The Daily Rail - 5/13/09

• Bellmead says goodbye to the Historic Katy Railyard. 'The Crash at Crush'
  
• DART does it again. Dallas to DFW by rail: $120 Million Still Needed
• The Texas House is proposing a gas tax increase of 10 cents. The new revenue will pay not only for highway improvements, but for commuter rail within all major metropolitan areas. Would you vote for it?
• A light at the end of the tunnel!? Yet Austin's Red Line still doesn't have an opening date.
• Yowza! Falling demand and..Federal Charges? Texas' own BNSF has a frightful first quarter.

High Speed Rail in Texas: A soon to be reality?

Did pigs fly again? I never thought the day would come when Texas Senator Carona's Bill 1570 passed this morning. According to Texas Legislature online, this bill requires "the facilitation, analysis, and implementation of high-speed passenger rail in this state."

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-rail_06tex.ART.State.Edition1.4abba85.html

"A Texas high-speed rail corporation would be created to begin planning for a 200-mph rail system linking the state's five largest urban areas...seven-member board of the corporation to plan and develop the rail transit system, using federal funds for the early stages of the project and then seeking private financing for construction...Another major change from the previous effort is that the system would likely be centered on the major airports in the state..."

Upon reading the bill http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/pdf/SB01570E.pdf , the created high speed rail entity would have to build a system meeting three decrees -

1. Serve major Texas airports
2. Connect military installations
3. Be developed in collaboration with high-speed rail
projects in other areas of the United States

Sound familiar anyone? Check out the Texas High Speed Rail Corporation's plans called the "Texas T-Bone" http://www.thsrtc.com/home_page.html


Among following existing railroad right of ways, these lines serve all major airports, the Fort Hood base, and is easily integrated with the Fed's South Central Corridor (which left Houston out of the triangle corridor mix..).

With the requirement of 200+ mph trains, I wonder if the current rail ROW is sufficient in regards to curves, grades, and topography. I know electrified rail at this speed can handle steep grades, but curvature is always an issue in with HSR in Europe and usually requires acquisition of new ROW. We saw what happened to any new ROW suggestions with the Perry's TTC plans. "Absolutely not!" was all we heard for the property rights fanatics.

Also, I'm not sure if Central Texas would scoff or welcome 200 MPH trains zipping through their communities. Possibly an express AND local service for small towns would be of help revive these ag-based economies and open up their acceptance of such a system.

Overall, this is great plan and would love to see it's implementation. The only outstanding problem I see is the lack of forsight to connect city centers. Don't get me wrong, DFW Airport is already the geographic center of the metroplex, and I don't think the City of Austin wants any more trains along Mo-Pac with the soon-t0-be commuter rail. But city center to city center is crucial for high speed rail sucess. Isn't that the point of not waiting through IAH's security and arriving footsteps from the Gun Expo and the Houston Convention Center? Unless, high speed commuter rail systems are implemented from Airports to Downtowns, I don't know whether people will opt for 1 hour flying or 2 hour railing from the same geographic location.

Hell, maybe the airlines or code-sharing will operate the rail system like Britian's Virgin...

Capitol Metro's Red Line: What are they thinking!?

After hearing the continous drone by the media about Capitol Metro's new Red Line crossing arm malfunctions, serious FRA safety violations, and complaints about a skimpy morning and evening schedule, I decided to do some of my own investingating.

Heres Capitol Metro's proposed schedule for the Red Line: http://allsystemsgo.capmetro.org/capital-metrorail-schedule.shtml

Indeed. It appears Capitol Metro is going for the one-way morning and evening only schedule. The Altamont Express in Northern California is the best example of a limited rush-hour service that Capitol Metro is proposing http://www.acerail.com/schedules/train-schedule.htm

Several reasons why this doesnt work in Austin. The ACE uses high capacity FRA compliant commuter coaches. These provide way more passenger capacity than Capitol Metro's 2-strung Stadler cars. And easier implementation (aka, no FRA waviers). The ACE connects a string of suburban cities to San Jose, CA versus a the suburban to inner-urban areas around Austin. Travel will be continuous and through all directions within the City of Austin. Compare this to the one-way rush commute between San Jose and Stockton.

It seems the red line should match that of Sprinter service near San Diego....http://www.acerail.com/schedules/train-schedule.htm This rail service uses similar DMU rail cars to Capitol Metro, but an increased schedule allows for higher passenger capacity and more inner-urban travel. I fear Capitol Metro will have a massive morning and eveing overcrowding problem with a complete lack of mid-day service. This will deter any future users off the system.

Its sad to say, but in my opinion, the Leander line should of never been built. Continuous BRT with HOV would be sufficient for the US183 corridor. During the last 10 years, Capitol Metro should of focused on upgrading poor bus service, implemnting HOV lanes SOMEWHERE in Austin, preferably Mo-Pac Freeway or I-35, and planning Austin's portion of the ASA commuter rail. 

