New HNTB Survey - Most Americans Prefer High Speed Rail Versus Other Long Distance Transport When Cost And Time Equal

[Hat tip SustainableBusiness.com]

The HNTB Corporation, an employee-owned infrastructure firm, has just released their latest national "America THINKS" survey that found "more than half of Americans (54 percent) would choose modern high-speed trains over automobile (33 percent) and air travel (13 percent) if fares and travel time were about the same." There's a lot that can be discussed just in that one conclusion - so comment away - but below are some other key findings.

Americans in the survey said that they placed the highest value on more convenient travel (71%), less expensive fares (69%) and faster trains (55%) with the introduction of high speed rail in their region.

The survey found substantial preferences for high speed rail among those who have already experienced it. Experienced riders had lower preferences for car travel to large, nearby cities (41%) compared to inexperienced riders (69%), and experienced riders had higher expectations of greater productivity while traveling high speed rail on business (51% versus 38%).

Peter Gertler, chair of the HNTB's high-speed rail practice, pointed out the importance of educating the public about high speed rail, including its environmental impact, since the survey found only 29% of Americans understand the environmental impact high-speed trains can have versus other forms of transportation, including other rail transportation,

"High-speed rail will benefit the country in a variety of ways, including improved mobility, job creation, reduced usage of fossil fuel and fewer annual greenhouse gas emissions.... High-speed trains use one-third as much energy as comparable air travel and consume less than one-fifth as much energy as driving."

WTTW Chicago Discusses High Speed Rail Debate

[Hat tip Progress Illinois]

I'll say a bit more about this later tonight.

Iowa City Rail Supporters Grow, Using Facebook

(Hat tip Trains4America)

The Iowa City Chamber of Commerce is encouraging supporters of rail to Chicago to add their name to a list of supporters, join the Facebook group "I Support Iowa City Rail to Chicago" and tell friends and legislators that you support passenger rail.

France's SNCF hopes to run high speed rail in US

Via Google News - the potential of high speed rail isn't lost on the companies who provide it:

France's SNCF hopes to run high speed rail in US

"The United States is ready for a truly high-speed rail system and France's national railway SNCF would be 'very interested' in operating a network, a senior executive said Thursday.

'We strongly believe that in this country, in some of the corridors, the system should logically be profitable,' SNCF International chairman Jean-Pierre Loubinoux said in an interview on the sidelines of a rail conference in Indiana.

While detailed market analysis still needs to be undertaken, Loubinoux said the French experience has shown that high-speed rail operates most effectively between large cities that are around 1,000 to 1,500 kilometers (600 to 930 miles) apart.

These conditions exist in the east coast, California, the midwest, Texas and Florida.

'You could have more than just a corridor. You could have a system,' he told AFP.

'If the possibility (of operating a network) is open we certainly would consider it with great interest.'"

Now That's Frequent - San Fran High Speed Rail Every 5 Minutes!

"We don't want to design a system that will be obsolete in five years," he said. "We want to build something that will last 50 or 100 years."

Obama Sees Rail Potential - "Railroads Were Always The Pride Of America"

President Barack Obama speaking Wednesday covered in Thursday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"'I think there's enormous opportunities here,' he said. 'Railroads were always the pride of America and stitched us together. Now, Japan, China, all of Europe, have high-speed rail systems that put ours to shame. And the potential economic benefits of a high-speed rail link between Chicago and Milwaukee, so that people are avoiding I-94, or the link between Chicago and St. Louis, Detroit, all those Midwestern cities, I think is enormous and is a very real option. Although gas prices are low right now, it becomes a very meaningful option for people who don't want to take off their shoes (for screening), drive to an airport, pay for parking, suffer delays.'

He also said improving freight rail in the region was critical and 'would help with the whole distribution of goods in the region (and) would save businesses a lot of money.'"

IL High-speed Rail Predicted To Get $500 M Stimulus - Develop Corridor Within 5 Years

Greg Hinz reports that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, at a Union Station appearance with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and Amtrak Chair Tom Carper, said Illinois expects to get at least $500 million of the $8 billion stimulus money for high speed rail. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Senator Durbin said that he and Governor Quinn would work to develop a high speed rail corridor between Chicago and St. Louis within five years. You can listen to Governor Quinn's Q&A here (Update: the beginning and towards the end of the prior link deal with rail. This link of Senator Durbin and Governor Quinn contains *Much More Rail Discussion* - listen to it first).

