Airport eyes light-rail riders Minneapolis Star Tribune July 10, 2004 With a light-rail link just five months away, officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are trying to change their customers’ parking habits and perhaps dangle a discount to train riders. Their main goal: Boost revenue by filling more of the airport’s 17,865 parking spaces, especially at the less-used Humphrey terminal ramp. They also are slicing costs by laying off cashiers and persuading more drivers to use credit cards instead of cash. Arlie Johnson, who manages parking issues for the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), said the commission staff is studying how to accommodate drivers who might park at the airport and ride the Hiawatha light-rail line elsewhere. One lure could be a discounted monthly pass that would let riders park on the ground level of the Humphrey ramp, a short walk from the light-rail station. Although more talks are necessary with light-rail managers, Johnson said he is “guardedly optimistic.” The line, which opened last month between downtown Minneapolis and Fort Snelling, will serve a surface station at Humphrey and an underground station near the Lindbergh terminal by year’s end. The extension also will include a station at the Mall of America. Until then, attendants at airport parking-ramp entrances are urging customers to swipe a credit card through an electronic reader instead of taking the conventional cardboard parking ticket. A future tactic could be to increase parking fees but offer discounts for credit-card use. The MAC staff put off discussing such measures this week because of a request by Northwest Airlines to shift some competitors from the main Lindbergh terminal to the less-crowded Humphrey terminal. If that happens — commission staff members are studying the implications — more passengers, greeters and employees can be expected to park in the new ramp across from Humphrey. Only about 40 percent of its spaces were used in May, down from about 70 percent during the prime winter charter flight season. By comparison, the Lindbergh ramps in May were 70 to 80 percent full. The commission also is pushing for federal money to resurrect higher- priced spaces in its valet parking garage under the Lindbergh terminal. The garage was closed for security reasons after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and subsequent plans to use the space for baggage- screening equipment have been abandoned. Commission Chairwoman Vicki Tigwell said she favors requiring people to pay their parking fees in the terminal or parking ramps before getting in their vehicles. This would reduce the need for cashiers at ramp exits. Layoffs already have cut the number of full-time parking employees from 117 in September to 92, saving about $1 million annually, Johnson said. He foresees slicing the number to 75, partly by closing cashier booths in the short-term parking area of the Lindbergh ramp. Officials said that as the number of cashiers dwindles, the need will increase for technicians to keep automated ticket and payment machines running. They also predict that some customers will continue to pay with cash. So far, though, electronic-pay parking is catching on. About 25 percent of short-term parking customers and 53 percent of longer-term parkers use that method. Frequent fliers, notably business travelers, seem to like the credit-card system, Johnson said. Tim Anderson, a MAC deputy executive director, said the commission could try to force others to use the electronic system by making cash difficult to use or by offering hard-to-refuse financial incentives. The maneuvering is a sign that parking is very big business for the commission. Airport parking revenue totaled $45.8 million in 2003, up 12.5 percent from the 2002 total. This year the pace is quickening: Revenue has climbed 25 percent so far over the same period in 2003. As a result, parking and other concessions have overtaken airline rates and charges as the MAC’s biggest revenue sources. In 2001, before the terrorist attacks, airport parking spaces sometimes were scarce, and the commission ran ads urging people to find other ways to reach the terminals. Contractors hustled to complete expansion of the Lindbergh ramp and finish the new eight-level Humphrey ramp. After the attacks, air travel and airport parking revenue fell, a second Humphrey ramp was postponed and the commission ran ads to attract parkers. Now air passengers have returned nearly to 9/11 levels and along with them airport parking customers. “In an airport setting,” Johnson said, “everything is temporary.”

MTA’s Green Line Is Ridden and Derided; Boardings are up on what critics say is ‘the train that goes from nowhere to nowhere Los Angeles Times July 10, 2004 Like many commuters, Aileen Chaj takes the Green Line out of necessity rather than convenience. Her trip on the light-rail line — which runs down the middle of the Century Freeway — takes only about 20 minutes each way. But that is only one leg of a grinding 1 1/2-hour commute each way that involves catching a bus near her home in South Los Angeles that takes her to the Green Line station. After getting off the train, the 22-year-old waits at a bus stop for up to half an hour before catching another bus to get to her job as a cashier in Manhattan Beach. “You have to be very patient,” Chaj said. That has become the mantra for Green Line riders. But the perseverance appears to be paying off. Long derided as the white elephant of the MTA’s light-rail system — “the train that goes from nowhere to nowhere” — the Green Line is showing signs of life as it enters its 10th year of operation. The line is now boarded an average of 28,000 times each weekday, double the ridership when it opened in 1995. Ridership is still below original expectations and is dwarfed by the more popular Red and Blue lines. But the Green Line is now outperforming the recently opened Gold Line, which connects Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles and has 14,000 boardings a day. The Green Line remains an oddity, connecting two outlying communities and missing downtown by miles. Some transit experts still question its long-term prospects. But MTA officials express optimism that the line is slowly coming into its own. The line was conceived in the 1980s as a way to connect the then-booming aerospace industry around Los Angeles International Airport with the bedroom communities southeast of Los Angeles, where many of the 100,000 commuting workers lived. It was also supposed to provide a passenger link to the airport. But because of budget problems and objections from the FAA, the link to LAX was never built and the Green Line ends a few miles south of the airport in Redondo Beach. By the time the rail line opened, the aerospace industry was in serious decline. It didn’t help that the Green Line sits in the middle of a busy freeway, separated from street commerce and awkward for pedestrians to reach. “The Green Line is not terribly well located if you’re trying to attract demand,” said Jim Moore, chairman of the industrial engineering department at USC. “A transit system should be configured around the way we live.” Despite the obstacles, however, the Green Line has found an unexpected niche. Though few riders can complete an entire trip solely on the line, it has become a crucial leg for commutes. The Imperial/Wilmington station is the busiest Green Line station, enabling thousands of people to transfer to and from the Blue Line, which runs from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles. Many commuters also drive to the Norwalk station from Orange County, filling up the parking lot there regularly. Many people who live in central Los Angeles hop aboard the Green Line to get to the beach cities where they work as airplane food preparers and store clerks, officials say. One regular rider is George Wu, 44, manager of printer software development at Xerox in El Segundo. Three times a week, he lines up with a mix of professional men carrying leather portfolios, students wearing headphones and backpacks and people on their way to jobs at LAX. “Traveling down the 105 [Freeway] is always very bad,” Wu said. Instead, he drives about 30 minutes from his home in Hacienda Heights to the Norwalk Green Line station. He then boards the Green Line, reading to pass the time on the 35-minute trip to Nash and El Segundo. From there, he walks the two blocks to his office.Wu said he doesn’t save any time by riding the train, but he prefers breaking up his trip because he sometimes feels drowsy after work. On the Green Line, he said, “If I’m tired, I can take a nap.” “We’ve seen ridership double in the last few years and we expect it to grow,” Jim de la Loza, the MTA’s executive officer for regional planning, said of the Green Line. With its 28,000 weekday boardings, the Green Line ranks third among the MTA’s rail lines in ridership. In May, the Blue Line averaged 69,000 weekday boardings. The Red Line subway between downtown Los Angeles and North Hollywood averaged 107,000. Despite the gains, critics say the Green Line is still a failure of planning. Moore, the USC professor, called the latest ridership figures “really anemic.” Moore and others believe the county’s employment and residential geography is too dispersed and too volatile to lay down permanent rail tracks. “The Green Line connects the location where nobody lives to the location where nobody works,” he said. Indeed, the MTA’s own brochure on “destinations” shows that the other light-rail lines have far more attractions. The brochure lists 61 destinations located near Red Line stops, 37 near the Gold Line and 16 near the Blue Line. The Green Line has but two. “The Green Line shows you what can go wrong with rail,” said Manuel Criollo of the Bus Riders Union, which lobbies for improved bus service. “It’s a very inflexible mode of transportation.” MTA officials say they are still trying to improve use of the Green Line. In the next three years, they plan to feed more MTA Rapid buses to Green Line stations. They also support an LAX modernization plan that would bring a people-mover to a Green Line station. The people-mover would take passengers to a central check-in area and then on to the terminals. Some groups are pushing for extension of the Green Line. The South Bay Cities Council of Governments wants the line to reach the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, where several bus lines cluster. But there is uncertainty about how to extend the line with its current configuration. Cities on the route are hoping that developers will seize on property in close proximity to Green Line stations, the way they have along the Gold and Red lines. In El Segundo, many of the properties that were vacant when the MTA was building the Green Line have remained empty in the decade since, said Jim Hansen, the city’s director of community, economic and development services. “When I’m out and about, there are not huge numbers of people getting on or getting off the Green Line in El Segundo,” he said. Part of the problem, Hansen said, is getting around the city once people leave the train. City Hall employees still have to travel a mile to work from the closest station at Mariposa Avenue. Those who want to eat at the popular strip of restaurants on Rosecrans Avenue near Sepulveda Boulevard have to walk about a third of a mile from the Douglas station. “It’s asking a lot,” Hansen said. Aileen Chaj faces another 1 1/2-hour bus and train ride to get home at the end of her cashier’s shift at Target in Manhattan Beach. The commute wears her out. She stands all day at her register, stands some more at the bus and rail stops, and often has to stand once again when she boards. “When I get home, I just want to sit down,” Chaj said. “I don’t go out no more.”

Editorial: Hiawatha/It’s off to a splendid start Minneapolis Star Tribune July 11, 2004 Grumbling about whether the Twin Cities was “ready” for light rail has vanished in the two weeks since the Hiawatha Line opened to rave reviews and waves of customers. “We’re trying hard not to be giddy,” said a normally circumspect Metro Transit official, obviously pleased that 96,000 riders tried the new line on its inaugural weekend and 93,000 rode trains during their first week of regular service — nearly 70 percent above expectation. Those numbers may surge higher once the line opens to the airport and Mall of America in December. Ridership has been inflated somewhat by joyriders out for a spin on a conveyance not seen in Minneapolis for 50 years. But the overwhelming impression has been positive and a frequent question has been: When is it coming to my neighborhood? Those who had never taken light rail in other cities have been astonished by the smooth ride and overall quality of the experience. “Way better than a bus,” has been a common response. Others have relished the opportunity to leave their cars behind, not only for the daily commute but to attend a Twins game or the July 4th fireworks. Hiawatha has already proved its potential for handling special events. Most impressively, the line has kept its schedules while operating safely. Thanks to Metro Transit’s obsession with safety and Minnesotans’ good sense, no train as of Friday had struck a car or a pedestrian. That’s a far better start than in Houston, where 42 auto-train crashes were recorded in light rail’s first five months. Metro Transit deserves praise, too, for the friendly, helpful attendants on station platforms during Hiawatha’s first 10 days. As with any new technology, there are glitches. Traffic signaling for autos along the corridor must improve. If it doesn’t, the much-anticipated University Avenue line to St. Paul will be jeopardized. More ticket machines are needed at some stations. It’s confusing that train doors don’t always open automatically. It’s sometimes unclear which is the next train to leave the Warehouse District station. Maps should be posted in every car. Park-and-ride lots should be added. It should be clearer that customers can ride within the downtown zone for 50 cents. It’s sad that stored-value cards are not yet ready, that public art is late at some stations, that more landscaping hasn’t been added to the route, that the Downtown Circulator buses have been delayed. But many of these glitches will soon be addressed. The bigger picture is more important. Rail transit is off to an impressive revival in the Twin Cities. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Sen. Norm Coleman are right to say that more should soon be added, starting with the Northstar commuter line to Anoka and Sherburne counties. Hiawatha’s early acceptance bodes well, too, for a light-rail extension to the University of Minnesota and St. Paul, then perhaps to the southwestern suburbs. Costs may not justify rail expansions beyond those, especially if a vital bus system is to be maintained. But those three lines with bus and commuter rail connections would form an actual system capable of delivering transit’s full potential to a growing region. Two weeks don’t make a trend, but Hiawatha’s splendid beginnings are reason for optimism. Maybe this metropolitan area doesn’t have to settle for a smoggy, auto-bound future after all.

