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Railroad Merger Sidetracks Trains l\Iichigan a Ohio a Indiana ,. ..,_. I ~H .n_ ,. ~~~., ..· . 5~. , r N~~.~~''·' Intercitv Rail • Public Transit • Commuter Rail • lntcrmodal Issue 135 Railroad merger sidetracks trains By Ken Prendergast gan and Ohio Associations of Rail­ and John DeLora road Passengers (MARP and OARP) While it is too soon to tell what the have been monitoring the on-time long-term effects will be from the performance of Amtrak passenger June 1 split up of freight railroad Con­ trains in our regions, and the reasons rail Corp. among Norfolk Southern for their delays. Inc. (NS) and CSX Corp., the restruc­ CSX, which got 42 percent of Con~ tured rail systems have gotten off to rail, had relatively minor problems. a rocky start. A number of technical · Norfolk Southern, which got the rest and corporate culture problems have of Conrail, ran into severe problems, left many freight trains stopped on mainly involving incompatible com­ mainlines and clogging freight yards, puter programs. Within days, trains Yellow signals loom. S~veral days before June 1, when freight railroad Conrail Corp. causing serious delays to most Am­ began arriving later and later. By the was acquired and split among CSX Inc. and Norfolk Southern Corp., Amtrak's trak pas·senger trains in Indiana, end of the first week, United Parcel Pennsylvanian sped west beneath a signal bridge toward Chicago. This passenger train, that 114ns on Conrail tracks which have sin,ce bee.n transferred taNS, was on time this Michigan and Ohio. Service was switching much of its day. However, this and many oiher trains oper~ting ea;t oiChicdgo have begun suffering Since the Conrail split, the Michi- - See "Merger", page Five serious delays due to problems associated with the takeovf(!r of Conrail. Columbus to decide its transit future Nov. 2 Dlll.ll~ ~J....- ...... 7 ..-T-4-.n. ....n ...... 7:11 .n..,. ..... ,,.. .,._.n,, 4-.-. 1-........ .:-.- ran mto severe problems, left many freight trains stopped on mainly involving incompatible com- - Ken Prendergast mainlines and clogging freight yards, puter programs. Within days, trains Yellow signals loom. S~veral days before June 1, when freight railroad Conrail Corp. causing serious delays to most Am­ began arriving later and later. By the was acquired and split among CSX Inc. and Norfolk Southern Corp., Amtrak's Pennsylvanian sped west beneath a signal bridge toward Chicago. This passenger train, trak passenger trains in Indiana, end of the first week, United Parcel that runs on:Conr.aii tracks which have since been transietred toNS, w.as on time this Michigan and Ohio. Service w~s switching_ much of its ddy: However, this and many other trains operating east -oJChic~go have begun suffering Since the Conrail split~ the Michi- - See "Merger", page Five serious delays due to problems associated with the takeovfr 9! Conrail. Columbus to decide its transit future Nov. 2 Polls show voters will say ''yes'' to levies By Ed D'Amato ployers who need labor, the plan will provide OARP Secretary viable alternatives for all commuters, suburban COLUMBUS-The Board of Trustees for the and inner-city alike, to get to work. Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) voted to By 2020, Columbus is expected to see a 34 place a two-part sales tax initiative on the No­ percent increase in the humber of automobile vember 1999 ballot to expand the COTA bus sys­ trips, a 63 percent increase in the number of miles tem and to bring commuter rail to Columbus. The driven, and a 91 percent increase in the amount expansion plan, called "Vision 2020: Transpor­ of time drivers will spend on the road. The focus tation for a Great Community," would be phased of Vision 2020 is to address these problems. elude a renewal of this temporary tax to keep in over 20 years beginning in 2000. COTA is currently funded by a temporary, !A­ the current COTA bus-only system intact. A sec­ Facing crippling traffic congestion and a sepa­ percent Franklin County sales tax that must be ond levy-the addition of a permanent, !A-per- ration of inner-city residents from suburban em- renewed every 10 years. The proposal will in- - See "COTA levy", page eight The Passenger Rail News PRESORTED 479 Humiston Drive FIRST CLASS Bay Village OH 44140-3017 U.S. POSTAGE 135 PAID ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Cleveland OH Permit# 2470 KEN PRENDERGAST VICE PRESIDENT 12029 CLIFTON BLVD UNIT 505 LAKEWOOD OH 44107-2101 It Two The Passenger Rail News, August 1999 }Pllssen Train of Thought Copyright © 1999, Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers. All articles not originated by OARP are copyrighted from The Passenger Rail News Editor by their respective originators. All rights reserved. Kenneth Prendergast Kenneth Prendergast, Editor Mark Carlson, Production Marilyn Carlson, Distribution