Free Republic

The federal government has the chance to rebuild the nation's passenger rail service by upgrading Amtrak's aging fleet of locomotives. We must seize that opportunity. The idea is for Amtrak to secure loan guarantees under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program to revitalize its fleet with higher-speed, diesel-electric locomotives that would reach speeds between 110 and 124 mph. Up to $35 billion is available under the program, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's website. If it happens, GE Transportation, as the top locomotive manufacturer in the United States, would be poised perfectly to compete for the Amtrak contract....

Would you like to board a high-speed train in Atlanta and travel north to Nashville? Or even farther north to Chicago? Or how about Atlanta to Florida by high-speed rail? Such travel may be available in the future, although we have not heard of any timetable. What we have heard this week is that Georgia and Tennessee are applying for a $34 million federal grant to continue the development of high-speed rail service from Atlanta to Nashville. The Georgia DOT said the money would help speed development of the train system. The money would come from the Federal Railroad Administration...

Last of four parts.A class of graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania has created a plan to rebuild the Northeast Corridor as a true high-speed rail line that would transport passengers from Philadelphia to New York City in 37 minutes.Amtrak, on the other hand, has a less ambitious view of the future for the nation's busiest rail corridor. Its new master plan calls for spending $52 billion by 2030 to cut travel time by about 20 minutes between New York and Washington and between New York and Boston. It envisions reducing travel time between New York and Philadelphia by...

Third of four parts.LA ROCHELLE, France - The train factory here on the Bay of Biscay was created in 1918 by the masters of the industry - the Americans - to build troop transports during World War I.Today, French engineers, welders, and electricians work in the same long sheds for the French manufacturer Alstom Transport, building the great-great-grandchildren of those early trains - sleek tubes of aluminum that travel at 225 m.p.h. They hope their new customers will include the old bosses, the Americans.About 500 miles south, near Madrid, the Spanish manufacturer Talgo is building high-speed trains with a novel...

The federal government, since 1991, has designated 10 corridors for high-speed rail development, including the Philadelphia-to-Pittsburgh "Keystone Corridor."Those "designated corridors" don't include the most heavily traveled one, the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston.Most of the corridor plans involve incremental steps to speed up existing service, rather than installation of true high-speed service with trains traveling at more than 155 m.p.h.That's much cheaper, allowing passenger trains to share tracks with freight and commuter trains. But it does not allow for the full advantages European or Japanese-style high-speed rail offer, such as dramatic travel-time savings that can make trains competitive with...

Fast Track: Is America ready for high-speed rail?Second of four parts.   As the United States takes its first tentative steps toward high-speed rail travel, the initial hurdle is the biggest: money.In the past, the nation's enthusiasm for fast trains has always evaporated when sticker shock set in. Political support has been inconsistent and ephemeral, leaving previous efforts to die amid debates over ridership, land acquisition, and cost - especially cost.This time, politicians and railroaders believe the momentum is greater than ever to actually build and operate high-speed lines in the United States.They compare planned U.S. rail projects to the transformational...

First of four parts.MADRID, Spain - At precisely 10:30 a.m., with quiet jazz wafting from its speakers, AVE Train 3103 glides out of Atocha Station in central Madrid, its sleek nose pointed east toward a rising sun and Barcelona.Even with a stop in Zaragoza, the 385-mile trip, which takes seven hours by car, is scheduled to last two hours, 52 minutes. Without the stop, it's two hours, 38 minutes. Cruising speed: 186 m.p.h.Of course, the train will be on time: If it's more than five minutes late, the passengers get their money back.Compare that with the Pennsylvanian, the daily Amtrak...

It became clearer Thursday that the state's high-speed train will run above ground in the Peninsula and South Bay -- including on so-called "Berlin Walls" that some cities fear will divide their communities and demolish homes and businesses. The California High-Speed Rail Authority, at a packed board meeting in San Francisco, unveiled its most detailed engineering plan yet for the section of the $43 billion rail line that will run along the Caltrain tracks on the way to Southern California. Some of the cities along the line will receive aboveground tracks, either next to the existing Caltrain tracks or on...

