Hotline #929

Hotline #929

The week started with a hopeful announcement that there may be consensus building on a way forward for starting construction on a new train tunnel under the Hudson River, reports NorthJersey.com. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) asked President Obama to have the federal government cover half of the project’s estimated $20 billion cost, plus potentially billions more in federal loans that the states eventually would repay.

"If the federal government will provide grants to pay for half of the cost of the project, the Port Authority, New York and New Jersey will take responsibility for developing a funding plan for the other half, convening all relevant agencies, and utilizing the proposed federal low-interest loan, local funding sources, and other funding strategies necessary to complement the federal grant commitment," the governors wrote in their letter. “...Building regional infrastructure to accommodate population growth and continued economic expansion is critical not only to our two states’ future, but also to the future economic strength of the nation.”

The joint statement marks a positive step forward. Previously, Gov. Cuomo had refused to join in talks with Gov. Christie and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in talks, saying he believed funding the tunnels were a federal responsibility. Gov. Christie, meanwhile, infamously killed the Access to the Region's Core (ARC) Tunnel project in 2010, which would've constructed new tunnels for New Jersey Transit trains—though it's important to note that ARC would not have carried Amtrak trains, terminating in a deep-cavern station rather than connecting to Penn Station as originally planned.

“We will engage with local officials immediately to initiate the work necessary to assign more reliable cost figures and eligibility for federal grants within existing programs,” said Foxx said in a statement.

The White House did not respond directly to the proposal, but issued a statement recognizing the importance of the project, saying "the Gateway Tunnel is a critical infrastructure project for the states of New Jersey and New York, and more broadly for the entire region."

In late July, serious delays were experienced by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit (NJT) riders due principally to electrical difficulties in the 1910-era Hudson River tunnels. On August 10, NARP Council member Albert L. Papp, Jr. was invited to Trenton, New Jersey, by the state legislature’s Senate Oversight Committee as a representative of both NARP and the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers (NJ-ARP). He sat on a panel to discuss the reasons for these recurring problems and explore financial solutions for the construction of new Hudson rail tunnels. You can read the Christie-Cuomo letter here.

A New York Times editorial is optimistic about the Christie-Cuomo announcement on the tunnel, but warns that the governors -- along with the federal government -- need to begin the gritty negotiations over how to pay for the Gateway Program. Predictions say the project could take a decade to build, and cost as much as $20 billion, which includes improved bridges and rails in New Jersey, the new tunnel and an upgrade for Penn Station.

But an editorial in NorthJersey.com is not as enthusiastic as the Times. “We cannot put our hands together for a `plan' that is not a plan, for a proposal without funding or for a $20 billion project that would be placed under the control of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

“Neither governor has done much to support a new trans-Hudson tunnel in the past. Christie killed the funded ARC tunnel, citing the possibility of cost overruns that would be solely borne by New Jersey. Cuomo only recently said any tunnel that connected New Jersey with New York was not his tunnel. Apparently something has changed,” it wrote.

Acting Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Sarah Feinberg restated her pledge to enforce the December 31, 2015, deadline for the rail industry to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on trains during her Senate confirmation hearing on September 17, reports the New York Times. She said FRA would work with rail companies to help them with technical and financial challenges they face in trying to install the safety technology, noting that only Congress could extend the December deadline.

NARP President and CEO Jim Mathews sent a letter to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in support of Feinberg's nomination. “During her tenure, she has managed the FRA response to two deadly train crashes in 2015, first a Metro-North incident in New Jersey and then an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia,” he wrote. “She was among the first on the scene to ensure an effective response—not only in the immediate aftermath, but in the days and weeks that followed.

“She also stepped into the middle of the contentious debate over Positive Train Control, and has been responsive to the concerns of stakeholders. NARP has been able to communicate our concern over the discontinuation of any passenger service, emphasizing that the national transportation network will become decidedly less safe if commuters are forced off trains and onto highways," said Mathews.

Last week, NARP issued a press release that called on Congress to preserve access to the safe movement of people and goods by taking appropriate steps to responsibly extend the December 31 deadline for implementing Positive Train Control (PTC). Yahoo Finance reports that the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) is urging Congress to extend the deadline for freight and passenger railroads to adopt PTC implementation beyond December 31. In its report, GAO found about two-thirds of railroads, including the largest freight carriers, will need another one to five years to implement PTC technology. Lawmakers have not settled on what kind of extension to grant or on how to write proposed legislation for an extension.

Railroads carrying passengers and Toxic Inhalation Hazards (TIH) will face severe penalties if they operate trains over non-compliant track—as much as $25,000 per day, per locomotive. Affected railroads have said if Congress doesn’t extend the deadline, they will notify customers beginning in October and November that service will end on January 1 (or possibly sooner).

"Without an extension of the PTC deadline ... neither passenger traffic nor chemicals Americans need and use every day, such as chlorine for drinking water, will move on the Union Pacific system by the end of 2015," Union Pacific Railroad said in a post on its website.

There is strong reason for passengers to be optimistic, however. Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) has identified the Continuing Resolution—the budget bill that will keep the country from a government shutdown on October 1—as a likely vehicle for PTC extension.

