Tackling the Headlines 37

Cost to upgrade the Northeast Corridor? A whole lotta money!

Take: Just imagine what could be done with the National System with $151 billion.

Rail America sold to rival

Take: Hopefully, someone from G&W actually has a clue that operating passenger service that connects with  Amtrak and other shortline railroads is a business plan worth having.

The HKX has left the station (at last)

Take: After numerous false starts, the Hamburg-Cologne Express began running. Could ventures like the HKX and Italo work in North America? They could in the United States but a lot of strings would have to be pulled. As for Canada, it may have no choice but to rely on such private ventures as long as Via Rail's management is more interested in plotting the railroad's suicide.

CAHSR survives Assembly scare

Two weeks ago, the California Assembly narrowly gave the green light for construction to start on the HSR route. Like I previously said, this was the real hurdle--not some referendum to repeal CAHSR in 2014. In order to alleviate all controversies surrounding the I-5 vs Tehachapi alignments, the route should be split up in a way that I-5 is preserved to be a future Express route while the Tehachapi can eventually become a 125-220 mph expressway for passenger trains.

Reason & Rail: USPS OIG suggests moving back to rail

Reason & Rail: USPS OIG suggests moving back to rail

Quite frankly, this would be a very good idea that's long overdue but I wonder if UPS and Fed Ex would beat them to the punch and make an already (virtually) insolvent USPS's efforts moot. I also agree with Mr. Druce that this should be off limits to Amtrak. 

Tackling the Headlines 36

Via Rail cuts
Here is the official press release spun by the carrier as "modernization."

Take #1: Canadians are going to find out just how reduced their travel options will be.

Take #2: This should serve as a cautionary tale to anybody who agrees with President Obama's effort to move Amtrak funding from the legislative branch to the executive branch (which was contemplated last year, but never carried out). From Day 1 in Canada, Via Rail has been in the hands of the Prime Minister's Cabinet. So, if a Cabinet member or the PM himself decides that Via Rail needs to whack routes, the agency will do it. After all, Via has never fully returned to pre-1990 levels, and will be significantly below those levels with its pending actions. Think about it, if Obama had moved Amtrak funding (or pursues it during a second term), who's to say that his successor wouldn't move to zero out Amtrak?

Transportation bill highlights and lowlights

As a followup to what I previously published, a compromise was reached after it looked as though extensions would continue until next year when the makeup of Congress and the White House would have settled what direction America's transportation policy would take.

The Good

• All anti-competitive measures that would have prevented practically all non-Amtrak operators from starting up intercity service in America and would have forced AIPRO operators to essentially give up their contracts were shot down
• States will continue to have control over where and how their equipment will be used
• The Alaska Railroad will continue to host passenger service after a Senate proposal went by the wayside

The Bad

• This bill expires on September 30, 2014, which means that extensions will be signed until at least 2015
• There will be no Positive Train Control extension so all railroads will have to be up to date by the end of 2015
• The bill primarily focused on highways with little benefit given to transit

Take #1: All of the watering down could have been prevented if Congress had passed a transportation bill in 2009 when the pro-transit forces had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Take #2: Shame on the Senate for attempting to heavily tilt the field in favor of one carrier and for its pettiness towards a railroad that makes money and provides an essential service for Alaskans.

Tackling the Headlines 35

The DesertXpress is now XpressWest

Last month, DesertXpress renamed itself XpressWest and announced that the route would be extended from Victorville to Palmdale.

Take: A great start and a way to dispel critics who claim that XpressWest is "a train to nowhere." Now, if they could only extend the route southward to Los Angeles, then everything would be complete

New owners to run landmark

St. Louis Union Station is about to change owners. The station has had mixed results--the Marriott thrives but the mall is hemorrhaging tenants--and the current owner faced lawsuits over a failed effort to expand the hotel.

Take: One can only hope that the new owners will be open to the idea of letting trains stop at St. Louis Union Station once again. STLUS should be a multi-function facility that includes train service. Given all of the changes that have taken place since 1978, the historic landmark should try a different tack in handling passenger service.

