This has more to do with Trump trying to wipe everything Obama did because Obama made a fool of Trump at the Correspondents dinner.

If there was any question about where the Trump administration stood on transit spending, here's your answer. It also implies where most of the infrastructure bill will go.

If there was any question about where the Trump administration stood on transit spending, here's your answer. It also implies where most of the infrastructure bill will go.

 

Oh the Trump infrastructure bill (should it ever manifest) will probably be mostly highway construction and private turnpikes.  Truly sad for a guy who calls NYC home (thought doesn't use many roads when helicoptering in and out of Manhattan).

This is another reason why we should be prioritizing passenger rail over auto-centric travel:

 

Three cars on an Amtrak train carrying more than 300 people from Miami to New York derailed in snowy Savannah, Georgia, in the aftermath of a brutal winter storm but no injuries were reported, authorities said early Thursday.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amtrak-train-with-311-passengers-derails-in-snowy-savannah-georgia/

 

At least one person was killed and another seriously injured in a multi-car pileup involving more than two dozen vehicles on the New York State Thruway near Buffalo, authorities said.

 

Weather was a contributing factor in the accident, which involved between 15 and 25 cars and 10 tractor-trailers on the eastbound lane of Interstate 90 near Exit 49, New York State Police Public Information Officer Michael Cassella told ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-injured-multi-car-pileup-buffalo-amid-blizzard/story?id=52103350

This has more to do with Trump trying to wipe everything Obama did because Obama made a fool of Trump at the Correspondents dinner.

 

Really?  I assume that his antipathy towards rail is because he spends too much time reading UrbanOhio and hears what you say about him. :-P

Is this the moment Donald Trump decided to run for president?

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/media/2016/11/moment-donald-trump-decided-run-president

Yet nothing about replacing/augmenting Amtrak's 25- to 50-year-old long-distance train fleet including replacements for the Superliners, long-distance coaches for the East, or the P-series of diesel locomotives. And based on the FRA's Midwest report, there's an economic justification for public-private partnerships with real estate investors to develop several Midwest corridors (including to/through Ohio). The FRA has up to $35 billion in financing for developing Midwest routes....

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/amtrak/article/Amtrak-aims-to-build-stakeholder-support-for-nearly-40-billion-in-capital-investments--53416

Fascinating!

 

The Most Awful Transit Center in America Could Get Unimaginably Worse

Think Penn Station is bad? Let’s go into the crumbling, disaster-prone tunnels that lie beneath.

January 10, 2018, 5:00 AM EST

 

To get to New York’s Penn Station, every northbound Amtrak passenger makes the last leg of their journey, through tunnels beneath the Hudson River, in the dark. Trust me: They should be glad. One day this autumn, an Acela pulls into Newark, N.J., and a railway spokesman escorts me onto the rear engine car, where we stand and take in the view facing backward. As we descend into one of the Hudson tunnels—there are two, both 107 years old, finished in the same year the Wright brothers built their first airplane factory—a supervisor flips on the rear headlights, illuminating the ghastly tubes.

 

Our train (unsurprisingly) is operating at reduced speed because of an electrical glitch, which just gives us more time to gawk at the damage. There are eerie, nearly fluorescent white stains on the tunnel walls that look like they were painted by a giant with a roller brush. The pale swaths are remnants of the salt water that inundated the passages five years ago, during Hurricane Sandy. Sulfates and chlorides have been eating away at the concrete ever since, exposing reinforcement bars underneath. “Keep your eyes peeled,” says Craig Schulz, the affable Amtrak spokesman, “and you’ll see some of these areas where there is literally just crumbling concrete.”

 

As we emerge into the bowels of Penn Station, Schulz points to wooden flood doors above the tunnel entrances. They were installed during World War II to hold back the river if the tubes were torpedoed by a Nazi submarine. In the gloom, the doors look a full century older than their vintage. They seem more suited for a dungeon than a modern rail system like this one—the Northeast Corridor, which runs from Boston to Washington, D.C., serving an area that generates a fifth of U.S. gross domestic product. Before we step off the train, Schulz repeats Amtrak’s mantra: The storm-ravaged tunnels are safe, for now, but the railroad doesn’t know how long it will be able to keep them in service.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-01-10/the-most-awful-transit-center-in-america-could-get-unimaginably-worse

How ironic. It won't be the weapons of a foreign power that ultimately destroys access to one of the world's greatest cities, but the fathers of decadence. If these tunnels collapse, it will be a national disgrace.

