NCI: Leo King Providence & Worcester Railroad’s NR-2 passes New London Conn., station in 2002 under Amtrak’s catenary. The scene will be recreated on September 19 – except a P&W engine will be hauling a passenger train – when an inspection train travels to Norwich and Putnam, Conn., and return.

Former Amtrak Board Chair and Presidential Candidate Michael S. Dukakis will headline 2004’s national conference of the National Corridors Initiative, at New London, Conn., on September 18 and 19, as the National Corridors Initiative launches its most significant new transportation campaign since its 1989 founding, NCI President James RePass said today.

Co-sponsored by the Sierra Club of Connecticut, the New London Main Street and Rose City (Norwich) Renaissance programs of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and joined by Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell and Sen. Chris Dodd (both invited), Connecticut Senate President Donald E Williams, and Worcester Mayor Tim Murray, “TransPlan21,” a Transportation Plan for the 21^st Century, starts at 8:00 a.m. at the Radisson Hotel September 18, with a reception at the newly restored New London Union Station that evening.

On Sunday, September 19, an inspection train provided by Providence & Worcester Railroad will leave New London for Norwich and Putnam. Ceremonies in Putnam will call for the restoration of passenger rail service; also, NCI supports a major bridge-clearances project there and on the New England Central Railroad from New London to Willimantic, Storrs and Palmer to improve freight rail service, and between New London, Norwich, Putnam, and Worcester as part of NCI’s New England-wide demonstration project – a working part of TransPlan 21 – to change the way America funds transportation infrastructure.

“Right now, the gasoline tax goes into a highway trust fund that was created in 1956 to the build the interstate highways,” said NCI’s RePass in announcing the conference.

“Many states have constitutional restrictions on spending even their local gas tax on anything but highways. Well, we’ve built them, and then rebuilt them, and then widened them, all the while starving every other mode of ground transportation that might make economic and environmental sense for America, and balance our transportation system.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” said RePass.

“Highways are at the center of our transportation system. They knitted America together in the 20^th Century the way that the transcontinental railroad welded it together in the 19^th; but this is the 21^st Century, and we had better get our system into balance, or it will strangle our economy – and us. Highways are a great thing – but they can’t be the only thing.” Aside from Dukakis, Rell, and Dodd, conference speakers will include Connecticut Senate President Don Williams, Sierra Club Transportation Chair Molly McKay, Worcester Mayor Timothy Murray, and Former Rhode Island Governor’s Counsel William G. Brody, and Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Steve Williams.

Also speaking will be New London Union Station restorers Barbara Timken and Todd O’Donnell, Rep. Rob Simmons, former Massachusetts Rep. John Businger (who is also NCI Vice Chair), Connecticut State Sen. Bill Finch, Reebie Associates Principal Andreas Aeppli, Railway Age magazine Editor William Vantuono, Industrial Designer Cesar Vergara, and Putnam Mayor Dan Rovero (now recovering from heart trouble).

Federal agents will be screening Amtrak passengers’ checked baggage starting today, Amtrak said last Wednesday, and they will be looking for explosives at Penn Station during the Republican National Convention. The convention begins this morning at 10:30.

Passengers also will be required to put identification tags on all baggage, both checked and carry-on, Amtrak officials said.

The measures are intended to reduce the risk of attack at the station, which lies several stories below Madison Square Garden, the convention venue.

“It’s just an extra security precaution, considering the Republican National Convention is happening so close to Penn Station,” Amtrak spokeswoman Marcie Golgoski told Newsday.

Golgoski could not say how many bags are expected to be screened each day with X-rays and explosive detectors. The vast majority of Amtrak trains from Penn Station run on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, and do not accept checked luggage. Six long-distance trains that have baggage cars leave Penn Station daily, compared with more than 100 Northeast Corridor trains.

Amtrak passengers can also expect to see law enforcement officers and bomb-sniffing dogs on trains, platforms and in terminals.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs subways, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, also expects law enforcement officers to ride trains entering the station.

Officers will also walk bomb-sniffing dogs through trains in yards before passengers board, and city police officers are expected to check each subway car before they enter Penn Station.

Most Amtrak trains running on the Northeast Corridor from Saturday to Thursday will require passengers to have a reservation, which should be made at least 24 hours in advance.

The only trains not requiring reservations will be the three weekend round-trip Keystone trains and the nine weekday roundtrip Keystone and Clocker trains, which serve New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Golgoski said Amtrak officials expect large crowds during the convention and advised passengers who are checking luggage to arrive at least an hour early.

MSNBC noted the schedule of departures and arrivals will not change this week. Amtrak monthly passes will continue to be honored.

An Amtrak conductor, who is also a Republican candidate for a Missouri House seat, said last Tuesday that he will resign rather than face a company investigation for suggesting to train passengers that they should vote against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Conductor Leslie Farr had been suspended without pay following an August 5 incident in which he used the on-board public address system to tell passengers on a Kansas City to St. Louis train that they would be delayed while waiting for Kerry’s campaign train to head west from St. Louis. Farr said he then quipped that passengers should vote accordingly in November.

He was scheduled to have a company hearing on August 19, but Farr said in an interview on August 17 that he instead was resigning, The AP reported.

“It’s a very stressful job to begin with, then with all of these circumstances that have come up, it’s best right now for us to split ways,” Farr said while adding that he intended to focus on politics.

Farr is the Republican challenger to Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay in Missouri’s 1^st Congressional District and also is a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari in Chicago said Tuesday that Farr’s resignation had not yet been received.

In its investigation letter to Farr, Amtrak accused him of violating company policies by making “inappropriate and denigrating announcements” to customers that “caused embarrassment to the corporation and the loss of good will of our passengers.”

According to Amtrak records, the eastbound August 5 train left Kansas City about 25 minutes late and was running more than 90 minutes behind – due largely to freight train traffic – when it left Washington, Mo., headed toward St. Louis. The train, carrying 135 passengers, was delayed an additional 84 minutes just outside the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood to allow Kerry’s special westbound train to pass.

Kerry’s train later made a brief stop in Washington while on its way to a rally in Jefferson City.

For NCI: Brian Woodruff Southbound Amtrak train No. 97, the Silver Meteor, passes SE Bushnell siding (milepost S 776.0) in Bushnell, Fla. en route to Lakeland and on to Miami over CSX’s “S” Line on August 22. Hurricane Charley caused considerable damage to CSX’s “A” Line signal system, the route the Silver Meteor and Silver Star usually travel. Amtrak and CSX returned to their primary route on August 25. The story is below.

It took more than a week after Category 4 Hurricane Charley’s passage through Florida more than a fortnight ago, but CSX has gotten most of its house back in order – and Amtrak trains are again running the length of their regular routes.