In June 1998, Andy Rooney wrote a column lamenting the drawbacks of rail travel. Rooney began by noting 50 years earlier, a train ride from New York to Albany took three hours. "Yesterday," he wrote 12 years ago, "with the miracles of computerized signal systems, a combination diesel-electric locomotive and millions of dollars worth of track improvements, it took me three hours and 28 minutes on an Amtrak train." A dozen years later, we are happy to report, Amtrak's Empire Service covers that distance in an advertised 2 hours, 30 minutes - the same time it would take to drive...

The next-to-last paragraph of Chuck Mai's "Ferry travel leads to idea for ride here" (column, July 27) was the wisest, most helpful thing I've read in The Oklahoman in a long time: "Of course, first we need passenger train service from Oklahoma to Chicago." When Dave Herbert was a state senator from Midwest City, he tried hard to get rail service to Newton, Kan. From there we could go east to Chicago or west to Los Angeles. Since Herbert is no longer in the Senate, no one is championing this cause. I'm a senior citizen who has many friends who...

LOS ANGELES — The region famous for jilting the street car to take up a love affair with the automobile is trying to rekindle its long ago romance with commuter rail. If successful, the novel plan to borrow billions from the federal government, led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, would result in the largest transit expansion project in the nation. Los Angeles County voters agreed two years ago to pay a half-cent sales tax over the next 30 years to extend train and rapid bus lines, projects that would routinely require federal assistance. But the mayor, who sits on...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A 20-year transportation proposal to renovate more than 500 miles of passenger rail throughout New England is anticipated to increase speed between stations while unclogging some of the region’s congested highways. The ambitious project, running through Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, is designed to improve connection times and spark economic growth throughout the Northeast. Transportation officials from the three states have coordinated a regional vision to connect major cities and airports, including Bradley International in Windsor Locks in the hopes of doubling passenger rail ridership by 2030. Vermont would receive a boost in its already expanding ridership on...

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ― Amtrak's Downeaster that runs between Portland, Maine, and Boston bounced back from a dip last summer and fall to finish the fiscal year with its best performance yet. The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority says 474,058 passengers rode the train during the fiscal year that ended last month. Ridership rebounded after losing ground in the first five months of the fiscal year to finish 1 percent ahead of the previous year. Executive Director Patricia Quinn says revenue for the service hit an all-time high as well, at $6.7 million.

Domestic airline fares across the U.S. jumped 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, compared with the first quarter of 2009, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported on Wednesday. The increase only includes the airline fares and not baggage handling fees or extra fees paid to take carry-on items onto the aircraft. In the first quarter of 2010, prices were down around 25 percent compared with an inflation-adjusted average price of $435 during the first quarter of 1999—the all-time high for airfares, the Bureau said. Without inflation, the average price in 1999 were around...

The historic Longview Junction Train Depot will undergo a major restoration effort thanks to federal funds totaling $2,169,461. In addition to the federal funds, the City of Longview is required to provide $450,000 as a local match. The City of Longview acquired the building from Union Pacific in 2009 and has a 20 year lease on the land. The project includes the restoration and rehabilitation of the depot. The restored depot will be a part of the Longview Transportation Center, which will serve as a central multimodal area for Longview that would include access to Amtrak, Longview Transit, Greyhound, and...

What is it about trains that stir the imagination of a bygone era? Taking a train excursion is now an adventure for all ages. For a glimpse into the golden era of luxury train travel — complete with dining cars, observation cars and panoramic views — a tour to Branson, Mo., is a great place to start. From the window beside your comfortable reclining seat — a seat with honest legroom — you will have a view into history, not just a vista of the cities and countryside along the way. "Most everyone does a Branson trip by motor coach,"...

