This Week in Amtrak

Image by Stephen Rees via Flickr

This Week at Amtrak; September 18, 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 39



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) Word has come from Gil Carmichael, former Federal Railroad Administration Administrator and Chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council.



[Begin quote]



PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release



ITI's Gil Carmichael Calls for holistic transportation policy



- Says Two, New Intermodal Trust Funds Should Subsidize "Ethical" Intermodal Transportation System -



DENVER, CO, September 18, 2009 – In recent comments to the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (SASHTO), held in Biloxi, Mississippi, Gil Carmichael, Founding Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Intermodal Transportation Institute (ITI) at the University of Denver, said the key to solving the nation's 21st century transportation problems lies in establishing a holistic approach funded by two, new intermodal trust funds – one for freight movement, the other for passenger transit, and both based on miles traveled.





Speaking to a technical session of 1,200 government and association members from 12 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, addressing today's transportation challenges, Carmichael said the nation needs to establish an ethical and sustainable "intermodal" transportation system that incorporates both freight and passenger rail in order to produce a new transportation structure that meets 21st century needs. This system should be a joint public- and private-sector initiative that builds and expands upon the success of the Interstate Highway System of the last century.



"The Interstate Highway System that was built has served us well," he said. "But today we have a population that has doubled in 50 years; we have a deteriorating and badly congested transportation infrastructure that cannot meet consumer demand; and we have a growing global economy that requires interconnected, intermodal transportation. The solution to meeting this century's challenges lies in building 'Interstate 2.0', an ethical, fuel efficient, intercity, rail freight and passenger transportation system that reconnects our center cities, bus and transit lines, energizes our economy, and sustains our environment. It is a logical and necessary next step forward."



Among the challenges addressed by the two-day conference was the major dilemma of how a new transportation policy and such a massive intermodal transportation system would be paid for – especially with the end of the highway trust fund and declining gas tax revenues in sight. Carmichael offered several paradigms to address this concern:



• Develop a Holistic Transportation Policy. "Historically, this nation has had a 'single mode' mindset." he said. "Our federal government and state DOTs have not addressed transportation as an interconnected, intermodal system, choosing instead to address each mode independently. That myopic approach will no longer work in our global business environment. Today, the public and private sectors need to partner and address our transportation requirements as they relate to two intermodal modes – freight and passenger rail. This involves utilizing our 240,000 miles of existing (and paid for) rail Rights of Way (ROW) and upgrading about 30,000 miles of it to high-speed, grade-separated track. We should provide the private railroads with a 25 percent investment tax credit to encourage them to upgrade and double- and triple-track their main lines to increase speeds and double capacity. A high-speed rail network that reconnects our center cities, major airports, and ports is vital to 21st century transportation and economic development."



• Create Two Intermodal Trust Funds. "One of the dilemmas we are faced with is: how do we pay for this intermodal system?" he asked. "We paid for the Interstate Highway System with a highway trust fund from gas tax usage. The gas tax worked well for the highway and it is about to expire. To replace it, I strongly recommend the U.S. put into place two, new intermodal trust funds to pay for this new multimodal transportation system. There would be one tax for intermodal freight movement and another for passenger transit. And it would be simple to implement cost per mile traveled rather than cents per gallon."



• Reorganize State DOTs to Oversee Intermodal Transportation. "With a new intermodal transportation system in place, we should reorganize our state DOTs so we have two separate departments that are responsible for intermodal freight transport and passenger transit, respectively," he explained. "We can no longer afford to administer effective transportation policy on a single mode basis. States would also build or lease high-speed track on the private railroads' ROWs to allow new, modern, intermodal freight and passenger trains."



• Utilize Our New Technologies. "We have the technology, such as GPS and PTC, to make this intermodal transportation system work, and technology continues to advance," said Carmichael. "High-speed tracks could be grade separated just like the Interstate Highways so we can safely run passenger trains at 110-125 MPH and freight trains at up to 90 MPH, vastly increasing freight capacity. This could cut highway fatalities by at least 50 percent and drastically reduce the stress, wear and tear, and cost of maintaining the highways, thus extending its life.”



• Increase Freight Capacity and Stimulate the Economy. "A major public-works project of this magnitude will add millions of new and permanent jobs, will produce a prosperous economy, just as Interstate I did, and will build a long-lasting, truly sustainable transportation system," said Carmichael. "We can electrify the rails by mid-century, producing a new source of energy and weaning ourselves off of our dependence on foreign fossil fuels. It will then be an ethical and sustainable system that increases freight capacity and protects our environment."



