Now there is two...

LACMTA Metro Local #8407 (Photo credit: L.A. Urban Soul)

Today it was announced that North American Bus Industries better known as NABI has been purchased by New Flyer Industries of Winnipeg Canada for a grand total of $80 million dollars. Although the NABI factor in Alabama will continue to produce buses at this time (currently has 1500 buses on order), it bascially leaves to companies (New Flyer and Gillig) as the major suppliers of transit buses in the United States (plus a few niche players whose orders don't amount to much).

The biggest existing customer for NABI is currently the Los Angeles METRO who purchases most of their buses from the company, having had conflicts with several manufactures in the past although most of those such as Neoplan have already stopped producing buses or the US market.

This Week in Amtrak

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This Week at Amtrak; March 22, 2010


A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from



United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

America’s foremost passenger rail policy institute



1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203 • Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org • http://www.unitedrail.org



Volume 7, Number 9



Founded over three decades ago in 1976, URPA is a nationally known policy institute which focuses on solutions and plans for passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California, Arizona, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and other cities. For more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.



URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from any outside sources.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amtrak is now saying the right things. Will they start doing the right things, like correcting last year’s flawed route studies as the first step toward a dramatically expanded national system?


But first, a correction on the list of Florida stations in the last issue. Amtrak serves Kissimmee and Lakeland between Tampa and Orlando. The other stations are were on the alternate Jacksonville-Tampa line, which Amtrak no longer uses. I am writing the column from Scottsdale; I have lived in the Phoenix area since 1991, Northern Virginia before that, and Boston for most of my first 23 years. I mistakenly copied the wrong list of stations, probably remembering my trips on the Silver Star and Silver Meteor to St. Petersburg and Clearwater in the 1980s. Mea culpa.

Now, to this week.


In the 1940s, a consortium of companies symbolically led by General Motors drove the privately-owned street railway business to bankruptcy.

Seven decades later, the streetcar returned the favor.

No, that’s not strictly true; but it is a curious reversal of fortune — karma? — suggested by one of three college students who visited the Phoenix Trolley Museum on Saturday afternoon. (The intelligence of the young never ceases to amaze. And signing up some bright new members who have been spending their days and nights devouring everything about trains and buses that the Internet can offer, is a very good thing.)

National City Lines, organized by G.M.’s Alfred P. Sloan to purchase trolley lines and replace them with rubber-tired, fuel-burning buses, was at least a symptom if not one of the myriad causes of the failure of the street railway industry. The trolley was a bellwether for the impending crisis in passenger trains generally.

Conversely, the growth of cities building rail transit in recent years has mirrored a growing dissatisfaction. The postwar suburban consumption-based lifestyle has proven to be an ecological, social, and economic cul-de-sac. Yet in my city of Phoenix, as elsewhere, business along the streetcar — pardon me, “light rail line” — is the bright spot of the local economy; Mesa, which once grudgingly permitted a single rail station to be built just inside its border, has seen the light called “transit means business” and is extending the line to bring shoppers, workers and students to its moribund downtown.

And this reversal of the streetcar’s fortune is proving to be a bellwether for the passenger train generally.

We now turn to two guest columnists. Rob Bohannan attended Amtrak’s Town Hall in Chicago last week; Daniel Carleton wrote in January on why the route studies completed in 2009 exposed fundamental barriers to our much-needed passenger train system expansion. The juxtaposition of these two columns raises the question: If Amtrak is now letting the once-hidden good ideas from inside bubble to the surface, when will we see the potential of a new equipment order resulting in new routes all across the country? Does Amtrak’s new emphasis on long distance trains as fundamental to its mission and future represent the first steps toward correcting the issues Mr. Carleton raises?

I leave you with these reports and those questions, which we shall ponder again next time. — William Lindley

Illinois Report
by Robert H. Bohannan, AICP (March 2010)

Saturday, March 6, Amtrak and Trains Magazine co-sponsored a “Dialog for Progress” Town Hall Meeting at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Many of Amtrak’s “top brass” were there, including Board Chairman Tom Carper, President Joe Boardman, and Chief John O’Connor of the Amtrak Police Department. The three main topics of discussion were the Amtrak Photography and Videography Guidelines, Fleet Strategy, and Long Distance Service.

