This Week in Amtrak

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This Week at Amtrak; February 27, 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 7



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.


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Patience and perseverance have a magical effect
before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
- John Quincy Adams

Gentle Readers,

Darwin was wrong. No, I'm not questioning "did man descend from the apes?" (perhaps he should have said "ascend" anyway). Darwin postulated a continual pace of evolution, but the reality is: whether we discuss clothing fashions, musical taste, or changes in animal species, change is almost invariably glacially slow for long periods, punctuated by flashes of utter revolution.

We seem at last to have entered such a quick phase of passenger rail renaissance.

In these past few decades, passenger trains have been accumulating a constituency in both size and composition. Like a blizzard in New York City or Philadelphia, it grew slowly at first and now more quickly.

Robert R. Young, variously known as the "gadfly of the rails" and the "populist of Wall Street," as early as the 1940s, foresaw the impending crisis in passenger trains and indeed railroading generally. Even before jet aircraft and superhighways, Young saw slow trains and antiquated equipment as obstacles to future passenger train profits, and the stagnation of American design and manufacturing as impediments to progress. Young sought to improve his Chesapeake & Ohio passenger trains "to head off a slump that might mean a demand for nationalization..." -- a threat realized in the creation of Amtrak in 1971 -- and "When Young decided to buy two new streamliners for the C&O and two for the Chicago-Grand Rapids-Petroskey run of the Pere Marquette, he was struck with the limited capacity of the de luxe car-building industry. Young's subsequent decision to replace every bit of passenger equipment on the C&O involved waiting for months for delivery..." (both quotes, Life Magazine, 24 February 1947.)

The creation of Amtrak, proceeding from a goal set in the late 1960s by Anthony Haswell's National Association of Railroad Passengers, was a legislative place-holder designed to effect the return of a healthy national rail passenger system. Despite the most concerted efforts of many during the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo and since, the legal and political roadblocks erected over the preceding century have proven difficult to overcome. But as the romance of fast planes and fast cars was replaced by the frustrations and dehumanizations of X-rays, pat-down searches and plugged expressways, the latent demand for trains returned.

Even in the warmth and vast spaces of the American West, the San Diego Trolley and Los Angeles Metrolink were pioneers of streetcar and regional rail, overturning forever the idea that superhighways and jet aircraft had obsoleted trains.

As cities across the country opened new rail systems, and as Amtrak has worked with states to extend services, the snow-drifts continued. Some of these, like the Gulf Breeze, were scattered in the wind; while others grew, in places like North Carolina and Virginia.

Pressure for change also grew in equipment and the railroads themselves. In the 1990s, Bombardier's BiLevel coach and General Motors' F59PH led the way in modern passenger equipment even as most light-rail orders went to Europe or Japan. The failed Penn Central, which had become government-owned Conrail, was sold and became parts of the profitable CSX and Norfolk Southern railways.

The Obama administration's eight billion dollar outlay on higher-speed rail, announced in April of 2009, perhaps played a part in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway purchasing BNSF. Fast upon the heels of the awards of this Federal money we find billionaire Carl Icahn's American Railcar Industries having formed a joint venture with US Railcar. US Railcar has built regional trains for Florida, and hopes to capture the upcoming market for high-speed equipment. Obama's eight billion dollars, on a national scale, is tiny; but it has become a critical piece.

Though you may not be able to ride Denver's Ski Train to the slopes this year, residents of New York City and Philadelphia who have been keeping the tips of their show-shovels shiny can tell you that, when snow has been falling on the mountain for long enough, sometimes it only takes one flake to start an avalanche.

Yesterday's Friends of Transit conference which I attended in Phoenix highlighted that, when enough people -- and the right people -- assemble behind an idea, there are no more obstacles: just work to be done. The same avalanche as happened with streetcars in Phoenix leading now to serious plans for regional rail, is happening nationally. Of note: Richard Simonetta, who spearheaded the genius of Phoenix's METRO success -- where, through community involvement, seven billion dollars of new development accompanied rather than followed the construction of the line -- is now National Director of High Speed Rail at URS, a joint venture of whom is planning the California High Speed Rail Authority's 800-mile system. (URS press releases on Simonetta and California HSR)

California's HSR so far looks to be at least somewhat sensibly designed to build on, rather than compete with, a passenger rail matrix which includes Amtrak California's Surfliners, San Joaquins and Capitols. This contrasts with some other high speed systems recently proposed (and next time we will look at what happens to travel time versus return on investment, on a hypothetical 81-mile corridor). California is carrying on Robert Young's desire for modern railways.