In closing, Carmichael said: "A new holistic, ethical transportation policy will build upon the strengths of each mode, will reduce injuries and deaths, will be environmentally benign, will not waste fuel, will not cost too much to use, and will provide ongoing economic stability. This 21st century intermodal transportation infrastructure will use the ‘steel wheel and steel rail’ – the same as it did in the 19th century – as its fundamental element of transport."



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]



Whatever plan moves us into the future – and Mr. Carmichael usually has the sharpest eye on the future – is going to have to find new ways to pay for the next generation of railroads and highways. The original highway trust fund at one time was sacrosanct, and left alone. Too many uninspired members of Congress kept looking at the pool of money and thinking about how many local pork barrel projects in their districts could be funded with someone else’s money, and ever since then, the highway trust fund lost its integrity. If Congress has the will to plan correctly for the future, it will have the necessary nerves of steel to set up new funding mechanisms which again become sacrosanct and are dedicated to the very important cause of surface transportation. It’s time for Congress to adopt the stepchild and call it its own.



2) The gun haters are going nuts. This week, the Senate passed a bill requiring Amtrak to restore the rights of gun owners to transport guns on Amtrak under proper safety precautions in baggage cars.



To read some of the hilarious, delirious ravings of the gun haters, you would think the Senate is inviting known terrorists to a tea party and asking them to bring along their weapons of choice.



Amtrak used to allow guns onboard trains in baggage cars, prior to September 11, 2001. Since then, Amtrak – acting on its own after 9/11 and the later Madrid train bombings – banned guns from its trains.



However, the Senate, in an overwhelming majority vote, has told Amtrak either figure out a way to get the guns safely and securely back on trains, or your free federal monies go away, as soon as March of 2010.



The gun haters, with great whining and gnashing of teeth, have said it’s impossible to make this happen.



More rational people have reminded one and all we have this controlling document in our lives as Americans – it’s know as the Constitution for those who may have forgotten about it with everything going on in Washington these days – which plainly and loudly says Americans have the right to own and carry guns.



These same rational people also like to point out the TSA (Those same passenger-friendly people who love to watch us take off our shoes in airports.) already has lots of plans in place for things like guns on Amtrak.



The sooner they return, the better.



3) Union Pacific Railroad, the railroad everyone thinks loves to hate passenger trains, apparently is willing to make some money embracing one particular passenger train.



The Chicago Tribune reported today, in a story datelined Denver, the Ski Train may be back this winter, operating between Denver and the Winter Park resort. Previously operating for 69 years, the Ski Train was thought to be dead when its previous owner ended the operation and sold his passenger rail equipment to a Canadian scenic passenger operator.



In came Iowa Pacific Holdings, with former Amtraker Ed Ellis now as President of Iowa Pacific, and the Ski Train is back on schedule. Iowa Pacific operates other short passenger routes, mostly as scenic and entertainment trains.



Mr. Ellis said Iowa Pacific would use Iowa Pacific equipment and contract with Amtrak to provide train and engine crews. A deal has not been finalized with Amtrak.



Okay, let’s take a roll call.



Union Pacific, which, through its official spokesman once described Amtrak as “novelty transportation,” is striking a deal with an operator to allow a seasonal, regularly scheduled passenger train operate over its tracks, which it could have easily let go away after the original operator pulled out.



Then, Amtrak, which sometimes thinks of itself as “novelty transportation” instead of being an important part of our domestic surface transportation network, is in the process of cutting a deal with someone else to run passenger trains.



Gosh (gasp!), could capitalism in passenger rail be rearing its allegedly ugly head and someone has figured out how a passenger rail operation can make money for all parties concerned?



What’s wrong with these people? Aren’t they listening to all of the alleged experts that continuously drone on and on and on that only government is capable of running any sort of passenger train in the proper manner (Which means at a loss.)?



4) Lots of mail came into the This Week at Amtrak e-mailbox after the last issue of TWA calling for another operator to replace Amtrak.



Here’s a sample.



[Begin quote]



As the British would say: "Here, Here" to your latest newsletter! What about a new corporation formed by a consortium of freight railroads to run a national passenger railroad system? Since there is little more consolidation to be done between the big boys, perhaps the congress and courts would approve such a novel arrangement as there would be no freight competition issues. The freight lines would benefit from aid in infrastructure construction, and having open knowledge of all passenger operations, the freight lines would certainly be more flexible in schedule development/alternate routes even over competing lines since the passenger business would benefit all of them. Now, that "by George" would be a nice trick to pull off, especially since it might even make sense!



