Rail Advisory Committee September 11, 2018 Meeting Minutes

Meeting location: Portland Airport Conference Center, St. Helen’s Room A, 7000 NE Airport Way, Portland, OR

Members in attendance: Rob Eaton, Vice Chair Donald Leap, Retired Ivo Trummer, Port of Portland Johan Hellman, BNSF Railway Adrian Guerrero, UPRR Paul Langner, Teevin Bros. Randy Russ, United Transportation Union Kevin Haugh, PNWR Bruce Carswell, TWG/OERR

Members absent: Mark Davidson, Wallowa Union Railroad

ODOT Rail Division staff in attendance: Stacy Snider Bob Melbo Kathy Holmes Hal Gard Richard Shankle

Guests Dr. Randy Smith, PSU, Michael Morrison, AORTA, ODOT, Roseann O’Laughlin, ODOT Via telephone: Erik Havig, ODOT, John Ficker

Rob Eaton called the meeting to order.

Rail Advisory Committee (RAC) members made self-introductions and introduced new RAC member Ivo Trummer who is with the Port of Portland. John Ficker was introduced. He will officially be a new committee member at the December meeting.

Minutes from the June 2018 meeting were approved.

Vice Chair Eaton reminded the group that it is time for the Vice Chair to take on Chair duties. Rob Eaton will be Chair as of the December 2018 meeting and Paul Langner was approved as Vice Chair.

Connect Oregon Update The legislature dedicated funding for four projects during the most recent round of Connect Oregon. These projects must be fully funded prior to any future competitive rounds of Connect Oregon can take place.

 Mid-Willamette Valley Intermodal Facility ($25 million)  Treasure Valley Intermodal Facility ($26 million)  Rail expansion in East Beach Industrial Park at the Port of Morrow ($6.55 million)  Brooks rail siding extension ($2.6 million)

Projects total over $60M and the legislature committed $30M in lottery backed bonds for these projects. This means we have a $30M deficit for the projects. Legislature created Privilege Tax which taxes auto dealerships .5% for each new vehicle sold. In January 2018 a lawsuit was filed to determine the legality of the tax. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the tax is legal and the money can go towards Connect Oregon type projects.

Collecting tax since January but has been sitting in an account held by the Department of Revenue and can now start to be available to ODOT. However, the first $12M collected will go to DEQ to run the Electric Vehicle Rebate program. A small percentage will stay with the Department of Revenue to cover the administrative costs associated with managing the funds. The remainder will come to ODOT to fund the Connect Oregon program.

The disbursement will come quarterly and the first deposit of funds will take place in November. We do not know how much that will be or what to expect annually because it is based on auto sales which could fluctuate. Our rough estimation is about $15M per year. It will take almost 2 years to make up the gap we have for the dedicated projects. Once the dedicated projects are fully funded then the privilege tax will build up and fund future rounds of competitive grant programs.

The legislature placed the projects in a specific order to be funded; Treasure Valley, Port of Morrow, Brooks Siding, and the Mid-Willamette Valley. Through the savings from previous rounds of Connect Oregon we should be able to fully fund the first two projects. The Port of Morrow is going to the OTC this month to obtain funding authorization to begin construction.

The legislature specified the siding be located in Brooks. UPRR has determined this is not the best location for the siding. The legislature will need to amend the language.

There is a competitive process for the Mid-Willamette Valley project. It has been narrowed down to 2 locations. The development plans are due September 27th. ODOT will then have 120 days to review and make a decision to fund at least one of the projects or neither project.

A Rules Advisory Committee has been established to amend the Connect Oregon Program rules. Paul Langner and Rob Eaton are on the committee. The committee will hold the first of four meetings on September 17th.

Harassment Training The Department of Administration requires that all board and commission member or volunteer a copy of the Discrimination and Harassment-Free Workplace policy. They must then complete the harassment and discrimination training in the iLearn system (https://ilearn.oregon.gov). Use the following link for instructions on how to create a user account for non-state employees: https://www.oregon.gov/das/HR/Documents/CreateNewAccount-NonStateEmployee.pdf. This training needs to be completed by December 31, 2018.

State Rail Plan It is time to update the 2014 State Rail Plan. The rail plan will need to be updated every four years. There is no longer a requirement to have a plan in order to apply for federal funds.

ODOT applied for the 2017 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety Improvements (CRISI) Grant to complete Phase II the North Portland Peninsula Junction improvements in June and will be submitting the same application for the 2018 CRISI Grant on the 17th of September.

