NCI: Leo King Fluor-Bombardier’s David Gedney, at the podium, tells the Florida High-Speed Rail Authority board members that the proposed catenary will cost about $3 million a mile to build. The board met on March 1 in Tallahassee.

If the Florida High-Speed Rail Authority gets its way – notwithstanding Gov. Jeb Bush (R) – an 84-mile, doubled-tracked route with seven interlockings about 15 miles apart, and with 25,000 volts in a catenary line, will extend from Tampa to Orlando.

A major roadblock is Bush, who opposes high-speed rail. Meanwhile, several Republican and Democratic legislators have introduced measures that will repeal a Constitutional amendment that mandated construction in the first place. Late last week, Bush and the state’s chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher, said they will lead a petition drive to give voters a chance to repeal a constitutional amendment approved in 2000 for a high speed rail system (See separate story, below).

Like many governmental plans, wheels turn very slowly to get a job done, including this 30-year, turnkey project.

At its March 1 meeting in the state capital, the Florida High-speed Rail Authority got its first look at a proposed double-track layout from Tampa to Orlando. The 84-mile route “will cost about $3 million a mile” for any electrification infrastructure, estimated Flour-Bombardier consortium planner David Gedney. That works out to about $252 million, but the final number won’t be known until the specifications are completed and the final contract is ready to be signed. The first leg of the project, including all trackwork from Orlando to Tampa, is estimated to cost $2.6 billion.

Flour-Bombardier’s Mitchell Lester told the board members the planners divided the work into two parts – “to provide the double-tracking for sure, but also to provide the appropriate spacing, the clearances, for electrification.”

“Wayside technology remains unchanged,” which would include signaling and cab signals, except now it would be designed for two tracks instead of one.

“Signaling, communications, fare collection and central control will be configured as originally proposed” for a single-track line.

“Additional quantities of wayside equipment have been increased, such as hot box detectors, track dragging detection equipment, switch machines and electrical connections” to support two tracks, according to the letter.

Track would be standard gauge with 136-pound rail “on concrete ties with a Pandrol fastening system.” Also, “12 inches of ballast will lie under the tracks, and 8 inches of sub-ballast.”

As currently configured, all the switches are either No. 10 or No. 15, which would allow a maximum speed of 30 mph when crossing from one track to another.

Still undecided – and the board will have to make the choice – is the catenary pole style. A pole system running between the tracks potentially leads to numerous safety issues. Separate pole lines outside the tracks would make for easier maintenance, and if a mishap should occur and the catenary falls, it would be more likely the other track would still be operable.

Fluor-Bombardier Fluor-Bombardier is proposing a double-tracked and electrified plan over 84 route miles from Tampa to Orlando after Florida’s High-speed Rail Authority asked the builder to redesign a single-track line. Bombardier won the contract last year. Eventually the line will continue to Miami, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and other major cities around the state. The trains are expected to operate at 125 mph at the start.

The board selected the Interstate 4 alignment for its route between the city pairs, the so-called Greeneway route, which the board selected on October 27. The board has not yet determined if the route will be within the median or outside, but in any event, the trains will make a stop at Disney World as well as Lakeland.

Milepost 0.0 would be at Tampa, another at Lakeland (MP 27.0), Disney (MP 76.0) and Orlando (MP 84). The principal maintenance facility would be located a few miles west of Orlando. Eventually, the route will extend to Miami, then northward to Jacksonville, and westward to Tallahassee and other places.

Shortly after Flour-Bombardier got the design and build contract, the board redefined what they wanted to see – a double-tracked route and catenary. They want to see electric trains rather than the turbine engine-driven locomotives. Any trains will operate at 125 mph at startup. The principal consideration is atmospheric pollution.

Adrian Share, representing HNTB Consultants of Kansas City, the authority’s principal consultants, said construction design could begin on July 1. If all the pieces fall into place, including state funding, it would take a year to complete the engineering work. Actual “hard construction” would begin sometime after that.

Staffers from the authority’s contract committee has been discussing the project with the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and Walt Disney World, Share said, and those negotiations are continuing.

NCI: File Acela clones could operate in Florida.

“We’re contemplating a three-party agreement,” Share said, “between the authority, Bombardier and Walt Disney World.” It would include “Right-of-way, in terms of the station, and how we get to and from the station. Beyond just the transportation needs, what kind of station, parking, etc., would we have?” Share added they were also concerned with ridership support. He referred to a letter from the Disney Corp. to the authority in which Disney said it had committed to abandoning their bus service from Orange international Airport to Walt Disney World when the project begins. “Neither side had thought of before was how the issue of transportation to and from the station to their final destination was going to be addressed. That is currently a topic of major discussion.” Another consideration is “seamless baggage service,” he added, or how that “will be handled between the airport and getting to the final destination.” Promotion plans from both Bombardier and Disney are also on the table, he said. He noted the talks “are right where they should be at this stage.” Disney has offered to donate the required land for the station at Disney World. The board has not yet looked at any alternate sites, although some may be available that are near Disney property. Board treasurer Lee Chira, from Orlando, opined the authority is “committed to pursue the Disney activity, until we get a point of departure with Disney.” He added, “Looking at an alternative at this point throws a bad light on the negotiations with Disney.” Share said about 75 to 80 percent of the right-of-way is on public property. Flour-Bombardier expects to send its final environmental impact statement to the FRA this week for review. Return to index

A key player in getting high-speed rail on the ballot four years ago was C.C. “Doc” Dockery, who was appointed by former Senate President John McKay. He was also the author of the Florida High-Speed Rail Constitutional Amendment.