[End quote]



[Begin quote]



The message both Joe & Joe (Boardman and Biden) should hear is: If you can't do it right, don't do it at all. Give it up!





I like the idea of shutting-down Amtrak, but suggest a slight variation.



Keep Amtrak in operation. However, quarantine Amtrak between Washington, DC; Boston, Springfield, Massachusetts; Albany, New York; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Transition the remainder of the inter-city passenger rail network, and the franchise rights for additional rail services, to one or more other entities.



If Amtrak believes their NEC is so profitable and is the only part of their network deserving investment, as demonstrated by their actions, and trains in the remainder of the country are bleeding amounts of red-ink exceeding the combined inventory of all retail stationery stores, give Amtrak what it wants!



Let's see how long Amtrak can survive with the NEC and a reduced or zero subsidy.



[End quote]



5) And, finally, this advertisement for a vacant position for a qualified person at Amtrak came floating in to TWA.



[Begin quote]



Inspector General - Eff. 09/04/09 Choose actions for Inspector General - Eff. 09/04/09 Apply Remember

Location: District of Columbia-Washington

Req. Number: 90000243

Description: THE SAFETY OF OUR PASSENGERS, OUR EMPLOYEES, THE PUBLIC AND OUR OPERATING ENVIRONMENT IS OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY!





Position Title: Inspector General

Department: Office of Inspector General

Location: Washington, DC

Posting #: 90000243





INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL APPLICANTS





SUMMARY OF DUTIES: Amtrak's IG reports to the Chairman of Amtrak's Board of Directors and the Congress. The IG will keep them currently informed, by means of periodic reports required by the IG Act, concerning fraud and other serious problems, abuses, and deficiencies relating to the administration of programs and operations administered or financed by Amtrak, to recommend corrective action concerning such problems, abuses, and deficiencies, and to report on the progress made in implementing such corrective action. Amtrak's Inspector General will:

-Serve as the conscience of Amtrak.

-Work with Amtraks Board of Directors and the Congress to improve program management.

-Maximize the positive impact and ensure the independence and objectivity of Amtrak OIGs audits, investigations and other reviews.

-Use Amtrak OIGs investigations and other reviews to increase integrity and recommend improved systems to prevent fraud, waste and abuse.

-Be innovative, question existing procedures, and suggest improvements to programs.

-Where appropriate, build relationships with program managers based on a shared commitment to improving program operations and effectiveness.

-Work with Amtrak to address company-wide issues, both independently and collectively.



EDUCATION: An undergraduate degree is required.



PERFERRED EDUCATION: An advanced or Masters degree in an applicable field is preferred.



WORK EXPERIENCE: The Inspector General should have the following:

-Be an independent-minded leader who possesses the integrity to ensure Amtrak’s full compliance with the IG Act.

-Either be a sitting Inspector General or Deputy Inspector General, or have recent similar experience.

-A minimum of 10 years cumulative progressively responsible administrative, managerial and supervisory experience that provides extensive knowledge of auditing and inspection practices, law enforcement policies and procedures, accounting, internal controls, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, and/or investigation techniques.

-A comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the audit, investigation and evaluation standards issued by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and the Government Accountability Office.

-Direct experience working with upper management, the media and Congress.

-Significant experience in management and a thorough understanding of Federal and IG audits, investigations, law enforcement and evaluations involving large scale companies and operations.

-Evidences familiarity with the Comptroller General's auditing standards.

-Ideally, have an understanding of railroad operations.

-Strong analytical skills and judgment to support critical decision making.

-Unquestioned ethical standards, high level of integrity, sound professional judgment, strong leadership skills, an understanding of business acumen, a high level of common sense and the ability to think logically.

-The ability to work under pressure and make sound decisions with limited information.

-Significant experience with leadership, human capital, and managing budgets.

-The ability to build a strong team; the IG should not be intimidated by a talented staff.

-Strong coalition-building and interpersonal skills to form solid relationships both internally and externally; s/he can work through internal conflicts and/or disagreements successfully.

-Excellent written and oral communication skills, including a strong ability to present to audiences both large and small.

-High energy and committed work ethic.

-No personal or professional relationships with Amtrak that would hinder the candidate's ability to be objective and independent with respect to audits and investigations of Amtrak and its operations.