Photography. Chief O’Connor did an excellent job of explaining Amtrak’s photography policy. Essentially, Amtrak would like to be notified in advance if one is going to do extensive photographing on Amtrak property—other than photography taken by boarding and alighting passengers or photos taken onboard trains—of the passing scenery, for example. Given the proven use of photography by terrorists in preparation for attacks on infrastructure, it is not unreasonable to have a few, simple, reasonable rules. [A strong minority points out that we once laughed at the Soviet Union and other totalitarian states for such absurdities as prohibiting photography and requiring citizens to carry identification cards. Nevertheless, railroad stations are in some fashion private property and it is entirely within Amtrak's purview to have some sort of rules. - Editor] Of course, Amtrak struggles to get the word out about the degree of leniency to all the station and other personnel nationwide and concedes that “over-zealous” employees have needlessly chastised rail fans for taking photos. Moreover, the rules only apply to Amtrak property—different rules apply for photos taken on property of other railroads, and so forth. We advocates and our “railfan” friends have a responsibility to assist Amtrak in educating others about their reasonable photography policy.

Fleet Strategy. A significant aspect of the fleet policy for readers of TWA is that Amtrak is using stimulus funds to repair cars and locomotives at Beech Grove. After the meeting Saturday, we were all invited down to Union Station to see a rebuilt train consisting of two sleepers, a diner, and a locomotive—all of which had been wreck damaged. The equipment looked great: The diner was decorated in pleasing shades of navy blue and brown, and looked really classy.

Long Distance Service. Regarding long distance trains, Amtrak made official their intent to restructure the Sunset and Texas Eagle routes by operating a daily Los Angeles-San Antonio-Chicago train with a connecting San Antonio-New Orleans train. The LA-Chicago train would have full dining and lounge services. Amtrak has divided their 15 long-distance trains into three groups of five. The five worst performers — including the Sunset and Eagle—will be addressed this year, the middle five in 2011, and the five best—such as the Empire Builder and Southwest Chief — will be tweaked beginning in 2012. The undesirability of tri-weekly service on any route was noted.

Perhaps more significantly, Amtrak seems to be grasping—and willing to emphasize publicly — the importance of their long distance trains. One of the slides in a presentation devoted to long distance trains was titled “Long Distance Trains are Fundamental to Amtrak’s Mission and Future”. The slide included pie charts that showed that, while long distance trains provided 15 percent of Amtrak’s riders, they accounted for 24 percent of Amtrak’s revenue. Long distance trains account for 39 percent of Amtrak’s train miles but 46 percent of passenger miles. Moreover, long distance ridership and on-time performance has been steadily improving.

Regarding on-time performance, Amtrak is changing the metric to include arrivals at intermediate stops, instead of just end points. Officials commented at the meeting that this change took the passengers’ point of view into consideration as well as the Operating Department’s point of view. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) provides that, beginning in 2013, there will be an on-time performance tolerance of 15 minutes for intermediate stops.

Overall Impression. As encouraging as these developments are, the most significant aspects of the “Dialog for Progress” were that it was conducted in the first place, and that Amtrak recognized the need to reach out directly to the railfan and advocacy communities—the event was open to anyone who saw the notice in Trains and was one of the first 300 to register—rather than simply report the findings to any particular group.

Tom Carper, Joe Boardman, and the other officials were present throughout the session and at the subsequent equipment display and responded patiently and concisely to all the questions. This was at times no small feat, with an audience so amazed at finally having a chance to speak and hear candid responses that emotions sometimes ran high. Amtrak intends to conduct more of these events and I encourage TWA readers to plan on attending.

The Long Distance studies: Amtrak buy the numbers
by Daniel Carleton (late January 2010)

Amtrak, in the past months, has proffered three studies regarding the re-establishment of service on three lines: The Sunset Limited east of New Orleans, the Pioneer and the North Coast Hiawatha. The Hiawatha was discontinued in October of 1979 as the country reeled from the consequences of the world’s third oil shock. The Pioneer was discontinued in May 1997 as Amtrak banked its future and fortune on a then-yet-to-be-named high speed train in the Northeast. The Sunset was indefinitely suspended east of New Orleans due to track damage sustained in August 2005 and repaired by January of the following year.

