baltimoresun.com

Amtrak held up again

Our view: Latest proposal to eliminate state-supported Amtrak service across the country is a short-sighted assault on passenger rail

5:02 PM EDT, September 12, 2011

 

For the first time ever, Amtrak is expected to hit the 30 million milestone on Sept. 30. That's how many passengers it will have served over the previous 12 months, an annual increase in train ridership of 6.4 percent — a remarkably robust result given the nation's high unemployment rate and challenging economic circumstances.

 

That's something to be celebrated. The public's embrace of passenger rail recognizes both improvements in Amtrak and the diminishment of alternatives, as highways and air travel become increasingly congested. It's also a vote for clean energy; trains are a far more fuel-efficient means of travel than most other forms of motorized transport.

 

Yet Amtrak finds itself back in a familiar spot. Last week, a House appropriations subcommittee approved a 2012 funding bill that reduces Amtrak's operating budget by 60 percent and puts an end to state-supported routes in 15 states from New York to California.

Read full editorial at: www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-amtrak-congress-20110912,0,1594848.story

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 14, 2011

 

ATK-11-124

Contact: Marc Magliari

312 880.5390

 

'TRACKS ARE BACK' CHICAGO-ST. LOUIS CELEBRATION

; Save 15 percent on Amtrak Lincoln Service travel through Oct. 3

 

CHICAGO - Amtrak is announcing the completion of recent track improvement work and would like to thank passengers for patience while we enhance our services between Chicago and St. Louis.  The completion of this season's upgrades to Union Pacific's tracks means all five round-trips on the corridor will be by train - without scheduled detours or chartered motorcoaches.  A "Tracks are Back" discount ticket promotion is our way of saying thanks.

 

With a purchase by the end of this month and travel by Oct. 3, 15 percent savings are available by visiting Amtrak.com and choosing this promotion under the Deals tab to take advantage of discounted fares on the eight Lincoln Service trains.  Restrictions apply, which include a three-day advance purchase requirement disclosed with the promotion.

 

Adult fares each way from Chicago are as low as $11.05 to Bloomington-Normal, $15.30 to Springfield and $24 to St. Louis.  From St. Louis, adult fares each way are as low as $11.05 to Springfield, $13.60 to Bloomington-Normal and $20.40 to Chicago. 

 

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) selected Illinois to receive $1.1 billion for corridor improvements to bring 110 mph (177 kph) passenger rail service to Illinois by 2014.  The State of Illinois showed its financial commitment by providing more than $42 million in capital funding.  Earlier this year, Illinois was selected by to receive $186.3 million in additional FRA funds to further upgrade the route and provide high speed service between Dwight and Joliet. 

 

About Amtrak®

 

Celebrating 40 years of dedicated service as America's Railroad(sm), Amtrak is the nation's intercity passenger rail provider and its only high-speed rail operator.  A record 28.7 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2010 on more than 300 daily trains - at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) - that connect 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces.  Amtrak operates trains in partnership with 15 states and four commuter rail agencies.  Amtrak also is a strong financial performer achieving an 85 percent cost-recovery ratio in FY 2010.  Enjoy the journey(sm) at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and more information.  Join us on facebook.com/Amtrak and follow us at twitter.com/Amtrak.

 

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Oy.... "Tracks are Back" was Amtrak's first slogan. And I still don't like it! :-P

This is going to be a very big project! The current bridge restricts trains to 90 mph. Amtrak wants a new bridge that allows 160+ mph (I assume that means adding windscreens to protect trains from the high crosswinds):

 

http://www.fra.dot.gov/roa/press_releases/fp_FRA%2023-11.shtml

 

U.S. Department of Transportation Provides $22 Million to Study Replacement Options for Susquehanna River Railroad Bridge on Northeast Corridor

 

U.S.Department of Transportation

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, D.C.

www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm

News

 

 

FRA 23-11

Friday, September 16, 2011

Contact: Brie Sachse

Tel.: 202-493-6024

 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced $22 million for the Maryland Department of Transportation to complete preliminary engineering and environmental work for replacement and expansion of the Susquehanna River Bridge on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) that stretches from Boston, MA to Washington, DC.

 

“Coupled with previously appropriated NEC money totaling $1.75 billion, the Obama Administration’s historic investment in the Northeast Corridor will upgrade aging railways and drastically expand our transportation network’s capacity for high-speed rail,” said Secretary Ray LaHood.  “In doing so, these projects are creating thousands of good-paying jobs and using materials made in the USA.”

 

The 105 year-old Susquehanna River Bridge is a major rail chokepoint for passengers traveling along the NEC and requires significant and constant maintenance.  Replacement and expansion of the bridge is a key component to the region’s long term plans to drastically expand capacity, and improve reliability and on-time performance for high-speed and regional trains.

 

The NEC is Amtrak’s most heavily traveled route, servicing both the high-speed Acela and Northeast Regional services, and carried more than 10 million passengers in 2010 with an expected increase of approximately six percent in 2011.  Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced the NEC received $449.94 million to upgrade electrical systems and tracks between Trenton, NJ and New York City, with an initial increase in top operating speeds up to 160 mph and future maximum speeds of 186 mph.  Another $294.78 million for New York’s Harold interlocking, will alleviate major delays for trains coming in and out of Manhattan with new routes that allow Amtrak trains to bypass the busiest passenger rail junction in the nation.

 

Thirty-two states across the U.S. and the District of Columbia are currently laying the foundation for high-speed rail corridors to link Americans with faster and more energy-efficient travel options. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and annual appropriations have provided $10.1 billion to put America on track towards providing new and expanded rail access to communities and improving the reliability, speed, and frequency of existing service.

 

####

In testimony at a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on Sept. 15, Amtrak Inspector General Ted Alves gave a detailed overview of five areas in which the railroad still has work to do, including implementing daily Sunset Limited and Cardinal (via Cincinnati) service and combining the Pennsylvanian with the Capitol Limited west of Pittsburgh (via Cleveland and Toledo), and running more special trains to maximize revenue....

 

http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=fb04819a-d38f-408d-b450-6e3e0d9097cf

 

Implementing Long-Distance Improvement Plans Faces Challenges. Section 210

required Amtrak to rank its 15 long-distance routes and develop performance

improvement plans, starting with the five worst-performing routes. Amtrak

completed the first five plans, which generally call for changes that would

significantly improve ridership and several financial metrics, but at the cost of

modestly increasing operating losses.

 

While Amtrak has begun implementing improvements that are under its control,

such as expanding seating, food-service options, and vacation packages, it has been

unable to implement the major initiatives. One reason is that major initiatives, such

as providing daily service instead of three-day-a-week service, require approval

from the host railroad. The host railroads informed Amtrak that their approval is

contingent upon its providing millions of dollars to improve their infrastructure.

Other impediments are the need for additional federal subsidies at a time of severe

budget constraints, and limited availability of passenger rail cars.

 

Essentially, Amtrak is not in a position to control many of the key improvement

initiatives it proposed. At this point, we believe Amtrak’s future improvement plans

should focus more on initiatives it can control and implement without requiring

additional federal subsidies or support from host railroads.

A view from Texas...

 

Amtrak faces cuts in funding as ridership is peaking

Posted Saturday, Sep. 17, 2011

By Gordon Dickson

[email protected]

 

Retiree Solomon Broadus took his first Amtrak ride last week, from Oklahoma City to San Antonio. While waiting to switch trains in Fort Worth, he gushed about the service.