An article published on Tuesday in The New York Times reported that by official accounts, 2009 was a stellar year for the commuter railroads that serve New York City. Of all the trains that ran last year, the railroad said nearly 96 percent were on time. This was one of the best performances since they began keeping records. According to findings of an examination by The New York Times of more than 685,000 trips last year involving the region's three major commuter railroads, trips to and from Penn Station during rush hours were two-and-a-half times as likely to be late...

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) is in line to receive $150 million for the North and Southeast Corridor light-rail lines as part of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s fiscal-year 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill approved last week. The House version of the FY2011 appropriations bill set aside $152 million for the projects. The full House will vote on the bill later this week. The $150 million proposed by the Senate committee would be in addition to $150 million secured in FY2010, bringing the total amount of federal funds allocated for the two light-rail projects...

A majority of Californians support the high-speed train project, with more than three-quarters saying they would like the project to be built, according to a survey commissioned by the project’s planners. Some 76 percent of Californians indicated support for the project, with 34 percent saying they would like to see the project move forward “as quickly as possible,” according to the survey’s findings released Tuesday. Forty-two percent said they would like to see the high-speed trains built despite some concerns over cost and timing and 13 percent were opposed to the project. “Californians are telling us loudly and clearly that...

The idea that rail must pay its own way is ill-conceived. Rail brought this country together; passenger rail was made extremely attractive, complete with luxurious hotels, to bring alive the excellence of rail travel. Since its inception, huge grants, subsidies and concessions have been given to rail to ensure its viability. Rail is hugely efficient, but its sad demise came with the onset of the private automobile. Public funding gradually supported roads over rail. The automobile has become its own enemy: Roads clogged, time wasted and fossil fuels keeping engines idling at standstill. Costs, inconvenience and frustration bring visions of...

Most permanent jobs would be based in Victorville, Calif.When the DesertXpress high-speed train is built, there would be up to 700 permanent jobs at an operations and maintenance facility — in Victorville, Calif. Tom Stone, president of DesertXpress Enterprises LLC, told representatives of the Associated General Contractors at a lunch Thursday that building the privately funded, $4 billion traditional high-speed rail system would create 50,000 person-year construction jobs over the four-year design and construction period expected to begin late this year. Translated, 50,000 person-year jobs is the equivalent of 50,000 people working for a full year. The statistic illustrates the...

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says the $425 million Woodward Light Rail Project -- which will run from Hart Plaza to 8 Mile -- "is going to happen" and that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood should be in town soon to announce additional backing. Bing made the announcement Thursday during a "big four" round table discussion hosted by Paul W. Smith of WJR-AM 760, suggesting the line could help reverse economic and population trends. "I think it's about more than just transportation," he said. "It's about economic development. Cities that I've been in that have a light rail system, you've seen all...

WHITEFISH, Mont. — When I was 7, my mother took my three siblings and me on a train ride from my hometown of Brainerd to visit my grandmother, who lived in Staples. It was a 30-mile journey that took about 45 minutes. The trip was faster and cheaper by car. (Gas was about 32 cents a gallon back then, and the train tickets were $2 or $3 for each of us). But Mom thought it would be a fun and educational experience. The trip was unremarkable, but the experience — complete with a conductor who hollered "all aboard!" just like...

Project has $171M in financing, but much work remainsOnce viewed as a possible relief valve during major reconstruction of Route 28, a commuter rail line proposed for the Allegheny Valley remains a distant dream. With construction of the North Side section of Route 28 set to begin next month and disrupt traffic through the fall of 2014, the rail line to Downtown Pittsburgh, talked about for more than a decade, has yet to advance beyond preliminary studies. Robert Ardolino, a consultant to the Allegheny Valley Railroad, which has been offering to provide commuter service along its line since 1999, said...

