Several of the more uninformed critics from the Barrington area have claimed that funding any grade separation projects along the EJ&E involving the Canadian National Railway with public money amounts to some kind of “government bailout”. These statements demonstrate an extraordinary and remarkable ignorance of Federal transportation policy.
The truth here is important and deserves to be told.
In 2005, as part of the Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization legislation known as SAFETEA-LU, Congress formally requested that the Federal Railroad Administration undertake a study of the impact of railroad grade crossing delays on emergency response vehicles.
This would seem to indicate that the 535 members of the 109th United States Congress (including Illinois Senator Dick Durbin) believed that grade crossing delays were a national problem, not a Barrington problem, and that a national or Federal solution to this problem was entirely appropriate regardless of the nationality of the railroad(s) involved.
Of course actions (and money) speak louder than words.
SAFETEA-LU continued to provide Federal funding in Section 1401 for the national highway-railway crossing safety program. SAFETEA-LU also included approximately $1 billion in individual earmarks for various grade crossing separation projects around the country.
Section 1301 of that legislation included $15 million for a grade crossing separation project involving railroads serving the Port of Virginia, and another $125 million for a massive grade crossing separation project in southern California, commonly referred to as the Alameda Corridor East Project. That project would benefit BNSF and Union Pacific, two railroads that serve the Chicago area and are based in Ft. Worth, TX and Omaha, NE respectively.
Section 9002 provided $350 million per year in grants for grade separating track that is “interfering with a community’s motor traffic vehicle flow, its quality of life or its economic development” (are CMAP and Senator Durbin listening?). SAFETEA-LU also extended and increased funding levels for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), which the City of Reno, NV used to fund (or bail out?) a major grade crossing separation project in their community.
Sounds like “bailouts” were very popular in 2005.
The award for the biggest “bailout” on a per capita basis goes to our neighbors in the tiny hamlet of Elburn, IL, population 4,800. These intrepid souls convinced then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Dennis Hastert to include a $7 million earmark in SAFETEA-LU for a grade crossing separation project in Elburn (on a line used by Union Pacific and Metra) with a total cost of $9.5 million. Now that’s my kind of Congressman!!!
However, these so-called bailouts are nothing new. Back in 1998 our neighbors in Lafayette, IN received a $22.5 million grant under the previous Federal transportation authorization bill, TEA-21, for a project that eliminated 41 grade crossings in Lafayette.
TEA-21 money was also used in Cleveland, OH, in conjunction with contributions from CSX, Norfolk Southern and the State of Ohio, to fund several grade crossing separation projects. These projects were part of a voluntary agreement by all parties under the Surface Transportation Board’s final approval for the Conrail Acquisition.
Closer to home, the Grand Avenue grade separation project in suburban Franklin Park is a good example of how these projects actually get funded. This project cost approximately $44 million with funding coming from a variety of sources including $14,000 from the Illinois Commerce Commission grade crossing protection fund and $11.5 million from a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant. There was also a $4 million grant from SAFETEA-LU secured by Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
After the completion of the project in September 2007, Peter Silvestri, board chairman of the Grand Avenue Railroad Relocation Authority, is reported to have called the underpass project “a truly great example of intergovernmental and railroad cooperation”. At the time Silvestri was also a Cook County Commissioner and Elmwood Park village president. By the way the railroads involved here were the Indiana Harbor Belt (majority owner Canadian Pacific) and that other Canadian railroad whose name escapes me at the moment.
For those readers who might be interested in what law and accepted practice (as opposed to hype and hysteria) actually provide here, this is the description the Federal Railroad Administration provided in its final report to Congress (published in 2006).
“Grade separations are generally funded by the States’ DOT and local communities. Railroads are generally not legally required to contribute. Railroads maintain the crossings and so enjoy a reduction in costs when crossings are eliminated. They also perceive a reduction in liability and risk from crossing accidents. However, these gains are minor in terms of the cost of a grade separation, so railroads are usually only a limited partner in separation projects.
Federal Highway Trust Funds can generally be used to provide partial funding of grade separations. Depending on the status of the road or highway, grade separations can be funded from accounts such as the National Highway System and the Surface Transportation Program.”
Like we said, what bailout???
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Metra Madness
One of the goofiest aspects of the entire CN/EJ&E Acquisition saga has to be the response of Metra. In a filing submitted to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on January 28, 2008, Metra requested,
* Immediate trackage rights between Mileposts 7.5 and 42.5 on the EJ&E West Subdivision (presumably for STAR Line service).
* Consideration of future trackage rights from Joliet to Lynwood, IL and from Hoffman Estates to Waukegan, IL.
* Priority to new Southeast Service over the Chicago Heights, IL interlocking.
* Control of the interlockings at West Chicago and Barrington, IL be transferred from EJ&E to Metra immediately.
It should be noted that Metra and the EJ&E have not even started discussions regarding a Purchase of Service Agreement (PSA) for the proposed STAR Line service. Metra’s 1999 Commuter Rail Feasibility Study says,
“The exact nature of any service agreement would be subject to negotiation and agreement between Metra and the EJ&E.”
Looks like Metra decided to skip the negotiation and agreement “stages” of the process and move directly to taking over the track.
According to Metra’s own 1999 engineering study of the route,
“EJ&E management stated that their track capacity would be needed for present and future operations”.
This statement would seem to indicate that there is virtually no track capacity on the EJ&E today for STAR Line commuter rail service, irrespective of what CN does or does not do. So why is CN the bad guy here?
Metra’s actions of course beg two very obvious questions. First, if this route is as critical as Metra says it is why didn’t Metra buy the EJ&E itself? It’s only $300 million. And second, what was Metra thinking?
As far as we can tell this is the first time in the entire history of Metra (and RTA) that these kinds of extreme and outrageous demands have ever been made from a railroad merger. Think back to the myriad of railroad mergers that have occurred during the last 15 years involving Burlington Northern, Canadian National (twice), C&NW, Illinois Central, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific (twice) and Wisconsin Central. Metra seemed to survive all those mergers just fine without these kinds of excessive demands.
If you analyze Metra’s demands at face value they just don’t add up. Let’s look at Barrington Tower. Metra is concerned about potential interference from Canadian National freight trains at the Barrington crossing. This crossing is located on Union Pacific’s Harvard Subdivision, used by Metra’s UP-Northwest Service running between Chicago and Harvard, IL.