OTHER REQUIREMENTS: The Amtrak Inspector General will have the responsibility of assuring best practices in the Amtrak OIG. The Inspector General will supervise over 90 OIG employees in conducting independent, objective audits, evaluations and investigations relating to Amtrak programs and operations.



This individual must demonstrate credibility, integrity and objectivity, be a strong communicator internally and externally, and have extensive relevant experience.



The successful candidate will have a strong commitment to the Amtrak mission. The candidates commitment should reflect an interest to help build the Amtrak enterprise, creating best practices for a "first class" organization for the passengers, employees and stakeholders. The successful candidate must also demonstrate an equally strong commitment to implementing all requirements of the IG Act.



SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: 99 employees and 8 ARRA employees



TRAVEL: Less than 25%



AMTRAK EMPLOYEES MUST COMPLETE A JOB OPPORTUNITY APPLICATION TO APPLY FOR THIS POSITION.

Hiring Range: $246,000.00 - $268,000.00

Annually

Last Date to Apply: 09/30/09

Position Type: Permanent

Job Category: Inspector General

Years of Experience: 10 - 15

Travel Requirements: <25%

Relocation Benefits May Apply: Yes

Classification Agreement: No

Referral Bonus: 2500 pts



[End quote]



Well, Amtrak ASKED for all of the right things. It’s another story as to whether or not the new IG will be able to accomplish anything without the type of interference which seems to have occurred in the immediate past.







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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

This Week in Amtrak

Image by Professor Bop via Flickr

This Week at Amtrak; June 25, 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 18



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) Here at home in an adjoining county to the south is St. Augustine, which bills itself as the Ancient City. St. Augustine, Florida has been around as a point of civilization since 1565, and was pretty much a sleepy, colonial town, even after Florida statehood in 1845. It wasn’t until the notorious Henry Flagler, business partner of John D. Rockefeller (Some historians say Flagler was the smarter of the two ruthless business partners.) came vacationing in Northeast Florida in the 1878 that he noticed sleepy St. Augustine.



Mr. Flagler came to Jacksonville for the temperate climate. (A century ago, oranges were still a cash crop in Northeast Florida.) He crossed the might St. Johns River (The only major river in North America which flows north.) and traveled by passenger train to St. Augustine in 1883. There, he found a slumbering city of Spanish descent which afforded cooling ocean breezes, a pleasant bayfront view, and a rural county seat.



Mr. Flagler took a liking to St. Augustine, and starting building hotels and the Florida East Coast Railway. His first hotel, the Ponce de Leon – begun in 1885 and which today is the home of Flagler College – became an overnight success as a playground for the Gilded Age rich and famous. More hotels followed, with Mr. Flagler becoming St. Augustine’s most prominent part-time denizen.



Not content to stop at St. Augustine, Mr. Flagler pushed his new railroad and string of hotels and resorts southward, creating such famous Florida hot spots as Ormond Beach/Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, Stuart, Palm Beach (Where Mr. Flagler eventually built his permanent home and today’s world famous The Breakers hotel and resort, the only remaining asset of the original Flagler System.), Ft. Lauderdale, and, in partnership with Julia Tuttle and her family, Miami and Miami Beach. Mr. Flagler’s railroad entrepreneurship didn’t end in Miami; he gazed further southward and saw Key West, the southernmost point of the United States, and promptly in 1905 began building the Florida Overseas Railroad, one island at a time from South Florida to Key West, completing the huge project in 1912.



Depending on your favorite Florida historian, there is debate as to whether or not Henry Flagler or Henry B. Plant, who owned a freight shipping company and small railroads, and in 1879 combined his holdings into the Plant System (Later, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.), building to the west coast of Florida via Orlando, invented modern Florida by the strength of their iron horses.



Of course, it was the common use of residential air conditioning in the late 1950s which created the most modern version of Florida, and allowed inland cities and towns away from cooling ocean and Gulf of Mexico breezes to grow and prosper. The coming of the Space Age at Cape Canaveral on the Florida East Coast Railway really put Florida on the international map.



But, no matter who your preferred railroad robber baron was prior to the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s, it was the railroad which created Florida, and especially St. Augustine.



St. Augustine was the home of a violent and deadly railroad strike in 1963; FEC non-operating employees went out on strike over several issues. The FEC continued to run trains with management personnel, but the strike turned violent with numerous bombings of bridges and trains, resulting in deaths, permanent injuries, and general mayhem.