How ironic. It won't be the weapons of a foreign power that ultimately destroys access to one of the world's greatest cities, but the fathers of decadence. If these tunnels collapse, it will be a national disgrace.

 

Our elected officials continue to operate beyond any level of accountability.

new nj governor, new revised, cheaper and perhaps better or more doable gateway proposal:

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/better-connect-n-y-n-article-1.3765025

With no fanfare, Amtrak apparently implemented schedules that take 20 minutes off the Detroit-Chicago schedules, clocking 110mph over parts of the route. More speed improvements are to come later in the year.

Yep. I posted this on All Aboard Ohio's Facebook page/Twitter. Michigan's elected officials made this happen. Ohio's just give money away....

 

Michigan rail line infrastructure enhancements lead to improved Amtrak travel

https://media.amtrak.com/2018/01/michigan-rail-line-infrastructure-enhancements-lead-improved-amtrak-travel/

Chartered Amtrak train carrying GOP lawmakers to the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia collides with truck at grade crossing:

https://www.wcpo.com/news/national/train-carrying-gop-lawmakers-to-policy-retreat-hits-truck

...a day after you-know-who touts an infrastructure improvement plan.

Grade crossing improvements aren't part of any infrastructure plan. They don't generate revenue and thus have no P3 opportunities.

Grade crossing improvements aren't part of any infrastructure plan. They don't generate revenue and thus have no P3 opportunities.

 

Also, not Amtrak, but there have been four fatalities at grade crossings on the Florida Brightline since revenue service started about a month ago.  One was a suicide and another was a completely inexplicable bicycle collision.  Watch the video and you'll agree that there is absolutely zero explanation for the guy biking around the gates with a train so close. 

I often wonder it's wise to have large congressional delegation traveling together.

I often wonder it's wise to have large congressional delegation traveling together.

 

Especially when they should be working on the looming government shutdown...

They have important abortion business and covering up of treason to handle. 

Looney Tunes....

 

Alex Jones said the GOP Amtrak crash was a “kamikaze” attack, because of course he did

https://www.salon.com/2018/01/31/alex-jones-gop-amtrak-train-crash-kamikaze-attack/

Looney Tunes....

 

I have a feeling I'm glad not to know who Alex Jones is. 

 

The photo in today's paper shows single track. I've taken Amtrak from DC to the Greenbrier and don't remember single track - although I do remember being sidelined repeatedly while slow moving coal trains took priority. Was this train on the route Amtrak's Cardinal takes to White Sulphur Springs?

Yes this is the route of the Cardinal. It's single track from Orange (east of Charlottesville) until Clifton Forge where it re-joins the C&O main. This is the old main and is currently leased by CSX to the Buckingham Branch railroad, one of the few Class III shortlines to host Amtrak.

I believe this is the crossing where the accident occurred:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.0772696,-78.7167598,177m/data=!3m1!1e3

Looney Tunes....

I've taken Amtrak from DC to the Greenbrier and don't remember single track - although I do remember being sidelined repeatedly while slow moving coal trains took priority. Was this train on the route Amtrak's Cardinal takes to White Sulphur Springs?

 

 

When I took it, we waited on what I assumed had been a passing siding for a freight train.  But turned out to be a spur, as we awkwardly backed onto the mainline after it passed. 

 

 

I took the Cardinal from NJ to Cincy once and we hit a pickup truck at a crossing. It was icy and the truck slid onto the tracks. The occupants of the truck escaped before impact, but we were stuck there for a couple hours.

The food on The Cardinal is not very good so I wouldn't want to be stuck on the thing for any longer than the already grueling 12+ hour schedule. 

The trip ended up taking over 20 hours. NYC to Cincy is supposed to take ~18.

The trip ended up taking over 20 hours. NYC to Cincy is supposed to take ~18.

 

Just two hours late?  The Cardinal can do much better than that. I was 5 hours late on a 5 hour trip.

My memory is hazy of exactly how late it was, being that this was several years ago. It was at least 2 hours late.

It was on time coming and going when I rode in 2017.  You board in Cincinnati at about 1:30am...it was pretty weird getting on the thing since tons of Amish people were sleeping on the ground.  So you're walking down the center of the thing with Amish people strewn all over the place, underneath the seats with their legs extending into the next row .