 

"I thought it was beautiful," the Wichita, Kan., resident exclaimed. "The ride is comfortable. The seats are spacious. It beats the bus, I know that much. And it's less expensive than an airplane."

 

But Broadus and many other passengers interviewed last week at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center say they're frustrated that Congress is once again poised to cut funding for routes such as the Heartland Flyer, which operates daily between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth.

 

"They shouldn't be cutting this," Broadus said. "They should be putting more money into it."

 

Read more at: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/17/3375733/amtrak-faces-cuts-in-funding-as.html

Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Approves Fiscal Year 2012 Budget With Zero Funding for High Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail

 

Today the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee approved its version of the fiscal year 2012 budget for aviation, transit, highway and maritime programs, among others.  The bill provides ZERO FUNDING for the high speed and intercity passenger rail (HSIPR) program authorized in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, P.L. 110-432 (PRIIA).  The House Appropriations Committee version also provides zero funding for HSIPR in 2012.

 

During the markup, Senator Lautenberg expressed disappointment in the lack of funding for high speed rail, adding that while he is pleased the bill supports Amtrak capital projects, he is "discouraged by the elimination of high speed rail grants, a casualty of the cuts mandated in the debt limit deal."  Senator Lautenberg is a co-chair of the Congressional High Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Caucus.

 

Senator Kirk also thanked Chairman Murray and Ranking Member Collins for including language for the Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement and Financing Loan (RRIF) program, adding that it is an "underutilized program" where applications take too long to approve.

 

Overall, the Senate Subcommittee's bill includes budget authority of $55.3 billion, $100 million less than the 2011 enacted level. The bill does contain $550 million in funding for TIGER grants, the popular multi-modal grant program.  High speed rail projects are eligible applicants under the competitive TIGER program.  In addition, the Senate Subcommittee's bill provides an additional $358 million above the fiscal year 2011 enacted level for the transit "New Starts" program. This funding supports projects that will provide new or expanded public transportation services, which could become feeder transit service for high speed rail corridors.

 

The Senate bill preserves total federal support for Amtrak at the 2011 enacted level - $544 million for operations and $937 million for capital/debt service.  The House provides a fraction of those levels -  $227 million for operations and $899 for capital/debt service.

 

The next step in the legislative process is a full Appropriations Committee markup, which is scheduled for Wednesday, September 21 at 3 p.m. 

 

The American High Speed Rail Alliance urges you to contact your Senators to urge them to include funding for HSIPR in the Senate's fiscal year 2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act.  If you do not already have contacts in your Congressman and Senators' offices, you can contact us for that information or use this website to input your zip code and identify the people to contact.  You can email the offices through the website or call them with the phone numbers provided. We particularly urge you to call and email if your member of Congress is on the Subcommittee, which includes the following Members:

 

Senator Inouye (D-HI)

Senator Leahy (D-VT)

Senator Harkin (D-IA)

Senator Mikulski (D-MD)

Senator Kohl (D-WI)

Senator Murray (D-WA)

Senator Feinstein (D-CA)

Senator Durbin (D-IL)

Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD)

Senator Landrieu (D-LA)

Senator Reed (D-RI)

Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Senator Nelson (D-NE)

Senator Pryor (D-AR)

Senator Tester (D-MT)

Senator Brown (D-OH)

Senator Cochran (R-MS)

Senator McConnell (R-KY)

Senator Shelby (R-AL)

Senator Hutchison (R-TX)

Senator Alexander (R-TN)

Senator Collins (R-ME)

Senator Murkowski (R-AK)

Senator Graham (R-SC)

Senator Kirk (R-IL)

Senator Coats (R-IN)

Senator Blunt (R-MO)

Senator Moran (R-KS)

Senator Hoeven (R-ND)

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI)

 

For a summary of the bill, click here: http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news.cfm?method=news.view&id=47cf6eff-98cd-42fe-b052-42113b9d431f

 

America deserves a national passenger rail system

Editorial / Forth Worth Star Telegram

Posted Wednesday, Sep. 21, 2011

 

For 40 years Amtrak, the country's national passenger rail service, has chugged along like "The Little Engine That Could" -- overcoming constant economic obstacles and a continuing barrage of political maneuvering.

 

It seems no matter the progress it makes in extending service and adding riders, there is always a herd of politicians in Washington who try to derail it at budget time.

 

This year is no different.

 

A proposal in the U.S. House would cut Amtrak's operations appropriations by 60 percent, from $563 million each of the last two years to $227 million in 2012. Its capital budget would be reduced by $25 million to $899 million, a significant blow considering that the corporation is already underfunded for maintenance and infrastructure.

 

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/21/3386478/america-deserves-a-national-passenger.html#ixzz1Ygz8Xpl0

http://www.fra.dot.gov/roa/press_releases/fp_FRA%2027-11.shtml

 

U.S. Department of Transportation Provides $13 Million to Relieve Major Northeast Corridor Rail Chokepoint

 

U.S.Department of Transportation

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, D.C.

www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm

News

 

 

FRA 27-11

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Contact: Brie Sachse

Tel.: 202-493-6024

 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced a $13.3 million grant for the Delaware Department of Transportation to add a third track immediately south of the Wilmington, DE station.  The additional track will eliminate a chokepoint on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC), improving on-time performance, with increased schedule flexibility on Amtrak’s high-speed Acela and Northeast Regional services, as well as local commuter rail service.

 

“The Obama Administration’s historic investment in the Northeast Corridor will modernize its aging railways, dramatically improve its capacity for high-speed rail and create thousands of good-paying jobs by using materials made in the USA,” said Secretary LaHood.

 

The project includes construction of 1.5 miles of a third track near Wilmington Station, two additional crossovers, and a bridge replacement that will help reduce congestion and deliver increased on-time performance. In addition to Amtrak's intercity operations between Washington, DC and Boston, MA, commuter trains operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will also benefit from this additional track capacity, through improved reliability.  Freight operations will be enhanced as a result of the greater dispatching flexibility within the NEC. The Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration will contribute a combined $38.4 million to this project.

 

The NEC is Amtrak’s most heavily traveled route, servicing both the high-speed Acela and Northeast Regional services, which carried more than 10 million passengers in 2010 with an expected increase of approximately six percent in 2011.  Last month, the NEC received $449.94 million to upgrade electrical systems and tracks between Trenton, NJ and New York City, with an initial increase in top operating speeds up to 160 mph and future maximum speeds of 186 mph.  Another $294.78 million for New York’s Harold interlocking, will alleviate major delays for trains coming in and out of Manhattan with new  tracks that allow Amtrak trains to bypass the busiest passenger rail junction in the nation.  In addition, $29 million was recently announced for NEC improvements in Rhode Island.

 

Thirty-two states across the U.S. and the District of Columbia are currently laying the foundation for high-speed rail corridors to link Americans with faster and more energy-efficient travel options. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and annual appropriations have provided $10.1 billion to put America on track towards providing new and expanded rail access to communities and improving the reliability, speed and frequency of existing service.

 

####

Ohio take note....

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 28, 2011

 

ATK-11-128

Contact: Marc Magliari

312 880.5390

 

GREAT DOME CAR RETURNS TO AMTRAK CARDINAL TO VIEW SPECTACULAR FALL COLORS

Two round-trips between Chicago and Washington in Late October and Early November

 

CHICAGO - Passengers riding the Amtrak Cardinal train between Chicago and Washington, D.C., on selected dates in October and November will once again have the unique opportunity to experience spectacular views of West Virginia and Virginia fall foliage season when the historic "Great Dome" rail car makes a return appearance for two round-trips.