Amtrak resumed its full Florida service on August 25, but as the hurricane approached South Florida, all trains – freight and passenger – came to a stop. Charley made landfall along Florida’s west coast south of Tampa, near Fort Myers, at about 5:00 p.m. EDT on August 13.

The passenger carrier stated in a press release some Florida service was disrupted since the hurricane made landfall. The rerouted train were the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star, “due to damage to rail infrastructure owned by CSX Transportation and used by Amtrak. Repairs have progressed sufficiently to enable service restoration.”

On August 25, the Palmetto (train Nos. 89 and 90) resumed its full New York-Tampa-Miami route. Also, the New York-Orlando-Miami Silver Star (trains 91, 92) and Silver Meteor (Nos. 97, 98) “resumed their full routes through Florida.”

The Auto Train (trains 52 and 53), operating between Lorton, Va., and Sanford, Fla., returned to regular service on August 15, “and other routes were partially restored in succeeding days,” Amtrak reported.

The carrier added, “Passengers who had planned to travel on the Amtrak trains during the service disruptions are being re-accommodated. If passengers choose not to be re-accommodated, they may request a refund.”

On August 22, CSX reported the Sanford Subdivision, south of Sanford, remained out of service.

Amtrak modified its operations. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari in Chicago told D:F, “In order to limit the traffic over CSX while restoration work is progressing, Trains 89 and 90 will continue to operate between New York and Jacksonville only, with no alternate transportation being offered to Miami.”

By the next day, the result was trains 89 and 90 as well as 97 and 98 operated between New York City and Jacksonville only, and no alternate transportation would be provided from Jacksonville. Trains 91 and 92 would operate from New York to Miami and return via CSX’s Wildwood Subdivision, “missing stops between Winter Haven and Jacksonville.” Alternate transportation was being offered.

Those missed stops were Sanford, DeLand, and Palatka, some 142 miles of track. From the time Charley hit on the 13^th until August 18, the trains remained stopped, with few exceptions.

On the 18^th, CSX was able to “suspended its direct train control (DTC) operation over the Auburndale Subdivision, and normal signaled operation resumed” – but its Sanford Subdivision, south of Sanford, remained out of service.

What that meant was dispatchers in Jacksonville didn’t have to write train orders for every train movement any more north of Sanford on the “A” Line.

CSX Engineering and C&S (communications and signals) forces “continued the restoration work. CSX reported that there were still 52 stop and flag locations between Sanford and Taft, a distance of 32 miles, due to damaged apparatus. This section is still without power. The operating plan currently in place has been extended through August 22.”

Not only were signals dark, but also grade crossing protection wasn’t working, either.

Amtrak noted, “Due to limited bus availability, resulting in part from the transportation requirements of the emergency response agencies continuing work in Florida, inhibitors have been placed on the missed passenger stops between Jacksonville and Kissimmee, Fla. Those stops are: Palatka, Deland, Sanford, Winter Park, Orlando, Kissimmee. We will continue to provide alternate transportation for passengers currently holding reservations to/from those origin/destinations.”

Those trains from New York, except the Palmetto – which normally operates via the “S” Line anyway – terminated in Jacksonville.

Amtrak told employees their trains were ending their journeys in the Northeast Florida city “to limit traffic over CSX while the restoration work is progressing, and allow for the detoured operation of the Silver Meteor and Silver Star.”

Amtrak Ink A new waste utility vehicle is put to work at the Chicago Yards as Sheet Metal Worker Vince Spaccaferro removes lavatory waste from Dining Car 38040. the passenger carrier is replacing obsolete, worn out or high-cost leased commercial motor vehicles with more efficient, reliable equipment that boasts the latest in safety and technology. Through June, 30 commercial motor vehicles were replaced and released to Amtrak locations across the country; the remaining 24 will arrive by the end of the fiscal year. The Procurement and Materials Management department’s $20 million five-year capital replacement program aims to replace 40 percent of Amtrak’s commercial motor vehicles by September 30, the end of fiscal year 2005.

The Senate voiced strong support to rebuild America’s intercity rail passenger network, the National Assn. of Railroad Passengers reported last week, after a majority of senators agree Amtrak is a useful entity.

In a letter to Senate appropriators, NARP stated, “51 Senators requested a fiscal year 2005 appropriation of $1.798 billion for Amtrak capital and operating needs,” NARP stated on August 23. That is a majority of Senators – and from both political parties. The tally was 43 Democrats, 7 Republicans, and 1 Independent.

The letter was co-authored by retiring Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

The $1.798 billion level of funding is critical to avoid a shutdown crisis in 2005 and maintain Amtrak President and CEO David L. Gunn’s efforts to return the railroad to “a state of good-repair.”

“Amtrak needs the money now to improve service and repair its aging infrastructure,” Hollings said.

“We can’t shut down Amtrak – 24 million Americans depend on it for transportation. In these times of highway and aviation congestion and security concerns, investing in Amtrak should be a national priority.”

Specter said, “Amtrak plays an integral role in the future of passenger transportation. While Amtrak’s fiscal needs are significant, I believe we would be severely disadvantaged without a national passenger rail system.”

The letter states, in part, “We are writing to express our support for full funding for Amtrak in the FY05 Transportation, Treasury and General Government Appropriations bill.”

The authors wrote, “One-time savings achieved through tighter operational controls and reduced headcount have helped cut expenses, leading to the first year since 1995 in which Amtrak did not require outside borrowing from a credit facility or a supplemental federal appropriation to maintain its operations. Additionally, the FY04 appropriations bill allowed Amtrak to defer repayment of the $100 million loan it owes to the U.S. Department of Transportation, thereby reducing Amtrak’s expenses.”

They added, “In the past two years, Amtrak’s financial picture has been one of steady improvement. Amtrak has refocused its efforts on its core business – intercity passenger rail. Ridership is at record levels. For the first six months of FY04, ridership is on track to beat last year’s record of 24 million and core operating expenses decreased by $20 million.”

They urged full funding for Amtrak in its next request of $1.798 billion.

Paoli, Pa., might be called an “embarkation line” as Amtrak starts clearing trees and brush away from its Harrisburg line as the railroad starts bringing that former Pennsylvania Railroad line back into “a state of good repair,” which is a refrain heard often these days at Amtrak. It’s also Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority R5 line.

A bare stretch from west of the Daylesford station toward the state’s Route 252 is just the start of work that will soon be moving into other “Main Line” neighborhoods. In late July, crews began cutting down trees along the Amtrak line next to Route 30.

The Wayne Suburban of Wayne, Pa. reported on Thursday Cliff Black, director of media relations for the rail company, said the Paoli clearing is part of a two-year project that includes the entire length of the Amtrak and SEPTA R5 route through the Main Line and beyond.

It is being done in preparation for the Keystone Corridor project recently announced by Amtrak and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, to improve service and safety on the line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.

The $145 million project includes $100 million for infrastructure improvements, to be split between the state and Amtrak. Ties will be replaced, remaining jointed track will be replaced with seamless welded track, and bridges will be repaired or replaced.