ODOT has been waiting since May for the FRA to publish the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for higher speed passenger rail. Thirty days after it has been published we can go out for public comment. The FRA is meeting with the USDOT today to obtain permission to put the DEIS on the FRA website.

Work on the State Rail Plan is being held up in order to include the EIS work. The EIS is an element of State Transportation Plan.

The Rail Plan will be an “update light”. This will involve updating data elements such as ridership, commodity information and existing conditions to give us the most relevant information that will be needed to make future decisions. Both passenger and freight needs will be updated. Our team is working with neighboring states and including stakeholder engagement. The revised plan will go through a public review process and will need to have a formal adoption by the OTC. We hope to have it adopted in the fall of 2019.

Bob Melbo shared a map and description of projects identified in the 2003 I-5 Rail Capacity Study. All the projects listed are in the Portland triangle. Six of these projects have been completed and a seventh project has been funded by Connect Oregon (North Portland Peninsula Junction). This project is on hold while we seek federal funding to complete the second part of the project (Peninsula Junction). Because the location of both projects are so close they will need to be done together in order to get the full benefit.

The remaining three projects have not gone anywhere. The list also includes three other projects that have come up after the study.  A new siding and crossover near St. Johns.  Signalizing the northerly leg of the Astoria Line wye at Willbridge  Replacing Willbridge crossovers

Are there other bottlenecks that we have not identified that we should be looking at going forward?

 Union Station infrastructure needs to be revamped including adding a new track which would be Track 6. The principal reason for Track 6 would be to improve freight mobility through the Union Station area.  Power crossovers and switches at both ends of Lake Yard.

This list is 15 years old. There is a need develop and prioritize a new list. The list that was developed last year would be a good place to start but it was more of a general list for all projects not just bottlenecks. The new list needs to include a list of completed and in-progress projects to reflect the progress that has been made. There have been cost changes in the last 15 years so ODOT will need RAC members to help update cost estimates for these projects.

Action Item: Bruce Carswell and Bob Melbo will reach out to the other shortlines to ensure that the list includes them.

Action Item: Bob Melbo will review and update the list developed last year. Add a column to identify type of project, capacity or bottleneck. Then send list out to the group to review and be prepared to add projects. The list will be discussed and ranked at the December meeting.

Agenda Item for December

Grade Separation Program Oregon does not receive enough funding to do grade-separated crossings or fund studies which would allow us to develop a list of projects. There are no matching state funds to allow us to apply for federal funds when funding is available.

The State of Washington just went through a process to establish criteria and creating a data driven process of identifying priority grade separation projects. Oregon has a risk analysis database that we use superior to what the Feds have on their site.

Railroads are willing to work with the state, but there is no single solution for each crossing. Not all crossings require grade separation. They need to be addressed on a case by case basis.

Grade separation projects are eligible for gas tax funds. Grade separation is for highway safety, not railroad safety.

There is federal funding being left on the table that we cannot access due to the lack of shovel ready projects or projects with preliminary engineering done and there is no identified source for the state funding match.

ODOT receives $3 million per year from license plate funds. This amount was established in 1974 and at that time that amount would fund about 6 or 7 crossing improvements each year. Now it will not provide half of the funding needed for one crossing improvement project. This amount barely covers state match required for the federal funding we receive each year.

Action Item: Rob Eaton will work with Hal Gard to develop legislative strategy to address funding issue and will bring it back to the group.

Action Item: BNSF, UPRR and GWRR - Identify what the priorities are in particular areas.

State Crossing Action Plan FRA dictated every state will create a State Crossing Action Plan. The FRA requirements are mostly just guidance. ODOT has been working on ours over six months. The first stakeholder meeting has been held and the final meeting is September 25th. We want to complete this project by the end of the calendar year and submit to FRA in early 2019.

This will be more of an implementation element of the State Rail Plan than an actual stand- alone plan. It will not outline policies or goals but will be more focused on strategies and actions and will guide more of our internal processes on how we allocate funds, and share or use data.

FRA requires that we look at multi-incident locations. This plan will help bring all the data around incidents into one location.

The committee reviewed data presented. Oregon’s data is pretty similar to national data.

Rail Section is working with ODOT’s Safety Division to develop driver safety awareness imagery utilizing examples of risks imposed by distracted driving in approach to railroad crossings.

Oregon doesn’t rank near the top half of the country for incidents so that makes it difficult to complete for funding. Part of this process is to help us strategize how and where to spend our limited money.