Canadian National is forecasting 20 freight trains per day across the Barrington interlocking after the acquisition where today EJ&E operates only 5. But further east on the Harvard Subdivision, at Deval Crossing (in Des Plaines), the CN currently operates 19 freight trains per day through the crossing. So, according to my math, today there is already potential interference from a total of 24 CN and EJ&E freight trains crossing Metra’s UP-Northwest Route. Did we miss something here or does Metra need a new calculator?
The other demand, based on equally dubious logic, involves Metra’s proposed Southeast Service Route, between Chicago La Salle Street Station and south suburban Crete, IL. This service would use a busy, congested mainline between Dolton and Crete jointly belonging to CSXT and Union Pacific, that crosses the EJ&E at grade in Chicago Heights, IL.
While the start-up of Southeast Service is still several years away, apparently our friends at Metra have no faith in CN’s ability to operate the Chicago Heights crossing in a safe and efficient manner. But here’s another example where Metra’s math is a little fuzzy.
Canadian National already crosses the Southeast Service Route in south suburban Thornton, operating an average of 23 freight trains per day there now, with about 9 EJ&E freight trains per day crossing the same line further south at Chicago Heights (that’s a total of 32). After the EJ&E acquisition about 6 trains per day would continue to operate via Thornton, and CN estimates an average of 27 trains per day would roll through the Chicago Heights crossing (that would be a total of 33).
So today you have potential interference from an average of 32 freight trains (CN + EJ&E combined) crossing the Southeast Route, and after the acquisition you would have potential interference from an average of 33 freight trains crossing the same exact route. Well, my calculator says that’s a net increase of 1 train per day. Did we miss anything or is this another example of the absurdity of Metra’s demands?
Both the content and tone of Metra’s demands are insulting and demeaning. Canadian National has a well-deserved reputation in the railroad industry as a competent and efficient operator that pioneered the concept of a scheduled freight railroad. On Metra’s North Central Route, between Chicago and Antioch, CN has already demonstrated that they can successfully co-exist with commuter passenger trains.
But the best evaluation of Metra’s demands comes from none other than the Union Pacific Railroad. In a scathing rebuttal to Metra’s filing, submitted to the STB on March 13, 2008, UP concludes, “we believe the conditions are unnecessary, and some of them could be counterproductive. Accordingly UP opposes them and requests they not be imposed.”
* Immediate trackage rights between Mileposts 7.5 and 42.5 on the EJ&E West Subdivision (presumably for STAR Line service).
* Consideration of future trackage rights from Joliet to Lynwood, IL and from Hoffman Estates to Waukegan, IL.
* Priority to new Southeast Service over the Chicago Heights, IL interlocking.
* Control of the interlockings at West Chicago and Barrington, IL be transferred from EJ&E to Metra immediately.
It should be noted that Metra and the EJ&E have not even started discussions regarding a Purchase of Service Agreement (PSA) for the proposed STAR Line service. Metra’s 1999 Commuter Rail Feasibility Study says,
“The exact nature of any service agreement would be subject to negotiation and agreement between Metra and the EJ&E.”
Looks like Metra decided to skip the negotiation and agreement “stages” of the process and move directly to taking over the track.
According to Metra’s own 1999 engineering study of the route,
“EJ&E management stated that their track capacity would be needed for present and future operations”.
This statement would seem to indicate that there is virtually no track capacity on the EJ&E today for STAR Line commuter rail service, irrespective of what CN does or does not do. So why is CN the bad guy here?
Metra’s actions of course beg two very obvious questions. First, if this route is as critical as Metra says it is why didn’t Metra buy the EJ&E itself? It’s only $300 million. And second, what was Metra thinking?
As far as we can tell this is the first time in the entire history of Metra (and RTA) that these kinds of extreme and outrageous demands have ever been made from a railroad merger. Think back to the myriad of railroad mergers that have occurred during the last 15 years involving Burlington Northern, Canadian National (twice), C&NW, Illinois Central, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific (twice) and Wisconsin Central. Metra seemed to survive all those mergers just fine without these kinds of excessive demands.
If you analyze Metra’s demands at face value they just don’t add up. Let’s look at Barrington Tower. Metra is concerned about potential interference from Canadian National freight trains at the Barrington crossing. This crossing is located on Union Pacific’s Harvard Subdivision, used by Metra’s UP-Northwest Service running between Chicago and Harvard, IL.
Canadian National is forecasting 20 freight trains per day across the Barrington interlocking after the acquisition where today EJ&E operates only 5. But further east on the Harvard Subdivision, at Deval Crossing (in Des Plaines), the CN currently operates 19 freight trains per day through the crossing. So, according to my math, today there is already potential interference from a total of 24 CN and EJ&E freight trains crossing Metra’s UP-Northwest Route. Did we miss something here or does Metra need a new calculator?
The other demand, based on equally dubious logic, involves Metra’s proposed Southeast Service Route, between Chicago La Salle Street Station and south suburban Crete, IL. This service would use a busy, congested mainline between Dolton and Crete jointly belonging to CSXT and Union Pacific, that crosses the EJ&E at grade in Chicago Heights, IL.
While the start-up of Southeast Service is still several years away, apparently our friends at Metra have no faith in CN’s ability to operate the Chicago Heights crossing in a safe and efficient manner. But here’s another example where Metra’s math is a little fuzzy.
Canadian National already crosses the Southeast Service Route in south suburban Thornton, operating an average of 23 freight trains per day there now, with about 9 EJ&E freight trains per day crossing the same line further south at Chicago Heights (that’s a total of 32). After the EJ&E acquisition about 6 trains per day would continue to operate via Thornton, and CN estimates an average of 27 trains per day would roll through the Chicago Heights crossing (that would be a total of 33).
So today you have potential interference from an average of 32 freight trains (CN + EJ&E combined) crossing the Southeast Route, and after the acquisition you would have potential interference from an average of 33 freight trains crossing the same exact route. Well, my calculator says that’s a net increase of 1 train per day. Did we miss anything or is this another example of the absurdity of Metra’s demands?