Board of Supervisors Vice-Chairman Judy DiFilippo said officials in Tredyffrin Township learned about the clearing only after they got e-mails from residents curious about the “clear-cutting.” When they contacted state and federal representatives, they were told it was being done because of safety concerns on the line.

Black said the project extends much farther than the one-mile stretch in Paoli. The railroad is doing similar work in other parts of its Northeast Corridor, he said.

The line is getting some long-overdue attention.

Because of a lack of funds, “We have had deferred maintenance on that line for many, many years,” Black said. So many years that tall trees and other vegetation have grown up along the line, and residents have gotten used to the leafy screen and sound barrier they have provided.

“If you looked at photographs from 35 to 40 years ago [there], you’d see there were no trees. It’s unfortunate that many of the residents either weren’t there when this was properly maintained, or their memories have faded.”

The danger to the rail service from fallen trees or branches has become so great, he said, that the trees have to be removed.

“It’s to the point now where a forecast of a thunderstorm is almost a forecast of train delays. It’s absolutely necessary that this [clearing] be done.”

Black said Amtrak, working with a contractor, has begun clearing trees within its property line up to 15 feet from its catenary. Also within the track area are lines that carry the railroad’s signal system, and a 138,000-volt carrier line that carries electricity over long distances to power the trains.

Black said where the rail system’s property line is closer than 15 feet from the catenary lines, cutting will be carried out up to the property line. If there are large trees outside the property line, the company cannot cut them down, but it can trim branches that overhang the lines.

“We’re the first to concede it’s going to be a major change in the appearance” of the rail line for some residents whose properties adjoin the tracks, Black said. However, “it’s an issue of the reliability of the rail system. The alternative is to have an unreliable railroad.”

He said Amtrak does not send out notices to property owners when work is planned. DiFilippo said local officials were not notified about the project either.

Although trees have been cleared in the Paoli area only on the Route 30 side of the tracks, Black said both sides of the track along the route will be cleared. DiFilippo said she was told trees are clear-cut because that’s cheaper than trimming.

“They don’t do it the way landscapers do. They cut [the tree] to the ground,” said Tredyffrin Supervisor Paul Olson, who also called Amtrak officials after receiving a complaint. He once worked for the company.

“The railroad’s philosophy is black and white,” he said. “They see no need to preserve a nice view for the neighbors. They see it as a safety issue.”

Signatures collected for a ballot proposal to scrap the Florida bullet train are valid, a judge ruled Thursday. The Lakeland Ledger reported backers of the high speed rail amendment challenged the repeal petitions in court, arguing that they don’t include the names and addresses of paid signature collectors, which they contend is required by state law, but Circuit Judge Kevin Davey rejected the challenge, saying it’s not clear at all that the law requires that.

Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel noted Mears Transportation Group is joining the partnership that wants to build and run high-speed trains between Tampa and Orlando.

Orlando-based Mears, which runs Yellow Cab and other taxi, bus and van services in the Florida city said it is joining the Fluor-Bombardier and Virgin Trains consortium to add local marketing experience and street-transportation links to the system, should Florida actually build it.

Amtrak Ink Boston crews lift electric engine AEM-7 948 with a crane to remove a defective wheel set. A new wheel set, sent from the Wilmington Shops, is in position to replace the damaged wheel set.

Amtrak electric engine 948 arrived in Boston one day in June with reports of smoke coming from the lead truck. An inspection revealed that a grease seal on the third axle (from the front) was defective and grease was leaking out of the gearbox, requiring immediate repair.

Because it was impossible for the locomotive to go over the road with a damaged seal, the wheelset had to be replaced in Boston.

The challenge for Boston mechanics was that the Service and Inspection facility – S&I, in railroad terms – has no drop table with which to replace the bad wheel set.

Never having come across this kind of situation before, the Boston crew made arrangements to receive a wheel set from the railroad’s Wilmington, Del. Shops, and to rent a 150-ton crane to lift the engine.

They called on the expertise of Washington, D.C., Carman Mark Osborne of Ivy City Yard and Machinist Rob Lear to help walk them through the wheel replacement, with the crane’s help.

The Washington crew instructed the Boston machinists Jim Pointer and Dave Elwin, along with laborer Pete Butler, how to properly lift the locomotive and complete the wheel change.

The situation wasn’t ideal, but they got the job done – 11 hours later.

Appearance of impropriety may derail
California bullet train projects

An Oakland Tribune report has put California’s High Speed Rail Authority in the crosshairs. An article by Staff Writer Sean Helstege describes a May 24 meeting of rail authority leaders and their business allies in a manner that characterizes the meeting as a secretive, back-room attempt to develop political support for the $37 billion project.

The meeting, which featured a proposal by former San Francisco Mayor and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and his lobbying firm to develop support for legislation carrying forward the multi-year high speed rail project designed to help relieve California’s massive traffic congestion problem, was described in loaded terms implying undue political power and influence peddling, and quoting unidentified sources to weave a highly negative story on the authority and its supporters.

A proposal to create commuter rail service between New Haven, Conn., and Springfield, Mass. gathered steam on August 24 as officials agreed to move forward with public hearings on a specific plan costing about $250 million.

After weighing several options, the Transportation Strategy Board decided last week to seek public input on a proposed rail service that would make nearly a dozen stops, including Hartford, The AP reported, and carry 2,000 riders daily on Amtrak’s Inland Route.

The board did not endorse the proposal, but expects to vote later this year after the hearings.

“The train has left the station and we’re moving forward,” said R. Nelson “Oz” Griebel, chairman of the strategy board. “It’s a very positive step forward in the whole process.”

Several state and local officials from Connecticut and Massachusetts endorsed the long-studied project, saying it would help reduce congestion and create jobs by encouraging economic development in the region. A bus connection would link the trains to Bradley International Airport.

“Our view is this project has the potential to move people but also the economy,” said Timothy Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, which represents 43 cities and towns in western Massachusetts. “This is a strategic move to change the future.”

Proponents say the train service would help link three major New England cities long overshadowed by New York and Boston. That would create a region that is larger and more visible to compete in an increasingly global economy, they say.

“I think it’s incredibly important to Connecticut,” said Michael Gallis, a transportation expert who wrote an influential report several years ago warning that the state risked becoming an “economic cul de sac” if it did not solve its transportation crisis.

“In New England, the tradition of home rule has really blinded people to the need to create larger units of competition that are better linked to the global marketplace,” Gallis said.

Proponents acknowledged funding the rail project would be a challenge. Griebel said other issues also will need to be addressed, including determining an operator and ensuring the travel time on the train would be attractive to commuters.

Jim Cameron, a commuter watchdog for Metro-North train service in southwestern Connecticut, questioned how the state could create a new train service when the existing service is not adequately funded.