NARP offered a framework for responsibly extending the deadline for PTC implementation in a statement submitted to the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Surface Transportation in February 2015. Recommendations included:

(1) Grant authority to the Secretary of Transportation, on an individual company basis, to give up to three, consecutive 18-month extensions, bringing the latest possible date of compliance 4-1/2 years after the current deadline, or June 30, 2020.

(2) Change the law so that heavily traveled mainlines are not exempt because they happen to be owned by other than a Class 1; and

(3) Explicitly require the prevention of low-speed, rear-end collisions -- of which there have been fatal ones within the past four years. The system as currently being installed does not know the length of trains, and therefore cannot prevent low-speed, rear-end collisions.

Connecticut will receive a $700,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration and kick in $200,000 in state funds to study ways to encourage residential and commercial development along the Hartford Line commuter rail route, reports the Hartford Courant. The study will look at issues including ways to generate affordable housing and mixed-use development while also increasing ridership on stations planned for West Hartford, Enfield, Windsor, Windsor Locks, Newington and North Haven.

The state has been working for years to create a high-frequency commuter rail service parallel to I-91 between New Haven and Springfield based on the popular Metro-North service in New Haven and Fairfield counties.

XpressWest has formed a partnership with China Railway International USA, a consortium led by China Railway, to build high-speed rail system 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles reports the Los Angles Times. XpressWest had been trying to get private investors or a $5.5-billion federal loan to build the system. Officials from China Railway are now touting the project as s a 230-mile route with an additional stop in Palmdale, with eventual service throughout the Los Angeles area using some of the same track that will be used by the publicly backed California high-speed rail project.

New York City opened its first new subway station in 25 years on September 13, reports Time magazine. The new station connects Times Square and the high-growth neighborhood on Manhattan’s far West Side. It’s expected to bring more than 30,000 riders a day to a neighborhood where construction is underway for the 50 million-square-foot Hudson Yards complex of office towers and residential high-rises.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Vermont Agency of Transportation would expand five areas of rail lines that run throughout Massachusetts under their proposed Northern New England Intercity Rail Initiative study, reports 22News.com. The study also looked at the potential for expanded rail services in other areas of New England, Quebec and New York.

MassDOT says more services are needed for all three regions to meet passenger demand over the next 20 years, via trains that cover longer distances than commuter trains in the region cover now. Among the proposals are: one roundtrip train between Montreal and New Haven, Conn.; one roundtrip train between Montreal and Boston; and eight roundtrip trains between Boston and New Haven, Conn., all of which would go through Springfield.

NARP thanks its members who continue to advocate on rail issues at the local level, and we highlight three efforts in Massachusetts, Ohio and Vermont. NARP posted on its blog a notice on the Association for Public Transportation-Massachusetts Association of Railroad Passengers (APT-MARP) hosting a Transportation and Economic Development Program on September 24, 2015. The event, which will be moderated by former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, features state public sector leaders and will cover topics including new infrastructure opportunities, transit-oriented development, the South Station terminal expansion, and leveraging transportation funding by using state, federal and private sector revenue sources.

Ohio is being left at the station not because it lacks a market for rail, wrote Ken Prendergast, executive director of All Aboard Ohio, in an op-ed for Cleveland.com. “We're getting left behind because many of us are impatient and don't understand how passenger rail development differs from other travel modes,” he wrote. “Because passenger rail service is public and rail infrastructure is private (the inverse of aviation/highway modes), public-sector agencies typically initiate new passenger rail services.”

Vermont is holding a series of meetings on climate change in in the state. NARP Council member Albert L. Papp, Jr., who has a summer home in Manchester, Vermont, read about the meetings in an article written by NARP Vermont Council member Chris Parker for a regional environmental magazine, Green Energy Times. Papp attended a meeting sponsored by the Vermont Council on Rural Development, where he spoke about NARP and the need for passenger train service in the western corridor of the state from Bennington north through Rutland to Burlington. Sue Minter, the state’s Secretary of Transportation was there and acknowledged his plea for a western corridor train, agreeing to investigate that option.

Amtrak this week launched new roll-on bicycle service on its Capitol Limited route, reports the Adventure Cycling Association. With the service, passengers can roll their bikes on and off at any station along the line without having to box them, with eight bike racks now available. The project to initiate roll-on service began in early 2014 when Amtrak partnered with Adventure Cycling Association and other bicycle and passenger rail groups to form an advisory bicycle task force to oversee two pilot projects. The Capitol Limited was identified early in the process as one of the pilot routes to establish roll-on service.

Amtrak also rolled out its first national campaign in 15 years this week, aimed at raising awareness of long-distance train travel as an experience, reports Ad Age. With the tagline "500 Destinations. Infinite Stories", the campaign comprises of one 30-second spot, two 15-second spots and a social media campaign to encourage Amtrak riders to share their stories using the hashtag #AmtrakStories.

NARP's blog released an FAQ to use public transportation in Washington, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia during Pope Francis's visit to the United States next week. The FAQ offers tips to help on using public transportation in all three cities—whether you're attending the event, or just live in one of the affected cities and are trying to go about your day. The most important tip: buy ALL of your transportation tickets in advance.

Finally, NARP would like to thank all the members who bought a raffle ticket for the chance to win a New England fall foliage rail tour generously donated by America By Rail. Below is a video from NARP President and CEO Jim Mathews announcing the winner and giving a quick update of the advocacy efforts that member donations continue to fund.