FAST TRACK TO AIRPORT RAILWAY LINKS Scotland on Sunday July 11, 2004 HIGH-speed rail links to Scotland’s two main airports plus a major refurbishment of Edinburgh Waverley station are to be fast-tracked under new plans to give control of the rail network to Scottish ministers. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling will announce this week that all powers over tracks and trains are to be handed over to the Scottish Executive, in what is a major boost to First Minister Jack McConnell’s spending powers. The long-awaited announcement will mean that all new infrastructure rail projects in Scotland will be run in future by the Scottish Executive. Currently, Network Rail owns and maintains the tracks, while the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) allocates new infrastructure money for the entire British rail system. Ministers believe that the move is likely to ensure that plans in Scotland to improve the creaking rail service are achieved more quickly, as they will no longer have to wait for the London-based Network Rail to approve repairs. Instead, it is likely that the responsibility for improvements will go to the newly formed agency Transport Scotland, which is to oversee all new major transport projects north of the border. First on the list is the long overdue GBP 150m refurbishment of Edinburgh’s Waverley station The complete overhaul of the station is needed before the planned Edinburgh-Borders route is opened up. More platforms are also required to prevent the bottleneck which currently holds up trains entering and leaving the station. The transfer of power is also likely to quicken the pace of work on the new rail links to Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, due to be opened in 2010. While the timetable remains the same, officials in Edinburgh believe there is less scope for slippage, if it is being run from Scotland, rather than from London. The move to hand over powers to the Scottish Executive will be welcomed by Scottish business chiefs who have been urging Darling to grant the transfer of resources. The Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland recently claimed that the SRA was “an impediment” to rail projects north of the border. Academics in Scotland have also claimed that most rail spending simply goes on urgent projects in London where most of the rail traffic is concentrated, meaning that Scotland is losing out. McConnell has also been pressing for a reform, having become increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of decision-making by Network Rail and the SRA towards Scotland. As a Scottish MP, whose constituency contains Waverley Station, Darling is understood to have needed little convincing of the move. The move will be unveiled by the minister this week as part of a major Transport Green paper, aimed at getting the rail industry back on track following the disastrous privatisation in the mid 1990s which led to the collapse of Railtrack, and several tragic accidents at Hatfield and Potter’s Bar. McConnell is understood to have demanded that substantial sums of extra cash are made available to Scotland, along with the extra powers to control the tracks in Scotland. Aides say he does not want to lumbered with new powers only to find that he does not have the cash to fund projects. However, questions are bound to remain whether the move will be cost -effective. Last year, the SRA paid the GBP 56m cost for the diversion of the east-coast main line away from mining subsidence in East Lothian, which may in future have to come from the Scottish Executive’s pockets. Officials are optimistic, however, that the move will get major restructuring done more quickly than was done under the old regime. If Transport Scotland does take over the job of overseeing infrastructure projects, it will mean that it will be able to employ its own staff to manage the job, rather than having to rely on the SRA. One Scottish transport official said: “There will be people in Scotland working specially for the new agency. We wouldn’t have to compete with projects in England and get put back at the end of the queue for things to get done. There’s no doubt that we are being deprioritised now within the UK. So the decision to take powers back to Scotland is now right,” the insider added. However, while Scotland will take full control of its trains and tracks, Network Rail will still keep responsibility for regulating the safety and performance of the service, across the whole of Britain, it is understood. Transport is likely to be one of the major winners following Chancellor Gordon Brown’s spending review announcement tomorrow. Ministers in Edinburgh will receive an increase in their budget of around GBP 4bn over the next three years from the Treasury, and are likely to prioritise a large proportion of the cash towards rail and roads. One source within the Executive said: “Transport has been marked out as one area where the funding needs are great and are going to get greater. It is generally accepted that transport is one area where we need to seriously invest.”

FasTrack’s foes, advocates clash; RTD’s $4.7 billion transit plan spurs protest, counterprotest at Mint The Denver Post July 12, 2004 If a former RTD board chairman’s calling FasTracks a waste of money did not prove that the plan is contentious, all the shouting from across the street did. Jon Caldara and about 25 members of Taxpayers Against Congestion gathered Sunday on the steps of the U.S. Mint to oppose the Regional Transportation District’s plan to build at least six rail lines in the metro area. They chose the Mint because, they say, FasTracks will cost taxpayers - ahem - a mint. Caldara said his group is made up of “everyday taxpayers” trying “to stop the 67 percent tax increase” they say FasTracks will bring if voters approve it in November. But just as Caldara finished his point by tossing Monopoly money in the air, chants of “FasTracks, yes” came from about 40 supporters across Colfax Avenue. The midtown dispute was the latest in a debate over RTD’s $4.7 billion proposal for rail, bus and other transportation improvements. To pay for the transit program, voters in the seven-county metro area will be asked to support an increase in RTD’s sales tax to 1 percent from the current 0.6 percent. Caldara, president of the Independence Institute think tank in Golden, said the plan amounted to a pork-barrel project for developers and contractors. He said the plan would cost “every man, woman and child $640 … before the first choo-choo train line opens.” He added that the project would cost $2.5 billion more in interest. “If you didn’t like Guide the Ride,” Caldara said, referring to the 1997 transit plan defeated by voters, “you’re going to hate FasTracks.” But FasTracks supporters across the street said Caldara is a “Johnny One Note.” “He never offers any alternative,” said Jan Rigg, a FasTracks Yes! spokeswoman. “He just says ‘no, no, no’ while our highways are filling up.” FasTracks Yes! points out that the tax would be 4 cents on every $10 taxable sale. The tax does not apply to groceries, prescription drugs, gasoline, electricity or home heating costs. Proponents say the plan has a broad base of support. “It’s a lot of people who employ people in the metro area and businesses that provide (the area) with economic stability,” said Maria Garcia Berry, the political consultant who is leading the ballot effort. “We are talking about the future of the region.”

TAKE A VIRTUAL RIDE ON RTD’S NEW RAILS Rocky Mountain News July 12, 2004 I know it’s not open yet, not for another two years. But let’s take a virtual tour of the T-REX light-rail line. The 19 miles of light-rail work along Interstates 25 and 225 are increasingly visible. Tracks are laid in many locations. Some station platforms and canopies are in place. Parking garages are up or under construction, and train bridges cross each street. As it stands now, here is how a trip on the Regional Transportation District’s Southeast Corridor will look when it opens in December 2006: The end-of- line station at Lincoln Avenue in Douglas County is our starting point. Here, there will be a parking garage with 1,120 spaces. The tracks are on the west side of I-25, and they will straddle a center platform from which passengers will board trains. A pedestrian bridge will link riders with developments on the east side of the highway. The next station is just south of County Line Road. It is likely to be redesigned a bit since adjacent Park Meadows Mall has become part of the transit district. The original design provided no access to the mall, and no agreement has yet established how to provide that access. There will be a pedestrian bridge over I-25 to the east side to access a park-n-ride for 388 vehicles. Next up the line is Dry Creek Road. The station platform is south of Dry Creek. A nearby parking garage, privately financed, will provide 235 spaces for transit customers. Another pedestrian bridge will be built over I-25 to connect with businesses on the east side. Then comes the Arapahoe at Village Center station. The platform is just north of the Yosemite Street overpass, three-eighths of a mile north of Arapahoe Road. Opposite the station platform, on the east side of I-25, Greenwood Village is promoting a development that includes a park-n-ride garage for 820 vehicles. A pedestrian bridge over the highway will connect the parking with the station platform. Then you come to Orchard Road. The station platform is north of Orchard, accessible from Greenwood Plaza Boulevard. There is only a 48-space parking lot here next to the station. But another pedestrian bridge will be built to enhance circulation on the other side of I-25. The Belleview Avenue station is next, located on Quebec Street north of Belleview. There will be only 59 parking spaces adjacent to the station, with pedestrian access from the Union Avenue bridge over I-25. North of here, the southeast corridor splits. One line goes up I-225’s median. The first station there is Dayton Street. The platform will be in the highway median, while a 250-space park-n-ride will be on the north side. A pedestrian bridge will cross over the southbound lanes to get riders to the station. A footbridge will cross wetlands between the parking lot and the station. The end of the line here is at Parker Road, with the already-opened Nine Mile park-n-ride garage providing 1,200 spaces next to the southbound lanes. Riders will use a tunnel to reach the station platform in the median of I-225. Back on I-25, the next stop is the Southmoor station, just south of Hampden Avenue. There’s a park-n-ride on the east side of the highway, with 883 spaces. The station platform on the west side will be reached through a tunnel under the highway. The next station is Yale Avenue, with the platform north of Yale and a 161-space parking lot next to it. Heading north, the tracks leave the shoulder of I-25 at Evans Avenue and cut west through the Colorado Center. Here, the Colorado Boulevard station will be the only one on the T-REX line that is below grade, in a trench in Colorado Center Drive. Elevators and stairs will take riders up to street level and a nearby park-n-ride with 363 spaces. The train continues north underneath Colorado Boulevard and rejoins the I-25 shoulder before reaching the University Boulevard station. The platform here is actually farther west at High Street. A 540-space parking garage is nearly complete. The last new station is Louisiana-Pearl. This is unique on T-REX. It has no parking at all. RTD calls it a kiss-n-ride, because you drop off your honey with a kiss and then drive off. Since I-25 is in a trench here called The Narrows, the station is down below at highway level. It will be covered with a concrete lid at neighborhood level, providing a plaza along Buchtel Boulevard at Washington Street and Louisiana Avenue. Elevators and stairs will take riders to the station. The T-REX line links with the existing system at Broadway. The station platform is being widened to accommodate three tracks instead of two. Here is where riders to or from the Littleton line can switch trains. Bumper sticker: He who laughs last thinks slowest.

ACE apologizes for late trains San Jose Business Journal July 12, 2004 An apology has been issued for a recent rash of train delays making passengers late for work or losing time at home in the evenings, by officials of the Altamont Commuter Express, the passenger train service linking the San Joaquin Valley with Silicon Valley. “We are truly sorry that these delays have affected your commute,” the rail agency says in an e-mail to frequent riders. ACE Rail blames the delays on the same problem that’s plagued the rail service since it first began operation more than five years ago — faulty signaling equipment on Union Pacific tracks between Lathrop and Fremont. The commuter trains lease time on Union Pacific’s tracks. “The ‘code line failures’ that you have unfortunately become familiar with are the result of an antiquated pole and wire communication system … that is susceptible to weather, vandalism and just plain wearing out,” the e-mail says. When the signals don’t work properly, trains halt or proceed at greatly reduced speeds. The apology doesn’t offer much hope. At best, says ACE Rail, it and Union Pacific are thinking about making the signaling system state- of-the art, but no dates have been set for such a project. “As an interim action item, phased upgrades are being reviewed to determine their effectiveness in reducing the failures in those areas that have historically been most susceptible,” ACE says.