A stakeholder committee has discussed the crossing action plan objectives and determined what to focus on, calling out contributing factors from the data: 1. Risky behavior and distraction 2. Lack of education/outreach 3. Crossing configuration

Also called out were changing traffic volumes and land use, lack of transportation investment, vehicle type (truck, skateboard etc.)

Stakeholders will review strategies and funding project criteria at their September 25th meeting.

Information is available under the State Grade Crossing Action Plan on the Crossing Safety website. (https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/RPTD/Pages/Safety.aspx)

National Rail Safety Week is September 23rd through the 29th.

Rick Shankle asked if there is a way to coordinate with all the railroads on design concepts on roundabouts near railroad crossings as opposed to going to each individual railroad to see what the railroads would accept. ODOT is looking for a standardized approach to roundabouts. Per UPRR and BNSF it would likely need to be discussed on a case by case basis and probably would not be able to come up with a standardized design.

Action Item: Donald Leap will provide copies of the Drivers Playbook to Rick Shankle and Roseann O’Laughlin.

Grand Prairie, Texas Crossing Photo Enforcement UPRR’s Adrian Guerrero presented information about a grade crossing photo enforcement program implemented in Grand Prairie, Texas, which had the highest number of fatalities and incidents in the state. There were 5 fatalities at rail crossings in the 4 years prior to the automated enforcement. Three crossings in town were selected. There have been no fatalities since 2006 and only one non-fatal crash since cameras were installed. Violations have decreased 76%, fatal crashes decreased 500% and there has been a 56% decrease in crashes per signalized intersection since implementation. No data on near misses or hits.

There was a public desire to have it. There was no photo enforcement prior to this so it required a local ordinance, engineering study, and advance signs before installing cameras. This model used now across the UPRR network.

A major misconception was many critics saw it as a revenue stream rather than a safety initiative.

Texas alternates with Illinois as having the worst U.S. crossing safety.

Oregon has some statutory limitations affecting this, but we have a Governor-appointed safety committee that is run out of our Safety Division.

Cops on train program. On a yearly basis UPRR runs a safety train and coordinates with local police departments as well as the railroad police. They have police on the head end of the train and on the ground. They give out warnings, tickets and educational training

Action Item: Adrian will send Kathy Holmes electronic version of the presentation for Hal Gard to share with the ODOT Safety Committee.

Action Item: Adrian will confirm with Clint Schelbitski that this program is still in effect.

Action Item: Adrian will check with Aaron Hunt on when education and enforcement program will be in this area.

SHRP2 R16 Kickoff ODOT received a $75,000 FHWA Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2 R16) grant to develop template agreements between DOTs and railroads for mutual aid in case of a statewide emergency such as a Cascadia event. Rick Shankle is working with representatives from the R16 group back east to set up a meeting between ODOT and UPRR, BNSF and Genesee &

Wyoming. ODOT has provided a draft of what would be a good agreement that would allow us to work with the railroads to stage and move equipment and ODOT will have access to materials that the railroads will need.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is doing a study. Hal Gard reached out to all major railroad companies this last spring to let them know about the Oregon Regional Resiliency assessment that is sponsored by DHS. DHS is looking at port, highway, airport and rail facilities to see where the major vulnerabilities are. ODOT received responses from everyone and the responses have been shared with DHS but they have not done anything with them at this time. DHS representatives were not available to attend this meeting but they will be in Salem on the 26th or 27th and have some flexibility in their schedule to meet with railroads. If anyone is interested let Stacy Snider know and she will find time and venue for you to meet with them.

Passenger Rail Update NTSB held hearings in July on the derailments of train 501 and train 91. The findings should be out March or April 2019.

WSDOT will not be returning to the Lakewood Sub (aka the Point Defiance Bypass) until after the NTSB Report has been issued. Amtrak has 90 days to requalify the Amtrak crews after the report is released. Amtrak has a plan and a proposed schedule for the requalification of operating crews on the Lakewood Subdivision.

WSDOT has also indicated it may be several years before the two round trips are added back into the schedule. When WSDOT implemented its new schedule with six round trips last December 18th, Oregon’s schedule was aligned with Washington’s to provide through connections at Portland. When WSDOT reverted back to four daily round trips after the derailment, Oregon’s southbound morning train lost its connection with a train from Seattle. ODOT has not proposed adjusting Oregon’s schedules at this time.

Ridership in Oregon is not as good as we had hoped after the schedule change due to the loss of the connections. Also, on-time performance has been suffering. There is end point on-time performance and station to station on-time performance which is the important one for passengers. But Oregon’s on-time performance is better than the overall route performance. The states have a telephone conference with the railroads bi-weekly. Amtrak is going to start reporting on individual station on-time performance. ODOT and WSDOT will be working with Amtrak to get more information on how that data will be reported.

