How Many Days? 64!

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman

Portland’s MAX happens to have 64 stations, according to several disreputable online sources. I’m dragging a group of people down there this weekend, partly to show off Amtrak Cascades and partly because I’ve got withdrawal symptoms from not enough Powell’s. I’ve got some idea of what we’re going to do, but do you have any suggestions?

During my daily numerological battle to find something appropriate, I ran across the 1999 plan for light rail from then-mayor Paul Schell and Ron Sims. Are they really responsible for adding 12 grade crossings in the Rainier Valley? It looks like a lot of this wasn’t implemented, like a ‘shell’ station at Broadway and Roy, or a station at Graham. It sure does look like MLK is now supposed to be a “Great Boulevard”, though. Check it out, it’s short, with bullet points.

News Round Up: 71 Days

Posted on by Andrew Smith
Link Light Rail 118
Slack Action
  • Sound Transit is getting some of its U-Link money as part of the Federal Stimulus bill’s New Starts grants. $44 million of the $813 mn total will show up now instead of about this time next year. Good stuff! Full list of stimulus funded New Starts here.
  • Sound Transit has a transit savings calculator, illustrating with hard numbers what you could save riding transit. I talked to Komo about how much I save (it’s $880 a year, not a month, but I’m saving more by ditching one of my cars soon.)
  • I chatted with Goldy from HA about the Viaduct, Light Rail and Metro bus hours (among other topics) on Tuesday. You can listen here.
  • The fine for fare violation on Link could be $124. Make sure tap your Orca in!

In 1971, Amtrak began operations as the US’s intercity passenger rail service provider. President Nixon created Amtrak out of the remains of the few local and national providers left, and secretly Nixon had planned on shutting Amtrak down within a few years. Its future looks fairly bright today. 1971 was a dark time for Seattle as well.

King Street Station Open House

Posted on by Andrew Smith
King Street Station
King Street Station, Photo by Gelund

The City is holding an open house next Tuesday on the King Street Station Renovation. From the press release:

In 2008, the city purchased King Street Station and started a major restoration of the landmark building to transform it into a modern transportation hub equipped to serve Seattle for the next hundred years.

In less than a year, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and its contractor have substantially completed exterior building improvements. Very shortly, SDOT will begin Phase II and the much-anticipated interior restoration. The lobby’s original ornate ceiling will be restored, Amtrak operations reconfigured, the grand staircase to Jackson Plaza reopened, and seismic upgrades will be made.

You are invited to a public meeting to meet members of the project team, learn more about completed and upcoming work, and ask questions.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
International District/Chinatown Community Center
719 8th Avenue South (cross street Dearborn Street)

Please RSVP to Josh Stepherson, (206) 684-3136, or kingstreet@seattle.gov

Looks like a good event. H/T to Tim.

Update: Ben plans to attend, so say hi if you see him there.

Ports Want Rail Stimulus Money

Posted on by Andrew Smith
Port of Seattle
Port of Seattle, photo by Red Yam Flan

The DJC is reporting that the Port of Tacoma and Port of Seattle are going after stimulus cash for rail projects along the I-5 corridor that should help ease freight congestion along the BNSF line. These would also ease congestion and increase on-time performance for Amtrak Cascades. The four projects they want money for are:

  • Building a third mainline and storage track bretween Kelso and Martin’s Bluff. There’s only $53 million of state money currently set aside for this project but it is estimated at more than five times that.
  • Completing the Point Defiance bypass, which would shave a lot of time off of Amtrak Cascades and have a big impact on its on-time performance.
  • Building the Vancouver bypass, which would let Cascades bypass the heavily congested rail yard in Vancouver.
  • Improving the Blakeslee Junction, which is where the BNSF line meets the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad in Centralia. This has a bigger effect on freight and cars than on Amtrak, but congestion there is a problem for Amtrak as well.

These do seem like good projects for stimulus money if they can reduce congestion for both freight trains and Amtrak service.