Another derailment, this time a collision between Amtrak and CSX:

 

2 dead, 70 injured as Amtrak train collides with freight train in South Carolina

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/02/04/amtrak-train-collision/304692002/

 

Appears to be a head-on collision, which would probably mean one train or the other missed a signal. Thus, yet another train crash that probably could have been avoided if Positive Train Control had been installed—as Congress mandated on Oct 16, 2008 for Dec 31, 2015 completion. Instead, we've seen railroads (both public and private) delay, delay, delay. Deaths have resulted.

 

The crash was on tracks owned by CSX, which as of September 30, 2017 has only added PTC to 45% of its track mileage. https://www.fra.dot.gov/app/ptc/

 

Rail remains very safe. Number and rate of train-related deaths is tiny compared to the number of people killed on the road. But the difference here is that technology is available *now* to stop many of these crashes. Congress should have forced compliance with its 2015 deadline and provided financial incentives to reach it.

Here is the location:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pine+Ridge,+SC+29172/@33.9069636,-81.0701389,1328m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88f8be9860cda6e3:0x284941881042b1a4!8m2!3d33.9147349!4d-81.1030573

^^C'mon man, if you're going to quote people, give them attribution.

My post? I think it was from either Matt Yglesias or Yonah Freemark who are transportation/urban commentators. Sometimes they say worthwhile things. But do people really care who says something rather than what they have to say? I usually don't.

Local TV says an early-morning northbound Acela decoupled in northern Maryland while doing 125mph.  Everybody survived and a "rescue train" took the 50-some pax to Philly. Little to no harm done; but another publicity black eye.

 

It's been a tough winter for Amtrak.

Two train routes through #Ohio, @Amtrak's Lake Shore Ltd. (CHI-TOL-CLE-NYC/BOS) and Cardinal (CHI-CIN-WDC-NYC), could be affected due to some PTC installations by CSX that are unlikely to be completed by the end of this year. Capitol Ltd (CHI-TOL-CLE-PIT-WDC) may not be affected....

 

http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/fred-frailey/archive/2018/02/19/au-revoir-amtrak-the-official-word.aspx

If only @ODOT_Statewide or an MPO had a fundable plan ready. It could start a daily round-trip passenger #train w/ car-competitive trip times DET-TOL-CLE-YGN-PIT, CIN-IND-CHI or CLE-TOL-CHI w/ this $$:

 

https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P1079

https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P1081

 

@NOACA_MPO

@TMACOG

@OKIRCOG

Details of ex-railroad chief’s side hustle revealed

The Mississippi moonlighting included apparently calling TV stations, fielding a complaint about a jail website, newly released emails reveal.

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/28/moonlighting-railroad-chief-mississippi-sheriff-370189

 

The former top federal railroad regulator’s side gig as a public relations consultant for a Mississippi sheriff was more extensive than previously revealed, records obtained by POLITICO show.

 

Heath Hall apparently returned reporters’ phone calls, fielded a complaint about a bad link on a jail website and weighed in on coverage of a dog-fighting arrest during the nearly seven months he was the de facto head of the Federal Railroad Administration, according to emails provided by the government of Madison County, Miss. He also communicated with county officials about his firm’s PR work and regularly submitted invoices for its services — sending one such email just hours after a fatal Amtrak crash in Washington state.

 

Hall took a leave of absence from the agency in January due to what the agency said was a family emergency, three months after telling Sheriff Randy Tucker by email that “I am just not happy here" and that the "bottom line is that I am a Mississippi boy." He resigned from DOT Feb. 10 after POLITICO raised questions about whether he had continued running his PR business on the side.

Lots of embedded links in the original blog article posted at:

http://allaboardohio.org/2018/03/23/feds-boost-rail-funding-will-ohio-sit-this-out-too/

 

Feds boost rail funding; will Ohio sit this out, too?

kjprendergast on March 23, 2018

 

In its 2018 appropriations bill for Transportation-Housing Urban Development (THUD), Congress is providing a major boost to passenger rail funding that will improve rail safety, reliability, convenience, accessibility and speed. But will Ohio sit out this opportunity as it did before by scuttling its 3C rail project in 2010?

 

The bill includes $2.813 billion for intercity passenger rail – an increase of $1.3 billion over last year! Urban and regional passenger rail, funded through transit appropriations, was also increased thereby providing older urban rail systems like the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to maintain a state of good repair.

 

Also, subsidies for aviation and highways were increased without raising user fees to pay for them. Meanwhile Amtrak covers 95 percent of its costs from customer revenues and relies on a mostly private-sector owned and funded rail network.