The board may conduct public polling to identify ways to fund many projects under consideration to deal with traffic congestion.

In a sign of the competition for funds, the board also heard a presentation on a draft study that identified $1.6 billion worth of work needed on Interstate 95 in the coming decades to alleviate congestion in southeastern Connecticut. A state consultant suggests adding a third lane to Interstate 95 from Branford to Stonington.

John Markowicz, a member of the strategy board from southeastern Connecticut, reacted skeptically to the train proposal, saying many of the supporters were citing economic benefits rather than reducing traffic congestion. Supporters say the train service would help prevent the type of severe traffic congestion in Fairfield County.

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said the train service would help create jobs and head off a looming capacity crisis on Interstate 91.

The trains, which are projected to have an annual operating deficit of nearly $8 million, would run every 30 minutes during rush hour and make stops in New Haven, North Haven, Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, Newington, Hartford, Windsor, Windsor Locks, Enfield and Springfield.

Dates have not been set yet for public hearings, which are expected to be held around the state in the coming months.

Visitors to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, Alaska over the weekend saw something new: a $2.3 million stone and wood train station perched between the fairgrounds and Glenn Highway.

In years past, fair-goers who rode the Alaska Railroad’s special State Fair Train got dropped off trackside at little step stools, ,writes the Anchorage Daily News for August 27, but this year, for $45, they got a round-trip ride from Anchorage and tickets to the fair. They arrived at the new South Palmer Station, with restrooms, cover from the rain, a quarter-mile of track upgrades and a cool neon information board.

$2.3 million for a train station used only a few days a year?

The depot idea started out simply, six years ago, when fair officials asked for money for a new station to cut down on fair traffic, said Joe Lawton, fair manager – but when the project hit the federal transportation funding cycle, amenities such as the restrooms were added, Lawton said.

“Once you get the federals involved, they have certain standards they won’t go below, thank goodness,” he said. “We wouldn’t have probably felt it was worth two and a quarter million to the fair. We wouldn’t have been able to afford it.”

For the near term, the station will be a place for fair-goers to get on and off a train as well as a convenient spot for buses to drop passengers. Year-round, commuters can meet and carpool from a new parking lot, officials said.

Over time, people involved hope the depot will become part of a larger system of regular rail service between Anchorage and the Mat-Su area Matanuska-Susitna).

“It’s an investment not only for the Alaska State Fair but for the residents of the Valley,” said Alaska Railroad spokesman Tim Thompson. “It’s an investment in their future as we start looking at alternate forms of transportation.”

Talk of commuter rail service surfaced years ago. So did the list of hurdles that remain a problem today: predictions of low ridership, the absence of a multi-agency authority to oversee construction and operations, and the lack of convenient mass-transit options once riders get to Anchorage.

A railroad-commissioned study found it would take fares as low as $5 to entice commuter passengers.

“If they had a decent way to get to a red-eye flight, I’d take it,” Lawton said, “but most people think that a lot of other people should ride the train. That’s the basic human condition.”

Rail backers, however, say the buzz over the depot is the latest sign that conditions are ripening for commuter rail.

“Now we have this wonderful little station at the fair,” said Maryellen Oman, a founding member of the Citizen’s Commuter Rail Advocacy Committee. “The pieces are falling into place, but we need more help.”

The committee (other core members include the owner of Dimond Center and the operator of Dimond Center Hotel) estimates that commuter rail will cost $28 million, the price of special self-propelled passenger rail cars.

They envision a train from Ted Stevens International Airport that takes people to Dimond Center and downtown as well as linking to the Valley, according to Oman.

Meanwhile, the railroad is in the midst of a major infrastructure project, spending $76 million straightening the tracks between Anchorage and Wasilla to cut travel time to less than an hour.

The Valley’s population continues to spike. That growing passenger base makes commuter rail a possibility, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens told reporters last week.

Stevens, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped secure federal money for the new depot.

Money for the station came from several sources: $1 million from the Federal Transit Administration, $1 million from the Federal Highway Administration, $250,000 from the fair and $10,000 from the state.

As part of the fair train, the railroad is also offering Valley residents a ride from Palmer to Anchorage and back for $45.

The fair round-trip from Anchorage to Wasilla normally costs about $80, Thompson said. “It’s actually a pretty good deal. ... We’re not making money off this” – but that’s not good enough for some people.

Lucy Klebesadel and other Palmer moms with restless kids wanted to ride the train to Anchorage, but only with a lower fare. They’ve already bought fair tickets.

What about regular commuter rail? Would Klebesadel be interested in that?

“Not unless it stopped at all the major malls or Sam’s Club,” she said.

For NCI: Bob Eisthen A Kansas City Southern freight passes an East Hickory, Miss. siding switch on January 19, 2003 while the conductor, on the ground, gets ready to roll by KCS 613 West, then reboard KCS 757 East for the trip to Meridian, Miss.

Last month, Kansas City Southern Ry. chairman and CEO Mike Haverty took the railroad industry’s top regulator on an aerial tour of Kansas City’s freight rail operations, the nation’s second busiest by volume.

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober was making his inspection as a heating economy was overloading the railroad system in certain hotspots of the country, particularly the Union Pacific Corp.’s resources in the West.

The Kansas City Star of August 24 reported, “He was astounded by how fluid the traffic generally was in Kansas City, as opposed to what he had seen in places like Houston and Los Angeles,” Haverty recalled recently.

Nober said Kansas City’s rail system has some geographic advantages that other rail hubs lack, but the area also benefited from more than $500 million in rail infrastructure improvements in recent years. He pointed to the $74 million Sheffield Flyover Rail Bridge in the Blue Valley industrial district, which has eliminated delays at one of the busiest rail intersections in the country.

“The carriers in Kansas City have made infrastructure investments that have kept your system operating more smoothly,” Nober said two weeks ago. “It’s sort of a mini-model for what they’re looking at in Chicago.”

The movement of goods by rail has become a much-discussed topic in the business world as the economy began to improve earlier this year. U.S. railroads have been trying to do more with less: moving more freight with fewer workers.

In 2003, the major railroads moved nearly 2 million more carloads than 1999, generating $3.1 billion more in revenues – and that was done with 23,000 fewer workers at the major carriers.

Earlier this year as the economy picked up, Union Pacific, the country’s biggest railroad, was caught off-guard by the amount of freight customers needed shipped. That has led to operational breakdowns including crew shortages, and delivery delays in some of its areas.

For many in the industry, it has brought flashbacks of 1998, when UP’s acquisition of the Southern Pacific Railroad left the rail system in a snarl. Most of the nation’s railroads got bogged down in the mess because of interline agreements in which more than one carrier delivers a customer’s goods. In addition, railroads can share rails through trackage rights agreements, but most industry executives and observers are cautiously optimistic that type of catastrophe can be averted.