Dockery told D:F in the City of Tallahassee city council chambers at 300 South Adams St., where the board meeting took place, that Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is still opposed to high-speed rail.

There’s “no change in his position. He has been adamant all his life. He just doesn’t like rail.” Dockery said he doesn’t know why Bush is so opposed to the transportation method.

Bush has said repeatedly the state can’t afford it, despite financial evidence Florida did very well during the recent national downturn in revenues. In January, the state earned a significant amount in tax receipts – more than it ever has, according to one source.

In his state-of-the-state address the next day, Bush made no mention of high-speed rail. His 30-minute speech was positive, with much of it dealing with education and health care. It was also the day the state legislature convened its 2004 session.

According to the state Constitutional mandate, construction should have already begun.

“I think he violated the Constitution and his oath of office to uphold, support and defend the Constitution,” Dockery added.

The amendment’s language is clear:

“The legislature, the cabinet and the governor are hereby directed to proceed with the development of such a system by the state and/or by a private entity pursuant to state approval and authorization, including the acquisition of right-of-way, the financing of design and construction of the system, and the operation of the system, as provided by specific appropriation and by law, with construction to begin on or before November 1, 2003.”

Bush has blocked the plan at ever turn. Two new bills, one in the House and the other in the Senate, seek to send the question back to the voters in November to repeal the fast train amendment.

House bill (H.0003) was introduced by Rep. Bob Allen (R) and cosponsored by Reps. Susan Bucher (D), Carl Domino (R), Jim Kallinger (R) and Yolly Roberson (D), but it was “released from committee” on March 3 (at 5:05 p.m.) – so will never come to a vote because it cannot be reported out of the committee. Sen. Ron Klein (D) put the Senate bill into the hopper. Both bills have been sent to various committees in each body.

Dockery’s wife, Paula, is a first-term state senator (R) from the state’s 15^th district. They live in Lakeland, about 35 miles east of Tampa.

“She has introduced most of our legislation as a sponsor or cosponsor since she’s been in the Senate, and was very active in the House along with others as cosponsor,” said “Doc.” The senator formerly served as a Representative from Florida’s 25^th House district.

The two bills she has introduced so far relate to tax exemptions. They state that the high-speed rail act provides that a tax exemption given to the authority “does not apply to income, sales, or other taxable transactions” in reference to associated development.

She and Rep. Dennis Ross (R) have introduced identical bills in each body that would specify that “contractors entering into specified contracts with the authority “must provide performance and payment bond “in an amount to be determined by the authority.” It also “provides requirements” referring to the surety bonds, and that surety bonds for building the system “shall be governed by specified provisions.”

The Senate bill went to four committees on February 17, including the Appropriations Committee. Dockery sits on that committee.

The House version went to three House committees.

“If you send it to the people to vote on it again, and they again say build it, then you run the risk of having to spend more state money,” said state Rep. Dennis Ross on February 29.

“The private vendor has said he will build and operate the system for a certain amount because of the uncertainty of it being sent back to the voters, but if voters say ‘Yes’ again, then there is no leverage for the state, The Lakeland Ledger reported.

“The whole idea of high-speed rail is not to line someone’s pocket but to provide an alternative to transportation gridlock,” Ross said, “and we have never heard from the governor about relieving the gridlock in this state.”

The only Polk County delegation member who has not taken a tough stand on preventing a revote on the high-speed rail issue is Rep. Baxter Troutman, a Republican from Winter Haven.

“I don’t know yet whether I will vote to send the issue back to the voters or not,” Troutman said. “I want to hear arguments of both sides. I can see the benefit to the state (in having the mass-transportation system), but I can also see the cost factor as being a detriment.”

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and the state’s chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher, said on Thursday that they will lead a petition drive to give voters “a chance” to repeal a Constitutional amendment approved in 2000 for a high speed rail system.

The Associated Press reported from Tallahassee Gallagher will serve as chairman of “Derail the Bullet Train,” a group originally formed by Palm Beach County leaders to educate people about the project’s cost. It will take 488,000 voter signatures to get the proposal on the ballot.

“After evaluating recent reports and the potential impact on the state’s treasury, I believe implementing a project of this magnitude will come at a great cost to Florida taxpayers and negatively impact the current and ongoing transportation needs of our state,” Gallagher said.

The first leg of the project, connecting Orlando and Tampa, is estimated to cost $2.6 billion. The second phase would connect Orlando with Miami and cost billions more.

Bush has been pushing bills in the House and Senate to get the proposal on the ballot in November, but lawmakers have been recalcitrant. On Wednesday, a House transportation subcommittee derailed one of those attempts.

“I can’t find a single person beyond those with the contracts... who say Florida will suffer if we don’t have high speed rail,” Bush said. “It is something that would be nice to have. It’s a luxury item, but it’s certainly not a priority.”

Bush has fought the state’s participation on a high-speed train from nearly his first day in office, saying the state can’t afford it. One of his first acts as governor in 1999 was to kill a similar $6.3 billion project called Florida Overland EXpress (FOX), which would have linked Miami, Orlando and Tampa with a high speed train.

The Florida Transportation Commission said in February that the train would not alleviate traffic congestion and its cost would force the state to eliminate other transportation projects.

“With no guarantee of federal funding and a lack of funding from the private sector, Florida taxpayers are facing a $150 million price tag annually for the next 30 years just to build the first rail segment,” Gallagher said.

Sen. Ron Klein (D), Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson and David Goodstein originally formed “Derail the Bullet Train,”

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said March 3 during a Congressional hearing that USDOT’s 2005 budget request “makes the right investments needed to fund key transportation priorities and keep the economy moving.”

Mineta testified in support of Bush’s $58.7 billion budget request for the DOT before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies.

