He's been writing crap like that since the 80s. Given the expansion of passenger rail services since then, not many people are paying attention.

He's been writing crap like that since the 80s. Given the expansion of passenger rail services since then, not many people are paying attention.

 

Well put.

Want to get a glimpse of how passenger rail corridor projects create jobs.... read this and visualize the 3C instead of the Chicago-St. Louis corridor... a crew of 250.. a mix of railroad workers and private contractors.

 

Massive equipment aids high-speed rail upgrade project

By TIM LANDIS ([email protected])

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted Nov 06, 2010 @ 11:30 PM

 

   

At ground level, a $1.2 billion high-speed rail project basically involves ripping up, rolling up, welding and twisting mile upon mile of steel, wood and rock.

 

According to the Union Pacific Railroad, a work crew of approximately 250 covers up to 2 miles a day as part of track and rail-bed upgrades needed to accommodate trains at speeds of up to 110 mph. The approach of the train-sized rail replacement machines also draws railroad buffs and the simply curious.

 

Read more at:

http://www.sj-r.com/firstinprint/x1775209780/Massive-equipment-aids-high-speed-rail-upgrade-project

Center releases guidebook on transit-oriented development typology

 

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development has released a typology guidebook on the different conditions near and around U.S. transit stations.

 

The “Performance-Based Transit-Oriented Development Typology Guidebook” is a hands-on tool designed to help policymakers, planners, employers and residents evaluate transit zones in their neighborhoods, said Sam Zimbabwe, the center’s director, in a prepared statement.

 

The guidebook could be useful in future planning for transit ridership, climate change, economic development, affordable housing, urban design or other issues linked to transportation, employment and location, he said.

 

Read more at: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=25281

Light Rail Transforming Cities, Guiding Development

 

Full NPR story at: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/27/132283143/light-rail-transforming-cities-guiding-development

 

 

^except in Ohio which is going to become even more backwards and unattractive to business and the young.

Reconnecting America Issues New Review of Transit-Oriented Development Programs

 

Reconnecting America today released a new report, "2010 Inventory of TOD Programs: A National Review of State, Regional and Local Programs that Fund Transit-Oriented Development Plans and Projects."

 

"There are so many innovative programs in the U.S. that provide grants, loans, tax credits or direct financial incentives to TOD plans or projects," said Sarah Kline, Reconnecting America's policy director. "This report can be used as a resource by planners and policy-makers who are creating new TOD programs in their own jurisdiction and who will benefit from learning the essential facts about other programs that operate at similar scales and contexts."

 

 

Read more at: http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/ra

Transportation hub project under way in St. Paul

 

On Tuesday, the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority broke ground on a $243 million multi-modal transportation facility in St. Paul, Minn.

 

The project includes renovating a 1920s-era Union Depot train station to its original purpose as a transportation hub. The 33-acre site will bring together rail, bus, motor vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

 

The project is being funded through local, state and federal resources, authority officials said in a prepared statement.

 

Read more at: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/news/article/Transportation-hub-project-under-way-in-St-Paul--25538

Worth Noting in business: More than 1,100 businesses line up for bullet train project

THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN | Thursday, Mar 17 2011 06:45 PM

Last Updated Thursday, Mar 17 2011 06:45 PM

 

The California High-Speed Rail Authority reported Thursday that it has received more than 1,100 expressions of interest from a variety of businesses hoping to play a role in the proposed 800-mile project linking the Bay Area with Southern California by way of the Central Valley.

 

According to a news release from the rail authority, a variety of self-employed entrepreneurs, small businesses, multinational corporations and large construction firms met a Wednesday deadline for submitting requests to participate in the project, officially estimated to cost $43 billion.

 

"The size of this response sends a clear signal that the private sector sees great opportunity in California's high-speed rail project, the first of its kind in the nation," rail authority CEO Roelof van Ark said in the release. "True high-speed rail systems are profitable, competitive and spur near-term job creation and long-term economic growth."

 

Read more at: http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x233128909/Worth-Noting-in-business-More-than-1-100-businesses-line-up-for-bullet-train-project

 

Private sector lines up to invest in high-speed rail

BY JOHN COX, Californian staff writer

[email protected] | Monday, Apr 18 2011 05:00 PM

Last Updated Monday, Apr 18 2011 07:03 PM

 

For a massive infrastructure project beset by severe challenges at virtually every turn, a rare dose of good news surfaced last week at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

 

Hundreds if not more than 1,000 business people showed up to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Industry Forum to find out how they might participate in the $43 billion project proposed to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by 2020.