Section 224 and 226 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) required Amtrak to develop plans for restoring service to these routes. Much has been written and shall continue to be written as to the validity of these studies; the rhetoric is long and facts are questionable. As regards equipment, however, this boilerplate paragraph appears in both studies for the Pioneer and Hiawatha:

“Restoration of daily service on the three long-distance routes Amtrak has been directed to study by PRIIA – the North Coast Hiawatha; the Chicago-Seattle Pioneer; and the Sunset Limited between New Orleans, Louisiana and Sanford/Orlando, Florida – would require approximately 100 additional Superliner cars. That equipment does not exist today. Amtrak has 20 repairable “wreck status” Superliner cars, which it plans to restore to service in order to alleviate equipment shortages on existing Western long distance trains. In addition, if Amtrak is to continue to provide existing services on long distance routes, it must in the very near future replace nearly 100 remaining “Heritage” cars that are now more than half a century old.”

When summing up the hypothesized dollar figures for equipping the expanded services the amount runs between $477-534 million, depending on what options are acted upon. Amtrak appears to be settled on the inflated figure of $4.5 million per Superliner, bringing a 100 car order to $450 million. The balance would purportedly be expended on motive power.

To the uninitiated it would be reasonable to assume that a public carrier would enjoy certain benefits unavailable to a private company. The rolling stock of a common carrier railroad is private property and as such subject to applicable property taxes. Private companies take great pains to justify what assets are kept as well as the spare parts on hand to keep them in a state of operation. Such justification must take into account the ebbs and flows of business. Therefore, during the ‘golden age’ of passenger rail transportation there could be found in or near major rail hubs rows of passenger cars awaiting the call to duty during times of heavy traffic demand. In 1946 the Pullman Company alone operated 5500 cars; by 1956, this was down to just over 2600.

Amtrak is a public corporation and not subject to property taxes. And since Amtrak could be viewed as a work-fare program it is not a stretch to imagine public monies spent for fleets of passenger cars awaiting the call to duty during heavy traffic loads. In 1972, the roster held 1262 cars. If Amtrak’s advertising is to be believed, this was about one-third of the total cars inherited from the private railroads. Currently Amtrak rosters 1367 active passenger cars; exclusive of Acela and Talgo trainsets. Where is all the extra capacity when needed? Where is the work-fare program to sustain the domestic railcar manufacturers? Instead of the rows of passenger cars on standby there is a one-size-fits-all passenger train running 365 days a year. Instead of a robust domestic railcar industry there is silence with the last, the Budd Company, closing its doors in 1987.

Currently, Amtrak stables about 250 active diesel-electric road locomotives, exclusive of the dual-mode locomotives in the Northeast. At the height of the F40 era at Amtrak there were 216 on the roster (plus 25 GE P30CH‘s); please bear in mind there was as yet no electrification east of New Haven, Connecticut. Today, the F40 is extinct on Amtrak. With the exception of Ontario’s GO Transit, Amtrak is the only original owner of the F40 locomotive to completely phase them out. On the private railroads, locomotives could be rebuilt under a Capital Rebuild Program allowing the unit to be depreciated over the anticipated additional life of the unit. As Amtrak is a public entity and not subject to property taxes no value was seen in the F40 fleet, and they were sold to commuter railroads, freight service or for scrap.

The national malaise toward serviceable passenger rolling stock has not gone unnoticed by those states desiring service. California, Washington and North Carolina have acquired cars (and in some cases locomotives) to properly address the needs of their constituents. Soon Wisconsin will join this once exclusive club as they reequip their Milwaukee to Chicago service with new trainsets from Talgo.

The national malaise toward service expansion has not gone unnoticed by the federal government as may be witnessed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants (ARRA) for High-Speed Rail. In an effort to revitalize America’s passenger rail network the feds have bypassed Amtrak and instead are seeding monies directly to the states. None of these projects tapped for funds will actually attain true high speed (greater than 150 mph) but will improve or expand existing rail services.

Even to the most casual observer the role of Amtrak is being minimized. Attempting to reverse this trend Amtrak’s president recently gave a speech declaring their relevance, “Being a healthier Amtrak helps position itself as THE provider and partner of choice for commuter, intercity passenger rail and high-speed rail service. We currently have partnerships with 15 states accounting for nearly 50 percent of our average weekday departures and we plan to foster more.”

However, when there is a legitimate need for a service to be rendered a way shall always be found. Lately it appears that ‘way’ does not include Amtrak. Is it the fault of the track worker who was given defective concrete ties to install? Is it the fault of the Viewliner car attendant whose car is shaking apart around her? Is it the fault of Pullman-Standard or Budd whose doors closed for good for a lack of orders? Is it the fault of management whose priorities change just a often as the politicos they answer to? Ultimately, it must be recognized that Amtrak does not deliver any of the possible benefits of a public corporation and all of the disadvantages of a welfare program.