Subway has cut traffic jams by 10% in its first week, police say The Nation (Thailand) July 12, 2004 Subway has cut traffic jams by 10% in its first week, police say It’s been in operation only a week, but police say they are already seeing improvements in Bangkok’s notorious traffic congestion thanks to the new subway system. Traffic flow was better from Hua Lamphong railway station on Rama IV Road to the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, and also on Rama I Road, Traffic Police commander Maj-General Panu Kerdlarpphol said yesterday. ‘We are seeing fewer vehicles queuing at red lights. But we can’t provide any specific numbers yet. This was still only the first week of the subway’s operations,’ he said. The underground system began operating on July 3 with a flat Bt10 fare for all distances. The subway’s trains can complete the 20-kilometre line in just a little over half-an-hour. Of its 18 stations, passengers can hop off at three and conveniently connect to the Skytrain system. ‘Traffic jams are now ending at around 7pm instead of 8pm,’ Panu said. Lt-Colonel Udom Ratree, a traffic police deputy superintendent at Suthisarn police station, estimated that traffic conditions during rush hour on Ratchadaphisek Road had improved by 10 per cent since the launch of the subway. There are five subway stations in or close to the Suthisarn area. ‘From my own estimation, I think the number of vehicles on roads has dropped by five per cent,’ he said. Udom, however, expressed concern that many Bangkok commuters might shy away from the underground system after its promotional rate ends on August 12. From August 13 until July 3 next year, the fares will range from Bt14 to Bt36 a trip, depending on the distance. ‘People will likely prefer cars once the fares go up, especially those who are travelling in groups of two, three or four,’ he said. The Mass Rapid Transit Authority’s (MRTA) governor, Prapat Chongsa-nguan, said the subway system had served about 180,000 passengers a day over the past week, although he acknowledged that number probably did not reflect the real number of regular users because of the discounted fare. ‘But if we can expand the subway route to 91 km I believe Bangkok’s traffic problems will be reduced by half,’ he said. He added that the MRTA was determined to deliver a smoother service after some passengers complained about confusing exit signs and faulty doors during the first week of operation. Viroj Neelayothin, the public-relations chief at the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), which operates bus services in the capital and adjacent provinces, said the BMTA did not mind the drop in income as long as the public benefited. According to him, bus line No 136,which runs parallel to the underground for almost its entire route, had lost thousands of passengers since the subway started. Daily income from the route had fallen by Bt30,000. ‘We think this is partly because of the promotional subway fare. But though our number of passengers on bus No 136 may remain relatively small like this in the future, we can adjust the route and will be glad to see that the traffic conditions are better,’ Viroj said. He added the BMTA also cooperated closely with the MRTA to ensure that subway passengers would be able to travel conveniently after getting off from subway stations. Anat Arbhabhirama, an adviser to the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS), which operates the Skytrain, said the number of its passengers - usually about 370,000 a day - had not changed since the two transit systems linked up. ‘But there are significantly more passengers at some stations and fewer passengers at others,’ he said. He said the number of Skytrain passengers had dropped at Mor Chit and Sala Daeng stations, where there are nearby subway stations, while the Asoke and On Nut stations had received more passengers, apparently because subway passengers were hopping off the underground system at Asoke and connecting to the adjacent Skytrain terminal to get to their final destination - On Nut. ‘Before the subway, people from Ratchadaphisek would not use the Skytrain to get to On Nut. But the subway is changing all that,’ he said. With a view that the subway is a friend and not a foe, Anat believes that the Skytrain system will enjoy a big boost if the rail-based transportation system keeps expanding. ‘When city people get familiar with the subway and know how to connect to other transportation choices, I think the Skytrain will certainly get more passengers,’ he said.

MBTA to begin screening riders before convention Boston Herald July 13, 2004 T riders will have to endure MBTA cops sifting through their bags before the start of the Democratic National Convention, T officials announced yesterday. The MBTA’s screening program - which officials warn might cause some delays - calls for cops to search with their eyes, electronic devices and sniffing dogs the handbags, briefcases and packages carried aboard the trolleys. “This is not a step to which we arrived hastily,’’ MBTA General Manager Michael H. Mulhern said in a statement. “The MBTA would not be moving forward with this security initiative unless I felt it was absolutely necessary in this city and during this time in our nation’s history.’’ Commuters who refuse to be searched will be prohibited from riding the rails. Security plans prohibit the T from releasing the times and locations of the checkpoints in advance. MBTA Police have launched a public education campaign that includes handouts and signs to give T riders a heads-up on the upcoming random searches. The Safe and Free T Alliance planned to protest the random searches at Park Street Station today. The Alliance, which includes the T Riders Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, plans to perform its rendition of ``Charlie on the MBTA,’’ spoof the searches and talk about how the screening will violate constitutional liberties. “It is a waste of scarce law enforcement time and resources to conduct fishing expeditions among the million riders who use the T each day. It won’t make us any safer,’’ Teddy Ansbacher-Hunt, one of the protest organizers, told the MBTA board last week.

World-Class Trains? Not Even Close New York Times July 13, 2004 All over Europe, in Japan, and elsewhere, business travelers have the option of avoiding planes and taking sleek high-speed trains that link urban centers. In France, average train speeds on some corridors exceed 180 miles an hour. With direct links to airports for those continuing on for greater distances or flying overseas, these high-speed trains are vital components of an intelligent transportation system. The United States managed to put the first man on the moon over a third of a century ago, but this country doesn’t come anywhere close to having a world-class rail-transportation system. Oh, we have some great trains, including a few long-haul Amtrak ones that have been called cruise ships on tracks. One example is the Sunset Limited, which runs 2,768 miles between Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla., Amtrak’s longest route. While it does carry some passengers on shorter distances between cities in the South and Southwest, the Sunset Limited is marketed as a transcontinental tourist excursion train and kept in business by train romantics and their supporters in Congress. The Sunset Limited is projected to operate at a loss of about $30 million in the current fiscal year while carrying an estimated 109,000 passengers. All 14 Amtrak long-distance trains are projected to lose more than $500 million, according to Amtrak’s operating budget, though long-distance ridership is rising. But the United States has 8 or 10 shorter-haul rail corridors that transportation experts say make sense as real transportation systems, whether operated by Amtrak or by hybrid state, federal and private entities, and some of them are now making plans for high-speed trains, very far in the future. Meanwhile, on our one existing relatively high-speed train line, passenger traffic is expected to break records this year, as air travel in the Northeast becomes ever more vexing. That’s Amtrak’s Acela line (top speed about 125 miles an hour on a few stretches of track) on the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington. This year, according to Amtrak’s budget, Acela is projected to generate a “net contribution” to the bottom line of about $60.7 million, while carrying well over 2.5 million passengers. Acela, which began service in late 2000, has certainly had its problems, including an inability to achieve maximum speeds and some engineering faults that caused service reductions last year. Also, deteriorating tracks on some stretches of the Northeast Corridor caused a 20 percent increase in delays from 2000 to 2003, though Amtrak says service is now back to normal. A couple of weeks ago, when I visited an Amtrak administrative and training center in Wilmington, Del., to talk with the marketing people, no one there wanted to touch the hot potatoes: the Amtrak budget and the question of short-haul versus long-distance trains. In its budget request for the 2004 fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Amtrak said it asked for $1.8 billion, but got $1.2 billion. Amtrak says it needs $1.8 billion to maintain operations next year; the White House says it should get about half that. “The greatest share of our revenue comes out of the Northeast,” said Barbara J. Richardson, Amtrak’s vice president for marketing. Right now, “the No. 1 priority,” she said, is to return to basics and bring the national infrastructure “up to a state of good repair.” For the Acela, the goal is to market the train more to business travelers, who now make up about 80 percent of its riders. A simple, easy-to-understand fare structure, similar to the fare structures of low-cost airlines, has been put in place on Acela and also across the Amtrak system. Unlike some low-cost airlines, whose guerilla warfare tactic of fare sales is currently staggering the network carriers, Amtrak maintains “a commitment not to run massive national promotions with major discounts, because we think it causes confusion,” Ms. Richardson said. Energized by the inroads the Acela has made against air travel, Amtrak has become more aggressive in promoting Acela to corporate travel managers, said David Lim, the chief of marketing and sales promotions. “Just as the airlines didn’t think of us as competition, neither did the corporations think of us as sort of a viable option,” he said of the days before Acela. “With the launch of Acela, we really increased the emphasis on relationships with corporations.” Acela says its fares are 35 to 59 percent below comparable walkup fares on airlines. But the train’s greatest strength is the comfort in its two categories of service: business and first class. Seats have 42 inches of legroom and all have electrical power outlets, with large fold-down tables for working. Passengers “feel like they’re in control, and they can decide how they spend their time,” Ms. Richardson said. “The hassle factor is low. I think about it as, ‘You are always free to move about the cabin.’ “ Train passengers, by the way, sometimes have good reason to move. But except to note that, I will refrain here from reprising the subject of two recent columns: the hellish annoyance on trains caused by braying cellphone louts. Instead, let’s conclude with the kind of hot potato Amtrak is comfortable discussing: the food. Lately, as the status of domestic airline food in general descends from joke to atrocity, Amtrak has been making a major push to upgrade the food on both Acela and on its long-distance trains. Menus are varied and they change frequently. In my opinion, the food in Acela’s first-class car is actually pretty good. “I have a lot more options on a train than on a plane,” said Timothy J. Costello, the executive chef for the Amtrak account of the catering company Gategourmet.

Unusual events caused Seattle monorail fire Seattle Times July 13, 2004 An unusual and complicated sequence of events, all over in about one minute, caused the Seattle monorail fire May 31, Seattle Center and Seattle Monorail Services officials said yesterday. The fire, the first in the Seattle monorail’s 42-year history, stranded and forced the evacuation of about 150 riders and closed the line indefinitely. A free shuttle service has been operating in its place between Seattle Center and Westlake Center. Tom Albro, director of Seattle Monorail Services, said the fire was caused by “a mechanical failure that, through an extraordinary set of events, led to an electrical short.” The fire occurred about 5:20 p.m. on Memorial Day, when a low-speed drive shaft on the southbound Blue Train broke, causing a nearby high- speed shaft to rotate faster. “It started really revving up,” Albro said. This caused the high-speed shaft to break, too. A piece of that shaft broke free and smashed into the housing around another part of the train. Officials said a low-speed shaft failure is not unheard of, but a breakdown of a high-speed shaft is highly unusual. After the piece of the shaft crashed into the housing, sparks flew. “It changed the air to an ionized air, just like happens in lightning,” said Virginia Anderson, director of Seattle Center. The driver stopped the train, but the ionized air created a short circuit between the positive and negative rails, officials said. The flurry of sparks ignited the tires and other parts, starting the fire. The system’s circuit breakers then tripped and, at about 5:21 p.m., cut off all power. Officials yesterday declined to say when the monorail would reopen or when an investigation by two outside firms would be complete. “Our objective is to resume full service at the earliest possible date that we can do it safely,” Albro said. During a typical July, the monorail carries about 400,000 people, officials said. The shuttle service is far less popular: Officials estimated it will provide fewer than 100,000 rides this month. The decrease in ridership has affected business in Seattle Center and Westlake Center, although Seattle Center has fared better than was expected. “We are experiencing some decline,” Anderson said. “From our perspective, it’s not been as dramatic as we might have thought. I think for Westlake it might be a little bit more dramatic.” Judy Burnside, manager of the Westlake Center Made in Washington store, said her shop is seeing about one-quarter fewer customers since the beginning of June.

MISSION VALLEY TROLLEY EXTENSION RECEIVES $37M GRANT KFMB-TV San Diego July 13, 2004 The Mission Valley East Light Rail Transit extension was awarded a $37.4 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, a local lawmaker announced Tuesday. The money will be used to continue work on the 5.9-mile San Diego Trolley extension east along Interstate 8 from Mission Valley to La Mesa, said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon. “These funds will be used to continue our efforts of making the San Diego Trolley a convenient and efficient form of mass transit for San Diego,” Hunter said. The grant brings the total federal spending for the extension project to more than $214 million.