The Secretary told the panel that the budget request addresses the nation’s transportation priorities, demonstrates fiscal responsibility and proposes needed reforms.

He said the fiscal 2005 budget request includes funds for highway, transit and safety programs “in line with the President’s fiscally responsible surface transportation proposal, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act, or SAFETEA.”

The Administration has proposed a package of reforms that, in its view, would “help Amtrak better serve travelers, create partnerships with states to invest in regional rail service and focus on operations. The proposal links reforms to an increase in funding, offering to boost the current $900 million request to $1.4 billion annually from 2006 to 2009 if those reforms are instituted.”

The proposed budget also requests $14 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration, including $6 billion for new runways, air traffic control towers and technology to keep planes safe and on time.

The budget proposal includes reforms for the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which has seen a decline in passengers the past several years. The program pays airlines to fly to communities that they might not otherwise serve.

Georgia House Speaker Terry Coleman wants to sign a contract with Amtrak to jump-start the state’s slow-moving plans to launch a commuter rail line to Middle Georgia.

Coleman and fellow House Democrats also plan to put $5 million in next year’s state budget to provide operating costs for the rail line. The Georgia DOT has $106 million on hand to buy rail cars and equipment and to upgrade tracks – but needs a firm commitment from the state to fund the line’s operations once it’s up and running.

A majority of members of the House Democratic leadership, the Macon Telegraph reported last week, are from South and Middle Georgia and are eager to launch commuter-rail service from Atlanta to Macon, some 75 miles, as soon as possible. Coleman, who is from Eastman, has tried to bring passenger rail to Middle Georgia for years.

“We’re trying to get the train to Macon as quickly as we can,” Rep. Hinson Mosley (D) said March 3.

In a meeting last Wednesday with Amtrak executives, Democratic lawmakers and state transportation officials, Coleman expressed frustration with the DOT for moving too slowly on passenger rail, for limiting the scope of initial plans to Lovejoy in southern Clayton County, and for ignoring the legislature in the planning process.

Specifically, the DOT earlier this year asked Gov. Sonny Perdue for a commitment of up to $4 million a year for operating a rail line to Lovejoy. Perdue has not yet responded to the request.

“You’ll sit here till hell freezes over waiting for the governor to write you a check,” Coleman said Wednesday. “The governor doesn’t appropriate money in this state, the legislature does. If you don’t get your act together, something is going to change.”

Amtrak, Coleman believes, would not only help speed the process of getting passenger-rail service started but would also help Georgia leverage desperately needed federal dollars.

“I trust Amtrak to tell us what we need to do,” Coleman said. “Up to now, the negotiations (with Norfolk Southern) have been held in secret, and no one has ever told us anything or given us a long-range plan.”

Norfolk Southern Corp. owns the two rail lines between Atlanta and Macon and has been negotiating to either lease or sell one of the lines to the state for passenger-rail service.

Plans call for the trains to run about every half-hour and make the trip from Atlanta to Lovejoy in about 46 minutes. The trains probably would travel about 60 mph between Atlanta and Lovejoy, making stops in East Point, Forest Park, Morrow and Jonesboro.

Wednesday’s discussion also touched on how much it would cost to upgrade the tracks so trains could travel 80 mph between Atlanta and Macon. Mallery said running trains at that speed could mean an additional $100 million in construction costs.

Coleman has the backing of numerous Democratic legislators from south of Atlanta who want the trains to go farther south than Lovejoy and to travel faster. The best way to do that, these lawmakers say, is to start running the trains all the way to Macon first, not Lovejoy.

“If the train is just to Lovejoy, it’s seen as just another Atlanta project,” said Rep. Tommy Smith (D), chairman of the House State Planning and Community Affairs Committee. “If you put Macon on the table, it generates a lot more interest in the legislature.”

Terms of a state contract with Amtrak have not yet been determined or disclosed.

The $5 million is no sure thing, because the state Senate could remove the money from the 2005 budget, and Perdue could also veto it.

Other lawmakers who live along the rail line are also awaiting official state approval to get started on rail. Rep. Mike Barnes (D) said he has a commitment from cities in Clayton County to provide some financial assistance to passenger rail’s operating needs.

“What I want to do is get the train running and not delay it in any way,” Barnes said.

The Economic Development Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will add $5 million to the fiscal 2005 budget in the next two weeks, said Barnes, who is chairman of that committee. The source of those funds, whether from the general fund or from bonds, is yet to be determined, he said.

Amtrak would initially be hired to provide consulting to state transportation planners, but Amtrak could eventually be hired to run the state’s commuter rail line, as it does in Maine, the Pacific Northwest and other locations, said Gil Mallery, Amtrak’s Washington-based vice-president of strategic planning and contract administration.

“There are a lot of people in Georgia who want to get something down on this now,” said Mallery, who was in Atlanta on Wednesday to meet with Coleman.

DOT board member Emory McClinton said a subcommittee he chairs meets this week and will explore signing a contract with Amtrak. State Transportation board members are selected by the legislature, so Coleman and House Democrats have a great deal of leverage to force the DOT’s hand to hire Amtrak.

“We’ve had meetings with Amtrak, and we’re ready to sign a contract,” Smith said.

However, state transportation officials warned that hiring Amtrak could throw a wrench in the system. They said that plans floated in December by DOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl could be jeopardized right at the point they are about to be implemented.

“We’re about to interrupt this process as it’s about to give birth,” said Steve Roberts, a private rail consultant who has helped the state develop plans for a commuter-rail network.

Via’s Pelletier fired for remarks

Canada sacked the head of its passenger rail network after he insulted an Olympic star who said she was fired from the company for questioning inflated invoices billed to the government.