 

The car features an upper level with windows on all sides - as well as overhead - to provide passengers with panoramic views of the changing colors of the trees and of the New River Gorge and the Shenandoah Valley. The dome section runs the full length of the car, a rare feature even when dome cars were more numerous on the nation's railroads.

 

The dome car will operate eastbound from Chicago on two Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, and westbound from Washington on two Fridays, Nov. 4 and 11.  The Cardinal (Trains 50 & 51) operates three days weekly between Chicago and New York, via Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Huntington, West Virginia.  The height of the car prevents it from operating between Washington and New York.

 

"The opportunity to ride the Cardinal and view the colorful fall foliage from the panoramic windows of the Great Dome car is one our passengers will always remember," said Brian Rosenwald, chief of product development for Amtrak. "We're thrilled to offer this very special service."

 

Seats in the dome car are not reserved and are available on a first-come, first-served basis for travel only on these dates in October and November.

 

About the "Great Dome" Car 

 

The only remaining dome car in Amtrak service, car number 10031, is a Great Dome car previously used on the Chicago-Seattle Empire Builder when the train was operated by the Great Northern Railway and the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad (later the Burlington Northern Railroad).  It was built in 1955 by the Budd Company for the Great Northern and carried the name "Ocean View," car number 1391.  It was conveyed to Amtrak in 1971, with this car first being given the number 9361.  It was renovated in 1985, renumbered 9300, and used in daily service on the Amtrak Auto Train to and from the Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla., areas through 1994.It was further refurbished in 1999, renumbered to 10031.  This year, the "Ocean View" has been freshly re-painted in honor of Amtrak's 40th Anniversary in the Amtrak Phase III paint scheme and wears stripes comprised of equal red, white and blue stripes, symbolic of Amtrak being America's Railroad®.

About Amtrak®:

 

Celebrating 40 years of dedicated service as America's Railroad®, Amtrak is the nation's intercity passenger rail provider and its only high-speed rail operator.  A record 28.7 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2010 on more than 300 daily trains - at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) - that connect 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces.  Amtrak operates trains in partnership with 15 states and four commuter rail agencies.  Amtrak also is a strong financial performer achieving an 85 percent cost-recovery ratio in FY 2010.  Enjoy the journey(sm) at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and more information.  Join us on facebook.com/Amtrak and follow us at twitter.com/Amtrak

 

# # #

 

I wonder if that's the same car that was on the Zephyr in July/August 1973 when I traveled from Chicago to Oakland. That car was a full-length dome, and as I recall, it had upper level seating in about half to two-thirds its length and a bar/lounge on the lower level that was open through both levels all the way up to the dome. I rode up there at night going into the Wasatch Mountains as a thunderstorm developed, and had a front-row center seat for a spectacular show. The car was a great ride until the AC failed the next day, and then it fully demonstrated the effectiveness of solar heat. I held on as the car cleared out in about ten minutes, and for about half an hour I had it all to myself until I, too, took refuge in my cool, comfortable seat in a former Santa Fe coach.

 

It was a memorable trip, my first long train ride after the startup of Amtrak, and the last time I traveled that far in a coach. To quote the late E.M. Frimbo, "A gentleman always rides in the sleeping cars."

To quote the late E.M. Frimbo, "A gentleman always rides in the sleeping cars."

 

Oh, I thought that was Cary Grant who said it to Eva Marie Saint....

 

 

I wonder if that's the same car that was on the Zephyr in July/August 1973 when I traveled from Chicago to Oakland. That car was a full-length dome, and as I recall, it had upper level seating in about half to two-thirds its length and a bar/lounge on the lower level that was open through both levels all the way up to the dome. I rode up there at night going into the Wasatch Mountains as a thunderstorm developed, and had a front-row center seat for a spectacular show. The car was a great ride until the AC failed the next day, and then it fully demonstrated the effectiveness of solar heat. I held on as the car cleared out in about ten minutes, and for about half an hour I had it all to myself until I, too, took refuge in my cool, comfortable seat in a former Santa Fe coach.

 

It was a memorable trip, my first long train ride after the startup of Amtrak, and the last time I traveled that far in a coach. To quote the late E.M. Frimbo, "A gentleman always rides in the sleeping cars."

 

That was most likely a former Southern Pacific car, since that road banned any other domes from its routes. The car was a conversion from a coach.

 

Amtrak at crossing: Increasing ridership, declining funding

By Jason Cato, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Friday, September 30, 2011

 

 

Deborah Myers this week made her annual migration south, an intermodal journey to deliver her snowbird father to his Florida winter home that includes chugging along railroad tracks.

 

"I think it's nice to have public transportation like this, and the train is very comfortable," Myers, 57, of Cranberry said as she rode in a coach car from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, one of the record number of Amtrak passengers this fiscal year, which ends today.

 

Amtrak for the first time carried more than 30 million passengers in a year, surpassing last year's 28.7 million and stretching its string of record-setting years to eight of the last nine.

 

The number of passengers who rode the Pennsylvanian, a route leaving Pittsburgh each morning for New York City via Harrisburg and Philadelphia, could top last year's record 203,392 when Amtrak releases final numbers.

 

 

Read more: Amtrak at crossing: Increasing ridership, declining funding - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_759456.html?_s_icmp=NetworkHeadlines#ixzz1ZicYhFtu

Sorry if this is a random thread for this. Can anyone, perhaps someone with the initials KJP, tell me who owns the tracks that run through the intersection of Miles and E 131st? I'm trying to help a professor who is trying to help kids in the Corlett neighborhood walk to school. Thanks much!

 

Cleveland's Amtrak station on track for needed changes: Road Rant

 

Katie Hagan eventually found Cleveland's tucked-away Amtrak station after searching and circling at 4 a.m. on a recent Saturday. It did not turn out to be a hidden gem. Amtrak told Road Rant it intends to upgrade the downtown site that Hagan described -- quite accurately, by the way -- as depressing, dank and dreary. Interior renovations should transform the ticket counter and restrooms inside the South Marginal Road building set behind and below City Hall.

 

Check back next year, though: Things could be different.

 

Interesting is the 19% increase in traffic between 2008 and 2010.

 

Read the rest here: http://www.cleveland.com/roadrant/index.ssf/2011/10/clevelands_amtrak_station_on_t.html

 

 

Read more: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,3594.3420.html#ixzz1a69qlr7p

Sorry if this is a random thread for this. Can anyone, perhaps someone with the initials KJP, tell me who owns the tracks that run through the intersection of Miles and E 131st? I'm trying to help a professor who is trying to help kids in the Corlett neighborhood walk to school. Thanks much!

 

Those tracks and their land are owned by Norfolk Southern Corp., but leased to Cleveland Commercial Railroad. They  are likely to get busier as CCR develops business from industries farther east in Cleveland, North Randall, Bedford Heights, Solon and possibly beyond. Prior to 1982 the tracks ran all the way to Youngstown and New York City. It was a two-tracked busy freight and passenger route for the Erie Railroad that saw up to 40 trains a day in its heyday. If you want to see pictures of this route from years ago, see:

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,25074.0.html

 

EDIT: thanks, Mov2Ohio, for posting that here.

Amtrak: more popular - and more at risk - than ever

By Rob Lovitt, msnbc.com contributor

 

It’s official: During its fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Amtrak carried more passengers than during any year in its four-decade history.

 

“The final figures will be released next week,” said Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm, “but we have reached and surpassed the 30-million mark.”