“I don’t see it getting as bad as back in 1998,” Haverty said. “That affected the entire system. This seems more isolated to the Pacific Northwest, West Coast and Houston areas.”

An industry analyst agreed.

“The UP is not in a meltdown stage,” said Jason Seidl, transportation analyst with Avondale Partners. “There is going to be a strain on the system, but the goal this year is to bend but not break.”

Because of the intertwined nature of the business, when UP encounters congestion and bottlenecks, the rest of the freight transportation industry can suffer.

Trucking companies, which are experiencing their own record levels of freight, also have been affected by the delays in the rail industry. In addition to customers unloading more freight to trucks instead of rail, they have seen delays in their own intermodal shipments that go from trucks to trains and back to trucks again.

“We’ve had to take more and more freight off the rails and put it on the road,” said Bill Zollars, chairman and chief executive of Yellow Roadway Corp., last month. “That’s a direct result of the poor performance of the rails.”

UP said that it is addressing the problems that arose earlier this year amid record carloads. The railroad is continuing to make changes and adjustments in preparing for the peak season, including hiring more people and adding equipment.

“We’re working through a lot of the service issues,” said Davis. “We’re beginning to get some improvements that are starting to show.”

Elevator managers and railroads alike agree last year’s huge harvest moved to ports too slowly, but opinion is divided on the shipping outlook for 2004.

Last harvest, bumper wheat, corn and soybean crops created a backlog that delayed grain shipments for months in some cases. As this harvest gets into full swing, some elevators still are waiting for covered hoppers to ship the 2003 crop.

Railroad officials say – and some elevators operators agree – changes their companies have made to their grain handling systems will make things run more smoothly this harvest season than last.

“The nature of our system is fluid,” said Gus Melonas, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Ry. spokesman in Seattle. Cars are being delivered on time; the company has increased its locomotive fleet, and it expects to hire 2,300 BNSF conductor-trainee positions system-wide this year, he said.

Several months ago, BNSF said it had made changes such as reducing certain charges, simplifying car ordering and hiring an ombudsman to work directly with grain shippers to better serve its customers this harvest.

The changes have improved the shipping situation at Southwest Grain in Gladstone, N.D., said a manager at the elevator.

“At this point, it’s totally different,” said Jim Bobb, grain division manager at Southwest Grain in Gladstone. “BNSF is current. Last year by the first of September, we were approaching 30 days late. By December, we were 50 days late. It’s a 360-degree turn from last year.”

Some elevator managers who ship on the Canadian Pacific Ry. still are concerned about the potential for shipping delays this fall. At least one grain elevator manager still was waiting last week for shuttle trains to move some remaining 2003 crop.

“In a way, they’re (CP) still not caught up,” said Keith Brandt, manager of Plains Grain and Agronomy L.L.C. in Enderlin, N.D. “We’ve got four shuttles that we should have got in June and July that we will get in August and September.

“I think through the balance of our small grains harvest, the Canadian Pacific is not going to be too bad. When we get into the row crop harvest, it will be as bad, if not worse, than a year ago.”

That’s a concern shared by other elevator managers.

“There’s a big nervousness about what’s going to happen this year and, in part, it’s driven by the enormous concern over what’s happened this last year, with basically deliveries being one to two months behind,” said Roger Johnson, North Dakota agriculture commissioner.

“Nobody expects the railroads are going to move every bushel right at harvest. You can’t do that,” he said. However, it is reasonable to expect that by Christmas or by the early part of the new year, grain movement should be caught up, Johnson said.

Given the late small grains harvest and the upcoming bin-busting corn crop, the delays have potential to worsen, Johnson said.

“There are just lots of people nervous about that. On the positive side, we’re encouraged by what CP has said. They think they’re going to do better than what they did last year.”

James Clements, CP grain director in Winnipeg, said his company plans to start a program in October that will allow it better to match its shipping capability with market needs. The program will differentiate “corridors” or destinations. This year, for example, CP will allow only a certain amount of shipping to the Pacific Northwest port.

Meanwhile this year, CP will notify elevator managers who aren’t able to secure a train so they can make alternative plans for grain shipments.

“That’s some of the key differences,” Clements said. “We believe when we say we can deliver, we can deliver.” The railroad has told its customers that it will be capable of moving about 30 shuttle trains to the Pacific Northwest port each month, he said, but 30 trains a month are too few, Brandt noted.

“Thirty trains a month to the PNW for the winter will never come close to satisfying customers demands. On the Canadian Pacific lines, there’s probably demand from the country for 50 or 60 cars a month.”

Clements acknowledged that car demand during some months, such as October, could be as many as 50 to 60 monthly and said the company is working on a program that will improve the company’s train capacity.

“Capacity is the big key here,” said Laura Baenen, CP communications director in Minneapolis. “It’s just like a city street or a highway; there’s only so many cars you can put on a street during rush hour. We need to keep the system fluid.”

Agweek magazine via Grand Forks Herald.

As we have noted in these pages over the last several weeks, a surge in freight to feed a stirring economy is delivering profit gains to U.S. railroads, though not without strains for those struggling to keep pace.

CBS.MarketWatch.com pointed out on August 24 at stake is the all-important holiday season, as retailers vie for precious space on lines clogged with lengthy coal and grain trains.

“We’ve already had the nine busiest weeks in history and we haven’t hit the full peak yet,” said AAR spokesman Tom White, who added, “Demand for rail freight has just been phenomenal.”

The peak shipping season runs from mid-September through November, when retail stores stock up on everything from shoes to computers ahead of the year-end holidays.

During the last week of July, major rail carriers shipped a record 221,249 trailers and containers. (The latest figures appear at the end of “Freight lines.” – Ed.)

Surging demand for goods and coal has led to higher shipping revenue. For the first time since records were kept, intermodal shipping overtook coal in 2003 as the largest source of revenue for the major railroads.

The Surface Transportation Board, which oversees the rates, has asked carriers how they expect to meet the surge in demand, and will review the plans at an industry conference scheduled for September 9.

Some carriers plan to limit carloads and consolidate automobile and chemical trains, while others are investing in more track – but all this freight is also congesting the rails, keeping trains idle for longer periods at terminals, which in turn slows the “velocity” of journeys, an industry yardstick used to measure performance.

What’s more, railroads face a continuing wave of worker retirements and a shortage of locomotives.

Among the rail companies, Norfolk Southern stands out as its operating income last quarter hit its top level since its 1998 acquisition of portions of Conrail, according to Ken Hoexter, a Merrill Lynch analyst.

NS’s net income more than doubled to $213 million in the last quarter from a year earlier, as shipments of coal, metals, chemicals and construction equipment all surged on higher demand. Revenues rose 11 percent to $1.81 billion.

The carrier is probably best prepared to handle the peak shipment periods because of its fluid network and its high-fuel hedge, which should protect it from potential fuel-price spikes this year, J.P. Morgan analyst Greg Burns wrote in a research note. He rates the stock, which is up more than 50 percent in the last year, as “overweight.”

At Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the second-largest railroad, revenue jumped 17 percent to $2.64 billion on a rise in wheat and corn exports. Its shares are up more than 30 percent in the last 12 months.

For its part, Union Pacific has been playing catch-up, reporting record revenues while working to straighten out bottlenecks clogging its network, the nation’s largest. For the three months ended June 30, revenue rose 5 percent to $3.03 billion, matching forecasts, but that produced just $158 million from continuing operations, below expectations.

UP is at a disadvantage to competitors like BNSF and NS, which have managed to squeeze higher profits, analysts say. Its shares are off 20 percent from their 52-week high, just above their 12-month low.

With rising shipments and a 7 percent employee attrition rate, UP plans to hire 5,000 new conductors and engineers by the end of the year.

“Continued high attrition in the years ahead will allow us to better balance crews and demand once we have our network in better working order,” Chief Financial Officer Rob Knight said.

CSX reported second-quarter earnings of $128 million on record coal and merchandise shipments, but the railroad “has too much business and has to staff up to handle” the traffic, said James McGlynn, a manager of Cincinnati-based Summit Everest Fund. His fund holds shares in NS, UP and CSX, whose stock is up 8 percent from its 52-week low, set in March.

In addition to the new employees, UP has leased 500 locomotives over the last nine months, adding to its fleet of 7,000 – but demand for locomotives is outstripping supply.

GE Transportation’s diesel-electric locomotive factory in Erie, Pa., is running at such a clip that any orders for new locomotives taken now won’t be filled until 2005, according to Patrick Jarvis, a GE spokesman. “When [carriers] are busy, they need more power,” he said.

GE built about 225 new units last quarter, a 38 percent increase over the first three months of 2004.

The railroad service problems that ate into company margins in the first half of 2004 were a direct result of the stronger than anticipated growth in shipment volume, which itself was caused by several specific developments.

The high price of natural gas made low-sulfur coal from Western states a cheaper fuel for Midwest electric utilities that burn both coal and natural gas. Also, a strong grain harvest and rising global prices for farm products drove rail traffic of grain exports up 35 percent to 40 percent over last year.

“The economy is definitely improving,” said White, spokesman for the American Association of Railroads, “and that’s going to have a big effect.”

California transportation planners are seeking to build new highways exclusively for trucks that would stretch from Southern California’s booming ports to as far away as the “Inland Empire,” the eastern section of the Los Angeles basin, composed of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The focus on so-called dedicated roads for trucks is a sharp departure from long-standing plans to use trains to haul more cargo from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and is an acknowledgment that the 2-year-old Alameda Corridor rail line, built in part to alleviate truck traffic, might never attract the share of the freight it was designed to transport.

The $2.5-billion corridor, which opened in 2002 and runs 20 miles mostly in a trench from the ports to near downtown Los Angeles, was intended to carry half the cargo that comes into the ports, now the third-largest importing and exporting complex in the world.

It was also intended to relieve freight train and highway congestion at numerous crossings at grade – which it did.

“A very small portion – 13 percent or 14 percent – of what the ports handle goes purely on rail,” said John Doherty, CEO of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority. He added, “That’s no different from before the corridor was built,” The Los Angeles Times reported on August 22.

The authority now supports the idea of building one or more truckways. There are three proposals under development, which are backed in concept by Doherty; Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who is chairwoman of the corridor authority board; analysts at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; and other local officials.

The truck highways would cost tens of billions of dollars. One would run along the Long Beach Freeway, adding four lanes for trucks traveling from the harbor area to the Santa Ana Freeway. The proposal, which could cost $4 billion, also calls for expanding the 1950s-era Long Beach Freeway to 10 lanes for use by commuters.

An earlier plan to widen the freeway was shelved last year after residents complained that it would require demolition of their homes. Planners say they would try to avoid taking many homes under the new proposal by elevating new car and truck lanes in places where the right of way is narrow.

Another proposal, estimated to cost $450 million, would make part of California Highway 47 an all-freeway route directly from the port complex to nearby Alameda Street. A third, still in the conceptual stage and estimated to cost tens of billions, would extend a truckway as far as Barstow in the Mojave Desert.

“Even if the corridor was to increase its volume, we are still going to have a lot of containers being moved on the backs of trucks,” said Hahn, who represents L.A.’s harbor communities. “Now is the time to prepare for that.”

For NCI: RailRunner ‘RailRunner’ sent its first carloads (actually, Trailer Bridge trailers) from Florida to Indiana last week.

“RailRunner” is a new name on the freight railroad landscape, and it began operating its equipment last week.

RailRunner, N.A., Inc., put its “RailReach” short-haul intermodal service into commercial operation on August 23, “bringing low-cost rail intermodal container shipping to the short-haul rail market and, potentially, to hundreds of smaller cities and towns throughout the U.S.,” said RailRunner CEO Charles Foskett.

The first RailReach service is carrying containerized traffic by rail between Fort Wayne, Ind., and Jacksonville.

RailRunner’s railcar and container chassis system operates on both the highway and the rail line, allowing a shipper “to shift from road to rail and back without the need for expensive cranes to lift the container from one carrier to another,” Foskett added.

Freight can be moved onto and off of the rails by a truck at a siding with minimal infrastructure changes in many cases, extending the benefits of Intermodal rail service to markets and rail operators (such as short lines) that could not previously afford them.

“This is an important step for RailRunner and for anyone who has containerized goods they want to move inexpensively and efficiently,” he said.

“We have combined the flexibility of trucking with the cost advantages of rail so that businesses throughout the country can dramatically lower their shipping costs through our new short-haul intermodal capability.”

He explained the service connects Jacksonville, a major container terminal serving Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, with Fort Wayne, which is a major center for Midwest manufacturing, which has no container-handling equipment.

“Until our service,” Foskett said, “containerized freight reached Fort Wayne only after long and expensive tractor-trailer hauls from the port.”

Among their first customers is Trailer Bridge, Inc., a Jacksonville integrated trucking and marine freight service provider for cargo going from the U.S. to the Caribbean market via the Port of Jacksonville. RailRunner is using the rail and terminal resources of Triple Crown Services Co., an affiliate of Norfolk Southern Corp.

“The Jacksonville-Fort Wayne route is an excellent example of the type of routes we plan to serve,” said Foskett.

“There is substantial containerized traffic through the Port of Jacksonville, but the lack of container facilities in Fort Wayne leaves the area around it underserved by the existing rail intermodal system. The RailReach solution can make sense for container shippers as far away as northern Michigan who are moving goods to the Florida or Caribbean markets, and for manufacturers in the Southeast who want to reach the Indiana-Ohio-Michigan-Illinois container market cost-effectively.”