79 Days

Posted on by Andrew Smith
PT buses in Tacoma, photo by by and by

In 1979 Pierce Transit was formed when Pierce County voters approved a 0.3% sales tax increase for public transit. PT currently levels a .6% sales tax and operates more than 50 routes, paratransit, and vanpools as well partnering with Sound Transit to operate Tacoma Link and some Sound Transit Express buses.

Also in 1979, Amtrak introduced the Superliner rail cars on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago and later that same year, Amtrak discontinued the North Coast Hiawatha from Seattle to Minneapolis.

News Roundup: Northwest in the Global Media

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Photo by Stephen Devights

Some stories we haven’t mentioned over the last few days:

  • The BBC does a story on American high-speed rail, and highlights Amtrak Cascades. (H/T: Erik)
  • Metro GM Kevin Desmond profiled in Mass Transit Magazine.  (H/T: Orphan Road).
  • Sound Transit awarded the contract to upgrade the Sounder track between M Street in Tacoma to Lakewood, thanks to $4.6m in Federal Stimulus.

Olympia Update: Transit Does Pretty Well

Posted on by Ben Schiendelman
Olympia Capitol at Night
State Capitol at night, photo by jwiv

With the legislative session coming to a close, we have some good news to report.

To start with, SB 5433 passed the House with both an authorization for King County to use ferry district taxing authority for transit (discussed in more detail here) and the Simpson amendment to allow transit agencies to ask for transportation benefit districts (discussed here). TCC just broke that the Senate was tied tonight, with Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen making the tie-breaking vote to pass the bill. This is great news for all transit agencies, but especially for Metro.

The transportation budget passed. The I-90 asset assessment remained essentially as Rep. Simpson wrote, funded and inclusive of ST in the process – and moved up a month to be complete by November 1st. Rep. Clibborn’s $10.6 million for R8A preliminary design work survived – and I understand Senator Jarrett supported this as well, although he wasn’t on the conference committee. Regional Mobility Grants survived partially, with $33 million of the Senate’s original $45 million, but I’ll take it – $8 million is included for the $39 million we still need to get Sounder to Lakewood. There was also funding for a third Amtrak Cascades run to Vancouver starting next year, and the final version of the bill kept in the House’s “Seattle pays for overruns” Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement provision.

Given how bad things looked a month ago, this isn’t bad! In addition to the obvious thanks for Rep. Simpson taking the lead here, I also want to recognize that Rep. Clibborn and Senator Jarrett both played roles in making sure all this funding stayed in place, so thank you to them as well. Perhaps we’ll never know what goes on in those conference committees (ahem, transparency initiative?), but we seem to have fared well enough.

Of course, now that we’ve gotten an inch, next budget session I expect Oregon-like funding for light rail and hourly bullet train service from Canada to Portland. Also a pony.

Poll: Would you support a user fee for Cascades to VBC?

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

This is an unofficial poll I am conducting to see if people would be interested in a user fee to support a second and third Amtrak Cascades train to Vancouver BC. This fee would be used to pay for the train and the Canadian border patrol services. The fee would not be valid for those traveling between Seattle and Bellingham. Only passengers going to Canada would be required to pay the extra fee.

Please, vote and forward this off to anyone whom you know and would be interested in taking the Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver BC.

News Round Up: HSR, BRT, TVMs and Streetcars

Posted on by Andrew Smith
TVMs in University Street Station
TVMs, Photo by Oran
  • President Obama  has listed Eugene-Portland-Seattle-Vancouver (aka Amtrak Cascades) as one of the corridors for his high speed rail plan. That’s great news, and means that Cascades will likely get some of the $8 billion in HSR stimulus money, and maybe some of the $1 billion in the annual high speed rail the feds are going to give out. I’m pretty happy about the choice of lines in general, though I think Dallas-Houston would be a better route than San Antonio-Dallas-Tulsa. Expect more news on this to come, in the mean time the Transport Politic is on top of it.
  • Matt Yglesias points to a bus rapid transit (BRT) plan for Washington DC, which looks pretty awesome. Ygelsias says he hopes that these one day become streetcars, but I don’t know. While I don’t know DC that well, I’m not so sure that streetcars are necessarily suited to replace BRT in all cases.
  • Apparently the HOT lanes on SR 167 are getting mixed review, according to the Auburn Reporter. To me the numbers seem mostly positive.
  • Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution, a very libertarian economics blog, asks why people like streetcars. I don’t agree with much of what he says, I’ve found streetcars to be at least as if not more comfortable than buses, and I don’t like to “affiliate myself with the past”. The comments are quite good, though.
  • The media is way over-reacting to the Link-car collision, as I worried they might.
  • Link ticket vending machines (TVMs) are all over the tunnel, as Oran’s photo the right shows.