Desire for continuing passenger profits like Young felt at C&O carried over to the street railways, whose President's Conference designed the PCC streetcar in the late 1930s with modern innovations: smooth, powerful acceleration and comfortable suspension. PCC cars continued to be built in America through the 1950s; in Europe, licensed designs were improved upon and constructed until fairly recently. Competitor products for the PCC were offered by the J.G. Brill Company, which became ACF-Brill; in 1994, some of that same American Car & Foundry's designs, properties and personnel were acquired by the same American Railcar Industries that Mr. Icahn owns today.

As streetcar manufacturing moves back to the United States, with American plants of Japanese and European companies recently joined by Oregon Iron Works products; and as production likewise steps up on full-size passenger trains, remember that a "stimulus" is hardly a new idea. In 1947, the United States was in recession; and 63 years ago this week:

"Young's idea is that if the American railroads would replace their Pullman and coach equipment every seven years, the resulting mass manufacturing orders would make the U.S. economy recession-proof..." (also from Life Magazine's 24 February 1947 profile of Robert R. Young.)

Now, Canada's VIA Rail has been using 50-year old streamliners from the Budd Company, which were built well enough to have lasted decades. VIA plans to use them for decades more. An inspection of passenger trains as recently as five years before "Amtrak Day" (May Day, 1971) shows U.S. railroads on their secondary trains continued to successfully use heavyweight equipment built in 1920s and 1930s before the advent of lightweight construction. Such well-built cars too lasted 40 or 50 years, being outmoded only by style, not function. So perhaps "augment" rather than "replace" every seven years would be prudent and effective, as passenger trains increasingly recover the market share vacated fifty years ago, and cater to new needs.

Amtrak can seize on the positive publicity from its successful train to Lynchburg, Virginia which has so far not required its planned state operating subsidy. This is a chance to appeal to both conservatives and progressives... yet the same Amtrak this week is threatening "to scuttle the SunRail commuter train planned for Central Florida before it picks up its first passenger." (Orlando Sentinel, 23 February 2010) The issue is liability insurance -- and surely a consistent policy on this subject is crucial -- and one hopes a constructive discussion can take place.

States like Virginia don't really care how much "profit," if any, Amtrak makes; only that state monies reserved for operating subsidies should be as small, and last as long, as possible. Any state function fulfilling its role while turning even a little of its money back to the treasury is bound to get someone excited at the State House. Several other Amtrak trains could follow the Virginia model of additional service for small increases in subsidy. Extending the Heartland Flyer south to Houston, or north to connect with service to Kansas City or even St. Louis, springs to mind.

If Amtrak, in partnership with host railroads, can thusly open the spigot for future capital outlays like upgraded tracks, signals, and stations, then the advancing avalanche which is the passenger rail renaissance will be unstoppable.


\\/
William Lindley
Scottsdale, Ariz.



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This Week in Amtrak

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

This Week at Amtrak; September 22, 2008

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 5, Number 26

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, URPA is a nationally known policy institute that 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, and New York. 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) It’s been a lousy month for passenger rail. The horror of the Metrolink crash in Southern California with over two dozen deaths and dozens more passengers injured will remain with us for a long, long time.

Too many reports from both the news media and insiders have pointed to the simple cause of this passenger rail holocaust as human error – a locomotive engineer who wasn’t paying attention to his job, blowing through a red signal, running a closed switch, and crashing head-on into an oncoming Union Pacific freight train.

2) It didn’t take long for several things to happen, including plaintiffs running to the courthouse to file lawsuits, Metrolink senior management dissolving into disarray, a hue and cry from unions and others wanting to implement positive train control, and blame placed on Metrolink’s private operating company for being the low bidder and thus demanding too much out of its employees.

Can we be candid with each other? No matter what the cause of this wreck, whether it was sloppy human error on the part of the deceased Metrolink engineer, an instant fatal heart attack for the deceased engineer, or him just closing his eyes long enough to rub an errant cinder from his eye, if there would have been a second pair of eyes in the locomotive, this accident would not have happened.

The oncoming Union Pacific freight train had a second pair of eyes in the locomotive, belonging to the train’s conductor. Since the days of the caboose are long gone, conductors have ridden comfortably in the cab of freight train locomotives along with the engineer. Both stay vigilant for signals and oncoming problems.

Metrolink, like Amtrak, on short runs uses one engineer, with only one pair of eyes in the locomotive’s cab. Yes, there is a deadman switch which automatically stops the locomotive unless manually set in a short certain period of time, but that doesn’t do much for missing signals when the engineer isn’t paying attention.

The reason, of course, for a single engineer is for the railroad to save money. In this case, the savings to Metrolink of an assistant engineer’s salary on that particular train will instead cost someone $200 million (the federally-mandated cap on accident settlements), plus the cost of new equipment, cleaning up the mess, and lost revenue.