Both the content and tone of Metra’s demands are insulting and demeaning. Canadian National has a well-deserved reputation in the railroad industry as a competent and efficient operator that pioneered the concept of a scheduled freight railroad. On Metra’s North Central Route, between Chicago and Antioch, CN has already demonstrated that they can successfully co-exist with commuter passenger trains.
But the best evaluation of Metra’s demands comes from none other than the Union Pacific Railroad. In a scathing rebuttal to Metra’s filing, submitted to the STB on March 13, 2008, UP concludes, “we believe the conditions are unnecessary, and some of them could be counterproductive. Accordingly UP opposes them and requests they not be imposed.”
Friday, March 28, 2008
Life By The Tracks
Much has been written lately, most of it negative and much of it uninformed, about the impact of trains and railroads on life in suburban Chicago communities. Let me share with you the truth about life next to the tracks in one such suburban community called Downers Grove.
The Village of Downers Grove is an old community, originally founded by Pierce Downer in 1832. The CB&Q Railroad arrived in 1864 and has been an integral part of the area every since. Today's triple-track mainline of the BNSF Railway splits the Village in half and cuts through the heart of the downtown business district.
This route is one of the busiest in North America thanks to the passage of 8 daily Amtrak trains, 86 daily Metra trains, and an average of 45 BNSF freight trains per day. There's also a large rail-served plant operated by Pepperidge Farms on the east side of the Village.
Many of today's BNSF freight trains are well over a mile in length. The number and length of these freight trains has grown consistently during the past 30 years. During the same period the number of Amtrak trains using this route have doubled and there's been a 26 percent increase in the number of Metra trains rolling through the Village as well.
There are three Metra stations located in Downers Grove, and over half the Metra trains stop at one or more of these stations. Metra makes a real mess of the place during the morning and evening rush hours even though relatively few residents use Metra for their commutes.
Now if you listen to all those nattering nabobs of negativism, from places like Barrington and Lake Zurich, you might think that Downers Grove would easily fit the definition of a "suburban slum". Nothing could be further from the truth.
During the past 5 years over 300 new upscale residential condominium and townhome units have been constructed in downtown Downers Grove. Most of these are literally just a stone's throw from the railroad tracks. Downers Grove is also home to one of the highest rate of teardowns in the Chicago region; smaller residences are being torn down and replaced with much larger newer houses, primarily in the older section of town.
For caffeine fans, right next to the Main Street Metra Station, there's a Caribou Coffee on the south side of the tracks and a Starbuck's on the north side. Both have outside seating in the summer (to watch the trains go by). There's a wave of new restaurants opening up in the downtown area, joining existing establishments ranging from a Subway sandwich shop to Emmett's Ale House & Microbrewery. A recent addition to the Village's dining establishments is The Egg Harbor Cafe (just like the one they have in Barrington).
One of my personal favorites is the 2Toots Steamwhistle Grill located in the commercial area of the Station Crossings Condominium Tower. Located directly north of the tracks, this charming spot is decorated in a train motif. If you sit at the counter, you can watch the multitude of trains go by while your burger and fries are delivered to you on an operating Lionel O-Scale train.
Summers in downtown Downers Grove are really quite remarkable. Every Friday night, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Village hosts the Friday Night Classic Car Show. From about 6 to 9pm the entire downtown area is flooded with classic cars, most from the fifties, sixties and seventies. All of the curbside parking is reserved for classic cars only, including the parking area around the Metra Main Street Station. If the weather cooperates, one can see a virtual history of the postwar American automobile industry cruising through the streets of the downtown area.
The Metra Station parking lot hosts a Farmer's Market, right next to the tracks, on Saturday mornings from mid-June through mid-October. One can shop for fresh produce while Amtrak's Illinois Zephyr and BNSF unit coal trains role by. For one weekend in mid-August, racing bicycles take over the downtown area as the National Criterium Championship comes to town.
Located about 90 feet north of the tracks is the entrance to the historic and beautifully restored Tivoli Theater (all tickets $4). Some shows are preceded by a short concert played on the theater's Wurlitzer organ. There's also a nifty bowling alley and bar in the basement of the same building. Nearby commuter parking lots are used by theater patrons attending evening and weekend shows.
Public safety has definitely been impacted by the large volume of rail traffic passing through Downers Grove. The Village maintains 4 state-of-the-art fire stations for a population of around 49,000, on about 14 square miles. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital on the north side of town is home to the only Level 1 Trauma Center in all of DuPage County. Emergency vehicles from various communities in the region transporting to this facility from the south are routinely delayed by both passenger and freight trains.
Downers Grove has 6 at-grade crossings of the BNSF mainline. This is probably not surprising since Illinois has the second highest number of public highway-rail crossings in the nation. According to the Illinois Commerce Commission, Downers Grove is ranked second (behind Des Plaines) for the suburb with the total number of vehicles (over 13,000) delayed at grade crossings on a daily basis.
The Village is fortunate in that it was grandfathered in under the new Federal train horn quiet zone rules. Even so, the Main Street crossing was recently rebuilt at Village expense to conform with the new Federal grade crossing safety rules.
Like many of our suburban neighbors, we are concerned about the increase in hazardous material shipments being transported on the railroads today. It should be noted that the fastest growing hazmat commodity in terms of volume is ethanol. This is due in large part to a national policy, supported by both political parties (including Senators Durbin and Obama), to encourage ethanol usage. We also note that much of the ethanol being transported by rail today ends up in the gas tanks of vehicles driven by residents of Barrington, Lake Zurich and other communities opposed to the CN/EJ&E acquistion.
For almost 10 years now the Village has been attempting to construct a grade-separated viaduct at Belmont Road on the west side of town. Many of the same elected officials (Durbin, Biggert, et al) and planning agency managers (CMAP) who now complain the loudest about the CN/EJ&E acquisition have been conspicuously missing in action when it came to securing funds for this project.
Yes, life might be easier and simpler without all the aggravation created by Amtrak, Metra and BNSF. Yet in spite of this adversity, or maybe because of it, Downers Grove has thrived and prospered for over 175 years now, and its future looks brighter than ever.
The Village of Downers Grove is an old community, originally founded by Pierce Downer in 1832. The CB&Q Railroad arrived in 1864 and has been an integral part of the area every since. Today's triple-track mainline of the BNSF Railway splits the Village in half and cuts through the heart of the downtown business district.