Amtrak Stimulus plus HSR Preview

Posted on by Andrew Smith
Niantic River Railroad Bridge
Niantic River Bridge, photo by DM Coxe

The Associated Press reports that Amtrak is spending $50 million on projects in the Pacific Northwest. The majority, $35 million, will go to a new maintenance facility and a new storage and employee building near King Street Station. You can see the full list nationwide list, totaling $1.3 billion here at Amtrak’s website.

The bulk of the money nationwide, 57%, is going to the Northeast Corridor Acela line. The most expensive project on the list is a $100 million bridge over the Niantac river in Connecticut. The current bridge is not aging well, and replacing it is the only way Amtrak can maintain its current 100 mph speed there. $40 million is going to a new commuter rail tunnel between New Jersey and New York.

Later this month, the Federal Railroad Administration will release a plan documenting how they plan to spend the $8 billion in high speed rail cash from the stimulus package. A couple preview videos below the fold:

Continue reading “Amtrak Stimulus plus HSR Preview”

Second Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver Approved…

Posted on by Brian Bundridge
Amtrak Cascades Trains at Rest in Seattle
Photo by mrbula

But only during the Olympics… The fate of this train all comes down to money now. I suppose I’d be in support of a minor fee added to the tickets for the border crossing fee, but still, the hostility is nothing but greed. I still don’t see airlines getting charged for passengers going to/from YVR, why should Amtrak? This is all greed and makes me very sour to even think about having to pay extra, when I would easily spend hundreds of dollars up there, like many other travelers do. A $10 surcharge would be needed to cover the expense using the 2008 ridership numbers with a bit of cushion. That surcharge should only apply to those passengers going to Canada.

This will raise the low price from $30 one way to $40 one way and a high of $50 to $60. Even with the current high fares, most of the weekend trains to Vancouver BC or to Seattle are sold out.

Regardless of that fact, it does appear that the second train will bring an expected benefit of nearly $14 million dollars of revenue to the Canadians.

Vancouver Sun story on April 1, 2009 – Vancouver Sun story on March 31, 2009 – H/T Ken Storey via Trainorders.com

Meanwhile in the Rail news….

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

While the legislature continues to shoot down R8A, I did some investigation in regards to the Amtrak rail funding and its dramatic change mentioned here previous. It appears that 98% of the rail capital project funding has been completely eliminated. The remaining 2% is going to very, very small projects, such as Tacoma Rail engine facility improvements, a new connection for BNSF/Tacoma Rail in Roy, and a spur to a cement plant in Everett. Yippe…

Stanwood Station however did keep its funding and Amtrak Cascades will serve the station when it opens this Fall. I have heard that the funding for Leavenworth Station has been eliminated but I have not found anything that confirms this officially.

24 NEW SECTION. Sec. 225. FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION–
25 RAIL–PROGRAM Y–OPERATING
26 Multimodal Transportation Account–State
27 Appropriation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$34,933,000
28 The appropriation in this section is subject to the following
29 conditions and limitations:
30 (1) $29,091,000 of the multimodal transportation account–state
31 appropriation is provided solely for the Amtrak service contract and
32 Talgo maintenance contract associated with providing and maintaining
33 the state-supported passenger rail service. Upon completion of the
34 rail platform project in the city of Stanwood, the department shall
35 provide daily Amtrak Cascades service to the city.
36 (2) Amtrak Cascade runs may not be eliminated.
p. 27 SSB 5352.