We'll see how this plays out.

Rail at the Capitol? And pigs flew.

Looks like SB 1923 (establishing a funding source for the Rail Relocation Fund) passed onto the Senate. A truly pivotal time for Texas history. This is possibly the first time since the crazed city-to-railroad annexations of the late 1800's that Texas public policy has put forth public dollars for rail transportation. Please correct if I'm wrong. I can only pray this passes onto Rick Perry's desk.

Some notes on the bill:

- A Rail Relocation Advisory Board is to be established to direct TXDOT for the best use of funds

- The fund will receive a continuous revenue through a mix of sources including license plate and excess weight permit fees

- Funds only deposited if state highway spending increases in the current year from the year before.

- On January 1st, 2011, TXDOT must submit a list of rail relocation projects, financing information on each project, and the estimated completion dates to the State of Texas.

To be expected, the truck lobby testified against this bill, concluding this is a diversion of state highway dollars. But as we see above, the failsafe is provided if highway spending does not increase. Not to mention the decreased congestion will be inherently good for trucking with less wasted time and more fuel saved. But thats asking to much I suppose.

Potential Projects for Rail Relo discussed today.

- Austin-San Antonio UP

- Tower 55 - Fort Worth

- Houston US290 and US90 rail corridors

- Amarillo at-grade crossing

Amarillo, anyone!?

Texas Rail Relocation Now!

A bill of historic proportions for Texas. For more information about Rail Relo: http://www.railrelo.org/

LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT!

March 27, 2009

Rail Relo NOW! needs your help with passage of a bill that promises to be critical to putting money into the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund.

 

On the morning of Monday, March 30, the Senate Transportation & Homeland Security Committee will conduct a hearing on Senate Bill 1923, sponsored by Sen. Kirk Watson, who is vice chairman of the committee. The hearing will held in Room E1.016 of the Capitol Extension in Austin.

What can you do?

Attend the March 30 hearing. The more people who show up in support of the bill--people from across the state--the more likely it is that the bill will be approved by the committee. We will be handing out stickers for you to wear in support of SB 1923. (Testimony on SB 1923 is expected to start at 10 a.m.) After 8 a.m. on Monday, March 30, fill out a card expressing your support for SB 1923. In Room E1.016, ask the committee clerk for one of these cards. We already have witnesses lined up to testify, so you can indicate on the card that you are merely showing your support and are not testifying. If you are unable to stop by the Capitol on Monday, send us an email of support for SB 1923 and we will make sure the Senate Transportation & Homeland Security Committee receives it. Visit with your local state senator or state representative (by phone, by email or in person) to urge support of SB 1923.

View the agenda for the March 30 committee hearing atwww.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/schedules/html/C6402009033008001.HTM.

 

To read SB 1923, visit www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/SB01923I.htm.

 

Thank you for your assistance!

Filling the gaps.

Houston, we have a problem.

As a shining example of flawed passenger rail policy in the United States, one only needs to look as far as Texas, the 3rd largest state in the Union in terms of population with several of the nation's largest cities only hours from eachother. Most Texas cities lack passenger rail service to one another. If service is provided through the beleagured nationalized passenger railroad, Amtrak, its either at at some ungodly hour in the morning or one train day.

Lets first look where we do have service. 

TEX-DAL-FTW-AUS-SA - 1 train a day, roundtrip.

HOU-SA-EP - 3 times a week, overnight

FTW-OKC - 1 train a day, roundtrip.

The only line that provides decent, comfortable, and competitive service is the Heartland Flyer from FTW to OKC through some bizarre funding mechanism provided by OKDOT and TXDOT. This service should be a great example for future service in Texas and frequency should be increased. Although high speed would be great, fater travel times mean nothing if we don't have muliple departures serving all types of people.

Here is my proposal ON EXISTING TRACKS, with service to all major cities.

LAR - SA - AUS - FTW - OKC - 3 trains a day, all roundtrip, 2 daylight

OKC - FTW - DAL - A&M - HOU - 3 trains a day, all roundtrip, all daylight

TEX - DAL - FTW - AUS - SA - RGV - 2 trains a day, all roundtrip

HOU - VIC - CC - RGV - 1 train a day, roundtrip

HOU - SA - EP - 2 trains a day, roundtrip, including one overnight

HOU - DAL - FTW - LBK - AMR - 1 train a day, round trip

DAL - FTW - LBK - EP - 1 train a day, roundtrip

This proposed system serves the entire state with the triangle (DFW-SA-HOU) seeing 10 trains a day with the highest frequency routes serving DAL-HOU and FTW - SA.

But I suppose I'm only dreaming. Finding a taxpayer supported funding source, dealing with opposing frieght rail carriers, and building up our urban transit systems to stregthen the service would proove difficult if not impossible. 

Any ideas?:)