This route is one of the busiest in North America thanks to the passage of 8 daily Amtrak trains, 86 daily Metra trains, and an average of 45 BNSF freight trains per day. There's also a large rail-served plant operated by Pepperidge Farms on the east side of the Village.
Many of today's BNSF freight trains are well over a mile in length. The number and length of these freight trains has grown consistently during the past 30 years. During the same period the number of Amtrak trains using this route have doubled and there's been a 26 percent increase in the number of Metra trains rolling through the Village as well.
There are three Metra stations located in Downers Grove, and over half the Metra trains stop at one or more of these stations. Metra makes a real mess of the place during the morning and evening rush hours even though relatively few residents use Metra for their commutes.
Now if you listen to all those nattering nabobs of negativism, from places like Barrington and Lake Zurich, you might think that Downers Grove would easily fit the definition of a "suburban slum". Nothing could be further from the truth.
During the past 5 years over 300 new upscale residential condominium and townhome units have been constructed in downtown Downers Grove. Most of these are literally just a stone's throw from the railroad tracks. Downers Grove is also home to one of the highest rate of teardowns in the Chicago region; smaller residences are being torn down and replaced with much larger newer houses, primarily in the older section of town.
For caffeine fans, right next to the Main Street Metra Station, there's a Caribou Coffee on the south side of the tracks and a Starbuck's on the north side. Both have outside seating in the summer (to watch the trains go by). There's a wave of new restaurants opening up in the downtown area, joining existing establishments ranging from a Subway sandwich shop to Emmett's Ale House & Microbrewery. A recent addition to the Village's dining establishments is The Egg Harbor Cafe (just like the one they have in Barrington).
One of my personal favorites is the 2Toots Steamwhistle Grill located in the commercial area of the Station Crossings Condominium Tower. Located directly north of the tracks, this charming spot is decorated in a train motif. If you sit at the counter, you can watch the multitude of trains go by while your burger and fries are delivered to you on an operating Lionel O-Scale train.
Summers in downtown Downers Grove are really quite remarkable. Every Friday night, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Village hosts the Friday Night Classic Car Show. From about 6 to 9pm the entire downtown area is flooded with classic cars, most from the fifties, sixties and seventies. All of the curbside parking is reserved for classic cars only, including the parking area around the Metra Main Street Station. If the weather cooperates, one can see a virtual history of the postwar American automobile industry cruising through the streets of the downtown area.
The Metra Station parking lot hosts a Farmer's Market, right next to the tracks, on Saturday mornings from mid-June through mid-October. One can shop for fresh produce while Amtrak's Illinois Zephyr and BNSF unit coal trains role by. For one weekend in mid-August, racing bicycles take over the downtown area as the National Criterium Championship comes to town.
Located about 90 feet north of the tracks is the entrance to the historic and beautifully restored Tivoli Theater (all tickets $4). Some shows are preceded by a short concert played on the theater's Wurlitzer organ. There's also a nifty bowling alley and bar in the basement of the same building. Nearby commuter parking lots are used by theater patrons attending evening and weekend shows.
Public safety has definitely been impacted by the large volume of rail traffic passing through Downers Grove. The Village maintains 4 state-of-the-art fire stations for a population of around 49,000, on about 14 square miles. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital on the north side of town is home to the only Level 1 Trauma Center in all of DuPage County. Emergency vehicles from various communities in the region transporting to this facility from the south are routinely delayed by both passenger and freight trains.
Downers Grove has 6 at-grade crossings of the BNSF mainline. This is probably not surprising since Illinois has the second highest number of public highway-rail crossings in the nation. According to the Illinois Commerce Commission, Downers Grove is ranked second (behind Des Plaines) for the suburb with the total number of vehicles (over 13,000) delayed at grade crossings on a daily basis.
The Village is fortunate in that it was grandfathered in under the new Federal train horn quiet zone rules. Even so, the Main Street crossing was recently rebuilt at Village expense to conform with the new Federal grade crossing safety rules.
Like many of our suburban neighbors, we are concerned about the increase in hazardous material shipments being transported on the railroads today. It should be noted that the fastest growing hazmat commodity in terms of volume is ethanol. This is due in large part to a national policy, supported by both political parties (including Senators Durbin and Obama), to encourage ethanol usage. We also note that much of the ethanol being transported by rail today ends up in the gas tanks of vehicles driven by residents of Barrington, Lake Zurich and other communities opposed to the CN/EJ&E acquistion.
For almost 10 years now the Village has been attempting to construct a grade-separated viaduct at Belmont Road on the west side of town. Many of the same elected officials (Durbin, Biggert, et al) and planning agency managers (CMAP) who now complain the loudest about the CN/EJ&E acquisition have been conspicuously missing in action when it came to securing funds for this project.
Yes, life might be easier and simpler without all the aggravation created by Amtrak, Metra and BNSF. Yet in spite of this adversity, or maybe because of it, Downers Grove has thrived and prospered for over 175 years now, and its future looks brighter than ever.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Hello Frankfort
According to recent press accounts the town of Frankfort, IL seems to be the latest community to jump on the anti-CN NIMBY bandwagon. But there's a lot to this story that hasn't been reported.
Did you know that only 30 short years ago the EJ&E line running through Frankfort was a busy, bustling railroad? In fact, there were actually two main tracks where today only one remains. In 1979 the EJ&E had its best financial year ever, reporting a gross income of $20 million, and the railroad was operating about twice as many trains through Frankfort as it does today.
However, starting around 1981, the railroad fell on hard times and business levels declined dramatically. Radical change was taking place in the railroad industry during this period, especially in Will County. The former Michigan Central (MC) and Milwaukee Road branch lines into Joliet from the east were both abandoned. (The MC line is now the Old Plank Road Trail). The former Wabash mainline from Chicago to St. Louis was abandoned south of Manhattan, IL, and the Rock Island Line went out of business for good.
Many folks in the area apparently assumed that the EJ&E would be next, but we all know what they say about the word "assume". The EJ&E actually did tear up large portions of one of its two main tracks between East Joliet and Matteson, IL in 1987. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the EJ&E's demise were greatly exaggerated.
In the late nineties, as rail traffic nationwide was growing in leaps and bounds, prosperity finally returned to the EJ&E. In 1999, in an early phase of the STAR Line Project, Metra completed an extensive engineering analysis of the entire EJ&E line in Illinois. The report's findings on freight train operations make for very interesting reading , some of which are excerpted here with commentary attached.