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This Week in Amtrak

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

This Week at Amtrak; June 8, 2009

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

America’s foremost passenger rail policy institute

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203 • Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org • http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 6, Number 16

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, URPA is a nationally known policy institute which focuses on solutions and plans for passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California, Arizona, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and other cities. For more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.

URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from any outside sources.

1) For those of us who keep track of segments of the news using key words for Internet searches, the term “Amtrak” has been popping up on a frequent basis in stories referring to the bankruptcy and government restructuring of General Motors. Most of the time, Amtrak is being cited as an example of what happens when formerly private industry suddenly comes under public ownership, with all of the resulting ills and pains in that process. Most writers and thinkers are bemoaning the fate of GM, and hoping against hope GM will not one day be a close cousin to Amtrak as we know it today with all of the associated problems.

Optimists, however, don’t point to Amtrak as a comparison for GM and Chrysler, but rather point to Conrail, the product of a similar crisis takeover that was allowed to work under market forces and eventually go back into the private sector and eventually become so attractive, it was fought over by two titans of modern railroading, CSX and Norfolk Southern.

One can only wish GM and Chrysler the fate of Conrail, and not that of Amtrak.

2) Another fun exercise with the news has been the tracking of Vice President Joe Biden’s and United Stated Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s ongoing dog and pony shows around the country exploring the future of high speed rail.

There have been nearly identical headlines in almost every newspaper and media outlet around the country, wherever the Veep and Secretary have gone: “(Insert city name here) is likely on the fast track to high speed rail.”

Since there is only $8 billion to go around to get things started, it looks like there are going to be a lot of disappointed folks who were hoping and dreaming to be in the first wave of high speed rail free federal monies.

After all, $8 billion isn’t that much money when you’re looking at an entire continent, but it’s a start.

3) Speaking of high speed rail, this word has come from Gil Carmichael. As always, whatever Mr. Carmichael has to say is important.

[Begin quote]

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

ITI's Gil Carmichael says "ethical" 21st century High-speed rail transportation system 2.0 is needed now

- Ambitious High-speed Freight and Passenger Rail-based Transportation Infrastructure Program Required -

DENVER, CO, June 3, 2009 – Gil Carmichael, Founding Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Intermodal Transportation Institute (ITI) at the University of Denver, told a group of transportation industry, academics, and government leaders at the National Transportation Infrastructure & Regulatory Policy Forum, held at the University of Denver, in Denver, Colorado, that an "ethical" high-speed rail-based intermodal transportation system must be implemented – and soon.

"Like President Obama, a growing number of American people have a vision of a high-speed rail, intercity passenger transportation infrastructure system in the U.S.," said Carmichael. "It is a logical and necessary next step forward from President Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System of the 1950s; but proponents have long had a hard time being heard until recently."

To illustrate where we have been coming from as a nation, Carmichael pointed to several critical events that occurred during the past four decades. "Many of us remember October 1973, when the Arab oil embargo took place and created our fist energy crisis," he said. "Long waiting lines at service stations formed and many stations turned off their lights on the Interstate. They were out of gas! Americans woke up and realized that we had built a mobility system on a finite fossil fuel. By 1974, I remember people abandoning their 4,000-pound, eight-cylinder, six-MPG Buicks and lining up to buy a VW Rabbit diesel. We started to ‘think small’ and solar and wind energies were being discussed. But by the late 1970s we were seemingly discovering oil under every polar bear in the Arctic. The price of a barrel of oil then went from $35 back down to $9-$12 a gallon, and by the middle 1980s we were once again well on our way to preferring gas-guzzling muscle cars, SUV’s, 400HP V8’s, and $70,000 trucks! Fat City was the way to go until last year.

Furthermore, research shows the U.S. had an unwritten transportation policy that declared we wanted ‘cheap fossil fuel.’ Virtually any political figure who even talked about raising the gas tax was doomed to failure."

So, Carmichael posited, where are we today with our 21st century global economy? The truly big energy crisis has occurred. Oil rose to $140.00 plus per barrel. Gasoline/diesel went to $5.00 per gallon. Oil is down now to about $60.00 per barrel, as are gas-per-gallon prices; but our airlines are clobbered by high fuel prices; our Big Three car manufactures are shattered; and our economy is on some sort of life support. It is quite possible that gas, diesel, and jet fuel prices will go back up in the near future as long as we are held hostage by our dependence on foreign oil and unpredictable supplies, consumer demand, and fluctuating prices. Congress cannot keep prices reduced by legislation. Global economic chaos would result if just one major oil producing nation has some sort of calamity.