Overloaded railroads can’t deliver Oakland Tribune July 13, 2004 Union Pacific Corp. and other U.S. railroads have more business than they can handle in a strengthening economy, causing delays that cut Arch Coal Inc.’s profit and forced Dow Chemical Co. to idle a Michigan plant. Retailer J.C. Penney Co. also said some of its shipments are being delayed on Union Pacific, which is the largest U.S. railroad by sales and has had the most extensive congestion. U.S. railroads such as No. 3 carrier CSX Corp., which also delayed cargo, haul more than 40 percent of U.S. freight tons every year. Oakland global ocean carrier APL Ltd. said the backlog is causing its customers delays of one to two days. If the delays continue into next year, APL could have trouble renegotiating the premium prices it charges, causing a hit that “could potentially be in the tens of millions of dollars,” APL spokesman Scott Dailey said. APL already has worked with some customers to move goods through the less-congested port in Seattle instead of Los Angeles, he said. “I think we’re in for a difficult summer,” Dailey said. “We’re just now beginning the peak season and we’ve been running full for the first half of the year, which is normally the slower time.” Concord’s Pacer International, a wholesale provider of double-stack rail service to customers including APL and NUMMI, said last month that its second-quarter profit would be hurt by the independent trucker work stoppage and railroad service issues. The company expects profit of 24 to 27 cents a share — below the consensus analyst estimate of 29 cents a share. Rail-cargo shipments rose 6 percent in the first half and are headed toward an annual total that would exceed last year’s record, according to the Association of American Railroads. The expanding U.S. economy, which grew at a 4.4 percent pace in the first quarter, and a rise in imports from Asia have led to West Coast cargo limitations, primarily at Union Pacific. “Railroads are in record territory for volumes,” said Bill Huff, director of rail operations for Midland, Mich.-based Dow, the biggest U.S. chemical company. “It’s exceeding their capabilities to handle the freight. We are having issues with virtually all the major North American railroads.” Average train speeds fell 6.7 percent in the first half, and a shortage of truck drivers is further restricting shipping choices. The cargo network last faced major strains in 2002 because of a 10-day lockout of West Coast dockworkers. This year, the U.S. economy is expected to grow 4.5 percent, the fastest since 1999, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Railroads Index of four companies has declined 4.8 percent this year compared with the S&P 500 Index, which is little changed this year. Union Pacific is hurrying to hire train-crew workers and add locomotives and railcars, and on Thursday announced limits on some cargo. The Nebraska-based company last month said second-quarter profit lagged analyst estimates because of delays. Its average train speed has dropped 12 percent this year. Burlington Northern, based in Fort Worth, Texas, two weeks ago set limits on some eastbound international cargo from Los Angeles to prevent congestion as Asian imports rose. Congestion limited first-half volume growth at Union Pacific to 2.5 percent, as Burlington Northern shipped 11 percent more freight. Cargo that moves by a rail-truck combination, the largest segment, rose 9.6 percent industrywide, according to the rail trade group. The increases were 3.3 percent for coal, the second-biggest category, and 5.8 percent for chemicals. Commodities such as coal and grain and other raw materials such as chemicals are chiefly shipped by rail. About 60 percent of coal burned by U.S. utilities is delivered by rail.

Streetcar keeps rolling south, east; Steep drop to RiverPlace provides some drama; more lines are proposed PORTLAND TRIBUNE Jul 13, 2004 The Portland Streetcar will never be compared to a roller coaster, but the new extension down Southwest Harrison Street will feature the kind of steep drop not usually seen on your average urban mass transit system. In March, the streetcar line will grow by six-tenths of a mile, running east from Portland State University to RiverPlace. Plans are under way to extend the line by December 2006 for another four-tenths of a mile to Southwest Gibbs Street and Oregon Health & Science University’s new aerial tram. But the RiverPlace extension includes a new street. It’s called the Harrison Connector, and it will have two lanes, sidewalks, a bike lane and enough room for the streetcar running along a steep grade. The tracks will run east along Southwest Harrison Street and across Naito Parkway. Trains then will turn sharply to the right along the new street and run about 900 feet on a grade that slopes down about 9 degrees. That’s too steep for TriMet’s light-rail trains but manageable by the more nimble streetcars. The Harrison Connector will take the cars down to the intersection of Harbor Drive and River Parkway, where it will cross Harbor Way and continue for a few hundred feet on River Parkway to Moody Avenue, ending next to the Marriott Residence Inn and the offices of David Evans and Associates Inc. From one end to the other, the line will drop about 90 feet in elevation. The streetcars will be quite visible from RiverPlace as they come down the slope, said Vicky Diede, streetcar spokeswoman. “When they come rolling down Harrison,” she said, “they’re going to look great.” Designing the route was tricky but didn’t require any unusual changes in the design, said Tom Gilman, project manager for the construction company Stacy and Witbeck. Expansion ideas keep coming The project cost $18.1 million, which comes from a local improvement district, the Portland Development Commission, federal grants, the city of Portland and a land sale. The price tag includes two new streetcars, purchased from Inekon Group in the Czech Republic at a cost of about $1.8 million each. Cost estimates aren’t complete yet for extending the streetcar to Gibbs Street and the proposed terminus of the tram, keys to the South Waterfront development. It’s a shorter leg than the RiverPlace extension, operating on level ground and on one road, Moody Avenue. But it also would require two new streetcars with the goal of running trains every 10 minutes. Over the long term, officials hope to see the streetcar serving Lake Oswego to the south. But the most ambitious plan calls for running the streetcar across the Broadway Bridge through the Lloyd District, south through the central east side to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and back across the Willamette River to RiverPlace. The route favored by many business owners would carry the southbound trains on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with northbound trains on Grand Avenue. No timetable has been set, and no budget has been drawn up. One estimate put the cost at $80 million, but the numbers likely will change as planning progresses. Two tunnels come to light The RiverPlace project has uncovered a few old secrets about Portland’s transportation past. Excavation on the slope below Naito Parkway unearthed not one but two concrete tunnels. One was a road, apparently part of the network leading to the old Harbor Drive Freeway, which was torn out in the 1970s to make way for Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The second, Gilman said, apparently was a subway tunnel. Diede said Portland was not known to have any subways, although some surface streetcars may have used underpasses. The concrete tunnels are being demolished as crews reconfigure the hillside. Diede said no unusual artifacts have been found in the excavation on the hillside — just old construction debris. “No, nothing fun,” she said. “No hidden Volkswagens.”

TTC Special Constables crack down on counterfeit tickets;-Multiple charges laid Canada NewsWire July 13, 2004 Today, July 13, 2004, the Toronto Transit Commission is announcing the results of a year-long crackdown on TTC ticket counterfeiters. The Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU) of TTC Special Constable Services has been keeping a close eye on the growth in the number of counterfeit tickets over the past 18 months. Today, TTC Chief General Manager Rick Ducharme will announce details of the close to 450 criminal and provincial charges laid by Special Constables, and Toronto Police, against fare forgers, and those that use counterfeit fares, over the past 13 months. As a result of special investigations and surveillance activities, the TTC has seized more than 20,000 fake tickets and other fare media. “To put it in perspective, slightly over one percentage point of all TTC fare media transactions (passes, tickets, transfers) is fraudulent. Recently, however, forged tickets have been a leading contributor,” says TTC CGM Rick Ducharme. “What we are saying today is we are out to catch you.” TTC Special Constables have been hard at work for over a year on numerous stings, raids and arrests. Special investigations and intelligence-sharing activities between the TTC and Toronto and regional police forces have resulted in more than 300 people appearing in court, or facing major fines, or serving time in jail. One man faced a 15-month jail sentence and two years probation. TTC sting operations continue to catch the producers and distributors of forged fare media. “TTC Operators and Collectors are very instrumental in identifying the users of counterfeit fares,” says Chief Special Constable Terry Andrews. “These dedicated employees put us on the right track - without their keen eyes we would have had nowhere to start our investigation.” The TTC and Toronto Crime Stoppers are urging transit riders, and the general public, to watch out for fake fares, and are warning counterfeiters that they will pay the price if they avoid paying their “fare” share. In co- operation with Toronto Crime Stoppers, the TTC will be placing posters throughout the transit system and ads in the Metro newspaper.

Galveston trolley line expanding; First phase of work expected to be completed by end of year HoustonChronicle July 14, 2004 Eight-year-old Becky Johnson of Dallas and her family were looking for something fun to do while on vacation in Galveston when they boarded one of the city’s trolleys. “Wow, this is neat. I’ve been wanting to go on the trolley. I think it’s fun,” Johnson said. Tourists like the Johnsons make up most trolley riders in Galveston, but that may soon change. The city is expanding its popular fixed-rail trolley system in hopes of getting more area residents and tourists to use it, which would reduce traffic and ease parking problems. The trolleys — which are reminiscent of the ones used in the city from the late 1800s to 1938 — were reintroduced to the city in 1988 as part of revitalization of the historic downtown Strand District. The trolley system covers six miles and connects Seawall Boulevard to the Strand District and the Pier 21 area. Wayne Cook, director of transportation for Island Transit, which operates the city’s public transportation system, said the two-phase, $11 million trolley system expansion will link more people to more destinations. “This is best for everyone,” Cook said. “It’s going to be a dramatic change to the way we get around. We are really excited.” In May, construction began on the first phase of the extension, which is expected to be completed by December. It will lengthen the existing route 1 1/2 miles east on Market Street to the University of Texas Medical Branch, one of the island’s largest employers. Another trolley will be added to the system, increasing the number to five. Two trolleys run regularly during the day. Three are in operation during holidays and special events. The first phase will link two of the island’s most visited, high-traffic areas — downtown and UTMB. Ridership figures Cook said that about 98 percent of trolley riders are tourists, while most locals prefer riding one of the city’s 26 buses to get around the city. Last year, 55,000 people used the trolley system, while 1.2 million used the bus. He said the low trolley numbers are partly due to the system being closed for part of the year because of construction in the downtown area. Cook hopes to increase local trolley ridership from 2 percent to 35 percent by connecting trolley routes to UTMB and surrounding residential areas. “It will be so easy to live downtown and get around,” Cook said. “You could just leave your car and take a trolley to get lunch, go to work or go shopping.” The second phase will extend the trolley rails about 1.3 miles along Sixth Street to Stewart Beach on Seawall Boulevard. Cook said a completion date for that phase has not been determined. Funding for the expansion has come largely from federal and state transportation grants. UTMB also has contributed $240,000 to the project. Cook said the trolley system is being expanded rather than the bus service because more people are likely to board the trolleys. “Buses are not nearly as attractive to ride,” he said. “There is just something about trolleys. They’re fun. People just like to ride them.” Less expensive Cook also said trolleys are less expensive to operate than buses because they use less fuel. The trolleys are powered by a diesel engine and electric motors. It costs about $36.50 an hour to operate a bus and $32.40 for a trolley. Cook said three buses that look like trolleys will be added to the mix of island transportation by September. These bus trolleys will run from downtown to Seawall Boulevard with a stop at the new Galveston Convention Center. “There are just more and more ways of getting around and doing things here,” Cook said. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

Parker studies light-rail line ; Town looking at possible 6-mile leg from Lone Tree Denver Post July 14, 2004 It could be the light-rail line that will not end. Parker officials plan to study the possible extension of the southeast corridor light-rail line to their rapidly expanding community, adding about 6 miles east from Lone Tree. “Parker is a fast-growing community with a number of residents commuting to jobs in the Denver metropolitan area and a number of businesses attracting employees from surrounding communities,” said Bryce Matthews, a planner for the town. “Maintaining and improving transportation options and access is key to the future of Parker.” The town has about 38,000 residents and expects to grow to more than 73,000 by 2020. Now largely a bedroom community, the town has about 7,000 jobs. But with a number of commercial developments under construction or being planned, employment in Parker is expected to grow to 26,000 by 2020. The town’s study also will look at the option of substituting bus rapid transit, or BRT, technology for light rail. Such BRT service calls for high- frequency bus operations, also in a “fixed guideway.” An earlier Parker study showed that it could cost about $191 million to construct a light-rail extension from Lone Tree, or about $69 million to build a “premium” BRT system with bus stations and a covered park-n- Ride structure. But that review was very preliminary, and the new study would come up with more reliable numbers, Matthews said. It is expected to review passenger projections, land acquisition and construction costs, parking needs and other factors for a preferred transit corridor from Parker’s Mainstreet commercial core to Lone Tree. Only last year, Lone Tree residents voted to join the Regional Transportation District as a prerequisite for getting RTD to extend the southeast corridor rail line 2.3 miles into Lone Tree as part of the $4.7 billion FasTracks plan. Voters must approve an RTD sales tax increase that is expected to be on the Nov. 2 ballot for FasTracks to happen. The southeast line is being built as part of the $1.67 billion Transportation Expansion Project, or T- REX, to expand light-rail and highways. When the T-REX line opens in late 2006, its southern terminus will be at Lincoln Avenue in Douglas County, just south of Park Meadows shopping mall. If FasTracks passes, a three-stop extension of that line is expected to reach into Lone Tree by 2016, with a new end-of-line station planned for RidgeGate Parkway, 2.3 miles south of Lincoln. Parker’s plan would build on that Lone Tree line. Some portions of Parker and Douglas County through which the transit line would go are not yet in RTD’s taxing district; property owners in those areas probably would have to vote for annexation into RTD to get the transit line built.