 

Federal intercity rail funding includes $1.9 billion for Amtrak ($650 million for the Northeast Corridor and $1.3 billion for the National Network); $593 million for the Consolidated Rail Improvement, which includes $250 million for Positive Train Control implementation; $250 million for the State of Good Repair program; and $20 million for the Rail Restoration program, which will be instrumental in restoring rail service to the Gulf Coast and possibly daily Cardinal service. All of these are significant increases over 2017 funding levels and are consistent with levels authorized in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act that Congress passed in 2016 (see chart below).

 

 

Note that this doesn’t include already existing and substantial federal financing programs for passenger rail and station-area real estate development, namely the $35 billion Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing (RRIF) available through the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Private Activity Bonds (PAB) from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Amtrak, Brightline, and other railroads have used these programs to expand, improve, or start new services.

 

The THUD bill also provides $13.5 billion in total budgetary resources for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) – $1 billion above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $2.3 billion above the Trump Administration’s request. Transit formula grants for urban and rural systems were increased by nearly $400 million to $9.7 billion – consistent with the FAST Act – to help local communities build, maintain, and ensure the safety of their mass transit systems.

 

More than $400 million was added to Capital Investment Grants transit projects, totaling $2.6 billion. “New Starts” projects are funded at $1.5 billion, Core Capacity projects at $716 million, and Small Starts projects at $400 million. These programs provide competitive grant funding for major transit capital investments – including light rail, bus rapid transit, and commuter rail – that are planned and operated by local communities. But the bill limits the federal match for “New Starts” projects to 51 percent, thus requiring communities and states to increase their funding shares if they want to access these federal dollars.

 

Lastly, Congress agreed to triple the funding for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, from $500 million in 2017 to $1.5 billion. TIGER program grants are intended to be used as “gap funding” – to fill the remaining gap in funding for multi-modal transportation projects that already are substantially funded.  This program will fund states’ and local communities’ most critical transportation projects, and language is included in the bill to ensure that at least 30 percent of these funds go to rural communities.

 

All Aboard Ohio’s assessment

 

Naturally, All Aboard Ohio is very happy that Congress is increasing funding for passenger rail, public transportation and multi-modal investment and rejected President Trump’s calls to slash federal funding. Congress is responding to the needs of its constituencies as our aging Baby Boomers demand more diverse mobility options, the younger generation seek to live in less car-dependent settings to reduce costs of living, and the urban and rural poor need much greater access to jobs (only 1-in-4 jobs in Ohio’s metro areas are accessible within a 90-minute one-way transit trip).

 

“We are grateful to the Republican-led Congress for providing a transportation policy direction to states like Ohio,” said All Aboard Ohio Executive Director Ken Prendergast. “Transportation and infrastructure investment is one area in which Congress is acting in a responsible, bipartisan manner. We encourage all Ohioans to thank their Congressperson and Senators for their vote to boost investment in a multi-modal transportation system that creates jobs and improves access to jobs.”

 

Unfortunately, Ohio appears ready to sit out this boost in funding for passenger rail and, to a large degree, for transit expansion as well. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and its Ohio Rail Development Commission have $0 in state matching funds budgeted for passenger rail to leverage a federal match. Furthermore, ODOT/ORDC have no funding-ready plans in place to legally tap the new federal dollars although one metropolitan planning organization (MPO), the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), is developing such a plan for Pittsburgh-Columbus-Chicago passenger rail. The lack of activity is not for a lack of needs, as All Aboard Ohio revealed in its Ohio Passenger Rail Assessment of Needs report a year ago. Several Ohio cities have passenger rail projects ready to go now and could benefit from these added funds.

 

“That report also showed what Ohio’s neighboring states are doing with passenger rail development, which is a lot,” Prendergast said. “And they have more funding-ready plans coming forward to further increase safety, service frequency and speeds above 100 mph to boost their economies. Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Illinois, and now West Virginia are all in a position to use their passenger rail programs to leverage the new federal funds. Ohio is the nation’s most populous state without any passenger rail development program.”

 

What Ohio cities/MPOs/state can do for passenger rail this year:

 

+ ODOT/ORDC should include the FRA’s new Midwest Regional Rail Plan in their Access Ohio 2045 plan and State Rail Plan as well as the findings and recommendations from our Ohio Passenger Rail Assessment of Needs report.