Amtrak’s offer to lease two Talgo 8 trains built for but rejected by Wisconsin has been declined by WSDOT. With only six trains now in the Cascades service instead of seven, there are challenges regarding maintenance and PTC installation while having sufficient equipment to run all schedules.

There is more interest lately from the legislature around passenger rail than ODOT has seen in the past and requests for information have started coming in earlier.

UPRR likes Oregon’s current schedule, but from an operational side if it ran a little later it would be even better.

Positive Train Control PTC has been operational on the BNSF’s infrastructure for about a year. They have run more than a million carloads now under PTC. Interoperability has been the challenge. So in June they applied for an extension to allow time to for other railroads to complete their infrastructure installation.

UPRR is in a similar position. They are 100% in compliance with PTC implementation in the state of Oregon. Interoperability is an issue for UPRR as well.

Amtrak is running PTC with BNSF in Washington on the Empire Builder, Coast Starlight and Amtrak Cascades. All the WSDOT Charger locomotives have been commissioned and are running, but still working out a few quirks. The Oregon cab cars were just commissioned on September 7 and will do class testing on the 15th and 16th of September. Still have to do revenue check rides over the UP territory and will be going live over UP sometime in September. Waiting for software update from UPRR to go into Amtrak’s interface but on track to meet the federal deadline.

WES PTC has been in testing phase and ready to go and should meet the deadline. PNWR has been tested on the BNSF; have not tested yet on the UP. CORP is not using PTC unless using UP locomotives.

Rail and Public Transit Update The Oregon Transportation Commission is getting new members and is moving away from a highway focus and will have more of a multimodal representation. New commissioner Martin Callery was formerly with the Port of Coos Bay, Governor has put forward Julie Brown, general manager of Rogue Valley Transit District, to join the OTC. She has not been confirmed by the senate yet. Commissioner Van Brocklin with Stoel Rives LLP started in the spring.

Annual OTC workshop is scheduled for October 18th and 19th. Committee chairs and/or vice chairs are welcome to attend. However, this year the agenda is focused on emerging technologies and there is no active role for modal chairs.

OTC has granted Hal Gard, Administrator of ODOT Rail and Public Transit, authority to issue any letters of support for federal grant applications. Requests can be sent directly to Hal Gard along with the necessary information to write the letter.

The 100th anniversary of the opening of Salem Station will take place on September 25th from 10 a.m. until noon. This is a public event and the committee is welcome to attend.

Washington Ultra-high-speed Ground Transportation study: Not just looking at rail. It would be a connected system between Portland and Vancouver, B.C. A feasibility study and preliminary analysis showed it could be cost effective and can be done but more work is needed. With some contributions from big high tech companies in Washington and from B.C. and the states of Oregon and Washington a phase 2 effort has been initiated. Kick off meeting was recently held and next meeting is in October. Materials are available on the WSDOT website (https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/studies/ultra-high-speed-travel/ground-transportation- study). It would not replace intercity passenger rail.

Hal Gard will be out on medical leave starting September 18th and Marsha Hoskins will be acting in his place.

Agenda Build/Meeting Schedule

The next meeting is scheduled for December 11, 2018, via teleconference.

Agenda Items for next meeting:

 Project list for State Rail Plan  Legislative Update

Action Item: Kathy Holmes will reach out prior to building the agenda for any additional agenda items.

Closing Comments/Adjourn Vice Chair Eaton asked for comments from members and public.

A new shortline in Oregon is operating on UPRR’s industrial track in Clackamas.

Port of Coos bay will be taking over the operation of their railroad November 1st. It will be called Coos Bay Rail Line, replacing Coos Bay Rail Link. Coos bay will lease/buy locomotives from Western Rail in Cheney, Washington, near Spokane.

Mount Hood Railroad is reported to be for sale.

Bruce Carswell is in final negotiations with WSDOT to operate their rail line outside of Spokane.

Randy Russ announced this is his last meeting as an active member. Randy is retiring at the end of the year. Glen Cary with BNSF will replace Randy.

Action Item: Randy Russ will send Glen’s contact information to Kathy Holmes.

Craig Levie has stepped down from the RAC and will be succeeded by John Ficker.

Motion made to change start time to 8 AM. Committee agreed to try the new time at the March meeting.

The Vice Chair adjourned the meeting.