August /September 200 888
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Washington Rail News August /September 200 888 www.AllAboardWashington.org Publication of All Aboard Washington A Not ---for-forforfor----profitprofit Consumer Organization “Moving forward...On Rail ."."." Congressmen Oberstar and Mica, Transit, Amtrak ridership booms BNSF CEO Rose talk passenger rail service House Transportation and Infrastruc- this level nationwide we would eliminate ture Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN); the equivalent of all oil we import from Rep. John Mica (R-FL), ranking Republi- Saudi Arabia. can on T&I; and BNSF President Matt Oberstar called for reprioritizing our Rose spoke at the National Assoc. of national transportatio n network to include Railroad Passengers (NARP) spring a much more robust rail componen t. He board meeting in April 2008. noted that Amtrak remove s 8 mill. cars In an upbeat presentation, Chairman from the road each year. While highway Photo by Jim Hamre Above, h undreds of commuters pour off Oberstar announced “we are about to expansion projects are virtually rubber- an evening Sounder train in Puyallup on see a new era for Amtrak” as he and stamped, the federal government re - July 25. Nationwide, transit ridership is up Rep. Mica were preparing to introduce quires lengthy and burdensome bene - 3.3% so far this year over last and is at a 50 the House version of a new 6-year reau- fit/cost analys es for rail projects. year high. Amtrak’s ridership is up more thorization. “After six years of a starvation Amtrak has made many reforms in than 11% this fiscal year (since October diet, we have a bill to provide substantial recent years, but continues to blasted by 2007) and th e company should approach a investment Amtrak,” the administration and some in Congress record 28 mill. passenger s carried. he declared. (The as refusing to reform. Amtrak now needs Locally, Sound Transit ’s Sounder ser- Senate passed its the real support of the federal govern - vice was up 31% in the three months end - reauthorization, S. ment to move forward and become a ing June 30 compared to the same time last 294, last fall. The world class transportation provider. year. More than 1.2 mill. passengers House reauthoriza- Oberstar said he and Paul Weyrich, a boarded Sounder in the first half o f 2008. In tion, HR 6003, leading conservative who is strongly pro - June, ridership was even stronger : up 37% passed on 311-104 transit and pro -rail, are joining forces to on the Tacoma -Seattle line and up 44% on vote on July 11. A blunt the “drumbeat of negat ivism [on the Everett-Seattle line, thanks in part to the opening of the Mukilteo station on May 31 st . Congressman Oberstar conference commit- Amtrak ] from the White House” for the tee has been ap- last six years. Amtrak Cascades ridership is 11.8% in the first six months of 2008 o ver 2007. On pointed to work out the differences in the Rep. John Mica began by stating that Fridays and Sundays in particular it is diffi - two versions, though the bill is now re- in the U.S. we can onl y dream about cult to get reservations between Seattle and ferred to only S. 294. No members of our having a rail system as in Europe. He Portland if you wait till just a few days be - state delegation on are on the committee, joked, “I am sometimes characterized as fore departure. but our members still need to heed Lloyd a critic of Amtrak .” But he continued, “I At a time when people are demanding Flem’s challenge; see page 2. Both the criticize Amtrak because I think we can more rail service , Amtrak and WSDOT are House and Senate passed their Amtrak do better – with innovation, with public- being stymied in their plan to extend Cas- reauthorizations by veto-proof margins.) private partnerships and with a vision.” cades trains 513 and 516 from Bellingham Oberstar easily slipped between Eng- to Vancouver , BC. They had planned to Mica’s views on Amtrak have mod- lish and French as he recalled his time as launch the extension in August. However, erated in recent years. He formerly called a student in Belgium in the late 50s and NARP has learned from Canada’s Trans - for the end of all Amtrak service except explained how Europe continues to do port 2000 advocacy group that the e xten- the Northeast Corridor, Auto Train (which transportation and passenger rail right. sion will not start until our DOT, which has has its southern terminus in his Florida Since he lived there, Paris-Brussels train underwritten capacity improvements (along district) and maybe the California corri- service has gone from six hours to 80 with British Columbia) and will fund the op - dors. He now sup ports a national