When putting together a business plan, the idea is to factor in ALL costs, and see if a profit can be made. Naturally, business people want costs to be as low as possible, so profits can be realized. That’s all okay, because that’s the way the system works, and it’s a good system. However, when you’re talking about safety issues, sometimes the most cost-effective way is not the best way.

3) Some agitate for a system known as positive train control, which is based on a global positioning system. Every locomotive – thus, every train – is outfitted with this system, and every dispatcher knows every moment where every train is located, including if a train is or is not where it’s supposed to be at that moment.

This is nothing new; it’s been around on some railroads for many years, and, even before the age of global positioning systems, there still was a system of positive train control. People at railroads are no dummies, and they can figure things like this out.

It costs a lot of money to implement and monitor these systems. Since the Metrolink crash, the estimate has been in the billions of dollars for every railroad to install and implement the system nationwide.

Positive train control is a good thing, but ... for the cost, would it still be cheaper, more efficient, and, safer, to put a second pair of eyes in every locomotive cab? Has anyone done a cost/effect study on this? Have the unions taken a position of wanting positive train control, but not more employees?

4) The long term, fascinating part of this Metrolink mess concerns the California courts. Many of us in the real world outside of California know that state’s courts to be, shall we say, less than normal when it comes to rendering reasonable decisions. In other words, it’s a paradise for attorneys seeking to color outside of the lines.

So, Congress mandated a cap of $200 million for damages in any railroad crash, including crashes by Amtrak and Metrolink, and every other commuter operation. You may recall this was one of the areas of contention which kept Central Florida from having a new commuter rail system this year, because CSX didn’t want any liability for crashes of its freight trains with commuter trains on state owned commuter tracks. (Exactly the identical scenario Union Pacific faces in California with the Metrolink crash, where UP was only traveling over the route using trackage rights, not infrastructure ownership.)

California attorneys have already sent smoke signals up via the news media they will try and get around the $200 million cap so their clients have a "fair share" of the financial pie from this crash. Legal observers will be keen to watch these developments for a number of reasons.

Passenger rail observers need to be watching these developments as if their lives depended on it, because the entire future of passenger rail may very well depend on these court cases.

Freight railroads hosting long distance and commuter passenger trains will always first make the case their tracks are unavailable for use by passengers because of capacity constraints. But, really, the greatest fear is liability.

The motto of every tort attorney is "sue anything that moves, or, better yet, anything or anyone who has deep pockets." Since the dawn of the railroads nearly 200 years ago, there has always been a belief by the public that no one or no organization has any deeper pockets than railroads, no matter how close any single railroad may be to bankruptcy.

Tort attorneys inherently believe the public – no matter how ignorant, stupid, or just plain dumb – should be protected from themselves, especially by companies with deep pockets. If tort attorneys had their way, our entire existence would consist of being wrapped in a protective cocoon from the moment we are born until we die, and heaven help the cocoon that wasn’t fire proof, earthquake proof, or idiot proof.

Without a doubt, the Metrolink crash, especially since it was a result of human error, will have a cooling effect on any railroad’s desire to discuss new passenger service. It’s just too much of an exposure to risk.

But, you say, there are insurance companies to cover these losses up to $200 million. No, not really. Even if SOME of the cost is bourne by good risk management and insurance underwriting, there is still millions of dollars of exposure that can’t be covered by insurance (Not to mention the mere cost of the insurance premiums.).

Thanks to sky high gasoline prices, commuter rail has become attractive to many people and many local and state governments. What’s old has become new, and it looks good. But, one commuter rail engineer, paying more attention to texting on a cell phone than doing his job, may have put a stake through the heart of a resurgence of commuter and passenger rail. A lot of freight railroad presidents and vice presidents are going to have to be persuaded all over again how attractive the income from passenger and commuter rail is before they will happily allow more trains on their tracks.

Or, there will be more deals like the proposed deal here in Central Florida where the state or some regional or local entity will out and out purchase the tracks and infrastructure, and the freights will become tenants with trackage rights, but absent any liability whatsoever for any type of crash, spill, derailment, or hangnail found on a civilian due to freight train operations.

Everybody wants something from the freight railroads, but few realize how much the freight railroads have at risk when even a trespasser steps onto railroad property.

We are reminded again about the brainless trespasser in Boston who, during the night, climbed on top of a parked Amtrak Acela train set at the Boston terminal, touched a hot overhead wire, and just about fried himself to death. Instead of him being prosecuted by Amtrak for trespassing and a number of other misdemeanors, he’s suing Amtrak (you can’t make this stuff up) because his attorney says Amtrak SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IN ADVANCE a drunk college-aged young man was going to find the top of a parked Acela train set in the middle of the night at a closed passenger station an attractive place to practice his climbing skills and then be stupid enough to touch a live electrical wire. Since these dregs of the human gene pool are everywhere, it’s easy to understand why railroads want as little human interaction as possible. When you put people in passenger and commuter trains, you’re flying into the statistical face of something going wrong and some passenger and their attorney deciding the deep pockets of the railroad just caused them to hit the legal lottery jackpot.