New Orleans Sees Interest in Streetcars THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 14, 2004 �NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For the first time in almost half a century, the city that inspired ``A Streetcar Named Desire’’ once again desires streetcars. New Orleans, home of the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world, had done away with everything but the St. Charles line through the historic Garden District. Now that’s changing. A third streetcar line just reopened and perhaps a dozen others — including the old Desire Street line — are on the planning board. ``In New Orleans streetcars have been part of our tradition,’’ said Pat Judge, spokesman for the Regional Transit Authority. ``Tourists like them, but our residents like riding them as well.’’ Other cites are sharing a renewed fondness for the form of transportation once thought of as obsolete. ``They’re very much in fashion again,’’ said Jim Graebner, chairman of the American Public Transportation Association Heritage Trolley Task Force in Washington, D.C. He estimates at least 21 cities are adding or restoring trolley lines. The renaissance of downtown areas as people move back from the suburbs, the charm of the old cars, their cleaner operation and improved durability all contribute to their popularity. Last year, Tacoma, Wash., opened a 1.6-mile streetcar line — running from the Tacoma Dome Station through the heart of downtown. The $80.4 million line is the first streetcar to run in Tacoma since 1938. ``We really are going back to the future,’’ Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma said when it opened. Memphis opened a 2-mile, $56-million streetcar line and plans to make it the starting point of a 9-mile, $400 million extension that will run to the Memphis International Airport. North Little Rock, Ark., has laid tracks and will have a streetcar running soon. Portland, Ore., Pittsburgh, Buffalo, N.Y., and Sacramento, Calif., are among the cities have begun laying tracks and returning to streetcars. Others are looking into the possibility. In New Orleans, which once had 225 miles of streetcar lines, the old cars began disappearing in the 1930s. ``You always hear that it was a plot by General Motors, a tire company and Esso Oil,’’ said Michael Mizell-Nelson, who studied streetcars for his doctorate and is writing a book on them. ``It wasn’t. It was just part of the times.’’ Government funding policies and paving of city streets had a big influence on dropping the rail lines. So did the thinking of the times. ``At the time, buses were considered the modern way to travel,’’ said Jimmy Fitzmorris, one of six city councilmen who voted to get rid of the last of New Orleans’ streetcars. ``They were air-conditioned, they could pull up to the curb, they were economical.’’ But over the years, ridership on the St. Charles line remained strong and so did nostalgia for the streetcar. In 1988, New Orleans opened a new streetcar line that runs along the Mississippi River, mostly transporting tourists between the French Quarter and the convention center. It proved to be a huge success and led to the rebuilding of the Canal Street line. The $160 million line, with 80 percent paid in federal funds, attracted 125,000 riders the first week it was back in service in April. ``The cars are beautiful,’’ Judge said. ``They are a big improvement over the buses.’’ The New Orleans transit workers had experience in maintaining the St. Charles cars and made parts of the new Riverfront cars, so moving on to complete manufacturing was a natural step. A company in Brookville, Pa., made the wheels, axles and truck assemblies, which hold the wheels, brakes and motor. The rest of the elements were manufactured in Louisiana and assembled by New Orleans workers. The 1920s cars that clatter along St. Charles Avenue are not air-conditioned, the windows open to allow a breeze, the brakes squeal and the wheels rattle noisily on the tracks. The new cars are air-conditioned, much quieter, with better suspension and a smoother ride. They are also handicapped accessible. ``They look almost the same as the old ones,’’ said Elmer von Dullen, who oversaw the construction. ``But they are a lot more comfortable and lower maintenance.’’ Cities restoring streetcar lines are finding increased ridership. ``People don’t like riding buses,’’ Graebner said. ``But streetcars draw riders. They have a charisma, people like them.’’ The lines have also increased nearby property values, Judge said. ``It’s a dream that some of us never gave up on,’’ said Rita Legrand, president of Streetcars Desired Inc., which worked to try to prevent the destruction of the city’s streetcar lines. ``I’m happy to see others are starting to think the same way.’’

$36.3 million added to light-rail pot; Clackamas County plans to commit urban renewal dollars to pay for its part of the I-205 leg of MAX The Oregonian July 14, 2004 Clackamas County has tentatively approved $36.3 million to help design and build a light-rail line along Interstate 205. The county has been working for months to iron out design, construction and financing agreements with TriMet, which will oversee the new line’s construction from Gateway to Clackamas Town Center. County commissioners reached tentative agreements Tuesday and are scheduled to vote on them after public hearings on July 22. The roughly $494 million project includes adding light rail to the downtown Portland transit mall between Portland State University and Union Station on Southwest Fifth and Sixth avenues. When the line is complete, a ride from Clackamas Town Center to Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland will take 38 minutes. Other agencies contributing to the project include the Oregon Department of Transportation, Metro, the city of Portland, TriMet and Portland State University, said Mary Fetsch, a spokeswoman for TriMet. Local agencies will cover about 40 percent of the bill, and the rest is expected to come from the federal government. Fetsch said TriMet needs to have all the local funding nailed down by October, when the agency will apply for about $296 million in federal money. Clackamas County’s contribution will come from property taxes collected within the Clackamas Town Center urban renewal district. The county plans to pay about $1 million toward preliminary engineering and $35.3 million toward construction. The county won’t release the money for construction until TriMet secures the federal money, said John Rist, who will be the county’s project manager for the light-rail line. The county’s contribution will be spent only on the portion of the I-205 line within Clackamas County, said Gary Cook, who heads the county urban renewal agency. Two stations, both with park-and-ride facilities, will be built in Clackamas County. The northern station near Southeast Fuller Road and Johnson Creek Boulevard will include a surface parking lot. The Clackamas Town Center station, on the east side of the mall, will cost $12 million and include a 530-space multilevel parking structure. Separate from the rail station, mall owners are planning a major expansion that includes a five-story parking structure. They are asking for another $20 million in urban renewal money to help pay for the parking structure, plazas and other public areas of the expansion. If construction of the I-205 light-rail line begins as expected in 2006, the line would open in 2009. I-205 light rail is part of a larger South Corridor project that calls for light rail to Milwaukie and enhanced bus service to Oregon City in later phases. Construction of later phases likely is years away.

Most anti-monorail funds have come from one developer Seattle Times July 14, 2004 The anti-monorail Initiative 83 is being funded predominantly by developer Martin Selig, who provided more than $61,000 in cash and in-kind contributions, out of at least $77,000 raised overall, according to new campaign-finance reports. Selig’s donations include office space, attorney fees and a payment to a signature-gathering firm. Selig, best known for building the 76-story Bank of America Tower, has called the $1.75 billion monorail “WPPSS on wheels,” a reference to the Washington Public Power Supply System nuclear-plant debacle of the 1970s and 1980s. After energy planners overestimated demand for power, that agency began construction on five nuclear plants, only one of which was completed at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Eastern Washington. WPPSS defaulted on its bonds. I-83 would ban or revoke city permits to build a new monorail. Though Seattle Monorail Project officials say they are confident of eventually voiding the initiative in court, the uncertainty surrounding the measure is making it tougher to sell construction bonds for the proposed Green Line that would connect Ballard, Seattle Center, downtown and West Seattle. The late surge in petition signatures for I-83 has come at a price — $36,500 spent on paid signature-gatherers. Monorail Recall President Tim Wulf has likened his group to the nation’s founders, a grass-roots group that rebelled against what it considered unfair taxation. But the payments to professional signature firms, disclosed late Monday in campaign-finance reports, indicate that I-83 may reach the Nov. 2 ballot with only about half its signatures gathered by volunteers. Selig said yesterday that he was fairly late in joining Monorail Recall and that the movement started with “great Americans” including Wulf, a truck salesman. “You don’t get any more grass-roots than that,” Selig said. Peter Sherwin, spokesman for the Monorail Now lobbying organization, said, “It’s interesting that the Monorail Recall committee, so called ‘grass- roots,’ is in fact an initiative to put a wrench in the gears, and over $60,000 in funding comes from one big downtown developer,” said Peter Sherwin, spokesman for the Monorail Now lobbying organization. The pro-monorail side’s “grass-roots” credentials, which it says were demonstrated in three winning initiative drives, also have been questioned. The last pro-monorail campaign’s $523,349 war chest in 2002 included large donations from contractors, labor unions, financial houses, architects and others who stand to gain from its construction, along with donations from citizens. Monorail Recall says its volunteers gathered 15,500 of the 22,300 names to date, leaving about 6,800 solicited by paid gatherers. The group paid $16,500 to one firm for 5,500 signatures, and $20,000 to another. (A total of 17,229 signatures is required to get the measure on the ballot, but thousands more must be submitted to make up for invalid signatures that get thrown out.) Wulf, the I-83 campaign president, said the group decided to pay for the collection of 10,000 more signatures to cover itself because one of the monorail-agency lawsuits seeks to throw out 9,600 signatures gathered before June 18, when a judge reworded the ballot title. “He (Selig) has stepped up at the last minute to help us with paid signatures,” Wulf said. “Prior to that, we’ve been completely grass roots. He’s made a commitment to help us get to the ballot. Once it’s on the ballot, he’s expecting other people to step up to the plate.” Meanwhile, a recent poll, conducted for monorail critics by Evans/McDonough, found that 44 percent of very frequent voters, after being told the agency had a 30 percent permanent revenue shortage, would support the monorail and 48 percent would not, if an election were held now. The funders of the poll were Selig; Greg Smith, owner of Gregory Broderick Smith Real Estate; landowner Aaron Alhadeff; and Unico Properties, said pollster Don McDonough, who did pro-monorail polling two years ago. “I think the city’s still feeling split over whether the monorail should proceed,” McDonough said. The survey included 500 responses, with a 4.5 percentage-point margin of error. Monorail Now’s Sherwin said the poll does not reflect the potential voter demographics in 2004, a presidential-election year. More young voters would turn out and probably would support the monorail, he said. “The poll doesn’t reflect that at all,” Sherwin said. Only one-tenth of those surveyed were younger than 35. Monorail supporters say OnTrack, a group of critics consisting mainly of downtown business people and neighborhood activists, is improperly aiding Monorail Recall by not listing the poll as a donation. The poll’s cover page mentions “OnTrack,” but McDonough says it was funded by individuals, not any group. OnTrack has not been subject to public-disclosure rules. Nor is Monorail Now. Monorail board member Cindi Laws says that lobbying groups on all sides should be forced to open their books, as is the case with state lobbyists. The executive director of Seattle Ethics and Elections, Wayne Barnett, said he couldn’t comment on whether an inquiry is under way, nor say whether he thinks disclosure rules should be extended. He has been on the job two weeks.