 

Expanded schedules, changing demographics and the hassles of air travel have boosted the appeal of train travel, say industry observers.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/07/8207263-amtrak-more-popular-and-more-at-risk-than-ever

 

Cleveland's Amtrak station on track for needed changes: Road Rant

 

Katie Hagan eventually found Cleveland's tucked-away Amtrak station after searching and circling at 4 a.m. on a recent Saturday. It did not turn out to be a hidden gem. Amtrak told Road Rant it intends to upgrade the downtown site that Hagan described -- quite accurately, by the way -- as depressing, dank and dreary. Interior renovations should transform the ticket counter and restrooms inside the South Marginal Road building set behind and below City Hall.

 

Check back next year, though: Things could be different.

 

Interesting is the 19% increase in traffic between 2008 and 2010.

 

Read the rest here: http://www.cleveland.com/roadrant/index.ssf/2011/10/clevelands_amtrak_station_on_t.html

 

 

Read more: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,3594.3420.html#ixzz1a69qlr7p

 

My last visit there was long ago, but even then it was dirty, dark, and grimy. It wasn't always so nasty.

Before it was chopped up and shared with intercity buses, some of whose customers would benefit from

close supervision but don't get it from station agents, it looked like this:

 

 

 

 

 

It looks almost the same 32 years later. The Trailways counter is gone as are the buses.

It looks almost the same 32 years later. The Trailways counter is gone as are the buses.

 

If you want a trip back to 1980's nostalgia, just go to the Amtrak station in Cleveland.

If you want a trip back to 1980's nostalgia, just go to the Amtrak station in Cleveland.

 

Or listen to the music playing on my stereo!

if only we could get amtrak relocated to tower city  :whip:

 

Norfolk starts preparations for Amtrak train service

 

By Debbie Messina

The Virginian-Pilot

© October 8, 2011

 

NORFOLK

 

Barely a month after light rail started rolling through town, work has begun at Harbor Park to bring passenger trains back to South Hampton Roads.

 

Construction is under way on track improvements and a station platform at the eastern edge of the Harbor Park parking lot, where a transportation hub will be created along Norfolk's waterfront. It's part of $101 million the state is spending to bring Amtrak service to the region in 2013.

 

The city has budgeted$3 million to build a train depot, which is now under design, with construction slatedto begin this winter.

 

Service will start with one train a day, departing Norfolk in the early morning for Richmond, Washington and beyond. Passengers will have one-seat service all the way to Boston, never having to change trains. For day travelers to Richmond and Washington, a late-afternoon train will return to Norfolk.

 

The goal is to build to three round-trip trains daily.

 

Norfolk public works director John Keifer said the city will finish constructing the 4,000-square-foot train station by this time next year. That's also when the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation expects to have the track infrastructure complete.

 

While the official target date to carry passengers is October 2013, state officials are aiming to launch before then.

 

"We're saying no later than the fall of 2013, but obviously we're working hard to make it sooner," said Courtney Moyer, a DRPT spokeswoman.

 

Since passenger rail in South Hampton Roads ended in 1977, the closest trains are across the harbor in Newport News.

 

About 44,000 residents from South Hampton Roads travel to Newport News each year to catch a train, said Bob Jackson, a city architect overseeing the station project. Amtrak officials have told the city they expect about 67,000 customers each year to use the Norfolk service, or close to 200 passengers a day.

 

"We need to have a signature building to make this the best rider experience you've ever had on a train," Jackson said. "The building has to be interesting, something that people will look at and say, 'That's cool.' "

 

He said a design may be ready by the end of the month. The city has contracted with Michael Baker Jr. Inc. to design the station and manage construction.

 

It's the start of a $16 million long-range plan to create a transportation hub at Harbor Park that would include light rail, ferries and buses.

 

For now, though, the city has reduced its first-phase budget from $6 million to $3 million, which will cover a canopy over the station platform, a 100-space parking lot, and the station building, which is being designed so it can later be expanded. A planned covered walkway between the Amtrak station and the light-rail station at the other corner of the eastern parking lot, a bus center and possibly a parking garage will have to come later, Keifer said.

 

Keifer said the sheltered walkway to The Tide light-rail line is not necessary yet because the Amtrak departure will be around 5 a.m. to link to the 7 a.m. Richmond service. Light rail's service doesn't start until 6 a.m.

 

Under the plan, Norfolk Southern Corp. tracks that roughly parallel U.S. 460 and CSX Corp. tracks from Petersburg to Richmond are being upgraded to accommodate passenger trains running at conventional speeds of up to 79 mph.

 

The state decided to develop the conventional rail service in such a way that it could be upgraded to high-speed rail, which would run at speeds of up to 110 mph. Officials have said it could be a couple of decades before higher-speed service comes to Hampton Roads because it requires separate passenger- and freight-train tracks.

 

While development of the Norfolk train service is moving down the track, the state has yet to identify funds to support its operation. With federal passenger rail subsidies ending, the Department of Rail and Public Transportation estimates that the state may need to provide an average of more than $6 million a year for the first five years of Norfolk service.

 

DRPT's director, Thelma Drake, however, said she's optimistic it will mirror the success of the Lynchburg service launched two years ago, which has attracted double the projected riders and has yet to draw on the state operating subsidy.

 

Amtrak trains throughout the United States operate with public subsidies because they're not self-sustaining.

 

 

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/10/work-under-way-harbor-park-transportation-hub

Work starts to ease Chicago train congestion

By MICHAEL TARM

 

CHICAGO-- Work started Monday on a long-delayed project to ease train congestion at a vital intersection of tracks in Chicago -- a single point that has contributed inordinately to backups in the hub of the nation's 140,000-mile rail network.

 

Construction by 2014 of a new bridge lifting north-south tracks over east-west lines is intended to reduce maddening delays for Amtrak- and commuter-train passengers, as well as speed up the flow of tens of thousands of freight trains that run through Chicago each year.

 

Trains rolled past during a Monday morning groundbreaking ceremony, where Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel alluded to the vast rail network built in the city over more than a century but not always upgraded.

 

Read more at: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9QA3VHO0.htm

A non-copyrighted article, cross-posted from the Rethinking Transport in the USA thread.......

 

http://www.illini.utu.org/board/news-display-current.jhtml?DB=update/dbase&DO=display&ID=1318539359_20959&current=current

 

Amtrak now fastest-growing mode of travel in U.S., but GOP still wants to kill it

United Transportation Union

Illinois Legislative Board

Robert W. Guy, State Director

[10/13/2011]

 

ST. LOUIS (Oct. 13)—It’s official: Amtrak announced in a ceremony at the St. Louis rail station today that the national passenger rail carrier broke its all-time ridership record in Fiscal Year 2011, carrying 30.2 million passengers and far surpassing its pre-recession figure of 28.4 million carried in 2008.

 

The announcement came just as a new report from Democrats in the U.S. House documented that intercity passenger rail ridership has been growing faster than air and auto travel since at least 2001.

 

Amtrak records show that after the company’s 2008 ridership peak the 2009 recession dealt Amtrak a temporary setback in which ridership sagged back to 26.7 million.

 

But in 2010 the trains rallied, returning to the 2008 levels before staging the spectacular 2011 spurt that attracted 2 million new passengers to the company’s 23,000-mile system.

 

“Make no mistake, train travel is getting popular,” said UTU Illinois Legislative Director Robert W. Guy, who attended the St. Louis ceremony. “You cannot dismiss these kinds of numbers as a fad that’s going to go away tomorrow, nor can you attribute the growing popularity of train travel to the high price of gasoline. Gasoline prices have remained somewhat stagnant, but the growth in train ridership has continued.”