4) We mourn the death of the Metrolink passengers and the deaths of railroad crews. We praise the rescue teams, who witnessed unspeakable carnage in that Metrolink coach where the locomotive was plowed halfway back into the car by the impact of the wreck. We live in fear of the tort attorneys and what mess they are going to make of commuter and passenger rail.

We live brightly for another day where every train arrives at its terminal intact, on time, and with everyone healthy.

If you are reading someone else’s copy of This Week at Amtrak, you can receive your own free copy each week by sending your e-mail address to

freetwa@unitedrail.org

You MUST include your name, preferred e-mail address, and city and state where you live. If you have filters or firewalls placed on your Internet connection, set your e-mail to receive incoming mail from twa@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence, including requests to unsubscribe, should be addressed to

brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

The Metrolink Incident.

Image via Wikipedia I have waited a few days to post this so that more details would come out and we would have more facts.

First of all, the tragedy in Los Angeles involving a Metrolink Commuter train was a very tragic accident that should have never happened. We know that the train ran a red signal and hit a Union Pacific freight train head on. Lets review what the Metrolink Train did wrong: first the train ran a red stop signal, and second the engineer was not calling out signals.

Apparently this can be attributed to the fact that the engineer of the Metrolink train was possibly texting on his cell phone. First of all, most railroads have banned the use of cell phones while operating train equipment so that should not be happening. Second, if this is indeed true, then this engineer caused a accident that not only took his own life but the lives of 24 innocent people. This was truly human error and should have never happened.

Sadly some people (you can guess who this people are) are using this tragidy to promote their anti-transit philosophy including Randall O'Toole who seems to be a hero of a certain group here in Salt Lake City. Sadly accidents happen but overall riding the rails is safe. To put it in prospective about 25 people die in auto accidents every six hours. In addition thousands of commuter trains travel the rails every day of the year without incident.

I have to say I am pretty dissapointed with Metrolink itself. The public relations person Denise Tyrrell came out with a statement admiting it was operator error apprently with the approval of the Metrolink CEO. Now she has been forced to resign because the board of directors felt the statement was premature (or more importantetly the National Transportation Safety Board was unhappy). Apparently she is being used as a scapegoat even though it is now pretty clear that the statement was correct. So unlike some companies who have taken a bad situation and made it good, Metrolink has just given itself a worse black eye than it already had. Maybe some in the Metrolink board need to read Public Relations 101?

The Metrolink was a tragedy that should have never happened and my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones in the incident.

Bluffdale Station still possible?

Metrolink Trains San Bernardino, California
Originally uploaded by jmdspk

UTA may get to build Bluffdale station

While I think the Bluffdale city council is a bunch of fools trying to stop a needed commuter rail station, I cannot condone the actions of the state legislature in trying to force the station on the city.

The only thing the legislature is going to do is create resentment within the city.

As I mentioned in the previous article, Bluffdale has their heads in the sand if they do not think growth is coming. Getting people on the commuter rail is going to help Bluffdale deal with the growth.

If there was no station built in Bluffdale, I wonder how long it would be before they would be crying for it? After all, I remember Larry Miller saying that no would ride TRAX to his complex at Jordan Commons so he could care less about a station but look what happened just a few years later.

A station would help Bluffdale, but the legislature should not be forcing down their throats.

Preview of FrontRunner, Los Angeles Style

Here is a video from someone riding a Los Angeles Metrolink Train. Since our commuter trains will still be running I tried to find a video that showed what it is like to be on one of the trains for those who have more experience.

Some things you will notice about the commuter trains is that they are quieter than TRAX even though they are hold by diesel locomotives. While you will get some swaying once in a while the ride is smoother than riding TRAX.

The Tri-level cars from Bombardier that are used by Metrolink are the same type that UTA has purchased (UTA has also purchased used cars from Chicago and New Jersey) only with different interiors.




This second video is from the Interior of a Metrolink San Bernardino Line train which travels along the San Bernardino Freeway (Interstate 10) from El Monte to Cal State.

High-speed commuter rail coming to Utah County




Above is a picture of a Los Angeles Metrolink train heading to Riverside from San Clemente with a train heading to Oceanside on the other track. The train is six cars long, each one seating 165 passengers and the train was standing room only. Yes the commuter rail network is popular.