By the time of the strike, Florida was served by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line, the FEC, and, into the northeast corner of Florida, the Southern Railway.



While the Seaboard’s Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Palmland, Sunland, and a host of local trains traveled down the middle of the state on SAL’s mainline through Ocala, the Coast Line trains, the East Coast Champion, the Everglades, and the trains it operated in conjunction with the FEC, such as the famed Winter-only Florida Special, the Havana Special, and the trains from the Midwest, including the Royal Palm, Dixieland, South Wind, Seminole, and City of Miami all stormed through St. Augustine on their way to and from Miami.



The 1963 strike ended all of that. The FEC’s named trains simply disappeared, annulled because of the strike and the continuing violence and threats of violence. The trains handled by the Coast Line moved inland westward, from the FEC to soon-to-be merger partner’s SAL lines down the middle of the state.



By court order, train service briefly returned to the FEC from 1965 to 1968, with a lone locomotive and two trailing cars – offering coach seating and parlor car seating, but no food service – running up and down from North Miami to Jacksonville’s union terminal. (The main FEC station in downtown Miami had been torn down by 1965 as part of urban renewal in downtown Miami.)



Even FEC retirees who chose to come to Jacksonville from Miami when traveling by train, went via the Seaboard or Coast Line because it was safer, had more frequency offerings, and full train service.



In the late 1990s, in the George Warrington era of Amtrak, there was a brief flurry of activity in St. Augustine because discussions and negotiations were underway to return passenger train service to the FEC, courtesy of Amtrak and a ton of money (Now allocated elsewhere.) from the State of Florida.



Plans were laid, station sites were identified (The FEC, like so many other railroads which exited the passenger business had executives at the time who wanted to make sure those pesky passengers stayed away, so all but one or two FEC passengers stations were either demolished, sold, or had their tracks ripped up.), and cities and towns along the east coast competed to see whether or not they could snag one of the limited number of station stops planned for the new service.



St. Augustine, once the railroad king of Florida and still the corporate home of the FEC until 2008, decided to build a new station on the FEC main line directly across the street from St. Augustine’s general aviation airport, claiming it was creating an “intermodal” center of transportation. No one ever quite explained what the attraction would be for private pilots to fly into the St. Augustine airport, tie their planes down, and then board a passenger train, but that was the plan.



All of those plans came to a screeching halt when Mr. Warrington’s Acela bubble burst, and the Northeast Corridor Service which was supposed to save the entire company ended up having the company coming close to being liquidated.



Now, in the third century of trains through St. Augustine, once again there is talk of passenger trains calling at St. Augustine. Several local government groups along the FEC are petitioning popular Florida Governor Charlie Crist to apply for free federal monies to pay for restoring service between Jacksonville and Miami via St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, Fort Pierce, Jupiter, and into West Palm Beach where a new connection would be built for the trains to join the former SAL main line (Now Tri-Rail commuter line and present Amtrak line.) to take the train into Amtrak’s Miami/Hialeah southern terminal.



The scary part of this is the news media is reporting these funds are being asked for to use for high speed rail, not conventional rail. While the FEC is a very good piece of railroad with excellent infrastructure, no one would ever confuse it with high speed rail. Some of the logic goes the incremental approach should be taken, first restoring service, and then eventually upgrading the service to high speed over a specified period of time.



What is interesting about this is the current ownership of the FEC, RailAmerica, Inc., which in turn is owned by Fortress Investment Group. RailAmerica, in addition to owning the FEC, owns nearly four dozen other short line and regional railroads in the U.S. and Canada.



RailAmerica is a solid company, with good financial performance. Fortress Investment Group is a giant fund which controls many companies, all on a private basis. This means there are no individual stockholders or Wall Street money managers demanding RailAmerica do this or that to shore up stock prices, and no public reporting of financial results. In other words, the managers are free to carry out any prudent business decisions they see fit (Within the framework of the law and overall regulations.), including striking a deal with Amtrak to run trains on their property.



If it makes money and doesn’t interfere with RailAmerica’s other mission of supplying outstanding freight service, then there is an interest.



If the State of Florida does strike a deal for stimulus money for this route, there isn’t much standing in the way of restored passenger service between Jacksonville and Miami via the FEC, with the exception of creating a new equipment pool.



Initial plans were to move the Silver Meteor from Orlando to the FEC, which is a very, very bad idea. Why would anyone want to take service away from one of the world’s busiest vacation destinations in Central Florida to serve the towns of Florida’s east coast?