 

And despite the sudden eruption in ridership figures between 2010 and 2011, growth in train ridership is nothing new, Guy said.

 

“Actually, Amtrak has been the nation’s fastest-growing form of travel for 10 years now,” he said.

 

Guy pointed to a recent report published by the Minority Staff of the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee that showed Amtrak’s popularity is growing faster than that of driving or air travel.

 

“In the decade since 2001, annual domestic emplanements—the number of people buying airline tickets—grew only about 4.58 per cent, and annual Vehicle Miles Traveled in private automobiles grew 10.69 per cent,” Guy said.

 

“But during that same period transit ridership grew 13.23 per cent, and Amtrak ridership showed the strongest growth rate of all—-28.49 per cent,” he said.

“Train-riding is growing nearly three times faster than driving and six times faster than flying,” Guy said. “You just can’t argue anymore that Americans won’t ride trains.”

 

Despite Amtrak’s steep and prolonged growth in popularity, however, the Republican-dominated U.S. House has proposed budget cuts that would sharply reduce Amtrak’s daily departures, particularly the daytime corridor trains supported by the legislatures of 15 states, including Illinois.

 

“Illinois has one of the most successful state-supported passenger-train networks in the nation,” Guy said. “We have four round trips a day between Chicago and St. Louis and two each on the Chicago-Carbondale and Chicago-Quincy routes. Ridership and revenues on all of them are up sharply, and on the Chicago-Carbondale route the growth is in double digits.”

 

Guy urged all UTU members to reach out immediately to their U.S. representatives with phone calls demanding that Amtrak’s 2012 budget for state-supported trains be sustained at the 2011 level.

 

“If you don’t know the name of your congressman just use the ‘Legislative Lookup’ feature on our Web site,” he said. “Then phone the representative’s Washington or District office and tell the person who answers the phone that you’re a constituent and you are urging the member to reject the Amtrak budget cuts and to support Illinois’ strong and successful corridor-train network with continuation of 2011 funding.

 

“Keep your message short, clear and courteous,” Guy said. “Feel free to mention that you are a UTU member.

 

“But feel free to reach out as well to your friends, neighbors and relatives who are not railroad employees and ask them to call their congressmen as well,” Guy said.

 

“For UTU members, maintenance of the Illinois passenger-train network is a jobs issue, and your congressman will understand that,” he said.

 

But for millions of other Illinoisians, he said, the state trains are a mobility issue and an economic-development issue.

 

“Thousands of young people from the Chicago area ride those trains to reach our four large Downstate universities, while Downstaters swarm the trains each weekend to reach attractions in Chicago,” he said. “During the middle of the week Downstate businessmen ride the trains to meetings in Chicago, and several Downstate communities have begun redeveloping their downtown areas with new businesses that thrive by serving people using the busy rail station,” Guy said.

 

“Trains are more than a jobs issue for railroaders now,” he said. “They are providing a new kind of mobility that millions of Americans are demanding, and they’re generating new business starts and new jobs for people who will never work for a railroad. We need to tell our congressional representatives that trains are good for everybody and deserve full funding.”

 

END

If only Congress would get on board

Published: Thursday, October 20, 2011, 6:01 PM

By The Oregonian Editorial Board The Oregonian

 

A  record 30.2 million passengers took Amtrak trains over the past 12 months. That's impressive, considering how little money, creativity and leadership this country has invested in a modern passenger rail system.

 

Imagine how many people would flock to American trains if they didn't trundle along at 45 mph, if the United States had a passenger rail system that was anything like Japan's, China's, France's, Italy's, Spain's, Germany's and many other countries where high-speed trains whistle people from one city to the next on trains that cover hundreds of miles in an hour. Imagine rocketing to Seattle on a speedy train, rather than fighting the traffic on Interstate 5, or sitting in an airport waiting for a costly and wasteful flight.

 

You'd never know it listening to Amtrak's critics in Congress, the ones forever squeezing the railroad's federal support or trying to sell off its most valuable routes in the Northeast corridor, but passenger rail has a place in American transportation. Amtrak has set ridership records eight out of the last nine years, even as the recession has reduced travel, even as it has fought for congressional funding and even as it has kept wasting scarce resources running slow, long-haul trips like the route linking New Orleans and Los Angeles.

 

Read full editorial at: http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/10/if_only_congress_would_get_on.html

Another record year on America's rails

Oct 23rd 2011, 18:06 by N.B. | WASHINGTON, D.C.

 

AMTRAK, America's government-run passenger rail service, announced earlier this month that it carried 30m passengers in the 2011 fiscal year, which ended on September 30th. The number is a new record for the company and represents a 44% increase since 2000. Over 7m of those passengers travelled on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which runs between Boston and Washington, with stops in New York and Philadelphia along the way. Ticket sales increased 5% on FY 2010 and ticket revenues were up 8%.

 

FoxBusiness's Jennifer Booton makes a fairly convincing argument that Americans are turning to trains as an alternative to driving and air travel, noting that Amtrak has hit record ridership and revenue levels almost every year since 2002, "which is about the time airlines started to struggle." (The only year since 2002 that Amtrak didn't set new records for revenue and ridership was 2009, in the depths of the recession.) High gas prices and the growing hassle of flying have made trains more attractive. Here's more from Ms Booton:

 

Read more at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/10/amtrak

OPINION |

As train travel surges, conservatives go off the rails

 

By Conrad deFiebre, Minnesota 2020

October 21, 2011

 

It's become so commonplace that it barely makes news, but Amtrak just reported its eighth ridership record in the past nine years. In the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 30.2 million passengers boarded U.S. intercity trains, a 5 percent increase over fiscal 2010.

 

On top of that, ticket revenue of $1.9 billion for the national rail passenger system was up more than 8 percent, indicating growing market appeal.

 

Amtrak's Acela Express already draws more passengers than the airlines in the crowded New York City-Washington, D.C., corridor. And the Empire Builder long-haul train from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest through the Twin Cities remains the top volume service on Amtrak's 15-route National Network, boarding 469,167 riders in fiscal 2011.

 

These figures are all the more impressive considering that flooding in the Upper Midwest and hurricanes and record snows in the Northeast disrupted train service for significant periods. Meanwhile, Amtrak, long unfairly portrayed as a symbol of galloping government subsidies, is covering more than 85 percent of its operating costs from fares and advertising revenues. Compare that with the barely 50 percent of road and bridge costs drivers pay through user fees such as tolls and fuel taxes

 

Read more at: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2011/10/21/opinion-train-travel-surges-conservatives-go-rails?print=1

News from Destination Toledo, Inc. (Convention & Visitors Bureau):

 

The Amtrak train widget is now live on www.doToledo.org!  You will find it in two places; Plan Your Stay under Transportation Services and Meet in Toledo under Transportation Services.  We are very happy to have this service available to the public on our website and hope that it will help increase rail traffic!

 

http://www.dotoledo.org/Plan-Your-Stay3/Transportation-Services/Amtrak

 

Check it out!!

 

Just released.....

http://republicans.transportation.house.gov/Media/file/112th/Railroads/Rail_Competition_Bill_Package.pdf

 

It will fail (and intentionally so) because it does not recognize the most important reason why passenger rail loses money -- because rail has most of its right-of-way costs internalized on its own balance sheets while competing modes have them externalized on to public sector balance sheets.