Capital Times Gives Wisconsin High Speed Rail Summary

The Capital Times article gives monetary breakdowns, scheduling and a bit of background information - worth a read!

NPR Interviews Governor Doyle About Visit To See Spain's High Speed Rail

In addition to interviewing Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, the story talks about how the Spanish went from terrible commuter rail service and no high speed rail, to an impressive (and expanding) high speed rail service with some obvious implications for the U.S.

Chi Tribune Asks Has the Time for Chicago As High-Speed Rail Hub Come?

[Hat tip Mike Murray at Capitol Fax]

The Tribune asks has 'has the time for Chicago as a high-speed rail hub come?'

High Speed Rail Gets Additional $9.3 billion in U.S. Stimulus

In the final stimulus bill ("American Reinvestment and Economic Recovery Act") High Speed Rail and intercity rail got a lot more funding than either the House or Senate bills, which is great news for rail! Unfortunately other forms of mass transit took a real hit. While the stimulus is a great start, mass transit in general needs a lot more funding - including rail - and we need to work to get better, consistent and long-term funding. A chart from The Transportpolitic:

House, Senate, and Final Versions of the Stimulus Bill
Program	House Bill	Senate Bill	Final Bill
Grants to Amtrak	$800 m	$850 m	$1.3 b
State Rail Grants	$300 m	$250 m	0
High-Speed Rail	0	$2 b	$8 b
Total Rail	$1.1 b	$3.1 b	$9.3 b
Transit Formula Funds	$7.5 b	$8.4 b	$6.9 b
Fixed Guideway Modernization	$2 b	0	$750 m
New Starts	$2.5 b	0	$750 m
Discretionary Grants*	0	$5.5 b*	$1.5 b*
Total Transit	$12 b	$8.4 + $5.5 b*	$8.4 + $1.5 b*

* Discretionary grants would be distributed by the Secretary of the Department of Transportation to qualified “shovel-ready” transportation projects. Most of this money would probably go to highway and bridge projects, but some of the funds would likely go to transit and rail as well.

The news from CALPIRG:

In a bold and far-sighted move, Congress added $9.3 billion in the American Reinvestment and Economic Recovery Act for development of high speed rail and other intercity rail. This amount was large increase from the Senate version of the bill and came on top of $8.4 designated for other public transit agencies.

“This bill, especially the money for high speed rail, marks a bold step for 21^st century transportation,” said John Krieger, Transportation Advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). “After decades of looking on with envy at efficient bullet trains overseas, American high speed rail is finally leaving the station.”

The additional high speed rail funds mark the second time that public transportation has bucked the general trend in the Recovery Act. When the bill came to the floor of the House, dozens of amendments for additional were all defeated – with the sole exception of a measure to add $3 billion to public transportation. That amendment passed on a voice vote without opposition and with speeches of support from Republicans.

The $8.4 billion total for transit agencies is the same amount as in the earlier Senate version and less than proposed by the House. According to a statement from Speaker Pelosi’s office outlining the amounts, the transit money, “Includes funds for new construction of commuter and light rail, modernizing existing transit systems, and purchasing buses and equipment to needed to increase public transportation and improve intermodal and transit facilities.” Pelosi’s office noted that, “states have 787 ready-to-go transit projects totaling about $16 billion.”

The money for high speed rail development and for intercity rail will be spent largely on projects to build and improve tracks, signals, and stations, as well as to make pedestrian, auto and transit crossings safer near corridors where trains will reach speeds in excess of 150 mph. Some of it will be spent to modernize Amtrak, which has seen six years of record ridership gains. Californians recently passed a $10 billion ballot question for a North-South high speed rail link for trains which will travel over 200 mph. The project will avoid the need for costly airport and highway expansion and millions of gallons of oil consumption.

The push for rail and other transit comes at a time of record levels of public transportation and Amtrak ridership and growing frustration with airports. Europe, Japan, and China, our major economic competitors, already have thousands of miles of high speed rail. Experts generally see high speed rail as a more efficient and time-saving option than airplanes for trips less than 500 miles.

Said Krieger, “funds for transit and other rail will get Americans back to work while reducing dependence on oil and congestion at highways and airports.”