New York -- John Parisella, Quebec’s highest-ranking representative in the United States, caught the 8:15 a.m. train Friday from New York City’s Penn Station bound for Montreal.At 11-plus hours, including as much as a two-hour logjam at the border, the journey is hardly a practical one for the business traveller.But for Mr. Parisella, the trip was field research. He’s made pushing for a high-speed rail link between the Big Apple and Montreal one of his top priorities since assuming the post of Quebec’s Delegate General in New York in November.The bullet train idea has been around since the early 1970s,...

E-ZPass customers will get price break over those paying cashA toll increase on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in January likely will make it the most expensive long toll road in the nation. The turnpike commission on Wednesday approved a 3 percent increase for users of E-ZPass electronic fare collection and 10 percent for cash customers, effective Jan. 2. That will raise the cash cost of driving the turnpike to 8.5 cents per mile, highest of the 11 U.S. toll roads of 100 miles or longer. Currently, the Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpikes are tied at 7.7 cents per mile. Shorter toll...

COLUMBUS - While passenger trains are still at least two years away from running on a "Three-C" corridor for which Ohio has obtained federal stimulus money, state officials have begun looking at what they hope will be a second phase, which would include two Toledo routes. The Ohio Rail Development Commission has signed a $7.8 million contract with AECOM, a Los Angeles engineering firm, to assess what would need to be done to institute 110-mph passenger trains on four routes, including Detroit-Toledo-Cleveland and Toledo-Columbus. The study also would address a Cleveland-Pittsburgh route and upgrading the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati route, over which trains...

Toledo and Pittsburgh are among the next cities that Ohio wants to connect as part of its developing passenger rail project, state transportation officials said Thursday. The state has signed a $7.8 million contract with an engineering firm to study new routes that would branch off from Ohio's marquee federal stimulus project -- a $400 million rail system with 79 mph trains connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati beginning in 2012. The contract with AECOM, a Los Angeles-based company that has worked on California's planned high-speed rail system, will determine routes for a future 110 mph service on four corridors:...

Imagine speeding across the lake through the LaBranch Wetlands and your final destination is Baton Rouge. Advocates of high speed rail are meeting in New Orleans. They say the Gulf Coast is the logically place to implement a high speed rail system. In the future they envision, New Orleans being the hub with routes originating from here to Bir to Atlanta and from New Orleans to Houston going West. The Obama administration allocated some $8 billion dollars for high speed rail systems. Louisiana turned down nearly $600 million dollars. Governor Bobby Jindal called it port spending. Adding that the state...

A passenger rail line through the Northeast U.S. has revitalized towns and created jobs, but relies on state funding to keep rolling, a rail service expert told a Springfield audience Wednesday, July 14. That summary was the message for Springfield city officials at a forum Wednesday held to drum up support for a passenger rail system in Ohio. Patricia Quinn, director of the Downeaster rail service — a passenger rail line between Boston and Portland, Maine — said the train system has benefited her region. The Downeaster rail service is similar to the proposed 3C passenger rail line that would...

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham announced Tuesday more than $10 million in grants to airports in Lexington and Sumter, as well as airports in Anderson, Charleston, Chesterfield, Darlington, Greenville, Horry and Laurens. Here's what the U.S. Transportation Department grants will pay for, according to a news release from Graham's office. AndersonAnderson County will receive a $3,774,000 grant for an airfield pavement evaluation study, to design and construct apron rehabilitation, and to design and construct taxiway rehabilitation at Anderson Regional Airport. Anderson County will also receive a $649,865 grant for runway and taxiway lighting at Anderson Regional Airport.CharlestonCharleston County Aviation Authority will receive a $388,248...

The influential General Accountability Office (GAO) has entered the battle over airline ancillary fees with a recommendation that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) require airlines to consistently disclose optional fees and notify passengers of any refundable government fees. A new GAO report on airline fees notes that airlines have imposed a variety of fees on a range of optional services, such as checked and carry-on bags, meals, blankets, early boarding, and seat selection, and is concerned with the availability of information in distribution channels. The new GAO report says airlines will not voluntarily disclose fees unless compelled to do...