"The freight railroad industry has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years. The EJ&E has been actively pursuing railroad freight business that would utilize their right-of-way and consequently provide additional revenue from trackage rights agreements (translation: this means a lot more trains).
Recently, the EJ&E and UP negotiated the first phase of a trackage rights agreement from Griffith, Indiana to Chicago Heights. The next segments to be considered for a trackage-rights agreement will be from West Chicago to Waukegan and West Chicago to Joliet. The UP has performed a study of their operation and has identified that numerous trains coming to their terminal have potential to utilize the EJ&E line (translation: this means a lot more trains).
In addition to negotiations with the UP, the EJ&E has given trackage rights to the CN along the segment from Griffith, Indiana (CN connection) to Eola (BNSF). The CN has also expressed interest in access to the IC at Matteson through a trackage-rights agreement (translation: this means a lot more trains)."
Nine years ago Metra's consultants had these prophetic words of warning.
"Freight railroad operations and traffic volumes are subject to change at any time on any existing freight railroad. Growth of the national economy, improved competitive costs produced by the railroads, or future railroad mergers, could all have a major influence on the potential cost of implementing commuter service (and on train volumes through Frankfort)."
Apparently no one in Frankfort was paying attention.
After the opening of Logistics Park Chicago, in Elwood, IL, the EJ&E and BNSF successfully negotiated a trackage rights agreement that allows BNSF trains to operate between Eola and Joliet. The end result of these various deals was that traffic on portions of the EJ&E Railway, both east and west of Frankfort, has grown substantially in recent years.
An extraordinary amount of transport-related economic development has occurred in Will County near Frankfort in the last decade. The redevelopment of the Joliet Arsenal, from an abandoned military base and EPA Superfund Site, into a world class rail-served distribution center has made news around the world. This facility has also been a high-powered economic development engine bringing thousands of new jobs to Will County.
We wonder how many of these new transport-related jobs went to residents of Frankfort?
And while the US45/La Grange Road crossing of the BNSF mainline in downtown La Grange, IL is ranked as one of the absolute worst in the region, in terms of total vehicles delayed, the same US45 passes through Frankfort with virtually no delays since it uses a viaduct to cross under the EJ&E mainline.
Finally, under rules established by the Federal Railroad Administration at the direction of Congress, public authorities (like Frankfort) have the option to establish train horn quiet zones provided certain supplemental or alternative safety measures are in place. While Illinois Senator Dick Durbin helped to pass the enabling legislation for these rules, Congress has never adequately funded the Federal grade crossing program.
Did you know that only 30 short years ago the EJ&E line running through Frankfort was a busy, bustling railroad? In fact, there were actually two main tracks where today only one remains. In 1979 the EJ&E had its best financial year ever, reporting a gross income of $20 million, and the railroad was operating about twice as many trains through Frankfort as it does today.
However, starting around 1981, the railroad fell on hard times and business levels declined dramatically. Radical change was taking place in the railroad industry during this period, especially in Will County. The former Michigan Central (MC) and Milwaukee Road branch lines into Joliet from the east were both abandoned. (The MC line is now the Old Plank Road Trail). The former Wabash mainline from Chicago to St. Louis was abandoned south of Manhattan, IL, and the Rock Island Line went out of business for good.
Many folks in the area apparently assumed that the EJ&E would be next, but we all know what they say about the word "assume". The EJ&E actually did tear up large portions of one of its two main tracks between East Joliet and Matteson, IL in 1987. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the EJ&E's demise were greatly exaggerated.
In the late nineties, as rail traffic nationwide was growing in leaps and bounds, prosperity finally returned to the EJ&E. In 1999, in an early phase of the STAR Line Project, Metra completed an extensive engineering analysis of the entire EJ&E line in Illinois. The report's findings on freight train operations make for very interesting reading , some of which are excerpted here with commentary attached.
"The freight railroad industry has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years. The EJ&E has been actively pursuing railroad freight business that would utilize their right-of-way and consequently provide additional revenue from trackage rights agreements (translation: this means a lot more trains).
Recently, the EJ&E and UP negotiated the first phase of a trackage rights agreement from Griffith, Indiana to Chicago Heights. The next segments to be considered for a trackage-rights agreement will be from West Chicago to Waukegan and West Chicago to Joliet. The UP has performed a study of their operation and has identified that numerous trains coming to their terminal have potential to utilize the EJ&E line (translation: this means a lot more trains).
In addition to negotiations with the UP, the EJ&E has given trackage rights to the CN along the segment from Griffith, Indiana (CN connection) to Eola (BNSF). The CN has also expressed interest in access to the IC at Matteson through a trackage-rights agreement (translation: this means a lot more trains)."
Nine years ago Metra's consultants had these prophetic words of warning.
"Freight railroad operations and traffic volumes are subject to change at any time on any existing freight railroad. Growth of the national economy, improved competitive costs produced by the railroads, or future railroad mergers, could all have a major influence on the potential cost of implementing commuter service (and on train volumes through Frankfort)."
Apparently no one in Frankfort was paying attention.
After the opening of Logistics Park Chicago, in Elwood, IL, the EJ&E and BNSF successfully negotiated a trackage rights agreement that allows BNSF trains to operate between Eola and Joliet. The end result of these various deals was that traffic on portions of the EJ&E Railway, both east and west of Frankfort, has grown substantially in recent years.
An extraordinary amount of transport-related economic development has occurred in Will County near Frankfort in the last decade. The redevelopment of the Joliet Arsenal, from an abandoned military base and EPA Superfund Site, into a world class rail-served distribution center has made news around the world. This facility has also been a high-powered economic development engine bringing thousands of new jobs to Will County.
We wonder how many of these new transport-related jobs went to residents of Frankfort?
And while the US45/La Grange Road crossing of the BNSF mainline in downtown La Grange, IL is ranked as one of the absolute worst in the region, in terms of total vehicles delayed, the same US45 passes through Frankfort with virtually no delays since it uses a viaduct to cross under the EJ&E mainline.
