verdict? The Gopher State will be picking up the entire bill for the planned daytime Chicago-St. Paul route while the rest of the Midwest prays like crazy that Scott Walker is pink slipped in two years.

In New Hampshire, the GOP lost the House and nearly lost the Senate. This could lead to the state to participate in funding an MBTA extension to Concord and the planned Boston-Montreal route.

Funding for the rest of the SEHSR system could be in a tough spot after the GOP won a veto-proof majority in the state House (the NC Senate was already veto-proof after the '10 election). Last year, the legislature was able to prevent the NCDOT from receiving federal funds without its approval.

Nationally...

At the federal level, bargaining will be the name of the game. Either the status quo will be maintained and we get no meaningful passenger rail reform or Congress and the president are able to give a bit to end 41+ years of mediocre rail service that has led to America being a laggard. Personally, I want to see the Democrats drop their competition-averse stance and realize that maintaining a monopoly is a detriment to passenger rail. Competitors are chomping to operate routes and they should not be riddled with ridiculous burdens nor should they be ridiculed for wanting to take on Amtrak (I will address regulations in my next post). On the other hand, I want the Republicans to realize that government has to play some role in regulating passenger rail and that some funding for rail service will have to come from D.C.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Tackling the Headlines 33

VA: Virginia Beach Firefighters Union Opposes Light Rail
Take: This is a really petulant move.

STB OKs reopening Adirondack rail route
Take: Congratulations to Saratoga & North Creek for establishing an additional foothold in upstate New York.

Texas State Railroad sold to Iowa Pacific
Take: Iowa Pacific could become a shortline powerhouse by the end of the decade.

Eurostar eyes 10 new destinations across Europe
Take: THAT is how the EU mandates for competition should look like--international travelers having an option between Eurostar and DB by 2017.

NC Railroad reaches agreement with CATS in Charlotte
Take: Hopefully, this will lead to bigger and better things for the NCRR--like operating commuter or intercity service one day.

Shining Waters Railway
Take: This may not have anything to do with the Canadian government's efforts to sell off parts of Via Rail to private parties, but someone north of the border is seriously thinking about providing passenger service to a part of Canada that lost service in the wake of the Mulroney Cuts 22 years ago. I just wish someone could restore the Atlantic in the eastern part of the country.

Amtrak outlook: Running between Chicago and Dubuque by 2015
Take: While other states waste time with flimsy research and returning rail money to President Obama, Illinois is producing a rail system. Other states may wind up with the state's leftovers of Amfleet and Horizon Cars once the new equipment makes its way to the Land of Lincoln.

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