"We can no longer afford the lavishness of the past. As soon as possible, this nation has got to radically change the way people and freight move in order to avoid long-term economic decline," said Carmichael. "One need only look at our demographics and our growing population density. When I was 30, there were 130 million people in the U.S. By 2040, there will be 400 million. North America will have a population of well over a one-half billion people! We are finishing the first decade of this new century and the old order of ‘doing business as usual’ is not working. It will not be able to correct itself. Like China, we must think more wisely."

Carmichael looked at where we are headed with our transportation infrastructure.

"What is the biggest public-works project this century that can ensure U.S. prosperity?" he asked. "Last century it was building Interstate I – 43,000 miles of grade-separated, four-lane highways. It served millions of cars and trucks and thousands of busy, small airports and commuter airplanes, feeding into huge hub airports with large passenger planes going long distances to big cities. The airlines in the 1970s and 1980s expanded, in part, with jet fuel prices at about 40-60 cents per gallon, with no tax. Western man built a huge transportation system on this cheap oil; it employed millions of people and we all prospered. But that is all over in 2009!”

"So what do we do now?" asked Carmichael. "What major public-works project can we implement this century that will help keep our 400 million people working, will produce a prosperous economy, and will build a long-lasting, sustainable transportation system? My answer is we build ‘Interstate 2.0’. I initially said it should be 20,000 miles of high-speed rail. It really should be 30,000 miles and use the huge, wide, existing – and paid for – rail Rights of Way in partnership with the private freight railroads and the states. We should give the private railroads their 25% investment tax credit to encourage them to upgrade and double- and triple-track their main lines to increase speeds and double freight capacity.

States should build or lease high-speed track on their ROWs to run new, modern, intermodal freight and passenger trains. These high-speed tracks should be grade separated just as were the Interstate Highways. Our objective is to enable Amtrak and its partners to run frequent and safe 110-125 MPH passenger trains. We have the technology with GPS/PTC to do this with a high degree of safety. It will cut highway fatalities at least 50% and drastically reduce the wear and tear and cost of maintaining the highways.”

"So intermodal and high-speed passenger rail visionaries have finally been heard by a young, new President who produced $14.3 billion to be spent on high-speed rail corridors in the next five years to begin Phase I of this century’s most important infrastructure program. This huge work program puts America on the way to creating an ‘ethical’ intermodal freight and passenger transportation network. We can electrify it by mid-century. It will then truly be an ‘ethical, sustainable’ system. President Obama will be the 21st century’s ‘Eisenhower’ because he will have created ‘Interstate 2.0,’ a high-speed rail network reconnecting our center cities, major airports, and ports – recapturing the vital role of the intercity bus and transit industries."

In explanation, Carmichael defined an ethical transportation system as one that 1) does not injure or kill 2) does not pollute and is environmentally benign 3) does not waste fuel and 4) does not cost too much. It uses the strengths of each mode. “We must build a 21st century intermodal transportation system using the ‘steel wheel and steel rail’ as the fundamental element of this system. Early in this century we can electrify all of North American rail, providing a new source of energy for our transportation system,” he said.

"We have started," summarized Carmichael. "This is Phase I – $14.3 billion of funding and 13 federally designated, high-speed rail corridors. Amtrak has crossed the Rubicon. It now needs to put out an RFP for 150 new trains sets. It will show the American people that a truly interconnected intermodal transportation system is coming. By using our existing freight rail ROWs and not destroying more green fields, we can actually have a much better transportation system than Europe. It is an exciting new era that we are entering."

About ITI

The Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver offers an Executive Masters Program that awards a Master of Science in Intermodal Transportation Management from the University of Denver. This graduate degree program prepares transportation industry managers for the increasingly complex, global business environment where knowledge of finance, quantitative processes, supply chain, law, and public policy issues as well as freight, passenger, and intermodal transportation operational strategies are critical management tools for success. For more information on the ITI Executive Masters Program call: 303-871-4702 or visit: www.du.edu/transportation.

[End quote]

Two things Mr. Carmichael said are of profound importance. The first is naming an “ethical transportation system,” a phrase that is seldom used when referring to major industry. His definition is superb.

The second is his call for Amtrak to immediately order 150 new trainsets. While that is just a round number, the meaning is all too important. Amtrak can either get with the new program in this country, or it can be left behind.