Led by another strong week for intermodal, freight traffic on U.S. railroads was up during the week ended August 21 in comparison with the corresponding week last year, the AAR reported Thursday.

Intermodal traffic totaled 217,149 trailers or containers, up 9.5 percent from last year, with trailer traffic up 10.6 percent and container volume up 9.1 percent. Carload freight, which does not include the intermodal data, totaled 339,749 cars, up 0.9 percent from last year with volume up 0.8 percent in the East and 1.0 percent in the West. Total volume was estimated at 30.8 billion ton-miles, up 1.7 percent from last year.

Among the nine carload commodity groups reporting gains were metals, up 16.0 percent; farm products other than grain, up 7.9 percent; chemicals, up 7.4 percent; and coal, up 3.4 percent. Ten commodity groups were down from last year, including nonmetallic minerals, down 34.5 percent; primary forest products, down 11.1 percent; and grain, off 7.5 percent.

The AAR also reported the following cumulative totals for U.S. railroads during the first 33 weeks of 2004: 11,035,493 carloads, up 3.4 percent from last year; intermodal volume of 6,822,378 trailers or containers, up 9.5 percent; and total volume of an estimated 996.9 billion ton-miles, up 4.6 percent from last year’s first 33 weeks.

Railroads reporting to AAR account for 88 percent of U.S. carload freight and 95 percent of rail intermodal volume. When the U.S. operations of Canadian railroads are included, the figures increase to 95 percent and 100 percent. Railroads provide more than 40 percent of the nation’s intercity freight transportation, more than any other mode, and rail traffic figures are regarded as an important economic indicator.

Canadian railroads reported gains in both intermodal and carload freight during the week ended August 21. Carload volume totaled 69,331 cars, up 10.3 percent, and intermodal traffic totaled 42,440 trailers or containers, up 0.6 percent from last year.

Cumulative originations for the first 33 weeks of 2004 on the Canadian railroads totaled 2,202,665 carloads, up 10.3 percent from last year, and 1,368,590 trailers and containers, virtually the same as last year.

Combined cumulative volume for the first 33 weeks of 2004 on 15 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 13,238,158 carloads, up 4.3 percent from last year and 8,190,968 trailers and containers, up 7.8 percent from last year.

The AAR also reported that originated carload freight on the Mexican railroad Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM) during the week ended August 21 totaled 9,435 cars, up 19.7 percent from last year. TFM reported intermodal volume of 4,007 originated trailers or containers, up 27.0 percent from the 33^rd week of 2003. For the first 33 weeks of 2004, TFM reported cumulative originated volume of 282,230 cars, up 0.5 percent from last year, and 119,083 trailers or containers, up 1.6 percent.

CR, CSX, NS complete deal

Conrail, CSX and Norfolk Southern said on August 24 they had completed a deal begun several months ago.

Some $774.0 million “had been validly tendered and not withdrawn, all of which were accepted for exchange by CSX and NS.” It was an in aggregate principal amount, or about 96.7 percent of Conrail’s unsecured debt securities, excluding notices of guaranteed delivery, the firms stated in a joint press release.

The three carriers said the transaction was the result “of the offer to exchange new unsecured debt securities of CSX and NS and cash for existing unsecured debt securities of Conrail.”

The exchange offer was part of the restructuring of Conrail’s indebtedness. Conrail also solicited consents from holders of its unsecured debt securities to permit the restructuring.

CSX and NS plan to issue new debt securities with aggregate principal amounts, each in proportion to their respective 42 percent and 58 percent ownership interests in Conrail (excluding notices of guaranteed delivery and accounting for the treatment of fractional interests).

The new notes aggregate principal amounts are CSXT 9 and three quarters percent notes due June 15, 2020, $225,087,000; NSR 9 and three quarters percent notes due June 15, 2020, $310,825,000; CSX 7 percent notes due May 15, 2043, $99,990,000; and NS 7 percent notes due May 15, 2043, $138,084,000.

Conrail also plans to pay an aggregate cash payment of approximately $13.3 million for the accepted Conrail unsecured debt securities.

Bombardier transportation earns a profit

Bombardier’s transportation unit is making money again.

Bombardier Transportation, Inc. reported last week it had “returned to profitability halfway through its three-year restructuring program.”

Second quarter financial results announced today present consolidated earnings before taxes of $44 million, compared to a $209 million loss in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. Consolidated revenues rose 10 percent to reach $3.9 billion compared to $3.5 billion in the first quarter of this fiscal year.

“Overall, we are where we expected to be at this most challenging and crucial phase of our three-year plan,” said Paul M. Tellier, President and CEO.

“We are back in the black, our free cash flow performance is significantly improved over what it was last year, we have a sound balance sheet, access to strong capital resources and therefore, strong liquidity.”

Tellier said the transportation segment “regained profitability by focusing intensely on project management and executing the restructuring plan.”

Pacing the second quarter recovery was a turnaround at Bombardier Transportation. Earnings before taxes reached $46 million for the quarter from minus $196 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

The transportation business is also ahead of schedule in its massive reorganization, which is the focus of its second year of restructuring, including closing its Amadora, Portugal plant, which shut its door on May 25. Its Doncaster, U.K. plant closed on June 25, six months earlier than expected.

He said workforce reductions now total 1,500 employees, and should reach 3,000 by the end of the year, roughly half of the announced “rightsizing” objective.

“The plant improvement program is on track, meeting committed savings, and the procurement plan is underway, with 20 percent savings identified in two-thirds of the categories already analyzed,” according to Tellier.

For NCI: Dave Beale Deutsche Bahn’s luxury Metropolitan trains will roll to a stop in December, says the German carrier.

Deutsche Bahn (DBAG) reported last week it is giving up its Metropolitan luxury intercity trains.

The carrier, which is the predominant railroad operator in Germany, said it will discontinue its Metropolitan all-business class intercity train services between Koln (Cologne) and Hamburg via Bremen starting with the 2005 system schedule revision which becomes effective in mid December 2004.

DBAG cited “disappointing financial results” as the reason for discontinuing the train.

“The Koln-Bremen-Hamburg route will continue to have frequent DBAG intercity train service with ICE and IC trains as before,” according to the railroad.

DBAG introduced the luxury intercity train nearly six years ago on the Koln-Hamburg route to lure business travelers. Two trainsets of custom-built coaches powered by 101 series locomotives in a matching paint scheme operate Metropolitan trains along the route.

The coaches are based on the coach and car body design used for ICE-1 and ICE-2 trains and share some features and components of the ICE wagons, which provide improved comfort and lower noise levels than conventional DBAG intercity rolling stock.

What is not clear at this time is the fate of the Metropolitan rolling stock when the service terminates in mid-December. The 101 series locomotives can be easily repainted and used within the rest of DBAG’s intercity locomotive pool. The coaches are a different matter, because of their different configuration and design compared to conventional rolling stock.