1 (3) The department shall begin planning for a third roundtrip
2 Cascades train between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. by 2010

While the state will “aggressively” seek federal funding from various stimulus sources, the damage and lack of credibility has been done. What the state has effectively done is damage any chance of securing funding because all projects require matching funding from the state. With the state effectively killing this funding, this no longer gives the state the chance to receive any stimulus funding.

While I understand the need and reasoning for reducing the budget, a lot  more critical things were cut. I am still at a lost however how I-405 manages to get a several million dollar increase in funding, along with the I-5 Pierce County HOV lanes while rail and other projects are being cut.

We talk about alternatives and ways to reduce GHG but when it comes to making progress on doing that goal, a few select people make sure that it does not happen. In this situation, we, the people of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia all want alternatives to driving. We all want an alternative to flying. The Amtrak Cascades service and passenger rail are our ways to that goal. Until we have people in our government that also see that goal, we will never go beyond what we have currently for many more years.

We all know by 2012, gas prices will be at record levels. By 2012, we could have had a very good and integrated transportation system, ranging from buses, carpool, light-rail, and passenger rail. Each mode works together but people will not make the critical change needed until the services are provided. The Cascades program will be very critical and by not investing now, we will lose any forward movement at such a critical time.

Nearly every state is looking forward to adding more passenger rail, except for our region, where roads are now king of our society.

From high hopes to low hopes

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

For those whom hoped the state would change its act in regards to rail transportation, I am steadily learning that you can not count on Washington State to make the commitment that involves transportation, unless it is roads. Other states however are jumping hard and fast to get on stimulus funding and are matching funds to ensure they get funding for projects. What are we doing however….?

Continue reading “From high hopes to low hopes”

Opinion: WSDOT and Amtrak Cascades

Posted on by Brian Bundridge
Amtrak leaving Seattle by Brian Bundridge
Amtrak leaving Seattle by Brian Bundridge

Where to begin after the troubling news that was brought forward to us recently? Washington State Department of Transportation reorganized the passenger rail division during a critical time when federal funding is available for key improvements along the corridor. These improvements would wildly benefit thousands of passengers who take the Amtrak Cascades daily. Read on below the fold.

Continue reading “Opinion: WSDOT and Amtrak Cascades”

Vancouver’s TransLink to upgrade infrastructure

Posted on by Brian Bundridge
Translink West Coast Express and SkyTrain at Waterfront Station
Translink West Coast Express and SkyTrain at Waterfront Station

Once again, our Canadian friends to the North are continuing an aggressive push in Vancouver’s rail infrastructure.

Under a joint program, TransLink will upgrade infrastructure on its SkyTrain automated light-rail system, as well as several stations along the Expo Line, including the Main Street and Scott Road stations, by lengthening platforms and improving pedestrian circulation and access, and access for passengers with disabilities. The agency also will upgrade the Waterfront and Mission stations on its West Coast Express commuter-rail line to accommodate longer cars and improve passenger access.

Mind you, West Coast Express can already accommodate 10 car trains. The extensions will allow train lengths of 12 cars, like Toronto’s GO Transit.

Several of the Canadian railroads, including BNSF, will be performing major track rehabilitation on the ROW between the Canadian boarder and various points in the lower mainlines. Amtrak will benefit directly from this project with an estimated time savings of 10 minutes with the increased train speed. The trackwork portion is expected to be done in 2010 but after the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

WSDOT RIFs cut passenger rail staffing

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

GenePoon on Trainorders.com reports that WSDOT has cut the Passenger Rail office. What this exactly means in terms in securing HSR funding is unknown but I have a feeling this is going to show a instability with us.

In a reorganization (read that as “reduction in force”) at Washington State Dept. of Transportation, several key positions handling passenger rail, including the Cascades services, were eliminated yesterday, Friday the 13th. The state effectively no longer has a passenger rail section. Operational staff were also axed and remaining managers will now be responsible for both freight and passenger projects.

All I can do is speculate what this could mean but it doesn’t appear good, especially with such a huge push for passenger rail here.

This comes around as WSDOT, ODOT, and Amtrak celebrates 10 years of successful service for the Amtrak Cascades.