As demonstrated in the last issue of This Week at Amtrak, it’s tough to imagine Amtrak having any type of current, relevant plan for expanding the all-too-important national long distance system instead of just raiding state treasuries for the operation of often statistically irrelevant short corridor routes.

We need some sort of statement right now from Amtrak about a new equipment plan, even if it’s to say a plan is in the works with perhaps a broad, general outline.

We hope GM one day will have the success of Conrail; is it impossible to hope that one day (hopefully, soon) Amtrak, too, will have the success of Conrail?

4) The following commentary appears in the Spring issue of the Minnesota Association of Railroad Passengers newsletter.

[Begin quote]

By Andrew C. Selden

Is Amtrak secretly planning to exit the long distance business?

It may be. Despite billions of new federal grants this year, signs are building that Amtrak may be on its way to dropping the commercially strongest part of its business, or alternatively, perhaps, setting up another "hostage" situation, where Amtrak pulls its old stunt of threatening to shut down this service or that, or everything, if Congress doesn't give it billions of new dollars (almost all of which are always lavished on the NEC).

By any objective analysis of Amtrak's actions, one is forced to conclude that Amtrak wants out of the LD train business. They are not repairing locomotives in Chicago, they are not fixing wreck damaged Superliners at Beech Grove, they have no plans to order more equipment for LD trains. Cliff Black, Amtrak's P.R. chief, referring to the LD trains, said "The moment of truth is coming." Before Alex Kummant was run out of town, he said, "The future is in the corridors." The last Amtrak CEO who cared about the LD trains was Graham Claytor, who said at a NARP Board meeting in Washington that "the LD trains are operating in the black."

Eyewitnesses sitting right in front of Claytor confirm that this is exactly what he said.

Profit-making businesses have customers, and those customers are vital to the success of the business; not enough customers and the business dies. Businesses do everything they can to get more customers, and the value their most important customers by "courting" them constantly. All this is blindingly obvious.

So, who are Amtrak's valued customers? Passengers? Not really, at least not directly. Amtrak's most important customers are Congress and the States that hand Amtrak all that free cash to pay for service. Thanks to years of myth-making by Amtrak, Congress believes that the LD trains are huge money losers, that nobody rides them, and they go places nobody wants to visit. This is all nonsense, but it is what Congress (and the media) believe, so it might as well be fact.

Since Congress is Amtrak's most important "customer," and since Congress believes that the LD trains are the cause of Amtrak's financial mess, what is Amtrak to do? Admit that they have been cooking the books and lying to Congress for years? Admit that Warrington's promise that Acela would make a PROFIT (and bring in enough cash to support the rest of the system) was a big fat lie? Admit that they have been making spending decisions to garner political support (which translates into free money), rather than to develop a better, bigger national railroad which carries more passengers, more miles? No way, no chance. Amtrak is a company that focuses its attention on doing things that get more of that free money – rather than getting it the old fashioned way, by earning it.

It seems increasingly likely that Amtrak is going to let the LD trains die by simply not ever ordering more LD equipment, and/or not repairing anything at Beech Grove. As equipment wears out or is damaged, trains will come off, and because Congress believes the LD train myth, this action will be viewed by many as an example of Amtrak actually being fiscally responsible.

Once the LD trains are gone, it will be interesting to see how Amtrak and the politicians along the NEC explain the continued need for that huge subsidy.

Consider, too, that Amtrak's new interim CEO, New Yorker Joe Boardman, has been mouthing support for the (skeletal) national network as it exists now, but doing almost nothing to invest in it.

Certainly, no new cars are being ordered, and no new route connections implemented (although, plans are well along to run a daily train Chicago – Dallas – San Antonio – Los Angeles over the Texas Eagle/Sunset route). In the six months or so that Mr. Boardman has led Amtrak, there has been much talk about another wave of improvements, including new Viewliner and Acela cars, for east coast services, including the NEC, of course, but nothing at all about new Superliners or western routes."

A business that doesn't believe in itself, that doesn't reinvest in itself, that is consumed with political game-playing rather than a relentless entrepreneurial drive to play to win in the marketplace, is a business that really is in a slow liquidation. This isn't about "fairness," or "regional balance," or "social service to fly-over states." It's about smart business and winning strategies. And based on all the evidence, Amtrak is failing at that.

[End quote]

5) Here in Florida, a game of “Chicken” is being played by the State of Florida and Tri-Rail in Southeast Florida.