The stimulus bill also includes for transportation: $27.5 billion for highways, $1.5 billion for competitive state and local grants, and $1.3 billion for investment in air transportation systems. A copy of the press release from House Appropriations appears at: http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary02-12-09.pdf

Extra funds will speed up French investment

[From the Railway Gazette]

FRANCE: Announcing a further package of measures to relaunch the economy on February 2, Prime Minister François Fillon revealed that an additional €300m is to be invested in the rail network.

Addressing the inter-ministerial committee charged by President Sarkozy with revitalising the economy, Fillon said that more than 1,000 investment projects will be launched during 2009. Only a small proportion will be rail-related, but the extra funding means that RFF will be able to increase its 2009 investment spending by €239m more than planned. Much of this is to be allocated to improving regional routes, including rural lines.

Under the performance contract agreed on November 3 2008, RFF is to invest €13bn by 2015 in improvements to the present network, with €1.5bn to be spent during 2009. The contract will also release funding that will allow high speed line construction to be accelerated, with four projects soon to be in hand simultaneously: the second stage of LGV Est from Baudrecourt to Strasbourg, LGV Sud-Europe from Tours to Bordeaux, LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire from Le Mans to Rennes and Sablé, and the Nîmes-Montpellier bypass.

Studies, preparatory works and land acquisition will get underway in 2009 for the first two schemes, paving the way for the main construction work to start in 2011.

Taken together, the performance contract and the economic relaunch measures amount to an additional €600m for RFF, which is increasing its total investment spend in 2009 from €2.8bn to €3.4bn

APTA - Senate Continues to Consider the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

From the American Public Transit Association (APTA): "The U.S. Senate today will continue to consider the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Senate version of legislation currently contains $8.4 billion for public transportation through existing formula programs, $5.5 billion for a multi-modal discretionary grant program for states and local governments for highway, transit and other surface transportation projects of national or regional significance, and $2 billion for high speed rail.

Yesterday, an amendment offered by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) to strip several programs from the bill, including the $2 billion for high speed rail and $850 million for Amtrak was defeated by a vote of 65-32. An additional amendment to remove high speed rail funds from the legislation may be offered by Senator Kit Bond (R-MO). No other additional amendments relevant to transportation and infrastructure were considered. However, several significant amendments remain pending and others are expected to be offered as the Senate proceeds with its consideration of the bill.

There are a number of amendments that may be offered on the Senate floor that could add additional funding for public transportation, including:

* An amendment sponsored by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) that would add $25 billion for infrastructure, including $5 billion for transit. (This amendment, which would add funds for the New Starts and Fixed Guideway Modernization programs, was set aside after it failed on a procedural vote, but the amendment sponsors may to attempt to revive it.)

* An amendment sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) which would add $6.5 billion for transit, and allow a portion of the funds to be used to cover operating expenses; and

* An amendment sponsored by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and James Inhofe (R-OK) that would redirect stimulus funds not obligated within one year of passage to highway, transit and water resources projects.

In addition, APTA continues to track an amendment expected to be offered by Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) that would eliminate the multi-modal discretionary grant program described above and transfer the funds to the Federal Highway Program to be distributed under the federal Surface Transportation Program (STP). The intermodal program as currently drafted would make funding available for the New Starts, fixed-guideway rail modernization programs, as well as passenger and freight rail projects not otherwise eligible under the bill.

Action Alert

Contact your Senators immediately and urge them to:

* Support amendments to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that increase funding for public transportation;

* Oppose amendments that would eliminate funding for passenger and high-speed rail initiatives;

* Oppose the Bond amendment to eliminate the $5.5 billion multi-modal discretionary program and transfer the funding to the Federal Highway Administration's Surface Transportation Program."

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association recommends you

Contact Your Senators by Clicking Here.

Sen. Bond Attempting to Block Transit and High Speed Rail

Senator Kit Bond has introduced amendments that would eliminate two important programs from the stimulus package. One is a $5.5 billion program targeted to large infrastructure projects. This program could be used for transit projects, reducing railroad freight congestion or high-speed rail. The other is a $2.2 billion program for high-speed rail corridors around the country.

Please contact your Senators today. Ask them to block Sen. Bond's amendments.

Phone calls are the most helpful, but definitely send an email.

Click Here To Contact Your Senators.