Jean Pelletier, the chairman of VIA Rail, became the second high-profile casualty of a major scandal, which centers on $75 million (C$100) in government funds diverted from a sponsorship program to companies closely linked to the ruling Liberals, Reuters reported March 2.

Prime Minister Paul Martin has already sacked the former federal minister who was in charge of the program. Pelletier was already under fire for the role Via Rail and other semi-autonomous government-owned Crown corporations, which report to Ottawa, played in the scandal.

He lost his job after he said last week that double gold medalist Myriam Bedard was “a poor girl who was pitiful” after she said the rail service fired her for questioning what she said were clear improprieties at the firm.

“It is completely inappropriate for the chairman of a Crown corporation to make comments of this nature about someone identifying wrongdoing in the workplace,” Transport Minister Tony Valeri said in a statement announcing Pelletier’s immediate dismissal.

The scandal, and the amount of money that was apparently wasted, hit the government’s opinion poll ratings, prompting talk that Martin might have to delay a spring election aimed to give himself a mandate to govern.

The scale of the wrongdoing became clear when an official report into the sponsorship program was released on February 10. It said Via Rail, Canada Post and the Business Development Bank had been involved in dubious payments, which enabled money to be siphoned off to Liberal-friendly firms.

Martin, who canceled the sponsorship program just after he took office, immediately fired ambassador to Denmark Alfonso Gagliano, a close Chretien friend who had overseen the program as Public Works Minister.

Last week VIA Rail president Marc LeFrancois was suspended without pay and given until the end of Monday to explain why he should not be punished further.

VIA Rail Canada said on Friday service will continue between Sarnia and Toronto effective April 23. Amtrak’s International will stop operating between Chicago and Toronto on April 22.

A VIA press release stated two daily trains will operate to and from Sarnia and Toronto via London and Kitchener.

Beginning April 23 VIA train No. 88 will originate in Sarnia, departing at 7:25 p.m. and arrive in Toronto at 11:27 p.m.

Beginning April 24, No. 85 will depart Toronto at 6:35 a.m. and arrive in Sarnia at 11:05 a.m. The trains will stop in Brampton, Georgetown, Guelph, Kitchener, Stratford, St-Mary’s, London, Strathroy and Wyoming, VIA said.

Boston’s North Station may close
for Dems convention: security

Citing security concerns, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials want to shut down North Station to all commuter rail and subway traffic during the Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter.

The move would force North Station’s 25,000 weekday rail commuters to change trains north of the city and connect with subways or buses, according to officials from four agencies and organizations involved in planning the convention, which takes place July 26 to 29. The Boston Globe reported on March 3 Subway trains would bypass North Station stops on the Green and Orange lines, they said.

There is also a possibility that Interstate 93 – which runs just feet from the FleetCenter – will be closed, a move that would generate more commuting headaches.

“Convention organizers had considered a plan for building temporary platforms for commuter trains a few hundred yards north of the station, but that proposal would have cost at least $1 million, and possibly twice that, the officials said.

A Bostonian opined to D:F, “It would cripple the city and surrounding townships. Many businesses might as well close for the week if that happens. I don't think they will do that unless there is a specific threat. Kerry could literally roll out of bed to get there.”

The “T” was hoping to get the Green Line elevated section at North Station removed by then but announced recently that this will not happen in time for the convention.

The new Green Line still under construction remains underground and parallels the platform at North Station for the Orange line. It then crosses into and under the Fleet Center (built at the time the Fleet was built), and there will be a loop track to turn trains. From there, a new elevated line will emerge near Nashua Street and connect to the viaduct for Science Park and Lechmere stations.

The plan says that sometime between now and the Democratic Convention, the stations north of North Station will close for close to a year with Green line trolleys terminating at North station. They hope to have the loop track open by then or will use available crossovers to turn trains back. Buses will provide substitute service to Science Park and Lechmere. That's also when the old elevated will come down and the new one built and hooked up.

Lechmere Station itself will eventually move to the MBTA rail yard or adjacent to it and the line will be extended to Medford. Proposed plans suggest running along the Lowell line ROW for a portion of the route. The route itself has not been finalized, but the plans are on the drawing boards.

The MBTA said last week it will start to “install a state of the art automated train operating system on the Orange Line from Chinatown to Oak Grove” on March 28. Primary contractors are J.F. White Contracting Co. and SYSTRA Consulting Inc.

The existing signal system on the subway-light rail line from Haymarket to Oak Grove is about 25 years old.

The four -year project “will include new switch machines, train stop devices, track circuits, signal rooms and cabling, and will be compatible with the existing signal system on the Southwest Corridor (Orange Line-South),” the MBTA’s Joe Pesaturo said.

Single-track operations between Haymarket and Sullivan stations as well as bus replacement service during off-peak hours between Sullivan and Oak Grove stations will be required.

For some eight months, “MBTA contractors will be allowed early access to the Orange Line Sunday evening through Thursday evening from 9:00 p.m. through the end of service each night. During that time, buses will be available to transport customers between Sullivan and Oak Grove stations,” Pesaturo said.

66 percent of Minnesotans support Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s (R) request for $37.5 million in state bonding for Northstar Commuter Rail, according to a statewide survey released March 1 from Anoka.

The poll, conducted February 19-25 by Decision Resources, Ltd. of Minneapolis, showed that support for the Northstar proposal exceeds 60 percent among all major demographic, geographic and ideological categories.

“Minnesotans clearly believe that Northstar is a good investment and an important step in addressing the transportation needs of our entire state,” said Northstar Corridor Development Authority Chair Duane Grandy.