A better solution is to find additional equipment, or, perhaps split a train in Jacksonville (Which Amtrak did from its very beginning until the horror of the common consist in the 1990s, and the closing of the Tampa crew and maintenance bases.), with half of the train traveling via Orlando and half of the train traveling via St. Augustine. Other options are to extend other trains from the Midwest or Northeast south to Miami via the FEC, such as the Capitol Limited or City of New Orleans via Mobile, Alabama. Extending an existing Superliner train would require less equipment than starting a complete new route.



As usual, it’s all going to come down to politics. Which state (Other than Illinois.) has the most juice in Washington? Which state has the best planning? Which state can move the quickest?



St. Augustine may or may not have train service again, 125 years after Henry Flagler became serious about hauling passengers into Florida to fill up his elegant hotels and resorts. If it does, yet another of the dozens and dozens of gaps in America’s passenger rail system will be rightly filled.



2) Inquiring minds want to know: With all of the money being thrown around Washington, and every city, town, village, hamlet, and their dog making plans to snap up as much money as possible to expand everything from local trolley systems (A good idea.) to major commuter rail systems to sprucing up stations, where are Amtrak’s plans for the future? What about fleet expansion, Rail Passenger Association of California President Paul Dyson wants to know? The single-level sleeping car order for the east coast trains doesn’t do anything to expand capacity; it just keeps enough new equipment floating into a maintenance-weary fleet to delay total breakdown.



What about new routes? We know three restart routes are being studied (The Sunset Limited east of New Orleans, the Pioneer, and the North Coast Limited/Hiawatha.), but, what about bold, new plans to fill in so many of the other gaps in the country outside of the Northeast Corridor?



And, the easiest thing of all, what about all of the other dozens and dozens of pieces of equipment sitting around in the weeds on wreck line tracks, waiting to be re-loved and repaired? When will Amtrak ask for money to fix this stuff, too?



A dose of reality for True Believers is Amtrak is lagging behind everyone else in vision, if not outright bold management. Yes, Amtrak Interim President and CEO Joseph Boardman seems to be nudging things in the right direction – only marginally and slightly so – but, when is he or the Board of Directors going to give things a major shove in the right direction?



Wise gray head Gil Carmichael has called for at least 150 new trainsets to ready Amtrak for his brilliant Interstate II strategy. While to some that may seem a big number, it’s only a starting point.



Remember, Amtrak today has considerably less than 2,000 cars on its total roster, including active cars and cars sitting in the weeds on the wreck line. In the mid 1960s, just before the invention of Amtrak, there were over 5,000 passenger cars in the combined national fleet of America’s passenger carriers, and that was a depleted number from the halcyon post-World War II days of rebuilding the worn out war time fleet of cars.



Now is not the time for timidity and reliance on the graciousness of others for survival. Now is the time for bold plans, bold action, and an understanding of how easy it is to bring America’s passenger rail system from an asterisk on the charts of transportation output to a real figure representing growth and prosperity.



3) While we’re on the subject of history, News From 1930 blog on the Internet came up with this fascinating gem, reporting what was written in The Wall Street Journal from June 16th through the 21st in 1930:



[Begin quote]



Pullman Company [Operator of the nation’s sleeping car business over the majority of passenger railroads.] purchases in the last year: 1,165,000 towels, 444,000 pillow slips, 387,000 sheets, 63,000 porter’s jackets, 5,786,000 paper bags for women’s hats. Launders 278 million items annually.



[End quote]



That’s a lot of items, especially for the first year of the Great Depression. At one point early in the 20th Century, it was said the Pullman Company made up more beds every night than the largest hotel chain in the country.



4) Now, what? Amtrak’s highly respected Inspector General, Fred E. Weiderhold, Jr. suddenly retired from Amtrak after 35 years, including being the watchdog who kept the contractors honest when the NEC was electrified north of New Haven, Connecticut.



This happened practically overnight, and was unexpected by most. The Boston Globe wondered in its news columns what brought on this sudden urge to retire, but no one is talking. It should be noted in the same several day period Mr. Weiderhold retired, at least three other government IGs were forced out of their jobs by the Obama Administration without reasonable explanation.



[Begin quote]



National Railroad Passenger Corporation

60 Massachusetts Avenue NE

Washington, DC 20002

www.amtrak.com



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



ATK-09-047



Contact: Media Relations (202) 906-3860

June 18, 2009



Amtrak Inspector General to Retire



Fred E. Weiderhold, Jr. Served Amtrak for 35 Years




WASHINGTON – Amtrak Inspector General Fred E. Weiderhold, Jr. today informed the Chairman of the Amtrak Board of Directors that he is retiring after 35 years of loyal service to the railroad.