Monorail finally ready ; Ceremonial ride inaugurates much-anticipated system LAS VEGAS SUN July 14, 2004 On Tuesday afternoon, with the Las Vegas Monorail less than 24 hours away from a highly orchestrated premiere, the last-minute finishing touches were at times as complex as installing a high-tech music system in the trains and other times as simple as changing a lightbulb. By this morning it appeared to be “all systems go” as Gov. Kenny Guinn and other dignitaries arrived at the MGM Grand for a VIP ride on Las Vegas’ long-awaited new public transportation system. The monorail is “a substantial move forward for Southern Nevada,” Guinn said before he rode the train. “We’re a little late in becoming the city we want to be,” Guinn said. “It won’t be our salvation but it will be a helping hand.” Guinn said he did not expect the monorail to bring in a substantial increase in tourist dollars but that it should improve air quality and help reduce traffic on the densely traveled Las Vegas Strip. “It puts us at the cutting edge of public transportation,” Guinn said. Individual trains had been running for several days — some hotel employees had already been given rides — but at the stations, workers for the monorail company and the hotels along its 4-mile route scurried about the platforms, cleaning the cars, hanging banners and placing specially published magazines into kiosks outside the monorail. “Obviously it’s all hands on deck,” monorail spokesman Todd Walker said. “It’s just a matter of the final sweep, but we are ready to carry passengers.” The $650 million system, which was paid for with private funds, opens to the public Thursday morning. The monorail runs from the MGM Grand to the Sahara hotel and has seven stations along the way. It will cost $3 for a one-way ticket. The opening is long overdue. The original plan called for it to open in January. A succession of glitches with mechanical and computer systems pushed back the start back several times as technicians and engineers worked to correct the problems. Standards set by Transit System Management, created to administer contracts related to the projects, required the trains to run trouble-free for 30 days before engineers could deem them fully operational. At the Sahara hotel station Tedd Snyder, a systems consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, a company contracted to inspect the trains, was busy loading a Calypso-style music program into the cars’ sound systems. The decision to pipe music into the trains came at the last minute, Walker said. “Our work is done,” Walker said. “The system is ready to open but now a lot of it (last-minute preparations) have to do with the interest in this project.” Meanwhile the control center, a 50,000-square-foot windowless warehouse housing four service bays and a locked control room to monitor train security, appeared calm as technicians conducted daily maintenance on the trains, which starting Thursday are expected to shuttle up to 20 million people a year. Security personnel were almost handed their first real-world test about 1:45 Tuesday afternoon, as the Las Vegas Fire Department bomb squad responded to a suspicious package near a magazine rack on the corner of the Strip and Stardust Lane, just a block from the monorail’s final stop and the security headquarters. The package turned out to be radio equipment but it had prompted authorities to close the heavily traveled section of Las Vegas Boulevard for more than an hour. Jim Gibson, the Henderson mayor who is also chief executive officer of Transit System Management, said he was informed about the incident and he noted that the monorail company has measures in place in event of future threats. “If there was an emergency of any kind (on the Strip) it could, in fact, affect the monorail,” Gibson said. “It would depend on the size of the event but we have anticipated that something like that could happen at some point in time.” Each station has one private security guard watching the premises, while a security director watches the dozens of cameras feeding to the control room, he said. An international security firm was also contracted to prepare for threats to the high-profile system, which is expected to receive national media coverage in the next several days. Security is expected to be heightened for this morning’s media event and tonight’s VIP party, at which state and federal politicians are expected to appear with local celebrities. Gibson said the private security will work with each hotel’s security force, but he would not comment on individual measures taken. “We’ve determined internally that in terms of the specifics it’s not something we talk about publicly,” said Gibson, who is also mayor of Henderson. “Security is really important to us and we intend to ensure to our riders that everything is coordinated.” Daily maintenance for the system includes sweeping the train’s security system, checking the emergency phones and a late-night unmanned test, said Cleve Cleveland, operations and maintenance manager for Canada- based Bombardier Transportation, the company contracted to build the system. Many of the system’s vital statistics, including technological glitches and security breeches, are monitored on a specially designed software program allowing technicians to constantly monitor and communicate with the trains, Cleveland said. “If this train has a problem, we’ll know about it,” he said, pointing to one of several flat-panel monitors in the control room. Bombardier and construction partner Granite Construction in May were found liable for fines of $85,000 a day for delays stemming from the project, originally slated to open in January. By early July the companies had amassed more than $12 million in fines, according to the company. Walker said he expected an overall trouble-free event this morning, but he was prepared for “bumps” in the opening days. “We haven’t tested the system for 15,000 to 20,000 people yet,” he said. “We expect there will be things, bumps, to work through but this (the monorail) will be here longer than much of Las Vegas. It may be here longer than most of the hotels.”

Freight shipping lags amid economic surge THE WASHINGTON TIMES July 14, 2004 An improving economy is causing delays on the nation’s railroads, and customers are worrying their freight will get backlogged as the peak shipping season approaches in the fall. Some coal, chemical and retail companies are reporting delays that are hurting their businesses, although July normally is slow for them. “We’re keeping our heads above water and we can still see the shore, but it’s a rough tide we’re in,” said John B. Ficker, president of the National Industrial Transportation League, a trade organization for shippers. He attributes the demand for freight shipping to the stronger U.S. economy, which economists estimate to have grown at a 4 percent rate in the first half of the year. Delays from backlogged trains and trucks are likely to get worse in the fall, when grain harvests are shipped to market and consumer goods arrive for the Christmas shopping season, he said. The economy is “really surging, and that surge pushes freight to a new level,” Mr. Ficker said. “Everybody wants to get their products moving while the opportunity is still there.” Companies as varied as J.C. Penney Co., Dow Chemical Co. and Arch Coal Inc. have been hampered by the delays. Dow, which makes 150,000 rail shipments annually, was forced to reduce production of herbicide at its Midland, Mich., plant because raw materials are not being delivered on time. The company says the rail deliveries are taking 12.5 percent longer than normal. “It’s been ongoing for the last two months,” said Bill Huff, Dow’s director of rail operations. J.C. Penney, the second-biggest U.S. department-store chain, checks rail capacity data to figure out ways to avoid delays. “We have to monitor that on a daily basis to decide if we’re going to move things by rail or by truck,” said spokesman Tim Lyons. Arch Coal, the second-largest U.S. coal producer, says rail delays and missed shipments reduced the company’s second-quarter profits by $8 million. “CSX and Union Pacific [railroads] are the major problems for us,” said Kim Link, spokeswoman for the St. Louis coal company. The Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that regulates railroads, is demanding that railroads submit plans explaining how they will prevent these delays from turning into a crisis in the fall. “As all who follow the freight rail industry are aware, this increase in demand is putting significant strains on the freight rail system,” the agency wrote in a June 9 letter requesting the plans. Some of the railroads’ written plans are arriving at the agency’s Washington office this week. The rail industry reports that average train speeds were 6.7 percent slower in the first half of 2004 compared with a year earlier. Railroads say they are putting into high gear plans for hiring more employees and buying additional equipment. Some also are raising rates. “We are moving an awful lot of freight, and the railroads are taking steps to manage that,” said Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, the trade group for major railroads. Rail freight volume was up 5.3 percent in the first six months of this year, a pace that would beat the record volume last year, he said. CSX Transportation, the largest railroad operating along the East Coast, plans to hire 1,400 more train and engine service employees this year. It also is purchasing 120 additional locomotives. “Our current hiring plans call for an additional 2,100 employees to be hired in 2005,” spokeswoman Misty Skipper said. Norfolk Southern Railway, which operates in 22 states in the eastern United States, plans to hire 1,500 train and engine service employees this year. “Current demand for freight service is the strongest that we’ve seen since the late 1990s,” spokeswoman Susan Terpay said. West Coast states are having bigger problems as Asian imports inundate their port facilities, particularly the ports of Long Beach, Calif., and Los Angeles. The two largest Western railroads, Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, are using allocation systems that force shippers to take a number for rail deliveries. Under the system, shippers must request a shipment in advance. The railroads then allocate a certain number of rail cars to each port or rail yard to make the pickup. “The traffic doesn’t seem to be moving” fast enough to keep up with the requests for shipments, said Richard Russack, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. But port operators in the Los Angeles area complain that freight containers are piling up near docks because the allocation system is not taking them away fast enough. The western railroads also are charging their customers higher fees. Union Pacific plans to increase rates for intermodal shipments by 9.5 percent beginning Aug. 17. Intermodal refers to shipments transferred between transportation modes, such as ships and trains. Burlington Northern Santa Fe is making similar rate increases beginning Aug. 17. Deliveries from the Pacific Northwest will cost an extra $45 per container or trailer and $95 from California. (NOTE: flawed study - see rebuttals over following weeks)

Light rail comes at a heavy price St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri July 14, 2004 METROLINK AND ITS LIGHT-RAIL cousins in other cities tend to be popular with politicians and citizens alike. Many people view the trains as a cure for all sorts of ills, including congestion, pollution and poverty. But light rail isn’t an efficient solution for any of these problems, according to two researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The problem, they say, is that no one mentions the cost when we hear about the wonderful benefits. Molly D. Castelazo and Thomas A. Garrett, writing in the July edition of the bank’s Regional Economist magazine, calculate that MetroLink required a subsidy of $133 million in 2001. Pollution and congestion could be reduced far more efficiently, they say, by building toll roads and boosting the gasoline tax. The economic development benefits of light rail, they add, go mainly to people who own property near the stations. Light rail also falls short as a poverty-fighting tool. True, lack of transportation is a major barrier to finding a job. But only 15 percent of MetroLink riders have incomes below the poverty line, and half of those people own cars. With what’s spent on the trains, Castelazo and Garrett figure that taxpayers could buy a Toyota Prius for each needy MetroLink rider and have $49 million a year left over. It’s a provocative analysis. The car giveaway might be unrealistic, but nonprofit agencies have experimented successfully with programs that provide zero-interest used-car loans to poor borrowers. “For someone who’s on welfare and is trying to get into the private job market, the shortest route is one with four wheels,” says John Charles, senior policy analyst at the Cascade Institute in Portland, Ore. “Car ownership has a huge effect on someone’s employability. To see these transit bureaus spending $60,000 to $70,000 a mile on light rail that serves mostly the rich, it’s immoral.” Blair Forlaw, director of policy and programming at the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, takes issue with the analysis of the researchers. She says they ignore subsidies that go into all modes of transportation: road, rail, air and river. Any reduction in those subsidies, by imposing road tolls, for example, is going to hit poor people hardest. Besides, citizens seem to like MetroLink. Voters in St. Clair and St. Louis counties approved taxes to build the system. “If we did a poll of taxpayers to find out why they support public transit, it probably wouldn’t be to reduce pollution and congestion,” she says. “It probably would be that people want more choices in transportation.” Castelazo, a research associate at the St. Louis Fed, questions whether voters make informed choices. “A lot of the costs are perhaps hidden from taxpayers. I think it’s surprising to most taxpayers that, on average, fare revenues cover only about 30 percent of long-run operating costs.” Though light rail’s costs are spread widely, the benefits are concentrated. Labor unions and construction firms lobby heavily for any proposal to expand the system. There’s no similar constituency for an alternative use of the money, such as providing cars to poor people. Castelazo says she doesn’t oppose public transit, but she wants people to know the costs and consider alternatives. Even the bus system, which in St. Louis has been starved of money to feed MetroLink, could be expanded for far less money. Charles says the case for building tracks seems to come down to aesthetics. “Trains have this cool factor, and the idea is that buses are for losers.” The cost of running MetroLink will rise dramatically when the Shrewsbury extension opens in 2006. We need to start talking now about where that money is going to come from, and we need to make sure that the “cool factor” doesn’t come at the expense of programs that help poor people to get to work.