Finally, under rules established by the Federal Railroad Administration at the direction of Congress, public authorities (like Frankfort) have the option to establish train horn quiet zones provided certain supplemental or alternative safety measures are in place. While Illinois Senator Dick Durbin helped to pass the enabling legislation for these rules, Congress has never adequately funded the Federal grade crossing program.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Grade Crossing Math
In a recent public letter to Canadian National President Hunter Harrison (reported on extensively in the media), Congresswoman Melissa Bean provided this interesting view of the grade crossing situation along the EJ&E Railway line.
"CN has said it is willing to fund mitigation efforts at 'three or four' grade crossings. Well, there's nearly 140 crossings along the EJ&E route, so I hope he has some proposals for the other 136 of them."
Congresswoman Bean also suggested that, "Mr. Harrison take the tone and concerns of this letter seriously..."
Well in that same tone of seriousness, we think that the Congresswoman might want to recheck her math, not to mention some of her facts.
Back in 1999, in an early phase of the STAR Line Project, Metra funded an excellent full-scale engineering study of the entire EJ&E mainline in Illinois, all the way from Waukegan around to Lynwood. As part of this study, Metra's engineering firm did a thorough inventory and analysis of the grade crossings along the route. What they found was that out of a total of 130 highway or road crossings (as opposed to pedestrian crossings), some 21 percent were for private roads. The study describes most of these 27 private roads as "gravel" or "dirt".
We certainly hope that Congresswoman Bean is not seriously recommending that Canadian National be required to construct grade separations for gravel roads.
If you take the Congresswoman's recommendations at face value, and start to analyze them, some of them defy logical explanation. Let's look at one of the more interesting examples involving Illinois Route 43. This highway crosses the EJ&E mainline twice, once near Knollwood, IL as Waukegan Road and again east of Frankfort, IL as Harlem Avenue. Congresswoman Bean apparently wants grade separations constructed at both locations.
Yet according to the Illinois Commerce Commission the top ranked grade crossing for total vehicles delayed on a daily basis, in the entire northeastern Illinois region, is the Harlem Avenue (IL 43) crossing of the BNSF mainline on the border between Berwyn and Riverside, IL. If we are actually having a serious discussion about regional grade crossing problems don't you think the poor folks in these western suburbs should be at the top of the list for any grade separation projects?
Based on Metra's study, it appears that most of the grade crossings along the EJ&E are two-lane paved roads, many of which will probably not meet the environmental impact threshold of 5,000 vehicles per day. This threshold was originally established by the Surface Transportation Board in 1998 as part of the Conrail Acquisition EIS. Grade crossings not meeting this threshold will not be included in the Board's environmental analysis.
Metra's study also identified 14 at-grade crossings of state and Federal route highways maintained by the State of Illinois. Why is this important? Well, in 2002 the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) released a comprehensive analysis of grade crossing delays in the Northeast Illinois region. The ICC concluded that,
"approximately 60 percent of the grade crossings that account for the greatest amount of delay are found on the State maintained highway system, as opposed to being on locally maintained streets and roads."
As part of its detailed analysis, the ICC discovered that,
"approximately two-thirds of the thirty grade crossings that experience the greatest amount of grade crossing delay are on the State maintained highway system, even though only about 18 percent of all grade crossings in northeastern Illinois are on the State maintained highway system. These roadways will naturally carry more motor vehicles and are more likely to be congestion points."
The ICC went on to suggest that,
"efforts to reduce grade crossing delay in the future are likely to be focused on grade crossings which carry the largest number of highway vehicles."
And this sounds a lot like the approach that Canadian National is proposing to take, i.e. focus on the crossings with the greatest traffic volumes and potential delays.
The ICC analysis also revealed that most of those grade crossings with the greatest amount of total motorist delay hours were located in very close proximity to major rail classification yards, like those found in the south suburban communities of Blue Island, Dixmoor and Riverdale. Western Avenue is a prime example. We're not aware of any plans by Canadian National to construct a classification yard anywhere along the EJ&E in Illinois.
Ironically, the one rail carrier that is responsible for delaying more total vehicles per day in northeastern Illinois than any other is not a freight railroad but rather the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, commonly referred to as Metra.
Finally, contrary to the hype and hysteria of some of our elected officials, the ICC Study found that the majority of grade crossings in northeastern Illinois actually experience very little delay. According to the study,
* 69 percent of crossings delay no more than a total of 100 vehicles per day.
* 64 percent of crossings produce less than one hour of total motorist delay per day.
FYI, the Metra STAR Line Engineering Study is a public document that is still available on their website. The ICC report, "Motorist Delay at Public Highway - Rail Grade Crossings in Northeastern Illinois", is also a public document and still available on the Illinois Commerce Commission's website. Both make for interesting reading.
"CN has said it is willing to fund mitigation efforts at 'three or four' grade crossings. Well, there's nearly 140 crossings along the EJ&E route, so I hope he has some proposals for the other 136 of them."
Congresswoman Bean also suggested that, "Mr. Harrison take the tone and concerns of this letter seriously..."
Well in that same tone of seriousness, we think that the Congresswoman might want to recheck her math, not to mention some of her facts.
Back in 1999, in an early phase of the STAR Line Project, Metra funded an excellent full-scale engineering study of the entire EJ&E mainline in Illinois, all the way from Waukegan around to Lynwood. As part of this study, Metra's engineering firm did a thorough inventory and analysis of the grade crossings along the route. What they found was that out of a total of 130 highway or road crossings (as opposed to pedestrian crossings), some 21 percent were for private roads. The study describes most of these 27 private roads as "gravel" or "dirt".
We certainly hope that Congresswoman Bean is not seriously recommending that Canadian National be required to construct grade separations for gravel roads.
If you take the Congresswoman's recommendations at face value, and start to analyze them, some of them defy logical explanation. Let's look at one of the more interesting examples involving Illinois Route 43. This highway crosses the EJ&E mainline twice, once near Knollwood, IL as Waukegan Road and again east of Frankfort, IL as Harlem Avenue. Congresswoman Bean apparently wants grade separations constructed at both locations.
Yet according to the Illinois Commerce Commission the top ranked grade crossing for total vehicles delayed on a daily basis, in the entire northeastern Illinois region, is the Harlem Avenue (IL 43) crossing of the BNSF mainline on the border between Berwyn and Riverside, IL. If we are actually having a serious discussion about regional grade crossing problems don't you think the poor folks in these western suburbs should be at the top of the list for any grade separation projects?