"As Amtrak's first and only Inspector General, Fred has made important contributions in helping the Board of Directors understand key issues facing the railroad and made useful recommendations to improve how we do business," Amtrak Chairman Thomas Carper stated. "We thank him for his dedicated service to Amtrak and wish him well in his retirement."



Carper added that under the federal Inspector General Act, the Amtrak Inspector General is appointed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Carper said he takes this responsibility seriously and will soon undertake a search for a replacement that can continue to maintain the integrity, independence and objectivity required of the position.



In addition, Carper said that he has confidence in the Inspector General staff and expects them to carry on their important work during this interim period, including providing effective oversight of how Amtrak is handling the stimulus funds it received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.



Mr. Weiderhold has been the only person to serve as the Amtrak Inspector General since former Amtrak Chairman W. Graham Claytor, Jr, asked him to establish the Amtrak Office of Inspector General (OIG) in 1989. Previously, he was Amtrak's first Special Assistant to the Chairman for Employee Relations, conducting special investigations and acting as the company's first employee ombudsman. He has been one of the longer serving Inspectors General within the OIG community.



About Amtrak



Amtrak has posted six consecutive years of growth in ridership and revenue, carrying more than 28.7 million passengers in the last fiscal year. Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail service to more than 500 destinations in 46 states on a 21,000-mile route system. For schedules, fares and information, passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com.









[End quote]



5) The Holland, Michigan Sentinel on Monday, June 22, 2009 reported ridership on Amtrak’s Pere Marquette is down 12.7% this May compared to a year ago, and a state senate committee which funds the service is looking to slash funding for the train.



Only 8,500 people boarded the route in May of 2009, or an average of 137 passengers per departure. All of the usual reasons were given for low ridership, including low gas prices and the slowed economy.



Here’s the problem no one seems to want to understand: As long as government funding as the primary source of revenue for these short, perpetually money-losing routes is necessary, politicians are going to always be looking for ways to cut budgets, and low return on investment programs are usually the first to go.



Too much of Amtrak relies on this very type of funding. There are unceasing stories from New England about those states wanting to cut funding for local trains (This, of course, does not include Amtrak Interim President and CEO Joseph Boardman’s home State of New York where he previously served as head of the state department of transportation. New York only funds one Amtrak train, the Adirondack, even though the entire Empire Service trains, with only an average load factor of 35%, gets a free ride with an all-federal subsidy.). Oklahoma pays big bucks for the tiny Heartland Flyer with even worse transportation output performance.

What will it take to make Amtrak and its True Believers understand a healthy and robust long distance system throws off enough excess cash (profits) these short distance trains can be mostly internally subsidized? Why perpetually fight these annual political battles when the simple answer is vision and expansion, even if it’s just making the existing skeletal long distance system train consists longer?



Why is this such a difficult concept to understand? Why do so many ill-informed people think it’s perpetually okay to support failure when success is within easy grasp?



6) Here’s some heartburn for those who believe the passenger business can never be profitable: Carnival plc, which owns Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Cunard Line, and The Yachts of Seabourn in North America; Costa Cruises in Europe; P&O Cruises, Cunard Line, and Ocean Village in the Untied Kingdom; AIDA Cruises in Germany; Ibero Cruises in Spain and Brazil; and P&O Cruises Australia in Australia and New Zealand, operates 88 cruise ships with a passenger capacity of approximately 169,040 souls. Carnival also marketed and operated 16 hotels or lodges with approximately 3,500 guest rooms; approximately 560 motor coaches used for sightseeing and charters, 24 domes rail cars, which run on the Alaska Railroad between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Whittier and Denali, and Whittier and Talkeetna; 2 luxury dayboats; and sightseeing packages.



Carnival plc, headquartered in London, when tracing its heritage back through P&O Princess Cruises, was founded in 1850. Television fans may remember the real Princess Cruises happily loaned its ship, the real Pacific Princess, to Aaron Spelling and ABC to create the wildly popular television hit, The Love Boat, which spurred the modern cruise line renaissance.



All of this, by the way, is somehow accomplished without any government subsidies and is effected through private capital and entrepreneurship.