“People throughout Minnesota appreciate the benefits Northstar will offer to families looking for options in this fast-growing area of the state and they see how Northstar will contribute to a regional transportation system that can support our economic growth.”

Other findings showed 59 percent of Minnesotans believe highway congestion is getting worse in their area, and 82 percent believe improvements in the transportation system will be necessary in the next ten years to support economic growth, with 73 percent of those respondents saying that transit needs to be part of the transportation solution.

By a margin of 58 to 38 percent, Minnesotans think the state will need to raise new revenue to fund improvements in highways and transit.

“These results demonstrate that the Northstar commuter rail project has evolved from a regional to a statewide issue,” said Bill Morris, President of Decision Resources, Ltd. and the survey’s author.

“It is very impressive when over 60 percent of respondents in each geographical region of the state support state funding for a project such as Northstar.”

“These results convince me that Governor Pawlenty, state legislators and the NCDA are supporting a good project that will benefit not only the people of the Northstar Corridor, but the entire state,” added Grandy.

Decision Resources, Ltd., questioned 600 Minnesotans by telephone survey of the attitudes of residents from across the State of Minnesota, Morris said.

CN Fewer CN trains are rolling as a strike enters a third week. Before the strike began a coal train passed through Messiter, B.C.

CN strike enters third week The strike by 5,000 mechanics, sales clerk and intermodal yard employees at Canadian National began its third week on Friday. CN and the Canadian Auto Workers union resumed contract talks on Friday, but a settlement does not appear to be in sight. The employees went on strike on February 20 after rejecting a proposed 3 percent annual pay increase. Container traffic at Canadian National Ry. Co. dropped 26 percent last week from the week before because of a strike by nearly a quarter of its employees, but overall traffic was down just 3 percent, the company said on Thursday. CN said the sharp drop in container traffic was cushioned by a 4 percent increase in carload shipments such as grain, forest products or metals and minerals. Company figures show a 14 percent drop in overall freight traffic last week from the year-earlier period after a 9 percent year-on-year slide in the previous week. The strike, the longest at CN in more than 15 years, has thinned movements of railcars along Canada’s biggest railway, but company officials refused to comment on the impact the strike was having on its revenues and profit. Some analysts say the extra costs caused by the strike have more than wiped out savings from unpaid wages. Deutsche Bank Securities analyst John Barnes said last week the strike could cut CN’s first quarter profit by up to 10 percent. Analysts expect CN profit to increase 14 percent in the first quarter to 58 cents per share, according to Reuters Research. The strike is having an impact on major clients such as the Canadian Wheat Board, the biggest seller of wheat worldwide, which has complained of minor delays in deliveries, and in the forestry sector where CN is North America’s biggest hauler of timber products. “It requires some adjustments and extra work, but it’s a period of the year where we are always fighting to get more railcars,” said a spokesman for forest products company Tembec, Inc. Lumber prices have risen 5 percent since the strike began, in part because of concerns of a railcar shortage, JP Morgan analyst Claudia Shank said in a research note last week. She said the pulp market could also be hit because CN transports up to 95 percent of pulp in some parts of Eastern Canada. “There is a risk of truck shortages as demand increases, particularly given the large volume of commodities that need to be transported,” she said.

“We don’t see a big impact, but everybody is running after the same thing,” a spokesman for Abitibi said.

CN’s network, which is ranked as the most efficient North American railway, stretches across Canada and down through the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Its U.S. workers are not on strike.

The union has said it would not submit new proposals to its members unless the company rolls back its new discipline system. Workers say the new rules bring “military discipline” to the workplace, union negotiator Abe Rosner said. The union is also seeking improvements in the pension plan, social benefits and shift premiums.

Union Pacific Corp. said on March 1 first-quarter earnings will fall short of forecasts because of a negative court ruling and bad weather early in the quarter that hampered operations and added to costs.

High fuel costs and crew shortages have also hurt results, it stated on March 1, Reuters reported.

Initially, the company estimated that first-quarter earnings would rise 30 percent to 40 percent from the 57 cents per share from continuing operations in the first quarter of 2003.

Analysts had been forecasting 78 cents a share, according to the Reuters Research unit of Reuters Group, Plc.

UP, whose lines run through the western U.S., said in a press release that an Arkansas Supreme Court decision upholding a judgment against the company in a 1998 grade-crossing accident would knock down quarterly earnings by 8 cents a share.

“The quarter has also been plagued with severe winter weather, continuing high fuel costs and lingering crew shortages, primarily in the western region of our railroad,” CEO Dick Davidson said. “These factors have impacted both revenue and operating costs.”

The freight railroad made no earnings forecast, but said it hoped its businesses would bounce back in March, which is typically the key month for the railroad during the first part of the year.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said UP’s announcement “has no impact on its ratings or outlook on Union Pacific.” S&P rates UP as “BBB/Positive/A-2.”

S&P stated it “still expects Union Pacific’s operating performance to improve over the near to intermediate term as crew levels are optimized and revenues benefit from the improving economy. However, the improvement may take longer to achieve than previously expected, and could delay a potential upgrade of the ratings.”

Performance improvements achieved in 2003 are driving business growth and shareholder value, says Norfolk Southern Corp. boss David R. Goode. He cited the railroad's performance in a letter to stockholders in the 2003 annual report.

A lot of progress has been made, with more to come,” said the CEO. “We clearly are ready to grow now that the economy is improving and demand for our transportation is increasing.”

Morgan Stanley brokerage house said on Friday it increased its NS rating to “equal weight.”

The increased demand “comes at an ideal time, because we have a system second to none and a lean, tested and experienced group of Norfolk Southern people ready to serve our customers.