Big three in battle for the East Coast THE JOURNAL (Newcastle, UK) July 14, 2004 A three-way battle for the right to run the region’s major rail routes will start next week with a trio of train operators set to bid for the East Coast Main Line franchise. The Strategic Rail Authority will shortly publish its invitation to tender [ITT] document for the service, which runs trains from London to Scotland via the North-East. Last week, a consortium involving Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin group announced it was pulling out of the battle for the franchise. That will leave the SRA facing a contest between current operator GNER, FirstGroup and a joint bid by English, Welsh and Scottish Railway and Danish Railways [DSB]. The chosen firm will run the trains for seven years, with an automatic three-year extension if it meets performance targets. The ITT, which sets out the standards the successful bidder must reach, is likely to include a requirement for more trains to stop in Northumberland. A draft document specifies three extra services from Kings Cross on weekdays and four more from Edinburgh which will stop at Morpeth. On Saturdays, two additional north-bound services and three heading south will stop there, while extra peak-time trains will be put on from London to Newcastle from 2008 onwards, according to the document. But the Rail Passengers’ Committee has raised concerns about the loss of the north-bound train from Newcastle at 8.27pm on weekdays, and the 6.35pm service from Edinburgh to Newcastle. And it says the SRA should investigate setting up a service running high-speed trains from Edinburgh to Newcastle calling at Berwick, Alnmouth and Morpeth. North-East secretary of the RPC Clive Gossop said: “It is critical that performance must improve. “We have just turned the corner after a downward spiral after Hatfield. We want to see things done quickly. We don’t want to wait years and years for improvement we want it now.” Whoever emerges as the new operating company must commit to running trains capable of hitting 125mph and at least equalling current journey times. The SRA which is likely to be broken up under the Government’s Rail Review, due to be announced shortly will announce a preferred bidder in the winter, with the successful firm taking over the line from May 2005. Rail guardians fear disruption A rail watchdog fears major disruption on the East Coast Main Line if plans to allow maintenance workers more access to the tracks are approved. The Rail Passengers Committee is urging Network Rail to rethink the way it carries out repairs to avoid the timetable chaos witnessed on the West Coast line this year. The group has put its concerns to the Strategic Rail Authority, before the announcement of the new tender for the route, expected this month. A draft document indicated Network Rail would have greater access to the tracks, particularly late at night and in early morning. North-East RPC secretary Clive Gossop warned: “Network Rail are after greater amounts of time to gain access to the railway. What we’re saying is, be inventive about how you do the work. “We don’t want to see less evening services. We don’t want to see big blockades like we’ve seen on the West Coast. We don’t want to see services scandalously disrupted on weekends.” On the West Coast Main Line, commuters in Greater Manchester have been forced on to buses until September and the line was closed for a week between Watford and the Midlands. But a Network Rail spokesman said: “The work that’s going on on the West Coast Main Line is a massive upgrade. What we’re talking about on the East Coast is access for maintenance of what’s already there. “We do the majority of that work at night when the trains aren’t running.” Timetable January 2004: SRA invites bids for the East Coast franchise. May 2004: Four companies who have qualified to compete for the franchise announced. Consultation on draft ITT begins. July 2004: Virgin announces its consortium is pulling out of the race. SRA to publish ITT. September 2004: Firms to submit detailed bids. December 2004: SRA to begin negotiations with preferred bidder over terms and conditions. January 2005: Preferred bidder to be announced. February 2005: Contract to be signed. May 2005: Successful bidder to start contract. May 2012: Contract to be extended by three years if performance targets are met.

Steps taken to improve safety of METRO light rail KTRK-TV 15 July 2004 The METRO board is working hard to put a stop to light rail accidents. On Thursday METRO held a meeting to discuss ridership and safety issues. Two specific ways they say they’re stepping up safety for drivers and pedestrians: better signs and clearer pavement markings. Since the light rail started up in January, there have been 49 accidents. Now, METRO Chairman David Wolff says they’re down to an average of one accident a week. “We are still very conscious of safety,” he insisted. “Our entire staff is dedicated to making METRO rail as safe as possible.” Wolff also says METRO saw a dramatic increase in ridership in the second quarter of this year. They average about 27,000 riders during the week.

Bombardier Celebrates Inaugural Launch of the Las Vegas Monorail System in the USA Business Wire July 14, 2004 MONTREAL — Today, Mr. Laurent Beaudoin, Executive Chairman of the Board of Bombardier Inc., and Mr. Raymond T. Betler, President of Bombardier Transportation’s Total Transit Systems, participated in the official launch of the Robert N. Broadbent Las Vegas Monorail at festivities hosted by the Las Vegas Monorail Company and local hotel properties. Governor Kenny Guinn of Nevada presided at the morning celebration accompanied by Mr. John Haycock, Chairman of the Las Vegas Monorail Company, and other distinguished guests. Bombardier Transportation and consortium partner Granite Construction Company were responsible for the turnkey design and construction of the fully automated, 6.4-kilometre (4-mile) monorail system. The dual-lane guideway serves links seven stations and services the entire east side of the Las Vegas strip, including the Las Vegas Convention Center. Raymond T. Betler commented, “The Las Vegas Monorail represents two significant “firsts” for the transit industry. It is the first fully automated, line- haul urban monorail system, as well as the first major urban transit system constructed in the modern era without using any tax dollars.” He added, “We are proud that our driverless monorail technology will help improve the quality of life for the residents of Las Vegas, as well as enhancing the vacationing experience of visitors to this first-class tourist destination.” Bombardier was responsible for the manufacture and supply of 36 driverless monorail vehicles; design and supply of power distribution, automatic train control, communication and automatic fare collection systems; equipping the operations and maintenance facility; systems engineering and integration; project management; as well as providing up to 15 years of operations and maintenance. Granite Construction Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) was responsible for the civil works, including the maintenance and control centre, stations and monorail guideway. Transmax Group, a strategic partner, devised a creative Super Turnkey plan for the project, and worked with the Las Vegas Monorail Team to make the project a reality. In October 2003, Bombardier and Granite were awarded a design-build- equip contract by Transit System Development Limited Liability Company (LLC) for an extension to the existing monorail system. The new Downtown Extension, expected to proceed in 2005, will include 20 additional monorail vehicles that will serve four new stations along 3.6 kilometres (2.25 miles) of dual-lane guideway. Bombardier Transportation also will be operating and maintaining the system for five years with two renewable five-year options.

Las Vegas Monorail Opens Commercial Property News July 15, 2004 The Robert N. Broadbent Las Vegas Monorail opened to the public today. An extension of an earlier system built by and connecting the MGM Grand and Ballys Hotel, the four-mile system will make six stops on the Las Vegas strip: the MGM Grand, Ballys & Paris, Flamingo/Cesar’s Palace, Harrahs/Imperial, the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton and the Sahara. Nine trains of four cars each will operate by an automatic train control system and run 24-hours a day. The trains will be able to travel the entire strip in 14 minutes. “What it really is going to do is provide people with a way to get around Las Vegas,” said Jacob Snow, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. “There are so many must-see destinations in Las Vegas and you can’t get to them because of the traffic.” Like the earlier system, a $650 million bond offering placed with eight casino companies and other investors privately funded the new monorail. Rider and advertising revenues are expected to cover operations and maintenance and go toward paying back bondholders. The monorail was constructed behind the casinos in order to maintain the frontage of the properties and not aggravate traffic. The rear placement also maximizes revenue-generating opportunities on unused portions of the casino operators’ properties. The final design was just approved to extend the monorail to Downtown and the west side of the Las Vegas strip, making the system seven miles long, and, there are plans to extend it to McCarran Airport and future light rail station in the suburbs. It is hard to find anyone in Las Vegas that is not happy with the monorail, said Commercial Associates owner/broker Judi Woodyard, but it does not yet have a direct impact for Las Vegas’ corporate community and residents — other than those that work at the casinos. Future extensions of the monorail, however, will improve conditions for all. “If the monorail is successful, it will be extended and become a little bit more of a mass transit system and benefit residents as much tourists,” said Woodyard. Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning designed the monorail stations and the support structures. Bombadier Transporation acted as construction manager and supplier of the trains. Salomon Smith Barney was the lead underwriter of the bond offering.

TSA test to screen for explosives on moving railcar Metro July 15, 2004 The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will begin screening passengers and baggage traveling on Connecticut’s Shoreline East commuter rail as part of the third stage of a pilot program testing rail security measures. Passengers boarding from one of eight Shoreline East stations may pass through a specialized railcar equipped with on-board screening technology as the train is in motion. The goal of phase III of the Transit and Rail Inspection Pilot (TRIP) is to evaluate the use of existing technologies to screen passengers and their baggage for explosives while the train car is in motion. “This is another step in the process of identifying potential tools to improve security for the millions of Americans who travel by rail every day,” said Department of Homeland Security’s Asa Hutchinson. Passengers will have their tickets or other document placed in a machine that will do an analysis to determine if traces of explosives are present. TSA screeners will also conduct an X-ray examination of carry-on bags. The pilot program will mark the first attempt to screen passengers while in motion.

Rail line overcomes delays, skeptics to serve seven stations beginning today Las Vegas Review-Journal July 15, 2004 After years of anticipation, months of delays and a day of celebrations, the ballyhooed Las Vegas Monorail this morning will begin hauling paying passengers on a route behind the Strip. The $650 million line, which debuts to the public at 8 a.m., will be unique in ways beyond its basic premise of luring walkers off the car-crazy Strip and onto trains. Innovations include driverless trains, taxpayer-free system funding and turning the simple act of riding a train into something called “transportainment.” But before carrying its first tourist behind the east side of Las Vegas Boulevard South, the monorail had to overcome a daunting price tag, skepticism and technical glitches that pushed back its rollout date. “It’s been a roller-coaster ride,” said John Haycock, board chairman of the Las Vegas Monorail Co. “You can well imagine that on a project of this magnitude, every day there was a new obstacle to deal with.” The monorail made its ceremonial first passenger run Wednesday morning, plowing past a wind-scattered cosmetic cloud of fog and a blast of streamers. VIPs along for the first ride included Gov. Kenny Guinn, Regional Transportation Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury, entertainers Rita Rudner and Penn Jillette, and the usual Vegas big event gaggle of showgirls and sirens, who were whisked from the MGM Grand station to the Sahara stop in about 17 minutes. In the evening, monorail backers hosted a soiree at the Las Vegas Hilton, where more than 1,000 invitees were expected, consisting mostly of transportation commission and monorail company officials, monorail employees and their families. The evening event included a debut ride, fireworks at the system’s various stations, a light show and a helicopter flyover. Later, guests were allowed to ride the train to the different stations, each of which had a different party theme. Now, attention will move to the privately backed system’s long-term reliability, and whether the line will meet an ambitious ridership goal of 50,000 passengers each day. Not only are monorail officials confident that goal is reachable, they think the monorail will become a tourist draw itself. “It will become an icon to Las Vegas, like the world-renowned cable cars of San Francisco,” said Laurent Beaudoin, executive board chairman of monorail maker Bombardier Inc. of Canada. “It will serve as a model for future transit systems.” Added Jim Gibson, chairman and CEO of Transit Systems Management, the company that manages the monorail: “When I take my kids to Disneyland, we go in and my kids want to go on the monorail first. We think that’s going to happen (here).” Look ma, no driver The monorail is the world’s first fully automated publicly used monorail. In layman’s terms, that means the trains drive themselves. The system uses computers to safely operate as many as nine trains (consisting of four passenger cars each) at a time at speeds of up to 50 mph. Each electric-powered train, riding a single rail, can seat up to 75 people and carry 150 standees. The trains run atop elevated tracks 20 to 70 feet above the ground. The 4.4-mile system includes seven stops: the Sahara, Las Vegas Hilton, Convention Center, Harrah’s/Imperial Palace, Flamingo Las Vegas, Paris/Bally’s, and MGM Grand. An operations center along Sahara Avenue will keep an eye on operations and security around the clock, using dozens of cameras placed at stations and inside trains. Computerized kiosks will dispense tickets at a base fare of $3. Children age 5 and younger accompanied by an adult will ride for free. There were some hiccups in rolling out the first-of-its-kind system. An axle fell from a train in January, halting testing for three days. And problems in the software controlling the trains led officials to push back the system’s opening from January to March to today. The system is not aimed at luring workday commuters in the car-reliant valley. But the monorail is expected to benefit locals by taking more than 4 million annual car trips off the Strip, thereby taking 135 tons of carbon monoxide out of the air. Destination ride Advertisers want to do more than make their trains a billboard. They’re trying to create an “immersive and experiential marketing environment,” according to Patrick Pharris, president of Promethean Partners, which is in charge of selling monorail ads and sponsorships. The Monster Energy Drink train, for example, is covered not only with product logos, it’s highlighting the lifestyle associated with the drink. The train has TV monitors showing other company-sponsored events, such as surfing contests and motocross races. “It’s one of the most visited cities in the United States. In one venue, you’ll basically reach consumers across America,” said Rodney Sacks, chairman and CEO of Hansen’s Beverage Company, maker of Monster. Other companies are following Monster’s lead. Nextel, a wireless communications company, is sponsoring the Convention Center station, where the company is building a 15,000 square foot retail center that will include a sales shop, VIP lounge, business theater, concierge service and outdoor balcony with views of the Strip. “You can’t compare it to a subway. You can’t compare it to a bus. If you want to compare it to something, compare it to a billboard in Times Square,” Pharris said. Monorail 1, Taxpayers $0 Those sponsorships are key to underwriting the line, which is thought to be the nation’s first post-World War II rapid transit system that is entirely privately funded. “We got nothing from the federal government. We got nothing from the taxpayers,” Guinn said. Planners were counting on more than $6 million in total annual sponsorship revenues to help repay bonds used to build the line. That now seems to be a pessimistic number: Nextel’s deal alone will produce $5 million a year. Pharris said he expects sponsorships to produce around $23 million in annual revenues. Farebox revenues are expected to make up the rest of the difference. The system is counting on no fewer than 40,000 people riding the monorail each day at $3 a pop to generate $45 million a year toward bond repayment and operating costs. Taxpayers will not be on the hook if the system founders. Monorail builders spent $23 million on an insurance policy to cover bond repayment if revenues fall short, Guinn said. “My concern over everything else was we didn’t want the state of Nevada on the hook for this,” Guinn said. What’s next? Planners envision the line extending to downtown Las Vegas by 2008, and to McCarran International Airport sometime thereafter. There are no plans for the monorail to go beyond the resort corridor, but the line is expected to eventually tie into a future Citizens Area Transit transit center in downtown Las Vegas. There, the system will plug into Metropolitan Area Express bus routes and a planned “CAT Rail” light-rail line between Henderson and North Las Vegas. For now, monorail riders wanting to get downtown will be able to transfer to CAT Route 551 buses, which will run between the Sahara station and the Fremont Street Experience starting today. Fares will be 50 cents each way. Although monorail officials are confident that 50,000 riders a day eventually will use the system, they’re not sure 50,000 people will ride it today, or tomorrow, while the word gets out. “It may take a little while,” Gibson said. And the system plans to run an abbreviated daily schedule of 8 a.m. to midnight through mid-September before hours are expanded to 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. But Gibson got a good sign that eager riders were out there Wednesday. “One of our people was putting up a sign that says the monorail starts operating tomorrow,” Gibson said. “It took him one minute to put the sign up. A line started behind him.”

