Hotline #944

One of the provisions buried in the FAST Act authorized a new structure for funding Amtrak based on business lines, like the Northeast Corridor. NARP has vehemently and consistently disagreed with this structure for years, as explicated in this blog post, noting that only 30 of Amtrak’s 500-plus stations sit along the NEC. The 11 million riders the NEC carried this year are important—but so are the 19 million that travelled on the National Network. The U.S. can't afford to ignore either group of riders.

In the meantime, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) has asked Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to implement the private-sector passenger-rail competition provisions in the FAST Act, reports Progressive Railroading magazine. Amtrak is now required to solicit requests from private companies to establish high-speed service in designated congested rail corridors. It also requires the DOT to solicit competition from the private sector on up to three long-distance routes.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is calling for the installation of PTC between New Haven and New York City, reports CBS News. It is the final deficient stretch of the North East Corridor. He indicated an expectation of stiff competition for the $200 Million recently provided for in the FAST act to help commuter railroads install such technology; Boston plans to equip it's sprawling network within 5 years time-- not to mention the vast world of urban American passenger railroads outside of the NEC.

As 2015 ends, publications took a look at the good, the bad and the ugly in the U.S. transportation system. Engineering News Record looked at progress made by those pushing for high-speed rail in America. It highlighted projects including the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and All Aboard Florida’s faster (but not high-speed) line between Orlando and Miami.

The Atlantic magazine’s CityLab blog takes a look at the U.S. infrastructure projects to watch in 2016. Among those highlighted are: New York’s Second Avenue subway line; Washington, D.C.’s H Street and Benning Road streetcar line; the Gateway Project to replace aging Hudson River rail tunnels; and the All Aboard Florida passenger rail line.

An op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner blasts Mayor Ed Lee’s administration for ostensibly disastrous ambivalence concerning the city's future transportation needs. “For starters, City Hall is neglecting, if not actively impeding, the downtown extension of Caltrain (DTX), a project that would connect Caltrain to six Muni rail lines, four BART lines and more than 40 bus lines at one spacious location in the middle of San Francisco’s 340,000 person employment center,” writes Gerald Cauthen, co-founder of the Bay Area Transportation Working Group and SaveMuni.

Solutions to solving rail gridlock in Chicago was the focus of a feature and slideshow in Future Rail, the latest in a long series about the classically intractable dilemma and its glacial progress.

Finally, on behalf of the NARP staff, we thank all our nearly 30,000 members for helping the association have a very successful year. We look forward to achieving even more in 2016. We wish you all a very Happy New Year.