“This combination of factors has every prospect of enabling our success, as long as we perform at the levels we know we can. I have every confidence the Thoroughbred will continue to respond.”

Goode said the rail transportation industry “is showing stability and strength, I believe the best in many years. It has enormous potential to grow and be an even greater piece of the fabric that makes our economy strong.”

U.S. rail carload traffic rose 38,149 carloads (3.0 percent) while intermodal volume rose 47,808 trailers and containers (6.6 percent) in February 2004 compared with February 2003, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Thursday.

Thirteen of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in February 2004. The 3.0 percentage point increase was the largest monthly year-over-year increase for U.S. railroads since October 1998.

Commodities showing traffic gains on U.S. railroads in February 2004 included coal (up 9,870 carloads, or 2.0 percent); crushed stone, sand, and gravel (up 8,833 carloads, or 13.9 percent); coke (up 6,551 carloads, or 41.0 percent); and grain (up 5,880 carloads, or 7.0 percent). Carloads of waste and scrap materials, consisting predominantly of scrap metal and paper, were up 4,351 carloads (12.3 percent). On the down side, carloads of metallic ores were off 5,654 carloads (13.0 percent) and motor vehicles and equipment were down 1,020 carloads (1.0 percent).

For the first two months of 2004, total U.S. rail carloads were up 69,683 carloads (2.7 percent), as year-over-year increases in crushed stone, sand, and gravel (up 15,857 carloads, or 12.5 percent); grain (up 15,049 carloads, or 8.8 percent); and coke (up 11,824 carloads, or 35.6 percent) offset declines in motor vehicles and equipment (down 13,112 carloads, or 6.7 percent) and metallic ores (down 10,194 carloads, or 10.9 percent). Total volume was estimated at 233.6 billion ton-miles, up 4.1 percent from 2003’s first eight weeks.

“Grain, chemicals, forest products, metal products, nonmetallic minerals, waste and scrap – these and other commodities across the industry spectrum saw rail traffic increases in February and support the increasingly popular view that a broad economic expansion may be unfolding,” noted AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey.

U.S. intermodal traffic, which consists of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not included in carload figures, was up 87,915 trailers and containers (6.0 percent) for the first two months of 2004. “Railroads have become much more nimble at adapting to market requirements — and the continued growth of frequent, reliable, speedy, high-service intermodal proves they are accomplishing this objective,” Rockey remarked.

Canadian rail carload traffic was up 11,441 carloads (4.6 percent) in February 2004 and up 19,003 carloads (3.9 percent) for the year to date. Carloads of grain in Canada were up 6,693 carloads (27.3 percent) in February 2004 and up 13,578 carloads (26.9 percent) for the first two months of the year; carloads of metallic ores were up 2,811 carloads (30.7 percent) for the month and up 5,219 carloads (29.7 percent) for the year to date. Canadian intermodal traffic was down 3,468 units (2.2 percent) in February 2004 compared with February 2003 and down 6,819 units (2.1 percent) for the first two months of 2004.

Carloads originated on Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM), a major Mexican railroad, were down 3,305 carloads (9.3 percent) in February, while intermodal originations were down 162 trailers and containers (1.1 percent). For the first two months of 2004, TFM carloadings were down 6,964 carloads (9.8 percent), while intermodal traffic was down 3,228 units (10.9 percent).

For just the week ended February 28, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 341,427 carloads, up 8.1 percent from the corresponding week in 2003, with loadings up 7.0 percent in the East and up 9.1 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 198,283 trailers and containers, up 9.3 percent; and total volume of an estimated 30.7 billion ton-miles, up 10.0 percent from the equivalent week last year.

For Canadian railroads during the week ended February 28, the AAR reported volume of 68,449 carloads, up 9.1 percent from last year; and 35,035 trailers and containers, down 14.9 percent from the corresponding week in 2003.

Combined cumulative volume for the first eight weeks of 2003 on 15 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 3,122,118 carloads, up 2.9 percent (88,686 carloads) from last year; and 1,871,042 trailers and containers, up 4.5 percent (81,096 trailers and containers) from 2003's first eight weeks.

French rails ‘hostage to unions’

The French railway system, long the envy of British travelers, is badly maintained, deeply in the red and a hostage to self-interested trade unions, says a book published March4 in Paris.

SNCF: La Machine Infernale, written by three investigative journalists, paints a sorry picture of what many tourists consider the most obvious triumph of the French public sector, according to The London Daily Telegraph.

French railways, the authors argue, survive only because of £7 billion annual taxpayer subsidies and politicians terrified of confronting a deeply rotten system.

Their main thesis is that France’s railways are now moving at two speeds. First, there is the TGV network, which carried its billionth passenger last year. These high-speed trains are the only profitable arm of SNCF. Politicians jostle to have new lines laid to their towns and regions. In December, with the forthcoming regional elections in mind, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the prime minister, promised six new TGV lines – but behind the glittering facade of the TGV is the rest of the train network, notably the Transilien, which serves the Ile de France, carrying commuters in and out of Paris.

About 2.2 million passengers use this service daily, two thirds of all those who use the railways. Unlike the lavishly funded TGV network, the Transilien suffers from aging tracks, faulty signaling and vandalism.

Official SNCF figures state that 90.5 per cent of Transilien trains operate within five minutes of their schedule. A consumer magazine, Que Choisir, said recently that only 56 per cent were on time. The capital’s main newspaper, Le Parisien, frequently rants about the suburban service, its tardiness and assaults on passengers.

Eurostar, the authors claim, is now similarly recognized by SNCF as a disaster. One of the company’s executives is quoted as saying, “Eurostar was a huge mistake, but closing it would wipe out the shareholders of Eurotunnel, would be absurd in terms of jobs and chucking out 27 tracks built at a cost of £34 million each.”