system, minutes and Paris-Lyon from 4.5 hours to eration, reaches an agreement with the Ca - but one which needs to involve more pri - two hours. nadian Border Security Agency. CBSA is vate participation and innovation, partic- He noted that Boise wants is passen- reportedly demanding payment for screen - ularly in the corridors . ing passengers at any new “facilities.” While ger train service restored to improve mo- He added provisions to HR 6003 to new international flights to Canada are not bility and reduce pollution. Boise is on have the Federal government seek pro - subject to such fees, CBSA views the extra the route of the Seattle-Chicago Pioneer posals for a new TGV -style high speed train as a new “facility” and is demanding that Amtrak eliminated in a false econ- corridor in the Northeast that would be $1,500 per day to screen passengers. The omy move in 1997. separate from the existing infrastructure travel industry is supporting Amtrak o n this In New Jersey, ten percent of all trips that also supports thousands of commu- issue because they fear its spread to all are now made by transit. If we reached (See Talk, page 5) other modes of transportation. page 2 cent drop in total miles driven (first since would require ve ry significant state fund- From the desk of the mid -70s), that nasty traffic, plus a ing for infrastructure and equipment as the Government rapid drop off in the quantity and quality well as fares from the growing numbers Affairs Director of commercial air service, plus a concern of passengers to support operation of the among some c onscientious people about trains. Eight round trips daily in a rail cor - bybyby the external costs of driving – environ- ridor such as our Northwest Corridor Lloyd H. Flem mental, dependence on oil and safety – would probably come close to paying the compared to transit and trains (Not ev - costs of operating the trains, but would The Change to Passenger Rail: eryone makes all decisions based on not pay capital costs. And contrary to Permanent? Midrange Plan and Your “What’s in it for me, right now.”) may be myth, gas taxes and other driving fees do Efforts; Save a Life, Maybe Yours leading folks off the roads and out of the NOT pay nearly all the ca pital costs of all air and onto the rails. I surely hope so. street, road and highway infrastructure, For so many reasons, our country would and particularly the external costs of In addition to the hard data that all benefit from a better transportation modal driving and parking, either. forms of passenger rail, from streetcars balance. The WSDOT presenters at the meet - to light rail to metros to commuter trains At a recent meeting of the Advisory ing correctly said the money to continue to interurbans to corridor and national Committee to WSDOT’s “Midrange Plan the incremental “building blocks” of a network Amtrak trains, are experiencing for the Amtrak Cascades: 2009-2016,” on larger Amtrak Cascades system is not strong growth in ridership, I like to think which I serve as the representative of AA currently in sight. Existing sources of we are beginning to see an actual WA and Amtrak riders generally, funds will probably allow continuation of change in perception and behavior in WSDOT’s rail marketing person said ongoing projects but the system growth transportation modal choice among a many new riders are “trying the train” for that sold-out trains suggest will require significant percentage of the more and bigger bucks. Essen - American people. Not in dec- tial to the Legislature coming ades have the non-rail media, I like to think we are beginning to through with sturdier funding from the evening news to the see an actual change in perception sources is the Federal govern- Wall Street Journal to Parade ment at lo ng last taking the now- magazine and to commuters and behavior in transportation recognized need and apparent who would “never” have not dri- modal choice among a significant popular desire for a much larger ven to work are talking about percentage of the American people. role for passenger trains. And and taking the train. The profes- this is where you, fellow rail ad - sional rail press is upbeat about gains in the first time and are said to “love it and vocates must do more than just wish, or passenger rail, and, with a very tempo- will ride again .” I maintain the Cascades worse, complain about our region or rary pause with a slumping general yield a much m ore pleasant travel expe- country’s “backwardness” in pa ssenger economy, freight rail. Railway Age is not rience than I -5. I cannot speak to the rail compared to other industrialized de - a railfan mag, but a hard-nose journal for short -hop air service in the corridor.