 

EDIT: BTW, the European rail systems touted by the House GOP are owned mostly by "Soviet-style" national governments, same as Amtrak. The irony would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 31, 2011

 

ATK-11-140

Contact: Marc Magliari

312 880.5390

 

AMTRAK BIODIESEL HEARTLAND FLYER RESULTS PRESENTED AT RAILROAD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE;

No ill effects on locomotive used in Oklahoma and Texas

 

CHICAGO - Amtrak found the use of a renewable biodiesel fuel blend to power the daily Amtrak Heartland Flyer train resulted in no more wear on the locomotive than traditional diesel fuels and no reduction in performance or reliability.

 

The research paper, presented last week at a railroad environmental conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, found the use of a biodiesel blend known as B20 (20% pure biofuel and 80% diesel) also operated below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits for this class of locomotive.

 

"The trial design included one year of testing, evaluating the engine and gasket wear, determining the quality of air emissions and regularly monitoring the quality of the biodiesel fuel," said Roy Deitchman, Amtrak Vice President, Environmental, Health and Safety.  "The results of the trial indicate the in-service locomotive was very reliable with the B20 blend, engine wear was limited, air emissions were below EPA limits for this generation of passenger locomotive and the biofuel supply met industry standards."

 

The General Electric P32-8 locomotive carried an Amtrak decal indicating the use of B20 fuel and other special markings to make certain only the biodiesel fuel was used in 3,200-horsepower, 12-cylinder engine built in 1991 and compliant with EPA's "Tier 0" standard.

 

Amtrak received a $274,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to carry out the research project in partnership with the Oklahoma  Department of Transportation (Okla. DOT) on the daily train operated by Amtrak with state support from both Oklahoma and Texas.

 

The biodiesel blend was provided by a Texas-based vendor and the trial received support on fuel and engine component evaluation from Chevron Oronite.  The engine manufacturer provided input on warranty matters and some of the testing was carried out at the General Electric facility in Erie, Penn. 

 

The trial was included in TIME magazine's list of "The 50 Best Inventions of 2010" with a whimsical cartoon pointing out the biodiesel blend included beef byproduct.  Operating daily between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, the Heartland Flyer was the first on the list of transportation inventions and only one of TIME's transportation innovations to be publically available.

 

"Routine use of biodiesel fuel at Amtrak is contingent on many factors, including cost versus traditional ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and availability," Deitchman said.  "But it is clear no significant engine performance issues found during the trial and we were able to replace nearly 35,000 gallons of diesel with a renewable fuel that was locally produced."

 

About the Heartland Flyer

The Amtrak Heartland Flyer was inaugurated June 14, 1999, with federal funds received by Okla. DOT that were designed to initiate service in areas without Amtrak trains.  Texas joined the partnership with Oklahoma and Amtrak in 2006.  Ridership in the 12 months ending September 30 was 84,039, up nearly three percent from the previous year.

 

Amtrak operates the Heartland Flyer under state-funded contracts to provide service, with regularly scheduled stops in Oklahoma City, Norman, Purcell, Pauls Valley and Ardmore, Oklahoma and in Gainesville and Fort Worth, Texas.  For additional information, visit www.heartlandflyer.com.

 

About Amtrak®:

 

Celebrating 40 years of dedicated service as America's Railroad® Amtrak is the nation's intercity passenger rail provider and its only high-speed rail operator. A record 30.2 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2011 on more than 300 daily trains - at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) - that connect 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces. Amtrak operates trains in partnership with 15 states and four commuter rail agencies.  Enjoy the journey(sm) at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and more information. Join us on facebook.com/Amtrak and follow us at twitter.com/Amtrak.

 

 

 

The trial was included in TIME magazine's list of "The 50 Best Inventions of 2010" with a whimsical cartoon pointing out the biodiesel blend included beef byproduct. 

 

Yay for the Texas BBQ diesel locomotive!! ;-)

Senate Approves Austere Transpo Spending Bill; High Speed Rail Funding Plummets

By Todd Zwillich | November 1, 2011 – 12:27 pm

 

The Democratic-controlled Senate backed $108 billion in Fiscal 2012 federal transportation spending 69-30, flatlining budgets as Washington operates in a climate of spending cuts.

 

The bill passed after a long-delayed flourish of votes Tuesday.

 

It funds most transportation, transit and highway programs at or near levels for the Fiscal year that ended Sept 30. But when factored for inflation, it amounts to cuts to many programs. That’s largely because of new spending caps in place after Republicans and Democrats agreed to cuts during the federal debt limit fight last summer.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://transportationnation.org/2011/11/01/senate-approves-austere-transpo-spending-bill-high-speed-rail-funding-plummets/

How private enterprise can strengthen Amtrak 

Monday, October 31, 2011 

By Eugene K. Skoropowski, Director of Rail & Transit Services, HNTB Corporation

 

House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) has made no secret of his disdain for Amtrak, often referring to it as our “Soviet style rail system.” Accepting the premise that Mica’s desires for a better and more extensive intercity passenger rail system are genuine, his committee has a golden opportunity to open the doors to private sector investment and involvement in the modernization and growth of our nation’s intercity passenger rail system.

 

However, Mica has only touched on where, and how, the private sector can begin to play a much larger role in delivery of, and investment in, our national passenger rail system. If our political leaders from both parties can come to a consensus and provide a dedicated and predictable annual federal capital funding stream for intercity passenger rail, the private sector will respond. The private sector need not replace Amtrak, but rather partner with it, to strengthen what Amtrak does best (operating trains), and incorporate what the private sector does best (manage and grow customer focused businesses, and generate profits from them). Such an unlikely business partnership can help transform our country’s intercity passenger rail network into something more akin to what the rest of the world’s industrialized nations are already providing to their people: modern higher performance and higher speed trains, but with a decidedly “American” twist.  

 

Read more at: http://www.railwayage.com/in-this-issue/how-private-enterprise-can-strengthen-amtrak-october-2011-3662.html

The best how-to-privatize Amtrak article I've ever read.

I didn't bother to read it further since I thought it was going to be a knee-jerk, right wing diatribe about how private companies should run the railroads.  That went a totally different direction and he disregarded that idea right off the bat..  Very thoughtful article.  Hopefully Mica is willing to push these ideas forward.

The author, Gene Skoropowski, is considered one of the best and brightest minds in passenger rail development in the nation.  He is largely responsible for the continued success of the California Capitol Corridor passenger rail system.  I wsih the Obama Administration would bring him on board to run Amtrak.

An e-mailed press release......

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (#11-21)

November 10, 2011

 

Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail – 202-408-8362 [mobile: 202-320-2723]

 

Train Passengers Say Adoption of Senate Passenger Rail Numbers Vital

 

The National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) sent a letter to House and Senate negotiators in conference on a bill which will decide Amtrak and high-speed rail’s budget for Fiscal Year 2012 yesterday, warning of the effects cuts would have on the mobility of millions of Americans.

 

NARP asked the conferees to endorse Senate-passed funding levels of $1.48 billion for Amtrak and the $100 million for the High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Program.  In his letter to negotiators, NARP President Ross Capon warned of the corrosive effect that the House version would have on America’s passenger rail network, severely undermining Amtrak’s ability to keep its trains running:

 

We believe the House subcommittee’s draconian operating-grant reduction to $227 million would force an Amtrak shutdown.  Equally unacceptable is the House subcommittee’s provision to prohibit the use of Amtrak’s operating funds on short-distance routes.  This could eliminate almost 150 weekday trains and strand more than nine million passengers each year, harming the towns and cities those trains connect.  It also would undercut negotiations between Amtrak and the states regarding the increased state payments required under PRIIA by October 16, 2013.  Finally, the elimination of those trains would result in shifting of significant shared costs to the surviving Northeast Corridor and long-distance trains, underlining our concern that a $227 million operating grant would force a system shutdown.