The last time a government tried to reform trains was in 1995. In response, the unionized workers’ imprisoned SNCF bureaucrats in their offices for days without even access to lavatories. When the government caved in, the hostage-takers were not disciplined for fear of another strike. The authors estimate the government’s contribution to SNCF, via subsidies and pension contributions for its 180,000 employees, at roughly £125 per citizen.

Philippe Essig, head of SNCF during the 1980s, is quoted as saying, “The politicians have never told the French, ‘The TGV is a very nice toy, but it’s expensive.’

“So, the French think that it’s their right, like baguettes and the minimum wage.” One of the reasons given by the authors for the failure of the French press to report on SNCF’s troubles is that each year the company gives more than 300 discount cards for journalists and their families to use on private trips. Civil servants were also reluctant to find fault with SNCF as 50,000 of them traveled on reduced fares.

In 1997, the government tried to help SNCF by hiving off its £16.7 billion accumulated debt into a separate state company, the Reseau Ferre de France, which would look after rail infrastructure – but burdened with interest payments, the RFF can afford to maintain only half of all France’s railways, letting the rest go to ruin.

The 35-hour week has also caused havoc. An SNCF executive said, “Many trains leave late simply because there is no one to drive them.”

There is also the problem of many workers taking holidays in the summer when the trains are at their busiest.

Reuters reported a yard last week that came from Donetsk, Ukraine. It seems thieves stole what Ukrainians say is the former Soviet state’s oldest locomotive for metal scrap after tricking guards at a museum in eastern Ukraine, local police said March 1.

A police spokesman in Ukraine’s industrial city of Donetsk said the thieves used forged documents to convince guards at the industry museum that the engine had to be moved.

They probably used a crane to move the locomotive, which dated back to 1924, and then cut it into pieces to sell it as scrap metal.

“The metal was found in a scrap yard outside the city,” he said, adding there was little chance of putting it back together. Stealing parts of bridges, electrical cables and manhole covers to sell as scrap metal is common in Ukraine, where poverty is widespread. About a quarter of its 48 million people live below the poverty line, officials say.

NJT: Rob Edwards Industrial designer Cesar Vergara designed the benches inside NJT’s Secaucus Transfer.

Secaucus gets world-class benches By Leo King Editor Art plays a role not only in station architecture, but also inside them. If you have had occasion to travel though the new New Jersey Transit Secaucus Transfer station, you’ve probably noticed those well-designed benches sprinkled around the waiting room. Perhaps you've even sat upon one ‘ after all, that's why they’re there. Industrial designer Cesar Vergara designed those benches. The former NJT chief designer told D:F the benches are “the mother of all benches.” Vergara is a world-class designer. Most recently his work was on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City. The show was the National Design Triennial, showing the most cutting-edge work being done in the nation in all areas of design. His work was also on display in 2000 in the Art institute of Chicago’s Great trains and splendid stations. Now, he works for Jacobs Engineering, Inc. in Manhattan. He is also the fellow who received five Brunel awards for work that he and his team performed for Amtrak a few years ago “in everything from fabrics to diners to locomotives.” He earned a presidential design achievement award for his work on the GE Genesis engine (P-40s, P-42s). “The criteria provided for the design of the bench, is that it had to be lasting, comfortable and complement the particular architectural style of the Station, He explained last Thursday. “I used the ‘X’ theme which is prevalent in the areas just below the skylights, (as recommended by people close to the project) in the rotunda. The color of the metal is also based on the station’s metal work.” He recollected Jason’s Sheet metal of Cinnaminson, N.J. fabricated them, and The Wood Shop in Malvern Pa. fabricated the oak benches. “There are two versions – a 10-foot style and an 8-foot long. The eight-footers only have three ‘Xs’ in the backrest vs. the 10-footer, which have four.” Vergara said the “X” opening in the backrest “serves several functions, to make the bench lighter on top so it has a lower center of gravity, to allow station personnel to see if anyone or any object occupies the bench, even from the back, and, to give it ‘gestalt.’ A couple of dozen were made. So how long did it take to design these pieces or art?

Cesar Vergara

“The bench took one afternoon and evening to design. I sketched it and mocked it up in foam core, just one end and a foot of the woodwork. Based on that. Jason had a mechanical designer put together a drawing – and presto! It is like the old saying, it took me 30 years and 5 hours to design it: 30 years to learn how to and 5 hours to do it.” Are they comfy? “The ergonomics of the bench make it very comfortable; not to give away all the secrets, let’s just say that it was tested for 102 years.” There is another philosophy, too. “The bench is a tribute to all those who need a place to sit while waiting for a train. I hope it inspires nice thoughts and gives a sense of permanency and well-being to those who use or see it. It was designed and made for the most important person in the system, the passenger.” Like others before him, like Otto Kuhler, for example, Vergara is making lasting impressions. “The only true test of the quality of a rail designer is the timelessness of the work. For example, the Genesis, much maligned by many, quietly took its place as a type form of American railroading, and it does not reek of any era. it is dignified and it withstands even the new Amtrak scheme, which does not fit or compliment it.”

“He quipped, ‘I hear that you only want to win awards.”

“It’s like this,’ I told him, ‘A designer is like the quarterback in a football team, and the coach tells him, “I hear you only want to score against the other team...’”

“Now, which part of winning the game don’t you like?”

He also observed “Awards are recognition by your peers that your work is better than others around the world. We have to be mature in America on this rail design subject. It is not small. It is huge, given that if the people like the look and function (the industrial design) of a proposed system, they vote in the referendums for it, and would use the system. I guess politicians just have not discovered this yet.”