 

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of companies represented that day hope to win lucrative contracts to design or build the project. But a select few — 22 in all, including some pension funds, according to the rail authority — hope to invest in the project in expectation that doing so will return them a profit.

 

Read more at: http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x833057566/Private-sector-lines-up-to-invest-in-high-speed-rail

As you may know, General Electric has a large plant in Erie, PA that makes locomotives for freight and passenger railroads in the U.S. and worldwide, with suppliers in the surrounding hinterlands (including Ohio). Yesterday, GE issued a release highlighting the importance of GE Transportation to Pennsylvania’s economy. There are links below to their release and the study they commissioned. If you have trouble with the links, I can send you pdfs of the release and/or report. The text immediately below this note is from the cover note that GE’s Don Itzkoff sent to the OneRail Coalition yesterday (bolding is mine). KJP

___________

 

 

Key findings of the report are:

 

 

 

·        GE Transportation supports one in 11 jobs in Erie County.

 

·        Every GE job supports close to three additional jobs in Pennsylvania.

 

·        GE’s total economic impact is $2.7 billion on Erie County and $4.6 billion on the entire state.

 

·        The company generates one dollar in every $130 in the state’s economy.

 

·        GE employees’ impact on the local area, both through their financial donations and thousands of hours of volunteerism, is estimated to be in excess of $19.6 million annually.

 

 

Put another way, GE Transportation’s annual economic impact on Pennsylvania is larger than all Pennsylvania-based professional sports teams ($1.37 billion) and the state’s mining, oil and gas extraction industries ($1.79 billion) combined.

 

The study highlights the importance of the rail sector to our economy, and how increasing investment in rail infrastructure and equipment generates jobs.

 

http://www.getransportation.com/about-us/community/

From a good friend of mine, Dr. Jerry Wicks .....

 

Apple, the largest retail company in the world (larger than Walmart and Amazon), and the second largest company in the world (second only to Exxon/Mobil but forecast to pass the oil giant in another 6-12 months), has decided to open its LARGEST retail space in the WORLD in a TRAIN STATION.  That decision should tell anyone with a brain that the people at Apple (obviously, some of the smartest business people on the planet) have determined that to be cool, hip and successful, while making a ton of money selling high technology to the young and high-end segment of the buying public, the smart retail place to be is a train station - Grand Central Station.

 

A train station, for god sake!  Not an airport.  Not AAA headquarters - a train station.

 

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/07/23/apple_signs_10_year_deal_for_massive_grand_central_terminal_retail_store.html

Dear Passenger Rail Supporter:

 

Please consider the attached when discussing the advantages of passenger rail with the public and policy-makers.

 

Excerpts from the survey done by University of West England’s Centre for Transport and Society:

 

Getting from A to B as quickly as possible may seem a sensible goal and yet a growing body of research is exploring the positive value of travel time itself.“Travel for most people is integral to their daily lives – we are short sighted if we simply consider it a means to an end. It is an end in itself and one which is adapting to and supported by the information age.

 

Here’s the survey, http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-rail-passengers-increasingly-spent.html

 

^

Great points. I like how transit time can be viewed positively as a relaxing transition time. However this only works when transit has open seats. I took an amtrak last month from DC to Baltimore where a quarter of the passengers, myself included, stood cramped where ever there was room. It was extremely uncomfortable and you could do nothing but stand and brace against the wall.

 

The same is true for DC and NYC subways. Good luck getting a seat during commuter hours. I've even had problems getting a seat on the red line in Cleveland at 8 am, and must stand 90% of the time I take the 55 which has service slashed so much, you feel like a sardine when you ride.

 

I wish we could promote the leisurely benefits of rail more in the US, but I think overcrowding lines to stay afloat amongst rail funding uncertainty needs to be fixed first.

 

Awesome quote -- worth sharing......

 

“Modern economies increasingly depend on high-concentrations of world-beating innovators working closer together so these days you need the best transport links to build a prosperous city,” said Bridget Rosewell, Chairman of Volterra, the economics agency.