Although they are similar to ICE wagons, they are also have numerous and significant design and configuration differences compared to ICE coaches, which makes them unlikely candidates for operation in an ICE train set, unless they were to receive major modifications or rework.

Elsewhere in Europe, Amtrak is not the only carrier having problems with old Turboliners – rebuilt or not.

French National Railways – Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais (SNCF) – Turboliners, from which the Amtrak Turboliners were derived, will most likely be phased out of service at the end of this year in central France. Reason: maintenance costs are becoming too high, they need a complete wheels-up overhaul (like the Amtrak’s have received) – but SNCF has no budget to overhaul them.

SNCF would rather replace the Turboliners with new diesel multiple units (MUs), which they are now buying in large quantities to replace aging rolling stock in regional services all over France on non-electrified routes.

My family and I recently took a trip up to the Scandinavian countries. our “IC3” train, operated by Danish State Railways – DSB, parked aboard the ferry ship MS Schleswig Holstein for the 45-minute trip across the Baltic Sea from Puttgarden, Germany to Roedby, Denmark.

This train is two IC3 trains coupled together, and is six cars long. IC3s are modern diesel MUs capable of 180 kmh (112 mph) speeds with three permanently coupled cars per train set. They are in operation in Denmark, Germany (from Denmark) and Israel. They also have the trade name “Flex Liner.”

In years past, locomotive-hauled trains have also been used on the ferry ship link Vogel Line between Puttgarden and Denmark. The route from Hamburg to Puttgarden is not electrified, nor is half of the route from Roedby to Copenhagen.

They operate these trains onto a large ferryboat for the trip over to Denmark. During the ferry trip, the diesel engines are shut down and the train is connected to auxiliary electric power from the ship to keep the lights, powered doors and air conditioning operating.

Passengers are free to leave the train and wander around on the passenger decks of the ferry during the 45-minute trip. The train is parked on the lower vehicle deck of the ferry along with trucks, motor homes and tour buses. The upper vehicle deck in the ship takes cars and smaller trucks.

The train is the last vehicle to be loaded onto the ferry and the first to drive off. In years gone by, rail freight cars were also transported between Puttgarden to Denmark on ferries – but not any more.

Denmark recently completed constructing an impressive system of road and rail bridges and tunnels to link nearly all of the major islands of Denmark to mainland Europe and Sweden. We actually traveled over one of them to and from Sweden, the Oesrund Link, a combination under-sea tunnel and large three-km long suspension bridge from Denmark to Sweden over the Baltic Sea. The upper deck of the bridge is for automobiles, buses and trucks, the lower deck for trains.

NJT: Michael Rosenthal Industrial designer - and rail designer extraordinaire - Cesar Vergara, is carrying a self-built model of a New Jersey Transit PL-42AC in December 2002. Its prime mover (the real thing, that is) is from EMD. Alstom, in Valencia, Spain and Hornell N.Y., manufactured the body and assembled the locomotives. Vergara, who worked for NJT at the time, created the paint scheme. He will also be a speaker at the September NCI conference in New London, Conn.

The writer is a designer at Jacobs Engineering. He will be a featured speaker at the September NCI conference, and will attend the Watford meeting in Basel, Switzerland later this year – Ed.

For the past 12 years, I have had the privilege of belonging to a group of architects and designers that meet on a yearly basis to present to each other their present and future projects. The name of the group is the Watford group.

It all started almost 40 years ago when the head of architecture of what was then British rail convened a conference in the town of Watford north of London. The goal was to have all of the architects in the British system (which had been created in 1947 by the British Railway Act out of many different railroads) share on their preoccupations and ideas. The goal, though it took years to formulate, was to create unity through design. It helped create a design consciousness that yielded the first post war modern European railway, and set the standard for all other railroads to follow.

The group soon grew, first joined by the Danes and soon thereafter by most every European railroad. The beauty of this group, is that the yearly meeting was, and still is, “at cost,” and the delegates used their rail passes to get to the venue making it affordable. In those days, architects and designers belonged to the category of “You should be grateful to have a job” and thus got paid very little.

In any event, the Watford, like its delegates, started to travel, and in the stead of being held in Watford, it began to be held in different European cities. It has only once held outside of Europe, in Washington, D.C. in 1994 when Amtrak and the FRA sponsored it.

The group is small and the conference attendance rarely exceeds 100, as it should be, because the projects that are presented, in any other industry, would be kept as secrets. The railway industry has the inherent advantage of a built-in openness and candor about future projects. The Watford group banks on that fact. It is a dynamic group of men and women that have the same goal: to make railways more functional, desirable and profitable by design.

Watford Group’s unofficial motto is “Good Design is Good Business,” which is attributed to the late Jens Nielsen, one of the most distinguished members the Watford ever had. It stands as the driving ideal and core principle of the Watford. We Watford Group members aim to create outstanding public transportation by using innovative and functional architecture and Industrial design.

The Brunel awards, which have come to be known as “The Oscars of railway design,” have helped to promote and encourage the Watford’s mission, which is officially stated in its website, “To encourage the interchange of ideas across national boundaries, thus helping maintain the highest standards of design.”

In the U.S., we do not have a similar institution, and I often times wonder, why not?

Why could we not have a yearly meeting in North America that deals with these issues, and learn from each other challenges and innovative solutions?

A group like this would have to be organized outside of the established associations, which naturally serve a very important function in promoting the railways – but would stifle any attempt at an American Watford. Ultimately, the beneficiary of such a group would be all of the users and employees of the railways, passenger and freight.

North America is a design-based society, and those industries that have recognized this have been richly rewarded. To make the list short, think of Starbucks, Target, all of the auto companies, and Apple Computer, just to name a few. These companies have recognized the value of good design, made it its focus and core value… and the rest is history.

Given the present state of the world, from an oil-thirsty economy to global warming (do read this month’s National Geographic magazine cover story, “Global Warning.”)

It behooves us to think what we can do to promote public transportation, especially rail, to attract people in droves. If design was fully applied to rail transportation, and the service was treated as a business such as it was in Starbucks, I can only fathom the results.

It is high time for an American Watford, to promote, and discuss better design-based ideas on how to improve rail and public transportation, so that it can occupy the rightful place in a balanced, sensible society for the 21^st Century. Just think – public transportation as an object of desire.

I dare you!

Dear Editor:

This headline was very misleading:

“Kerry completes a ride, but motorists
were still fuming back in New Mexico”

It led me to believe that whatever it was it was something that Kerry or his campaign had done and must have upset a lot of folks. Instead, it was much to do about nothing. The improperly parked cars was a relatively insignificant incident and had no business in the headlines, or being given so much attention. This, in my opinion, is groping around for a “story” is another example of “over-reporting” and is best left to those publications that you see in the checkout lines at Wal-Mart and the grocery store.

Don Stewart

We merely combined two related stories. – Ed.