How government works

I served as a member of the Amtrak board of directors from 1982 to 1987 and learned a great deal about how things get done in D.C. I refused to support the Reagan administration’s zero-funding policy in 1986, and was therefore not renominated for a second term.

From my experience, I would say it makes a difference what the President’s position is, as it guides all those who work for him – DOT, Treasury etc. – and should we elect John Kerry, those who are supportive of Amtrak will have a much better shot of arranging some meaningful long-term financing then in the current climate.

All else being equal, there’s no question in my mind that Kerry would be much more Amtrak friendly than the current crowd (and that’s from a lifetime Republican).

Unless and until we can get Amtrak’s source of funding changed from the current once-a-year “Go-up-on-the-Hill-and-beg” routine, I’m afraid that we’ll continue to wonder from year to year if this one’s the last.

A pro-Amtrak President could make the difference.

Just one man’s opinion.

Ross Rowland
Ringoes, N.J.

In last week’s Destination:Freedom, a story pointed out “Amtrak has taken delivery of its 20^th and final Acela train set – two locomotives and six cars – from its Canadian manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation, and now has 14 in service on a typical day. Four are usually out for inspection or service and two are usually held back as reserves.

Back when I worked for a major US airline in the mid 1990s, I was part of a team that managed the maintenance of a fleet of 44 B737-300s within a total fleet of approximately 110 aircraft at that airline at the time. The other aircraft were a mixture of other aircraft models and types.

The B737-300s (an aircraft designed in the early 1980s) flew about 10 hours (in the air) per day on the average, which means 16 to 18 hours daily in service, counting time sitting at the gate and taxiing for take-off or in from landing.

At that airline, the B737-300 averaged about eight flights per day. Of the fleet of 44 B737-300 aircraft we had, at any given time two aircraft were usually out of service for scheduled “C-check,” a maintenance and inspection check which takes from five to seven days to complete, and is done on the average annually per airplane. In addition to that, we may have had one or two B737-300s out of service each day typically due to unscheduled maintenance, which usually consumed the average two "hot spare" B737-300s allocated or reserved to back-up the operation.

Otherwise, the aircraft had "A-checks" and "service checks," which are maintenance inspections accomplished during the late night hours when most of the fleet was not scheduled for flights, i.e. from about 12 midnight to 6 a.m.

I assume Acelas also do not run between midnight and 6:00 a.m. Based on that, it looks to me like big improvements could be made between Amtrak and the OEM to improve the availability of the Acela train sets.

So, making a comparison here, the B737-300 at my former airline employer typically had about 7-10 percent of the fleet out of service for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance at any given time – but Amtrak has nearly three times that amount of its Acela fleet out of service.

I would argue that your typical B737-300 is significantly more complex than the Acela train as far as systems and parts count are concerned, although this aircraft is considered mature and an industry workhorse these days.

In general, nearly all modern airliners such as MD-80s, MD-90s, A320s, A319s, B757s and B767s and several regional jet models from Embraer (Brazil) and Bombardier (Canada) have high availability and utilization rates at most airlines, which is similar to my experience with the B737-300. An airline, which had a fleet with the low availability rate of Amtrak’s Acela, would soon find itself in severe financial trouble.

Maybe it’s time for Bombardier's train division and Amtrak to study airline maintenance practices and Bombardier's successful aircraft division.

David Beale
Haste, Germany

The writer is an American jet engine mechanic based in Germany. He travels worldwide to repair engines, and is also knowledgeable about rail issues. Two Acela Express trains begin their journeys in the early morning. No. 2103 departs at 6:00 a.m. weekdays from New York City to Washington, and No. 2150 leaves Washington at 5:00 a.m. enroute to Boston. Westward 2175 arrives in Washington at 11:50 p.m. – Ed.

Dear Editor:

Nice issue (March 1), but you are running an error in the lead of the Racine, Wis., story. Racine is not “now a Metra station.” As the story explains farther on, Wisconsin is planning to bring Metra service farther north, but it hasn’t reached Racine yet. The trains still terminate 10 miles south at Kenosha, my hometown.

Last I heard, the timetable for these developments is very “iffy.” A lot of folks in Wisconsin don’t yet understand they will have to pay for Metra service. Even professional transportation people often do not understand that fares alone do not cover the trains’ costs and that a commuter railroad needs an operating subsidy just as highways and airports do. As far as I know, none of the Wisconsin jurisdictions asking for Metra service has passed a property-tax increase, a sales-tax increase, a gasoline-tax increase or any other kind of levy that would pay for commuter service.

The only reason these trains now serve Kenosha, Wis., is that there is no place between the last stop in Winthrop Harbor, Ill., and the Wisconsin state line, where the trains can be stored and serviced overnight. Historically, the Chicago & North Western Ry.’s Chicago suburban service terminated at Kenosha, and Metra has kept it there, partly because it has never built a northern layover yard in Illinois and partly to appease Kenosha commuters who consider their trains an entitlement.

Frederick K. Plous
Chicago

“Florida East Coast Industries, Inc. (FLA) (FECI) directors declared a quarterly dividend of 40 cents per share on all issued and outstanding common stock, payable on March 25 to all shareholders of record as of March 11.” I applaud your optimism, but the FEC dividend is 40 mills, each worth 1/10^th of a cent.

James F. Boylan
Fairless, Pa.

We went back to the FEC online site to discover our error. It should have been four cents per share.: “Florida East Coast Industries, Inc. (NYSE: FLA)(FECI) Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $.040 per share on all issued and outstanding common stock, payable on March 25, 2004 to all shareholders of record as of March 11, 2004.” Thanks for pointing out our decimal point error.