Illinois residents: Sen. Durbin has worked hard to get these programs into the stimulus package. Please thank him for his work. You can be most helpful by forwarding a link to this blog entry to your friends in other states.

Advocates for Intercity Passenger Rail Call on Congress and President Obama to Increase Funding for Rail in Stimulus Plan

Chicago Union Station, Great Hall

Thursday, January 29^th, 12:30 pm

Contacts:

Representative Elaine Nekritz, Chair of the Illinois House Rail Committee

Paris Ervin, Illinois Department of Transportation

Rick Harnish, Midwest High Speed Rail Association

Laura Kliewer, Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission

ADVOCATES FOR INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL CALL ON CONGRESS AND PRESIDENT OBAMA TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR RAIL IN STIMULUS PLAN

Chicago press conference one of several held around the Midwest this week

Participants: Illinois Secretary of Transportation Milt Sees, Representative Elaine Nekritz (D-Des Plaines), Representative Dave Winters (R-Rockford), Representative Al Riley (D-Hazel Crest), Representative Naomi Jakobsson (D-Urbana), Representative Paul Froehlich (D-Schaumburg), County Board Member Michael Richards (D-Champaign), Rick Harnish of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, Laura Kliewer of the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission, John O'Brien, United Transportation Union

The economic stimulus plan currently being considered by Congress provides an incredible opportunity to build a modern regional passenger rail network that makes America more energy-efficient, sustainable and prosperous, and while there are encouraging developments in the Senate led by Dick Durbin, the first drafts of the federal stimulus plan miss the mark.

Last night the U.S. House passed its stimulus plan: the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. The bill allocates only $1.1 billion to rail – $800 million to Amtrak and $300 million to state projects to improve intercity rail outside of Amtrak's capital needs. Investing in state projects is the best way to build up the Midwest's intercity passenger rail network.

Unfortunately, $300 million is not nearly enough to build up intercity rail. A much better proposal came from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which recommended a $5 billion total investment in rail: $3.4 billion for state passenger rail projects, $1.5 billion for Amtrak and $100 million for short line railroads.

The Senate Appropriations Committee plan comes closer to the $5 billion mark with $2 billion allocated to high-speed rail corridors, $850 million for Amtrak and $250 million for state investments in intercity rail. The Senate committee-passed plan also creates a discretionary program for larger projects, for which passenger rail projects are eligible.

There is pent-up demand for new and expanded service for intercity passenger rail throughout the Midwest. Passenger rail ridership – especially on shorter, corridor service that would be implemented by the build-out of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative and Ohio Hub plans – has increased dramatically, but federal funding to help build these systems has not followed. Passenger rail is the most energy-efficient means to move people over medium distances (100–600 miles). Increased funding for our states to plan, design and construct these interconnected passenger rail systems would bring tangible benefits to the Midwest, not only creating short- and long-term jobs, but building a new, efficient passenger rail system across the region.

The way to build a regional network is by improving routes and lines in each state. State projects that can be quickly obligated total far more than $5 billion throughout the nation, not to mention the medium-term planning that is necessary to develop new routes.

Midwestern states have been working together for more than 10 years on two plans to bring faster, more-frequent passenger rail service to the region. On behalf of the Midwestern states, the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission (MIPRC) has submitted to congressional leaders a list of more than $815 million in projects that could move forward within 120 days. The preliminary environmental work on the entire Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MWRRI) and Ohio Hub systems could be completed for about $150 million.

The best way to make sure our transportation investments meet our energy policy goals is to invest in intercity rail: we cannot afford to miss this opportunity to create jobs that lead to long-term prosperity through better intercity rail that connects the Midwest.

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association is a membership-based non-profit advocacy organization with more than 2000 members.

The MIPRC is a 10-state interstate compact commission that promotes, coordinates and supports regional improvements to passenger rail service. Member states are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Illinois Assembly Bills - Maximize Passenger Rail In Fed Stimulus

Both the Illinois Senate (SR 0019) and House (HR 0030) have resolution bills calling "on Congress and President-Elect Barack Obama to maximize the investment in expanded and improved passenger train service as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan."

State Senator Michael Frerichs and State Representative Elaine Nekritz introduced the bills and are sponsors.

Act Now - Prevent Transit Cuts And Expand Transit's Future

[Hat tip Sarah Goodyear at Streetsblog]

Transportation for America has created a map of transportation forthcoming "layoffs, service cuts and fare hikes" due to the economy.