 

Even with the Senate cuts, which are modest by comparison, Amtrak would have to significantly reduce its work force and end work on addressing a backlog of deferred investment in the Northeast Corridor’s infrastructure.  Additionally, Amtrak will be severely challenged to find the $350 million in capital Amtrak’s engineering department needs just to keep the Northeast Corridor running.  But the Senate numbers provide the best chance for Amtrak to meet the soaring demand that saw a record-breaking 30.2 million passengers board their trains in FY 2011—the eighth ridership record set over the past nine years, and a 44 percent surge in ridership since FY 2000.

 

Conference negotiators are discussing a minibus that—in addition to funding for Transportation-Housing & Urban Development—includes FY 2012 spending bills for Agriculture and Commerce-Justice-Science.  The conferees are Senators Daniel Inouye, Thad Cochran, Patty Murray, Susan Collins, and Representatives Harold Rogers, Norman Dicks, Tom Latham, John Olver.

 

[You can find the text of the letter on NARP’s website at http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/resources/more/letter_to_congressional_conferees_on_fy_2012_transportation_appropriations_/]

 

###

 

BIG NEWS!!

 

At this week’s U.S. High Speed Rail Association event, Chairman John Mica announced that he is no longer pushing to privatize Amtrak rail service. He told USHRA there was too much opposition to his plan.

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/railroads/192473-mica-backs-off-amtrak-privatization-plan

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/11/08/mica-drops-amtrak-privatization-plan-in-call-for-northeast-corridor-hsr/

http://rockefeller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1013fa7c-e317-46eb-adc1-a1834a241d67

 

 

Yesterday, the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee unanimously the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee “unanimously approved S.1813, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), a bill to reauthorize the nation's transportation programs for two years, illustrating broad bipartisan support for passage by the full Senate.”

 

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Majority.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=8a090126-802a-23ad-48ad-25719713777f&Region_id=&Issue_id=

 

During the mark-up, Senator Lautenberg indicated that he has an amendment to make intercity passenger rail eligible for the multi-modal infrastructure improvement fund. He touted Amtrak’s record-high ridership. He said he would “not push these amendments now, but looks forward to working with the Committee to move these provisions forward.” Senator McCain’s concern about Transportation Enhancements was resolved by giving states the flexibility to spend the money on other things. This is vastly preferable to prohibiting states from spending money on historic stations that Amtrak uses.

Amtrak: NEC rider market keeps growing   

Monday, November 14, 2011 

 

Amtrak now holds 73% of the combined New York-Washington air-rail travel market, according to Drew Galloway, Amtrak assistant vice president for Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Investment Development.

 

Amtrak also now commands 93% of the combined air-rail travel market serving Washington and Philadelphia, Galloway said, addressing an annual meeting Saturday of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers in Bordentown, N.J.

 

Read more at: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news/amtrak-nec-rider-market-keeps-growing-3712.html

This is from Secretary LaHood's blog.....

 

http://fastlane.dot.gov/2011/11/high-speed-rail-improving-the-present-preparing-for-the-future.html

 

November 16, 2011

High Speed Rail: creating jobs, spurring growth, providing needed capacity

 

2012 is shaping up to be a year of significant high speed rail activity. In the first part of the year, more than $1 billion in high speed rail construction activity will be underway.  As part of the program, 32 states already have work in progress.  Contracts are being let around the U.S. by states for design work, planning work, construction materials, and supplies.  And all of this comes as Amtrak continues to break ridership records on passenger rail routes across the country.

 

Over the next 40 years, America will be home to 100 million more people, largely concentrated in regions that make up only 25% of the land mass in the United States where congestion is already costing families and businesses nearly $130 billion each year. This growth will burden our already stressed roadways and airports well beyond their capacities. The cost of those bottlenecks in freight delays, loss of competitiveness, and forfeited productivity will be enormous and will ultimately cost our country jobs.

 

Without an alternative way of getting people where they're going, our economy will be choked by congestion. High speed rail is that alternative.

 

It's clear that moving an American high-speed rail network forward will require conversations with those who are not passenger rail's strongest advocates. So I was happy to speak about high-speed rail on Monday at the annual William O. Lipinski Symposium on Transportation at Northwestern University.

 

In many regions of the country, space is simply not available to expand highways or runways.  In other areas, the costs to expand are outrageous.  For comparably lower costs, connecting high-speed rail to other modes in these congested regions can add desperately needed capacity, improve the performance of all modes, and provide a boost to the entire American economy.

 

Let me be clear: there is no amount of money that could build enough capacity on our highways and at our airports to keep up with our expected population growth in coming decades.

 

High-speed rail can help alleviate congestion both in the air and on our roads--opening more gates to the international flights the America needs to stay competitive and providing more room on our highways to get goods to market. It can do so while relieving Americans from pain at the pump and emitting less carbon in our air. And, despite critics' objections, we can actually build rail cheaper than we can add the necessary highway or airport capacity.

 

Recently in Chicago, construction started on the Englewood flyover, a rail bridge that will, when completed, speed trains through what has been one of the nation's worst rail bottlenecks.  This project is creating jobs right now improving freight and passenger rail service.

 

Upgrades like this will continue to add jobs and improve existing rail service as they pave the way for high speed rail.  And we're not just talking about adding jobs; we're talking about revitalizing the American rail manufacturing industry.  We have 30 rail companies that have pledged to hire Americans and expand their US operations if awarded contracts to work on high speed rail.  Some companies, like Progress Rail in Indiana, have already expanded their US manufacturing facilities.

 

President Obama understands that we can’t shortchange future generations of Americans by failing to lay the foundation for growth today.  President Obama understands we need to get busy building the capacity our transportation network needs for the next 100 million people.  High-speed rail will play a large role in providing that capacity.

 

###

How many buses or planes does it take to do what trains do? Consider this data that was supplied on Wednesday (Nov. 23) to Michigan DOT from Amtrak government affairs.....

 

 

Today looks to be a stellar day for passenger rail in Michigan.  Crowds have been steady at Chicago Union Station with news coverage of train travel by at least CNN and Telemundo. Nearly 20,000 Amtrak passengers passed through Chicago Union Station on 58 trains. This doesn't include almost 100,000 Metra rail customers on more than 300 regional trains throughout Chicagoland.

 

Highlights from today’s service on Michigan's Wolverine, Pere Marquette and Blue Water trains for Nov. 23:

 

635 passengers carried on both Pere Marquettes

1,231 passengers on both eastbound and westbound Blue Waters

Wolverine #352 (12:15pm departure) left Chicago with 577 aboard. By the end of the trip at Pontiac, that train will have carried 692 passengers between end points and intermediate cities.

Blue Water #365 will leave Chicago today with 592 aboard. By trip’s end, it will have carried 659 customers.

 

All total, based on reservations as of 3:30pm CT, 4,752 customers will have been transported on the ten trains to and from Michigan points today.

 

That number is equal to 86 intercity motorcoach buses or 32 149-passenger Boeing 737s. And that's just in Michigan....

 

That's a big reason why nobody rides trains any more; they're too crowded!

 

 

:wink:

 

Thank you Yogi Berra!

:clap:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 30, 2011

 

ATK-11-152

Contact: Media Relations

202 906.3860

 

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS INDICATE RECORD RIDERSHIP ON AMTRAK DURING THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

 

WASHINGTON - The preliminary numbers are in, and with an estimated 720,000 passengers, Amtrak set a new ridership record for the Thanksgiving holiday travel week.