From: http://www.campaignforhsr.com/don%E2%80%99t-risk-1000000-new-jobs-by-cutting-high-speed-rail-warn-tory-mps

Awesome quote -- worth sharing......

 

“Modern economies increasingly depend on high-concentrations of world-beating innovators working closer together so these days you need the best transport links to build a prosperous city,” said Bridget Rosewell, Chairman of Volterra, the economics agency.

From: http://www.campaignforhsr.com/don%E2%80%99t-risk-1000000-new-jobs-by-cutting-high-speed-rail-warn-tory-mps

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  In order to be a great city you MUST have a great transit system!

Rail venture wooing Gahanna

City is urged to seek $12M grant to finance factory, add 165 jobs

By  Marla Kuhlman

ThisWeek Community Newspapers Monday October 24, 2011 6:50 AM

 

Originally from ThisWeek Community Newspapers

 

US Railcar Co. could deliver more than 100 manufacturing jobs to Gahanna.

 

To reach its destination, however, the company needs a bit of a push from City Hall.

 

Representatives of US Railcar are expected to appear before the Gahanna City Council today to detail their plan to build a $15 million factory in the city to produce diesel-powered commuter trains.

 

Barry Fromm, CEO of the Columbus-based financial-services firm Value Recovery Group, the lead investor in US Railcar, told city officials at a preliminary meeting last week that the plant would employ at least 165 workers.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2011/10/24/rail-venture-wooing-gahanna.html

It seems weird they are working so hard barking up the tree of suburban Columbus.  This seems to have been talked about for 3-4 years now it seems and they are still searching for an appropriate factory.  I would think they could be building rail cars by now if they had looked in the Solon area if they were wanting a suburban feel..  There seems to be a few rail focused companies in that area already and several vacant plants that are available on rail lines. 

Columbus has several rail suppliers in the area including Griffin Wheel in Groveport and Columbus Steel Castings on the South Side.

Plus, Timken has a bearings plant in Sunbury, Ohio. Amtrak typically does more than $2 million worth of business with them each year.

It didn't happen in Ohio....sad to say..... but it is happening elsewhere....

 

EDITORIALS

Downeaster train: A track to employment, development

Posted Nov. 12, 2012, at 4:09 p.m

.

Until October 2008, a swath of downtown Brunswick not far from Bowdoin College sat unused, a decades-old eyesore contaminated by coal ash and unfit for development or public use. Known as Maine Street Station, the rubble-strewn lot bankrupted a past redevelopment effort and marred an otherwise scenic downtown landscape.

 

On Nov. 1 of this year, an Amtrak Downeaster train rolled up to the platform at a new visitors’ center, to the same site, marking the extension of Amtrak’s Boston-to-Portland passenger rail service to Brunswick. Riders who disembarked from the train could dine at a restaurant or pub within the station complex. They could shop in stores that now occupy the rehabilitated brownfield site or luxuriate at a new inn. They could even seek medical attention at an adjacent walk-in clinic.

 

During the past four years, the prospect of passenger rail service fueled the successful conversion of Maine Street Station from a symbol of decay to a downtown renewal success story.

 

In a community suffering from the departure of roughly 5,000 jobs affiliated with Brunswick Naval Air Station, which closed incrementally between 2005 and 2011, the downtown project added employment opportunities and buoyed downtown merchants.

 

Read more at:  http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/12/opinion/downeaster-train-a-track-to-employment-development/

 

Read more: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,6079.3045.html#ixzz2C8rEzXIb

Documentary Details How Riding Trains Reduces Stress

Bernie Wagenblast

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

 

Less pollution, less congestion … those are good reasons to travel by train, but stress may be an even better one. For instance, people admitted to hospitals for heart attacks have a higher rate of having been in heavy traffic congestion just prior to their medical emergencies than other types of patients.

 

And according to the Post Carbon Institute, 90 percent of people in the U.S. commute to work by car and 85 percent of those commuters drive alone.

 

So Filmmakers Rebecca Sansom and Katie Chen started a successful Kickstarter campaign to see if we could avoid major future health problems. The solutions they came up with are presented in their documentary, which looks at passenger rail travel in the United States.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://mobilitylab.org/2013/02/01/documentary-details-how-riding-trains-reduces-stress/