Transportation for America Recommends Calling

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (202-225-0100) and
House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (202-225-3365)

to say Jerry Nadler's amendment adding $3 billion for transit in the stimulus must make it to the House floor. You need to call before Wednesday to make an impact.

You also should Write Now to Support More Mass Transit in the Stimulus Package - a few minutes of your time now can dramatically improve the way we travel through life in the future.

Stimulating Planning Will Lead To Better Transit Stimulus

Anecdotal evidence suggests that in the rush to maximize transportation stimulus, we may make a longer-term mistake costing current jobs and future opportunities. In my own experience gathering data on "shovel ready" rail projects, I've found that even where needs may be substantial and immediate, the ability to to translate the needs into "shovel ready projects" on extremely short notice isn't always there.

As John Bredin has suggested, it may be smart to fund those 'ready to go' projects that exist and are worthy of funding, provide a bit of time for longer-term funded projects to start (a year?), and recognize that developing good stimulus plans may involve funding planning and the longer-term projects resulting from it.

In order to offer a better idea of the universe of projects ready to go in 2009, next week I plan to post "U.S. Shovel Ready Rail Projects Part II - Starting Within A Year." "Part II" will benefit from a much larger data set than "Part I" - hopefully offering more transit possibilities for thought and action.

U.S. Shovel Ready Rail Projects Part I - Starting Within Four Months

As the Obama Administration considers spending hundreds of billions to stimulate the economy, a number of rail supporters, from associations (pdf) to think tank writers to state and congressional policy makers - not to mention the incoming White House, advocate making major investments in rail projects. In December 2008 Transportation For America collected data on transportation "projects ready to go in four months" and "ready to go in one year" - listing almost $20 billion worth of projects. While these projects include bus transit, here in this first post of a series on "Shovel Ready" rail projects, we're using Transportation For America's rail data, augmented with our links, to describe rail projects that could become part of the economic stimulus package. Below is a Google Map showing projects ready to go within four months - click the train icons, and on the upper left hand side of the map the four-way directional movement arrows and the '+' and '-' zoom to manipulate the map (for an easier, full-page view with a legend describing the projects see U.S. Regional Rail Projects Shovel Ready Within Four Months).


View Larger Map

Key Numbers

- Rail Projects Ready To Go Within Four Months
- Total Cost Of Rail Projects: $4,718,700,000
- Covering 17 Different Regions.

Quad Cities expansion closer to reality -- study released today shows cheaper cost

Good news!

Amtrak released a study of expansion to the Quad Cities and the numbers look great.

The press release from Amtrak announcing the release (as well as the meat of the study) and the the study itself on the Illinois Department of Transportation's website are both linked.

The capital costs to upgrade the track are around $14 to $23 million -- so incredibly cheap compared to a highway or airport expansion!

Since we're in the midst of discussion about a casino-fueled capital investment by the State, allocating $14 to $23 million for expanding Amtrak to the Quad Cities should be an easy priority.

We had thought the cost might be in the $45 to $60 million range. As it turns out, it could be, if the route would have connected up with existing service at Joliet. Instead, it's much cheaper to connect up with existing service west of Princeton on the Quincy-Chicago line instead of looping through LaSalle and Morri to hook up with the St. Louis-Chicago line at Joliet.

The annual operating cost is projected to be around $8.5 million to run two daily round-trips (at speeds faster than driving). Ridership is projected to be between 90,000 and 110,000 depending on how fast the trip takes (the faster the trip, the higher the ridership and thus the more ticket revenue is generated). That ticket revenue is projected to be around $2 million, leaving a $6 million annual operating cost for the state to run those trains. Again, such a cheap way to invest in economic development for the entire region!

It looks like Amtrak and IDOT did a very nice job with this report, so congratulations to them (as well as to Senator Dick Durbin who showed a lot of leadership to help get Amtrak expansion to new markets on the political map after the General Assembly and the Governor doubled frequency on existing routes in 2006).

Note to other elected officials in the nation: score some points by convening local stakeholders around Amtrak expansion or increased frequencies. People love it and you'll be doing your job. Just ask Dick Durbin.

Thanks and congratulations also to the Quad Cities Passenger Rail Coalition, a project of the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, for organizing and mobilizing thousands of residents behind this investment.