Readers of this space know the just completed legislative session in Florida earlier this month was not kind to commuter rail; completely killing (they think) SunRail in Central Florida, and leaving Tri-Rail in Southeast Florida somewhat hobbled without a permanent funding source.

Part of the failed SunRail deal was for Tri-Rail to receive permission for the three counties it serves – Palm Beach, Broward (Ft. Lauderdale), and Miami-Dade – to levy a $2 per day surcharge tax on rental cars in those three counties, only. It was estimated this surcharge would provide adequate funding, in addition to farebox revenues and some monies kicked in from the three counties, for Tri-Rail to be a fully functioning system.

Whoops! SunRail went down in flames (for the moment), and the Tri-Rail’s permanent funding along with it.

Now, Tri-Rail says its host counties are not going to fund it fully, and it will have to cut back on service, slashing its daily service and completely eliminating all weekend and holiday service.

Whoops! again. The feds, who provided a lot of the funding for the recent upgrades to Tri-Rail infrastructure, say they have a written agreement with Tri-Rail which states Tri-Rail will at least run all of the trains it does today (less two frequencies), or Tri-Rail will have to pay hundreds of millions back to the feds because the federal money was intended to help Tri-Rail provide a full schedule of trains.

But, wails Tri-Rail, it has no money, and it’s going to receive even less money next year from the three counties it serves. So, supplication to the State of Florida has occurred, but the state says it has no money, either, in this tight budget year.

(When it comes to government, somehow isn’t EVERY year a tight budget year?)

Which leaves Tri-Rail in a pickle.

What about raising fares? That is going on right now, with a 25% increase, but it won’t be enough.

More riders? Already happening, courtesy of last year’s high gas prices, and the riders decided to stay, even with today’s lower gas prices.

Tri-Rail is a relatively new system, just 20 years old. It has never had an opportunity to create any type of financial cushion, and has always been dependent on the financial kindness of others to survive. It kept fares artificially low for decades, declaring it was all riders could afford to pay. No one even took inflation into account; just unrealistically low fares hoping today’s day of reckoning would never occur.

Tri-Rail is not alone. News accounts from across the country tell sob story after sob story about insolvent transit systems. What started as sleek steel wheels on shiny steel rails have become lumpy, worn wheels on two streaks of parallel rust.

Who is to blame? Everyone. Commuter rail managements who thought they were in the welfare business instead of the transportation business made unsustainable business plans that never tested to find the high end of commuter fares.

Local governments which saw the benefits of commuter rail systems, but couldn’t bring themselves to understand the fiscal needs of commuter rail as much as the fiscal needs of concrete and highways.

State governments which for the most part have ignored commuter rail, never bothering to look at its benefits or flaws, especially the benefits of higher tax bases and greater job creators.

And, the federal government, which has never really had a defined surface transportation policy which blended all types of surface transportation into a cohesive system.

The one group NOT to blame is the public. When given the chance, the public has embraced commuter and light rail time and time again when it was built intelligently and to meet public demand.

Skyrocketing ridership in places like Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Minneapolis, various places in California, and elsewhere prove the point.

When the public is presented with intelligent commuter rail, the public will sample it, and a certain portion of the public will choose commuter rail for a variety of personal reasons.

So much public policy today is made for annoying “green” reasons, or reasons various nanny state government busybodies think we should do for our own good (After all, we know best, they say, no matter what.), often public planners forget that if a good plan is put into place, the public will willingly flock to it, without having to inflict pangs of environmental guilt. Good commuter rail systems – especially ones like found in the Dallas-Fort Worth system – are able to stand on their own as attractive alternatives without overt government coercion.

Where should these commuter rail systems be going? Straight into the future, but with better planning, better financing, and better management.

At the moment there seems to be two types of politicians controlling the fate of commuter rail. Here in Florida, we have the type which are uninformed, and ideologically opposed to any new taxes on anyone for any reason. These same folks, while having an admirable goal, seem to think somehow infrastructure and public utilities spring from the ground after a good soaking rain. It never occurs to them the prudent investment in commuter rail brings huge results from higher tax revenues because commuter rail helps make cities livable, desirable for new businesses to relocate to the area, and commuter rail is an economic generator in its own right.

The other type of politician looking at commuter rail seems to think money grows on trees or is easily produced by printing presses, any type of commuter rail is good (No matter how ill-conceived.)

because it creates jobs (Even though they are not quite sure how jobs are created.) to build, and then voters can ride for nearly free because Big Brother will be happy to foot the bill for perpetual commuter rail by raising taxes on all of those mean, evil rich people.

