Hotline #842

The Senate passed the two-year bipartisan budget agreement, clearing the way for House-Senate appropriations committee negotiations about how much funding programs will get. There are challenges to reaching agreement on the Transportation/Housing bill and a continuing resolution is still possible.

Congress again failed the “transit pre-tax parity” test. Thus, come January 1, the monthly transit benefit will fall from $245 down to $130. At the same time, the parking benefit—indexed to inflation—will rise from $245 to $250. Tell your legislators this is just as ridiculous now as when it happened two years ago. It is time to insure parity – preferably at the higher rate. You can let your representatives know that you support the transit benefit here.

Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus (both D-MT) have secured a meeting between Culbertson, Mont., leaders and Amtrak to plan the construction of a new stop on the Empire Builder for people traveling to the Bakken region. The meeting included a visit to the site of the proposed station. Culbertson is in eastern Montana between existing Amtrak stops at Wolf Point MT and Williston ND.

Here are what the political leaders had to say:

• Culbertson Mayor Gordon Oelkers: "At the intersection of two major highways, Culbertson is a prime location for an Amtrak stop that feeds the Bakken and makes it easier for workers to get to the region. The city supports this stop, and we're going to need continued support from Senators Tester and Baucus, as well as state and local leaders, to get it up and running."

• Sen. Jon Tester: "Efficient transportation options will connect eastern Montana communities and help more workers get to the Bakken to do the hard work of making America more energy independent and growing Montana's economy. Amtrak does a great job connecting Montanans and this meeting is an important step to providing greater service to Montana. I will continue to work with Amtrak and folks in Culbertson to get this station built."

• Sen. Max Baucus: "We need all hands on deck to support the good-paying jobs available in the Bakken–-and that means making sure folks can get to and from the region safely and quickly. We're hearing from Montanans that Amtrak passenger capacity is a challenge that we need to keep working together to address."

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (center) in Tuesday's meeting, flanked by Deputy Secy. Polly Trottenberg (left) and Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo (right).

The mayors of five cities of varying sizes across America joined Transportation for America (T4America) Co-Chair and former Meridian, MS Mayor John Robert Smith for a meeting on Tuesday with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to convey their support for continued investments in passenger rail. The meeting, organized by T4America (a coalition of which NARP is a member), was attended by Raleigh, NC Mayor Nancy McFarlane (I); Durham, NC Mayor Bill Bell (D); Tallahassee, FL Mayor John Marks (D); Charleston, WV Mayor Danny Jones (R); and Saco, ME Mayor Donald Pilon. Secretary Foxx was joined by Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg and Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo. Some staff members of the Senate Commerce Committee also attended.

“There are few who better understand the importance of passenger rail as a transportation option and economic development tool than do mayors,” T4America wrote on its blog. “Mayors like these know firsthand that passenger rail supports economic development in their cities and provides vital connections to other cities near and far, and that’s a message that needs to be heard at USDOT and in Congress right now.”

Raleigh Mayor McFarlane discussed plans for her city’s Union Station project, which received federal funds but remains far short of the money needed for completion.

Illinois Department of Transportation issued a Notice of Intent to Award to Siemens Rail Systems USA a contract to build about 35 high-performance diesel-electric locomotives for Midwest and West Coast states using funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The top speed of the new locomotives will be 125 mph. They will meet Federal Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 emissions standards. Work cannot proceed until an actual contract has been awarded. Siemens said use of Cummins QSK95 diesel engines will make the new locomotive design “one of the most energy-efficient, lightweight, smart, diesel-electric locomotives available today in North America.”

SEPTA is launching an improvement plan called “Catching Up,” made possible by funds from the state’s recently passed transportation funding bill. Almost $500 million over five years is expected to go to public transit out of the bill’s $2.3 billion total. Some of the first projects will be on the Media/Elwyn line. That line eventually will be extended to Wawa. The extension is several years away but design work is complete.

The California High Speed Rail Authority announced that five “world-class construction teams” submitted qualifications to bid on the next 60-mile phase of high-speed rail construction from Fresno south to the Tulare-Kern County line near Bakersfield.

Plans to extend the forthcoming Chicago-Quad Cities Amtrak service to Iowa City have a new obstacle. The construction cost estimate is now $125 million, up $35 million from three years ago. The same new analysis, however, says that the ongoing operating subsidy requirement has shrunk dramatically. Iowa’s share would now be $72 million, triple what was proposed three years ago. Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba called the setback “a huge embarrassment...Somehow Illinois's getting this done [Chicago-Quad Cities service] and Iowa's dragging its feet." If Iowa does not move forward in the next legislative session, the $53 million in federal funds set aside for construction in Iowa may be lost.

This week on the NARP Blog:

• If you make transit less convenient to access, ridership tends to suffer, as evidenced in the case of the relocation of the Dinky station in Princeton 700 feet farther from the town center.
• Two ways in which the federal bias towards cars and highways is clearly displayed.
• Well-planned transit can help people drive a lot less, even in the heart of America's car culture.
• The voice of environmentalists in the broad-based movement for smarter transportation investment at the federal level, particularly in rail, seems to be largely missing.

Due to the Christmas holiday, the NARP Hotline will not be published next week (December 27). We will resume publication on January 3. Happy holidays and a great start to 2014 from all of us at NARP!

Photo by Transportation for America.