Commuter train service is a likely nonstarter since the plan is to use Gateway station for the two planned lines to Alton, IL and Pacific, MO. When Missouri is able to build a separate HSR route between St. Louis and Kansas City, that route should be allowed to connect to Express HSR routes to Chicago at STLUS. Once the politicians in D.C. and the Class I railroads get with the program, the station can provide other types of trains--including short excursions. Trains to Florida, the Northeast, and the West via the Consortium idea as well as specialty trains would complement HSR trains. As far as transfers go, the city and the state would jointly work out a free transfer that would likely result in passengers using Metrolink light rail since the two stations are only a minute away.

Sunshine State musings 2

The latest on FECI's venture

As it turns out, Florida East Coast is planning to stop at Orlando International Airport. My opinion is that the Class II shouldn't stop there. Instead, expand northward to downtown to either Church Street or the planned LYNX Station. That way, an alternative to the current Amtrak station can be provided once other services get going and the city's downtown will be a rail hub.

Guessing Amtrak’s Florida Ground Game

Now that Amtrak has settled liability insurance issues with the state of Florida, most of the pressure now shifts to the national carrier.

It could very well be possible that FECI actually gets its operation up and extends its service to Jacksonville before Amtrak gets around to East Coast service.

Assuming that Rick Scott gets religion on rail or is replaced by an avid supporter of passenger rail, the FL DOT could draft up a scenario that results in multiple entities for travelers in the state—Amtrak, FECI, and corridor service—for the first time since the ACL-SAL merger. With numerous companies around, Amtrak’s management should do the following to avoid falling behind:

1. Provide a flipped frequency for the Silver Star. This new train would leave their starting points 12-15 hours after #91 and #92 (this also assumes that enough new equipment is ordered for overnight service).

2. Terminate the Silver Star in Tampa. Passengers between Tampa and Miami would use Florida-based intercity trains.

3. Extend the Palmetto to Tampa via Ocala or provide a brand new train between Montreal and Miami on the Vermonter route.

However, the current president of Amtrak has reiterated that the company is generally more interested in maintaining what it has than expanding and adding revenue at a time that Congress is seeking to drastically cut how much money it gives to the company.

Also, if FL DOT builds up a California like intercity system, it could hand it off to other intercity operators (excluding the FEC portion), causing Amtrak to react negatively in the following fashion:

1. Future management (go here to see why I don’t think Joe Boardman will be around once this hypothetical Florida Rail System is up and running) decides to actually stay at its current Jacksonville location while FECI and others use Union Terminal as a transportation hub.

2. No changes are done to the Palmetto’s route.

3. Trains #91 and #97 are changed to only drop off passengers south of Jacksonville while Trains #92 and #98 only pick up passengers between Miami and Jacksonville.

4. If the Tampa dogleg is eliminated, Amtrak splits and combines the Silver Star at its Orlando station.

Random thoughts #6

1. Hmm, what does it say about Amtrak’s premier train that passengers would rather use a long-distance train along the southern half of the Northeast Corridor? For starters, the ban on using long-distance trains for local travel between D.C. and NY Penn Station should be lifted. Second, consolidate some of the Northeast Regional trains (none of which offer First Class service) that are sparsely used and move the Amfleet equipment to regions that plan on adding rail service but don’t have new equipment in place.
2. Perhaps, it was this story that got Amtrak to recognize all of the third party attendants who work at various stations. Prior to the recognition of certain NCDOT run stations between Wilson and Charlotte in the Fall/Winter 2010-11 issue, Amtrak only put a side note below the Carolinian/Piedmont schedule to let the public know that state employees worked there. Now, the carrier distinguishes stations that are run by states or independent volunteers from those stations that are truly unstaffed and unmanned.
3. A private company in Pittsburgh may run commuter rail in the future. Notice that private railroads once operated commuter trains on their own. NS was an unwilling partner with local government, but AVR is stepping up to the point that it wants minimal government assistance. While every community is different, anything that will reduce startup costs and combats any skepticism from anti-transit forces is a step in the right direction.