Based on Metra's study, it appears that most of the grade crossings along the EJ&E are two-lane paved roads, many of which will probably not meet the environmental impact threshold of 5,000 vehicles per day. This threshold was originally established by the Surface Transportation Board in 1998 as part of the Conrail Acquisition EIS. Grade crossings not meeting this threshold will not be included in the Board's environmental analysis.
Metra's study also identified 14 at-grade crossings of state and Federal route highways maintained by the State of Illinois. Why is this important? Well, in 2002 the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) released a comprehensive analysis of grade crossing delays in the Northeast Illinois region. The ICC concluded that,
"approximately 60 percent of the grade crossings that account for the greatest amount of delay are found on the State maintained highway system, as opposed to being on locally maintained streets and roads."
As part of its detailed analysis, the ICC discovered that,
"approximately two-thirds of the thirty grade crossings that experience the greatest amount of grade crossing delay are on the State maintained highway system, even though only about 18 percent of all grade crossings in northeastern Illinois are on the State maintained highway system. These roadways will naturally carry more motor vehicles and are more likely to be congestion points."
The ICC went on to suggest that,
"efforts to reduce grade crossing delay in the future are likely to be focused on grade crossings which carry the largest number of highway vehicles."
And this sounds a lot like the approach that Canadian National is proposing to take, i.e. focus on the crossings with the greatest traffic volumes and potential delays.
The ICC analysis also revealed that most of those grade crossings with the greatest amount of total motorist delay hours were located in very close proximity to major rail classification yards, like those found in the south suburban communities of Blue Island, Dixmoor and Riverdale. Western Avenue is a prime example. We're not aware of any plans by Canadian National to construct a classification yard anywhere along the EJ&E in Illinois.
Ironically, the one rail carrier that is responsible for delaying more total vehicles per day in northeastern Illinois than any other is not a freight railroad but rather the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, commonly referred to as Metra.
Finally, contrary to the hype and hysteria of some of our elected officials, the ICC Study found that the majority of grade crossings in northeastern Illinois actually experience very little delay. According to the study,
* 69 percent of crossings delay no more than a total of 100 vehicles per day.
* 64 percent of crossings produce less than one hour of total motorist delay per day.
FYI, the Metra STAR Line Engineering Study is a public document that is still available on their website. The ICC report, "Motorist Delay at Public Highway - Rail Grade Crossings in Northeastern Illinois", is also a public document and still available on the Illinois Commerce Commission's website. Both make for interesting reading.
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Amtrak Nonsense
One of the more bizarre and disturbing aspects of the CN/EJ&E deal involves the status and future of a portion of track near downtown Chicago known as the St. Charles Air Line.
This trackage runs along the far edge of Chicago's South Loop neighborhood, crossing the south branch of the Chicago River to join BNSF tracks around Halsted Street. Its official name is the St. Charles Air Line Railroad, originally completed in 1856, and now owned 50% by Canadian National, with the remaining 50% split between BNSF and Union Pacific.
A number of CN freight trains operate on this route today, as well as Amtrak's long-haul City of New Orleans, plus a pair of short-haul trains between Chicago and Carbondale, IL subsidized by the Illinois Dept. of Transportation. Once the EJ&E is acquired by CN it's anticipated that CN freight trains will no longer use this route, leaving only the Amtrak passenger trains operating here. It's not known at this time what if any plans co-owners BNSF and Union Pacific might have for this route after the CN/EJ&E deal is consummated.
As far as we can tell the only issue here is money, or rather the lack thereof. Once the freight trains are removed from this route, and Amtrak becomes the sole tenant or customer on the line, Amtrak would probably be expected to cover the full costs of maintaining it. And Amtrak says this would be unfair and the Illinois Dept. of Transportation says this would be unfair, and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin says this would be unfair. And do you know why? Simply because no one has any money to pay for it. So all these folks came up with a brilliant solution; have the shareholders of Canadian National pay for it.
What this really comes down to is a conspiracy by the State of Illinois and Amtrak, aided and abetted by the state's senior United States Senator, to confiscate private property for public use without adequate compensation. (Have I missed anything?)
Now to his credit, Canadian National CEO Hunter Harrison has already publicly promised Amtrak President Alexander Kummant and Senator Durbin that CN will do everything it can to assist Amtrak during this transition. No repeat of Meigs Field here. But CN is a publicly-traded company, and Harrison has a fiduciary responsibility to his shareholders, something Amtrak President Kummant should appreciate since he was once a senior executive with Union Pacific. I've been told that the current contract between CN and Amtrak does not expire until 2010, and CN has every intention of honoring that contract as well they should.
However, once the contract expires Canadian National has the right, like every good private business under our free enterprise system, to re-evaluate market conditions and make whatever modifications it wants to that contract. If CN and Amtrak cannot come to terms on a new price for using the St. Charles Air Line, Amtrak has the right to petition the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to adjudicate the dispute and set a price that is binding on both parties.
If at some point in the future CN, and the other Air Line owners, decided to file to abandon the line, then under existing STB procedures any responsible party would be allowed the opportunity to purchase the line and continue to use it for rail service. Seems like plenty of options to continue rail passenger service on this route, assuming that all parties involved act like responsible adults.
The ultimate long-term solution, that virtually everyone agrees on, is to build a track connection between the Canadian National and Norfolk Southern mainlines at a location on the far south side of Chicago known as Grand Crossing. The Amtrak trains would operate on the NS between Chicago Union Station and Grand Crossing, and connect with the CN mainline using the new connection. The only problem is that this would be a very expensive connection, with a recent price tag of about $70 million.
This project was included in the original CREATE Plan as Project P-4. But we all know what happened with CREATE. The Illinois Congressional delegation, led by the aforementioned Senator Durbin, proved to be totally impotent when it came to getting CREATE funded. Durbin's solution today is to have CN's shareholders provide the $70 million that Dick and the gang couldn't get out of Washington three years ago.
But to paraphrase Alice in Wonderland, this story just gets curiouser and curiouser. There are not one but two potential Federal funding sources available today for the Grand Crossing Connection, both buried in the back of the current Federal surface transportation reauthorization bill, SAFETEA-LU.