 

"While retailers are reporting sales are up at stores and on the Internet, travel on Amtrak also exceeded expectations due, in part, to increased capacity and the recent introduction of free Wi-Fi service on several Amtrak routes," said Amtrak Vice President of Marketing and Product Management Emmett Fremaux.

 

Comparing Thanksgiving 2011 to Thanksgiving 2010, there was an estimated 2.2 percent increase in ridership nationwide. The previous Thanksgiving ridership record was set in 2010 with 704,446 passengers.  This year's Thanksgiving holiday travel week extended from Nov. 22 through Nov. 28. 

 

In preparation for the anticipated heavy passenger volume, Amtrak operated every available passenger rail car in its fleet and scheduled extra trains to accommodate additional passengers in the Northeast and on the West Coast.  The Amtrak equipment fleet was slightly larger this year due to rehabilitated and refurbished railcars and locomotive engines that were recently restored to service.

 

Final ridership numbers will be available in early December.

About Amtrak

Celebrating 40 years of dedicated service as America's Railroad®, Amtrak is the nation's intercity passenger rail provider and its only high-speed rail operator. A record 30.2 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2011 on more than 300 daily trains - at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) - that connect 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces. Amtrak operates trains in partnership with 15 states and four commuter rail agencies.  Enjoy the journeysm at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and more information. Join us on facebook.com/Amtrak and follow us at twitter.com/Amtrak.

###

 

I imagine this was posted somewhere but... This is in addition to earlier funding:

 

U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Awards $150 Million to Michigan to Expand High-Speed Rail in the Midwest

 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Contact: Brie Sachse

Tel.: 202-493-6024

 

 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today awarded $150 million to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) for a high-speed rail project that will increase the safety and reliability of Amtrak’s Wolverine and Blue Water services between Detroit and Chicago and put more than 800 Americans back to work this spring.

 

“With America’s population set to grow by 100 million over the next 40 years, high-speed rail will play a vital role in meeting America’s long-term transportation challenges,” said Secretary LaHood. “Projects like this will employ local workers, use American-made materials and lay a strong foundation for future economic growth.”

http://www.fra.dot.gov/roa/press_releases/fp_FRA%2036-11.shtml

 

 

I imagine this was posted somewhere but... This is in addition to earlier funding:

 

U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Awards $150 Million to Michigan to Expand High-Speed Rail in the Midwest

 

 

Posted at:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,1414.msg588782.html#msg588782

Links to sources/documentation available at:

http://allaboardohio.org/2011/12/05/why-is-odot-director-wray-an-expert-witness-for-congress-on-passenger-rail/

 

Why is ODOT Director Wray an “expert witness” for Congress on passenger rail?

 

For Immediate Release

Dec. 5, 2011

Ken Prendergast

Executive Director

All Aboard Ohio

[email protected]

(216) 288-4883

 

Tomorrow, U.S. House Subcommittee on Railroads Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) is scheduled to hold a hearing titled “The Federal Railroad Administration’s High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program: Mistakes and Lessons Learned.” Tomorrow’s hearing includes several witnesses who will try to defend why Shuster and others ended a popular program in which 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak applied for more than $75 billion worth of passenger rail projects. Those requests were made to a $10 billion pot of money.

 

Strangely, among those testifying is Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jerry Wray, a former president of Flexible Pavements, the asphalt industry lobbying association.

 

“This was a popular, bipartisan program that was sidetracked one year before the Presidential election,” said Ken Prendergast, executive director of the nonprofit rail and transit advocacy organization All Aboard Ohio. “Only three of 25 states returned federal funding, and two of those — Florida and Wisconsin — have accepted other federal passenger rail funding and increased their state-funded investments in passenger rail to promote jobs and affordable transportation options for their citizens. That makes Ohio the backward outcast, yet its transportation chief gets called as an expert witness. I find that to be just a tad ironic,” Prendergast added.

 

Here is what Director Wray will likely NOT tell the committee tomorrow:

•  In its first year, Ohio’s Cleveland – Columbus – Dayton – Cincinnati (3C) Corridor 79 mph passenger rail service would have attracted the 12th greatest ridership of any Amtrak service and risen from there as other new routes have similarly grown -- often spectacularly.

•  Stop-to-start average 3C train speeds would have been 50 mph, the third-fastest of 11 new train services sponsored by states in the U.S. since 1980 and evolved to high-speed rail with more job-producing investment, as every other high-speed rail service on Earth has done.

•  Value-capture activities at the Riverside station, one of several station-area real estate developments to be stimulated by the 3C trains, would have more than offset the entire annual operating subsidy of 3C.

•  Wray apparently thinks he needs every penny to save Ohio’s highway system. All Ohio transportation tax dollars (actually 99 percent) already go to roads, but gas tax revenues are diminishing because Baby Boomers (75 million people) started turning 65 years old in 2011, GenerationY (80 million people) aren’t as interested in driving everywhere and because fuel costs remain high — all underscoring the need for travel options that Wray apparently fears would take Ohioans’ hard-earned tax dollars away from his highway industry colleagues.

 

But perhaps the biggest mistake in tomorrow’s hearing is that too many in Congress continue to employ a double-standard that passenger rail should be the only self-sustaining transportation mode. Amtrak is enjoying record ridership and now covers 85 percent of its costs from revenues, whereas motorists pay only 50 percent of the costs of using the highway system, according to Federal Highway Administration statistics from 2007. That was before $62 billion in federal Highway Trust Fund bailouts and stimulus subsidies were spent to offset taxes from flat or declining traffic levels but rapidly rising highway system costs.

 

Why is Ohio a backward outcast? Since 2009, the following Federal Passenger Rail Investment & Improvement Act (PRIIA) and American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA) High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Funding was accepted by these Midwest states….

 

Illinois – $1,734,866,660

Iowa – $248,709,080

Indiana – $71,364,980

Michigan – $400,732,595

Minnesota – $45,600,000

Missouri – $50,900,300

Ohio – $0

Wisconsin – $34,055,437

Total: $2,586,229,052

 

“Based on these numbers, why was Director Wray the only state department of transportation chief called to testify?” Prendergast asked.

 

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recently backtracked from his rejection of $810 million in no-match federal funds for developing the Chicago-Twin Cities high-speed corridor via Milwaukee and Madison because he claimed it would have cost his state $7.5 million in operating funds. Instead, he requested $150 million in new federal funds that would have required $37.5 million in matching state dollars to improve Amtrak’s Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha Corridor service. That grant request was denied.

 

Meanwhile, Florida has committed nearly $300 million in state funds for two new passenger rail services: a Central Florida regional rail service called Sun Rail and for starting direct Jacksonville-Miami Amtrak service on the 80+ mph Florida East Coast RR. That would also make Gov. Rick Scott a less-than-ideal witness for Rep. Shuster at this time of his trying to justify the end to federal capital investments for passenger rail.

 

“Finally, what Director Wray won’t tell us tomorrow is that he has looked into his crystall ball and saw a future of fewer people willing and able to drive, higher fuel costs and reduced gas tax revenues for Ohio,” Prendergast said. “Instead of seeing an opportunity to begin diversifying Ohio’s transportation system to respond to this new paradigm, he saw a threat to Ohio’s highway monopoly, dug in his heels and sought to defend a status quo that cannot be saved. That’s why 3C died — not because of how a federal passenger rail program was designed.”

 

END

^ this hearing is packed with anti-rail hacks.  What a joke...

PROPONENTS NEED TO HAVE THEIR OWN HEARING...as a counterbalance