aws of physics tell us that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. L Conversely, objects that are motionless tend to stay still. Such is the case with rail passenger services. The rules of passenger rail service tell us that states and regions with at least a visible number of passen­ ger trains tend to see more investments than those regions that have little or no service. Recognition of this principle has forced rail advocates and political lead­ ers, who have had dreams of high-speed trains dancing in their heads, to take a "walk before you run" approach to railway development. But, for those regions which have no passenger trains to begin with, simply learning to crawl has proven to be tough enough. The reasons for these difficulties can be traced to those pesky laws of phys­ ICS. Corporate and governmental policies could help provide a nudge, how­ ever. Corporate policies refer to Amtrak's position regarding new trains and routes. To its credit, Amtrak has taken a business-like approach toward the creation of new services. For Amtrak to invest in a new service, company officials must take a hard look at how the new service will affect the company's bottom line. · · Fortunately for Amtrak-but unfortunately for regions lacking service­ there are literally dozens of requests each year by cities and states across the WnrmJ nation for new trains. This is unfortunate for regions lacking any train ser- Photos and Articles · . vice because they must compete with regions that have train service and are Clippings from newspapers and magazines . · • ·: wanting more. (. must include the publication's name and date. A course in basic economics will teach anyone that adding two new trains . ~- Your articl~ and news briefs should betyped to an existin~ rou~ch as Chicago.-.Milwaukee,wbichJ~as l4.traiJ1s.a4ay- and double-spaced, though very short items will generate more new revenues than new costs. Starting up two trains on a may be legibly written. Preferably, send hard route like Cincinnati-Dayton-Columbus-Cleveland, which hasn't seen regu- copy withffiM-compatible text files on 3¥2'' lar passenger service since 1970, means a large expenditure must be made disks. Submissions via e-mail to: just get the route ready for passenger trains. Putting into motion this motion- [email protected]. less object will take a huge financial shove. We reserve the right to edit~. n()_n-:Pul>li!.~d . Havi~g said all that, it appears that a source of motivation to get these wen:: cnc uLcrcury uuz;ens ur requests eacn year oy ctues ana srares across me ~ i" .O.'i • Td:J ..... nation for new trains. This is unfortunate for regions lacking any train ser­ Photos and Articles vice because they must compete with regions that have train service and are .. ·: Clippings from newspapers and magazines wanting more. must include the publication's name and_date. A course in basic economics will teach anyone that adding two new trains to an existing route-.such as Chicago-Milwaukee. which has 14 trains a day­ Your articl~ and news briefs should be typed and double-spaced, though very short items will generate more new revenues than new costs. Starting up two trains on a may be legibly written. Preferably, send hard route like Cincinnati-Dayton-Columbus-Cleveland, which hasn't seen regu­ copy with ffiM.,compatible text files on 3¥2'' lar passenger service since 1970, means a large expenditure must be made disks. Submissions via e-mail to: just get the route ready for passenger trains. Putting into motion this motion­ .. ·: [email protected] . less object will take a huge financial shove. We reserve the right to edit all non-published Having said all that, it appears that a source of motivation to get these submissions. Original photos should be sharp, . immobile things moving is the federal government. U.S. Senator George bright prints-avoid slides and negatives. Voinovich (R-Ohio) is sponsoring a bill that would give states the flexibility to spend federal transportation dollars on intercity passenger rail projects. Always include your name and phone Clearly this flexibility is important, as different states and regions have dif­ number! ferent transportation needs. The Passenger Rail News But, a certain amount should be set aside for regions that have little or no 12029 Clifton Boulevard, #505 passenger rail service. A precedent was recently set in a $2.2 billion capital Lakewood OH 44107-2161 . ... infusion to Amtrak. Federal funds were set aside for states lacking Amtrak . service to help nudge proposed services forward. But what about regions · · f R ·1r ad p - · · d . Obi fi with almost no passenger rail service? Much of Ohio would qualify, as would The Obi o Assoctation o at o assengers 1s mcorporate m o as a non-pro t tat lik Ind" d K tu ky . d fro &~-t al" d th IRS Cod S .
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