Section 9001, High Speed Rail Corridor Development, authorizes $70 million per year for capital projects, and Section 9002, Capital Grants for Rail Line Relocation Projects, authorizes $350 million per year. The Grand Crossing project appears to be eligible for funding under both programs. Seems like we need to ask our elected officials why they can't get the job done (again).
The larger, and really scary, issue this raises is what exactly is the policy of the Federal government when it comes to operating the nation's intercity passenger trains. In 1970 Congress passed the Rail Passenger Act of 1970. One of the specific provisions of that legislation was to relieve freight railroads, like Canadian National, of their financial responsibility (or burden) for operating the nation's intercity passenger trains.
For those of you too young to remember, between 1950 and 1970 the nation's freight railroads were almost totally destroyed by the massive financial burden of being forced to operate money-losing passenger trains. Passenger train deficits were a major contributing factor in the Penn Central bankruptcy.
But now Messrs. Durbin, Kummant, et al have decided to turn back the hands of time and once again start forcing freight railroads to pay for the costs of operating intercity passenger trains, shareholders be damned. Their action would seem to violate the spirit if not the letter of the 1970 Act. It's been said that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. These gentlemen are proposing we start down a slippery slope with no idea of how, when or where to stop the slipping and sliding.
We would like to invite our good friend Rick Harnish, Executive Director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association to weigh in on this one, and as well as Amtrak's ubiquitous and always informative spokesman Marc Magliari.
This trackage runs along the far edge of Chicago's South Loop neighborhood, crossing the south branch of the Chicago River to join BNSF tracks around Halsted Street. Its official name is the St. Charles Air Line Railroad, originally completed in 1856, and now owned 50% by Canadian National, with the remaining 50% split between BNSF and Union Pacific.
A number of CN freight trains operate on this route today, as well as Amtrak's long-haul City of New Orleans, plus a pair of short-haul trains between Chicago and Carbondale, IL subsidized by the Illinois Dept. of Transportation. Once the EJ&E is acquired by CN it's anticipated that CN freight trains will no longer use this route, leaving only the Amtrak passenger trains operating here. It's not known at this time what if any plans co-owners BNSF and Union Pacific might have for this route after the CN/EJ&E deal is consummated.
As far as we can tell the only issue here is money, or rather the lack thereof. Once the freight trains are removed from this route, and Amtrak becomes the sole tenant or customer on the line, Amtrak would probably be expected to cover the full costs of maintaining it. And Amtrak says this would be unfair and the Illinois Dept. of Transportation says this would be unfair, and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin says this would be unfair. And do you know why? Simply because no one has any money to pay for it. So all these folks came up with a brilliant solution; have the shareholders of Canadian National pay for it.
What this really comes down to is a conspiracy by the State of Illinois and Amtrak, aided and abetted by the state's senior United States Senator, to confiscate private property for public use without adequate compensation. (Have I missed anything?)
Now to his credit, Canadian National CEO Hunter Harrison has already publicly promised Amtrak President Alexander Kummant and Senator Durbin that CN will do everything it can to assist Amtrak during this transition. No repeat of Meigs Field here. But CN is a publicly-traded company, and Harrison has a fiduciary responsibility to his shareholders, something Amtrak President Kummant should appreciate since he was once a senior executive with Union Pacific. I've been told that the current contract between CN and Amtrak does not expire until 2010, and CN has every intention of honoring that contract as well they should.
However, once the contract expires Canadian National has the right, like every good private business under our free enterprise system, to re-evaluate market conditions and make whatever modifications it wants to that contract. If CN and Amtrak cannot come to terms on a new price for using the St. Charles Air Line, Amtrak has the right to petition the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to adjudicate the dispute and set a price that is binding on both parties.
If at some point in the future CN, and the other Air Line owners, decided to file to abandon the line, then under existing STB procedures any responsible party would be allowed the opportunity to purchase the line and continue to use it for rail service. Seems like plenty of options to continue rail passenger service on this route, assuming that all parties involved act like responsible adults.
The ultimate long-term solution, that virtually everyone agrees on, is to build a track connection between the Canadian National and Norfolk Southern mainlines at a location on the far south side of Chicago known as Grand Crossing. The Amtrak trains would operate on the NS between Chicago Union Station and Grand Crossing, and connect with the CN mainline using the new connection. The only problem is that this would be a very expensive connection, with a recent price tag of about $70 million.
This project was included in the original CREATE Plan as Project P-4. But we all know what happened with CREATE. The Illinois Congressional delegation, led by the aforementioned Senator Durbin, proved to be totally impotent when it came to getting CREATE funded. Durbin's solution today is to have CN's shareholders provide the $70 million that Dick and the gang couldn't get out of Washington three years ago.
But to paraphrase Alice in Wonderland, this story just gets curiouser and curiouser. There are not one but two potential Federal funding sources available today for the Grand Crossing Connection, both buried in the back of the current Federal surface transportation reauthorization bill, SAFETEA-LU.
Section 9001, High Speed Rail Corridor Development, authorizes $70 million per year for capital projects, and Section 9002, Capital Grants for Rail Line Relocation Projects, authorizes $350 million per year. The Grand Crossing project appears to be eligible for funding under both programs. Seems like we need to ask our elected officials why they can't get the job done (again).
The larger, and really scary, issue this raises is what exactly is the policy of the Federal government when it comes to operating the nation's intercity passenger trains. In 1970 Congress passed the Rail Passenger Act of 1970. One of the specific provisions of that legislation was to relieve freight railroads, like Canadian National, of their financial responsibility (or burden) for operating the nation's intercity passenger trains.
For those of you too young to remember, between 1950 and 1970 the nation's freight railroads were almost totally destroyed by the massive financial burden of being forced to operate money-losing passenger trains. Passenger train deficits were a major contributing factor in the Penn Central bankruptcy.
But now Messrs. Durbin, Kummant, et al have decided to turn back the hands of time and once again start forcing freight railroads to pay for the costs of operating intercity passenger trains, shareholders be damned. Their action would seem to violate the spirit if not the letter of the 1970 Act. It's been said that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. These gentlemen are proposing we start down a slippery slope with no idea of how, when or where to stop the slipping and sliding.
We would like to invite our good friend Rick Harnish, Executive Director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association to weigh in on this one, and as well as Amtrak's ubiquitous and always informative spokesman Marc Magliari.
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