FEDERAL FUNDS APPROVED FOR REBUILDING METRO RAIL CARS Buffalo News (New York) July 15, 2004 A committee that must approve all federally funded transportation projects in the Buffalo Niagara region gave the go-ahead Wednesday for the $33 million rebuilding of all Metro Rail cars. About $17.1 million toward the four-year project is to come from Washington, according to John D. Mecca, senior grants specialist for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. He represented the NFTA at Wednesday’s meeting of the Planning and Coordinating Committee of the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council. The state’s share of the cost is estimated at $10.8 million, and the remaining $5.1 million will be generated from mortgage tax revenues in Erie County that are sent to the NFTA and earmarked for Metro Rail. The 27 cars are 20 years old; all have been in service since Buffalo’s light-rail line opened, with none purchased since 1984. Mecca said the NFTA decided to rebuild the cars because it would be cheaper than buying new ones, which he said would cost at least $3 million per car. The NFTA board of commissioners is scheduled to meet July 26 and, assuming the bid is approved next Thursday by the authority’s Surface Transportation Committee, award a design contract for the rebuilding. Mecca declined to disclose what company was the low bidder, but he said the design phase will come in under budget. Although the exterior shape of the cars won’t change, the inside of the 140-passenger cars may. C. Douglas Hartmayer, NFTA public affairs director, said details will be recommended by the design firm. “The customer will see a whole new design, potentially,” said Hartmayer, adding that changes could include seating configurations and the style of floors and windows. Mecca said there have been some preliminary tests, and it is expected most of the chassis will be kept. He said they might last 60 years, but the standard in the industry is for car bodies to last about 15 years. He said Buffalo’s rail cars aren’t exposed to the same motion stress some cities’ cars are. “On rail cars, you get cracking on curves. We have no curves,” Mecca said, referring to Metro Rail’s virtually straight path along and beneath Main Street. However, some corrosion has been noted in the cars. Hartmayer said the main problem is exposure to snow and road salt on the aboveground section of the line. Mecca said three or four cars will be shipped out for rebuilding to whatever company eventually wins that contract. Each car is expected to take three to four months to renovate. He said that won’t interfere with Metro Rail service, because about 20 of the 27 cars are used on a given day.

Bus riders scrambling to adjust to new routes; Some stops dropped as VTA aims to coordinate buses, light rail San Jose Mercury News July 15, 2004 When he was a teenager, East Foothills resident Scott Paul depended on the No. 64 bus for trips to downtown San Jose. After moving back to the neighborhood several years ago, Paul, 51, was thrilled to learn the No. 64 bus was still around. He got right back on board, taking the bus downtown and back with his wife and friends when they wanted to enjoy a night out while leaving their cars at home. But recently he noticed a new sign at his old bus stop. It said service to his neighborhood had been eliminated. The No. 64, as he knew it, was no more. “As much as a lot of people in the East Foothills don’t use the bus, I think it’s an important service and I was really disappointed that they cut back on it,” he said. What’s changed? The new Tasman East/Capitol light-rail extension, which runs through East San Jose, opened June 23. On July 5, the Valley Transportation Authority rerouted many buses to serve the new stations. “Our goal is to provide the best transportation connections to the entire system,” said VTA spokeswoman Lupe Solis. The changes affect buses plying North and East San Jose. In addition, VTA changed routes in other neighborhoods to better serve Caltrain and Altamont Commuter Express stations.� In total, VTA amended 60 of its 69 bus routes. While this month’s changes are catching some riders off guard, others are thrilled, including Milpitas resident Asuncion Meneses. She’s already figured out her new bus and light-rail schedules, and she’s using them to get to her doctor’s office on McKee Road in East San Jose. “It’s not hard,” she said, while cooling off on a blistering afternoon by sitting inside a new bus shelter at the Great Mall, her transfer point. But what’s happening with the No. 64 is emblematic of the ripple effect the new light-rail extension is having on bus routes. The old No. 64’s route was downtown to the San Jose Country Club and back via Alum Rock Avenue and East Santa Clara Street. The new No. 64 route is almost the same, with the key exception that it no longer turns around at the country club, which is in the heart of the East Foothills neighborhood. Instead, half the new No. 64s turn left off Alum Rock Avenue about a mile short of the country club, then head to the new Penitencia Creek light-rail station. The other half stop several miles short of the country club at the new Alum Rock light-rail station, near Alum Rock and South Capitol avenues. To the VTA, this is a minor change. Kermit Cuff, a VTA specialist who helped draft the new routes, said few people took the No. 64 all the way to the country club. “Ninety-nine percent of the people are off at White Road anyway,” Cuff said. “We are covering the vast majority of people.” So the VTA eliminated the country club end of the route and redirected the No. 64 to the new light-rail stations. The VTA can’t afford to take the No. 64 to the country club and the light-rail stations because it’s dealing with a $79 million budget deficit this year. “We pretty much had to do this without adding any cost,” Cuff said. “If we didn’t have that restriction, we could’ve done a real nice job.” Paul understands those restrictions but laments the loss of his beloved No. 64. He’s still trying to understand the new No. 64’s schedule. But he figured out one key thing: Now, the last bus home departs downtown at 8:30 p.m. That leaves him little time after Music in the Park, the free Friday concert that once kicked off a night on the town for him. “I’ll have to cut short the evening,” he said. “That doesn’t leave time to have a bite to eat down there.” But there could be good news, even for people like Paul. “Nothing’s set in stone,” Cuff said.

Council pushes for light rail ; Letter sent to Ehrlich by council, university says transit improvements far superior to current system The Diamondback University of Maryland July 15, 2004 The College Park City Council approved sending a joint letter with the university to Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) in support of the Bi-County Transitway Tuesday night. The transportation project would provide a way to connect the green, orange and yellow Metro lines from Bethesda to New Carrollton with a few stops on the campus. It has been in planning stages since former Gov. Paris Glendening (D) envisioned a Metrorail line that would run along a 14.1 mile stretch that traces the Inner Loop of the Beltway from Bethesda to New Carrollton. Since then, citing the project’s $1.2 billion cost, Ehrlich sent the project back to the planning stages, renamed it the Bi-County Transitway and said it could be either light rail or a bus rapid transit system, with buses in dedicated lanes running along any of dozens of potential routes. The city and university have worked together on this issue for some time, and first developed a joint statement in support of the project in September 2000. Since then, many changes have been made to the plan. On Tuesday, the city council delicately promoted the light rail system over the buses by calling for a “high-quality transit system.” The council asked for a system that would be completely integrated with Metrorail. “We anticipate that the Purple Line will be far superior in all its operational characteristics to our existing east-west bus lines which can rarely maintain consistent schedules because of traffic congestion,” the letter states. “Personally, it needs to be light rail. Yes, it’s expensive, but it would be a mistake to do something that is cheaper that light rail. People are not attracted to or excited by buses as they are by rail,” said District 3 Councilman Eric Olson, who spearheaded writing the letter. “Is there growth by a bus stop?” The former light rail plan included two stops on the campus; now, alternative ideas include either rail or buses running along Campus Drive, Stadium Drive, around the university along University Boulevard and Route 1, or underground. According to the letter, alternative options passing just north and south of the campus would do nothing. “The failure of these options to provide critically needed service to the campus core and city center would be a significant mistake,” it reads. “These alignments would result in suppressed ridership as well as unrealized potential for the kind of quality, transit oriented development … that we support.” Olson said that it is imperative for the line to come through College Park in order to see a positive effect. “From a standpoint of revitalizing the city, to redevelopment and to establishing better connections, this will be good for the area … it makes the city more attractive,” he said. “I think with more transit stops there will definitely be benefits like a thriving business environment and downtown. The city could be a real destination.” With all the congestion on Route 1, Olson said the proposed line would shorten the east-west commute. As it stands now, traffic on the roadway is hindering development, which he said could negatively impact both the university’s reputation and the city. Department of Facilities Planning Director Webb Smedley, who worked with Olson, said that in a few months the city and university will come up with a more detailed joint statement. The approval of the letter was passed by seven votes, with District 2 Councilman Jack Perry opposing.

COMMUTERS’ RAIL SHAKE-UP The Evening Standard (London) July 15, 2004 KEN LIVINGSTONE is set to be handed control of the entire London rail network. A shake-up of the national rail system could give him power within a 30-mile radius of the capital. A taskforce is to begin an immediate investigation into giving the Mayor authority to tackle delays, overcrowding and soaring fares. At present the Mayor has power over the Tube and buses. But the advent of a London Regional Rail Authority would allow him to take charge of train services as far afield as Luton, High Wycombe, Guildford, Stevenage and Basildon. The planned set-up would give Mr Livingstone power over strategy on ticket prices, how many trains run and targeting peak-time overcrowding of commuter services. Among the benefits to commuters would be the rollout of the Oyster smartcard across the suburban rail system, bringing fares in line with the Tube. The Mayor will also be given immediate power to “purchase” extra train services on the busiest routes to ease rush-hour pressure points. The announcement setting up the taskforce is expected this afternoon when the Government outlines the findings of its national rail review in which control is expected to be handed to Network Rail, taking over from the Strategic Rail Authority, for the entire UK system. Control of infrastructure including track and signals would remain with the national authority and trains would remain in the ownership of the private companies. Ministers are considering extending Mr Livingstone’s powers to create a more integrated and accountable transport system. A Government source told the Evening Standard: “London’s public transport system is one of the most extensive and complex networks in the world. Greater integration between the rail, bus and Underground networks-could bring enormous benefits to the millions who use them every day to get around.” The move marks a victory for Mr Livingstone, who has long been determined to boost rail services in areas not covered by the Tube, especially south London. He has already pledged to “lead the battle” to save the suburban network, which carries half a million passengers into London each day. One in five t