Neither type of politician is very good for commuter rail.

All types of politicians need to be educated about commuter rail and learn the discrete benefits of commuter rail as applied to any local system.

Why do we care about commuter rail? Because it is an infrastructure incubator for Amtrak and intercity passenger rail.

6) As long as everyone understands the huge worlds of difference between commuter rail and intercity passenger rail (And, the individual management philosophies which apply to each distinct, separate type of rail.) then an understanding can be reached how one is good for the other.

Commuter and regional rail done correctly provides a superb feeder system for Amtrak’s (or, anyone else’s) long distance trains. Commuter and regional rail stations and infrastructure also serve nicely as stations and infrastructure for long distance trains, without long distance trains being burdened solely with all of the costs of those stations and infrastructure.

Long distance trains, when part of a robust system (a far cry from today’s skeletal Amtrak system), reverse feed commuter and regional trains, disgorging passengers from long distance trains to complete their journey by local rail.

One hand washes the other, neatly and cleanly.

What we now need is a comprehensive government surface transportation policy which understands the interconnectivity of all of these systems, and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Some will say we used to have that, in the heyday of railroads. But, really, we didn’t. Because, while we had a fully mature passenger railroad system, it was a highly regulated system constantly fighting with government interference and resulting high costs to operate often unnecessary trains and services. Also, at the time, there was no mature highway system, but, rather, a skeletal system of two lane roads around the nation which ironically resembled today’s Amtrak national system.

And, too, there wasn’t a mature air travel system, but, rather, a system of DC-3 Gooney Birds and later ill-starred Constellations with plenty of holes in the route system, and no effective transcontinental service as we know it today.

The bottom line is, we never have had as a nation a real passenger transportation policy which addresses surface, air, and water transportation. We have either had predominantly water transportation (Erie Canal), predominantly passenger rail transportation, or predominantly highway and air transportation. Never have we had a policy which takes into account the full benefits of all of these modes of transportation.

The wise gray heads like Gil Carmichael are making a clarion call for a workable transportation policy. Amtrak can be an important part of that policy, but only after it has had a major restructuring from what it is today.

7) The Wall Street Journal last week reported United Airlines has requested dueling bids from Boeing and Airbus for 150 new aircraft – all paid for with private capital, and all for passenger service. Someone obviously thinks the passenger business is on the upswing.

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J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739

brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

http://www.unitedrail.org

Goodbye to the Classics

Image via WikipediaUTA is in the process of pulling from service the 1990 MCI Classics that have served many miles for the UTA and being replaced by the new 30-foot Optima Opus buses.

The Design of the Classic is based of the GM New Look buses that first started production in 1959. Production in the United States was stopped in 1977 and replaced by the RTS series which UTA never used except during the Olympics. However the New Look continued to be produced in Canada and was updated in 1984 and became the classic. UTA purchased these buses in 1984 and 1990. In 1987 GM sold its bus division to MCI which at the time was part of Greyhound but the buses remained the same.

The problem with the newer buses is that they are not built to the same standards as the previous buses. The new Optima's and the Gillig's that UTA purchased over the last few years are not the same quality as the Classics or the New Looks that proceeded them. While the motors are essentially the same it is in the passenger cabin that you can really notice the differences in the buses.

If you where to ride on of the few remaining Classics that are left in service, while you will notice a couple of rattles here in there, it would not be major. Meanwhile even when the Gillig Advantage's where just a couple of years old they had major rattles and are not a passenger friendly bus to ride on.

Sadly there are several reasons why this happens.

1. Lowest bidder-may not always be the best bidder.

2. Fed's 12 Year Policy-Buses only have to last that long even though many of them are falling apart before that.

3. Policy Makers don't ride the buses-This is probably the biggest reason why the quality of today's buses is poor compared to older vehicles. For the most part the big wigs and especially the board members of UTA DON'T RIDE THE BUS. Unless it is for some public relations reason they are not on the buses. They do not ride the bus and see the condition of the buses so it doesn't even enter their minds that the customer compartment of the bus is poor. All they look at is the mechanical performance-that's all.

Do you think those big wigs would allow their personal cars to rattle like the buses that their customers have to ride in? Of course the answer is no, they would be screaming bloody murder to the dealer and the manufacturer. They should also not permit it on the buses their customers have to ride in either.

The board of directors and the top corporate people of transit agencies in general, not just the UTA need to demand better products from the manufacturers. It is their responsibility to their customers to do so.