+ As ODOT/ORDC begins planning its 2020-21 biennial budget in the coming months, include $12 million per year in state funds/credits from non-motor vehicle fuel tax sources for passenger rail planning, development and operations.

+ Although more federal funding will be available next year, cities (or their MPOs) like Oxford, Sandusky and Toledo can apply for federal funds today to complete the funding packages for building/improving their Amtrak/multi-modal station facilities.

+ Cities like Bryan, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Mentor and Ravenna-Kent should secure local funding sources now and apply for federal matching funds through their MPOs to create funding-ready plans for new or improved multi-modal transportation centers that include rail in their communities.

 

Congress provided an additional $834 million in transit infrastructure grants compared to the fiscal year 2017 level. This includes $400 million to help communities modernize their bus and rail systems, and $400 million for capital assistance to transit systems across the country to maintain a state of good repair. There is also more funding for “new starts” projects (such as for rail and bus rapid transit) but the maximum federal share is capped at 51 percent. Even so, there are no Ohio new-start transit projects that have funding-ready plans in place, although Greater Cleveland and Greater Cincinnati have projects that are close.

 

What Ohio cities/counties/MPOs/state can do for transit this year:

 

+ ODOT should update its excellent 2015 Ohio Transit Needs Study in its Access Ohio 2045 plan.

+ As ODOT begins planning its 2020-21 biennial budget in the coming months, include approximately $75 million per year in state funds/credits from non-motor vehicle fuel tax sources for public transportation planning, development and operations.

+ Transit agencies that have not already done so should establish a new vision for serving community needs, including becoming more engaged with the community and customers, a more diversified funding base, better ways of delivering services, and collaborating or combining seamless services with transit agencies in surrounding areas.

+ Cities, counties and major employers need to augment local funding to buy into their transit systems’ new vision so they can improve and expand the reach and speed of their transit systems to access jobs farther away from the established transit network.

 

“It’s time for Ohio to better position itself to tap into this new funding opportunity from the federal government,” Prendergast said. “It’s time to reconsider the model of transportation investment with one that is more responsive, multi-modal and better funded at the local, regional and state levels. Otherwise, this opportunity will leave Ohio at the station — again.”

 

END

BTW, the spending bill was signed into law despite Trump's objections.

Route of Amtrak's Lake Shore Ltd (CHI-BUF-NYC/BOS) and Capitol Ltd (CHI-PIT-WDC) through Cleveland near Edgewater Park, seen earlier this evening...

BTW, the spending bill was signed into law despite Trump's objections.

 

Doesn't that mean that Trump signed it despite Trump's objections? "Had no choice" I heard he said. Oh brother.

Yes, he called the bill "ridiculous." But I'm grateful for the work of the GOP leaders of Congress. They appropriated funds for rail/transit at/near the funding ceilings established in the multi-year FAST Act transportation authorization law.

great aerial view of moynihan station phase II train hall construction in the former farley post office:

 

 

 

You can see the Rangers lose from that aerial haha.

 

GO DEVILS.

All Aboard Ohio

‏@AllAboardOhio

  9m9 minutes ago

It seems like #Ohio is spraying passenger train repellent. In a way, it is. You don't pay for transportation, you don't get transportation. All of Ohio's neighbors except Kentucky fund passenger #rail programs. Ohio is the nation's most populous w/out one. @Amtrak @ODOT_Statewide

 

Opinion piece from the Wash Examiner--but the guy hits on some valid points.

 

How to improve and expand the Northeast rail corridor: Stop doing infrastructure upside down

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/how-to-improve-and-expand-the-northeast-rail-corridor-stop-doing-infrastructure-upside-down

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed a bill calling for a study of two additional daily trains between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Due to the efforts of All Aboard Ohio the following language was inserted:

 

“The study shall also consist of an identification of the existing and proposed Keystone West round trips that could feasibly be extended west to Cleveland and Chicago pursuant to Federal appropriations authorized under section 11104 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (Public Law 114-94)”

 

You’ll recall AAO’s efforts led to the state of West Virginia passing legislation calling for a daily Amtrak Cardinal through Cincinnati. Ohio’s state government remains incalcitrant so we engage other states and work to get stuff done on the behalf of the people of Ohio. It’s a long game.

 

Kudos to my colleagues in Ohio and Pennsylvania for their tireless efforts!

 

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2017&sInd=0&body=h&type=r&bn=385&mobile_choice=suppress