7) William Lindley of Scottsdale, Arizona has some thoughts on state passenger rail organizations. Mr. Lindley, a longtime professional associate of URPA, is a past president and treasurer of the Arizona Rail Passenger Association, and currently serves as a writer and editor for the group’s newsletter.



[Begin quote]



What does a rail passenger association really need to do? A recent report illustrates how what looks like failure to uphold principles may have helped doom a major city's plans for modern passenger train service.



In Atlanta, Georgia, a proposed green space called the "Decatur Beltline" would remove track connections which permitted trains to connect in all directions from Atlanta's downtown yards and stations. According to the National Association of Railroad Passengers Newsletter of May 2009, this "pitted local environmentalists against passenger train advocates (Georgia ARP remained officially neutral to minimize bad blood among erstwhile allies.)"



Say, what? Since when would a responsible passenger advocacy group roll over and play dead when the future of any kind of sensible passenger train operations is threatened? When I saw that I had to do some digging.



According to a November 30, 2005 Associated Press report, Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute called for using Atlanta's "unused" railway tracks for a linked system of parks, paths and transit. Now, while this is certainly an admirable goal, according to AP, "A panel of transportation experts raised concerns when it found isolated parts of the loop would not have riders to support trains, trolleys or whatever transit options are proposed." In other words, here we go again with removing a vital railway link – which can't be relocated – in favor of some green space which can be placed anywhere.



This conflicts with the goals of a long-proposed and eagerly anticipated downtown intermodal terminal at approximately the site of the original Atlanta Union Station, and with an immediate connection to mass transit MARTA's hub, the Five Points subway station, from which trains radiate north, south, east, and west.



Atlanta's other former main station, Terminal Station, on the Southern Railway, had south-facing stub-end platforms and was on Southern’s mainline just west of Union Station. Although the Richard B. Russell Federal Building replaced Terminal Station in the 1970s, a single through-track connection to the Union Station area still exists ... but neither Terminal Station nor the current Peachtree station used by Amtrak can reasonably be expanded for the demands of an expanded modern passenger operation.



The Five Points site is within walking distance to Georgia State University buildings, the popular Underground Atlanta shopping and nightlife district, and the downtown sports arenas. Furthermore, there is potential at a downtown terminal for a building with visual and interpretive ties to Atlanta's historic train stations and its growth as the key city to the "New South" – building on the idea of the station as gateway to the city.



The City of Atlanta, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper article of March 5, 2009, said that the State Department of Transportation's "vision of high-speed rail would discourage future residential development." Amazingly, the city seems thereby to value a few new apartments over connecting the entire metro area with its downtown transit center.



With the Georgia DOT's March 2009 removal of its objection to the park project, trains will only be able to reach downtown via the west side connection. Amtrak's Crescent and commuter trains from the north and east would have a two-mile backup move to reach a new downtown station.



Now, without the eastern loop connection, Amtrak would likely have to stop at a new station with a MARTA connection – a new stop miles further northeast from downtown than even the existing Peachtree Station. This would mean requiring longer trips for most users, and a

change of subway trains for many. This site, like Peachtree, has little potential for filling the perceptual role of a Gateway.

So, now, let's return to that quote again:



"... pitted local environmentalists against passenger train advocates (Georgia ARP remained officially neutral to minimize bad blood among erstwhile allies.)" – NARP Newsletter, May 2009.



I wasn't privy to the discussions but this certainly sounds like a failure to uphold the principles which should govern a passenger rail association. Rail passenger associations are neither historic preservation groups (the National Railway Historical Society fulfills that goal) nor are they railfan groups. Our associations are not yes-men to Amtrak, the railroads, local transit operators, real estate interests, sports teams, or environmental groups.



Indeed, the whole point of such a rail passenger association, as a non-profit institution, is a fiduciary (meaning: a relationship of confidence and trust) and a moral obligation to guide the progress toward modern and expanded passenger rail service. This is a charitable goal because passenger trains improve our quality of life, offer transportation options to everyone, improve our economy, and improve our environment ... everyone wins with better public transit.



So was Georgia ARP's failure to object to the removal of a vital transportation link a breach of trust for the objective of advocacy? Again, I wasn't there so I can't say, but if NARP's account is correct, placing "not upsetting so-called environmentalists" above "fulfilling the confidence placed in your organization to preserve and enhance passenger train service" seems

highly suspect.



Because detailed coverage has proven difficult to find in newspapers or on-line, I dearly hope one of our Gentle Readers more familiar with the subject can soothe my fears.



[End quote]



8) Six months from today is Christmas Day!







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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

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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

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