“Transportation: Florida’s Road Map to Economic Recovery”

The Florida Department of Transportation would like to invite you to attend our 3rd Annual Regional Transportation Forum,hosted by District Five in collaboration with Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise. This year’s theme is:“Transportation: Florida’s Road Map to Economic Recovery” Date: January 30, 2009Time: 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.Location: Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise Turnpike Mile Post 263 Florida’s Turnpike Turkey Lake Service Plaza Ocoee, FL 34761 A meeting agenda is attached. Guest speakers include:· Marcos Marchena, Florida Transportation Commission Chairman· Kevin Thibault, Assistant Secretary for Engineering & Operations· Noranne Downs, District Five Secretary· Jim Ely, Turnpike Secretary The support of Congress, State Legislators, County and City Leadership is vital. Communication is the key. The current state of the economy, budget shortfalls and funding issues affect us all, and the way we do business in Central Florida. Yet, it is our belief that addressing transportation issues, in creative and cost-effective ways, will pave the way for eventual economic recovery. District Five Secretary Noranne Downs invites you or your delegate to attend the third annual Regional Transportation Forum hosted by the Florida Department of Transportation, District Five. The need for coordination among our transportation partners has never been greater. The Forum provides the opportunity to exchange ideas, identify opportunities and develop strategies for innovative transportation solutions. Your participation is vital, and valued, as we come together to discuss how transportation will be the “Road Map to Florida’s Economic Recovery.” Please confirm your attendance by January 16 by calling 386-943-5475 or emailing Jennifer.wynn@dot.state.fl.us. Jennifer WynnExecutive AssistantOffice of the District Five Secretary719 S. Woodland Blvd.; DeLand, FL 32720386-943-5475, Fax 386-740-2675"D5 - One Mission, One Team, One Voice"

Winter Haven Residents To Protest At CSX

Winter Haven residents to protest at CSX Jacksonville Business Journal - by Christian Conte Winter Haven homeowners concerned about an intermodal and automotive terminal being built near their neighborhood will conduct a protest outside CSX Corp. headquarters Tuesday. The protestors said they’ve asked to sit down with the Jacksonville-based rail company, the parent company of Evansville Western Railway, which is developing and will operate the terminal, but have not gotten a response. The group plans to demonstrate what an intermodal facility would sound like and show how it would affect their neighborhood. CSX spokesman Gary Sease said the company did communicate with the homeowners until the homeowners filed a lawsuit and communication had to cease. Further, he said the project has already been through all the public hearings and has received all the appropriate approvals necessary for the project to start construction in 2009 and be complete in 2010. The terminal is expected to employ between 900 and 1,100 during construction and 110 when it opens. “We think we’ll be a good neighbor,” Sease said. CSX (NYSE: CSX) acquired the 318-acre property, formerly a waste water treatment plan, in September 2007.

We think: Commuter rail's benefits extend far beyond getting from here to there

Click title for story link. We think: Commuter rail's benefits extend far beyond getting from here to there December 28, 2008 Anyone tracking commuter rail in Central Florida knows how it was waylaid in May by trial lawyers who attacked the limits on lawsuits in case of accidents, the same kind of limits placed on other systems like it.Commuter rail's lead supporters are working with them to reach an accommodation.The other flank of opposition directed at the 61-mile project comes from some lawmakers, led by commuter-rail hater Paula Dockery, who say the state simply can't afford it.

State Budget Crunch May Push Huge CSX Deal Off Track

Click title for story link. By LINDSAY PETERSON The Tampa Tribune Published: December 24, 2008 A multimillion dollar deal with CSX Transportation could face problems in the Legislature in 2009 as lawmakers try to plug a growing budget gap. "When we're scrambling to come up with $2.3 billion in the budget, it may give people some incentive to take a second look at this deal," said state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, an opponent of the deal during this year's legislative session. The state proposed in 2007 to give CSX railroad about $450 million to buy tracks for a commuter system through Orlando. The deal stalled in the Legislature when lawmakers failed to approve a controversial liability agreement.

CSX Intermodal Expands Florida Services

CSX announces it's new shipping option: TRUCKING A great "economic development" plan for CSX and the sad thing is..... we, the taxpayers, paid for it.Weren't they supposed to take trucks off the roads? The company has received virtually all necessary permits to build a modern new terminal at Winter Haven in Central Florida. Hertwig said additional business in Orlando will be seamlessly transitioned to the new Winter Haven terminal once it is constructed. It is expected to be ready in 2010. http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-23-2008/0004946332&EDATE=

Rail gets renewed go-ahead

Click title for story link. County revokes bond amendment By JAMES MILLER Staff Writer DELAND -- The proposed Central Florida commuter rail system got a renewed go-ahead from the Volusia County Council on Thursday, when the council revoked a month-old protective amendment opposed by state transportation officials. With a 6-1 vote, the council undid the amendment it adopted Nov. 13 in response to county attorneys' concerns that taxpayers could get stuck with millions of dollars in debt even if the proposed commuter system never begins operations. The county, subsequently, received written assurances meant to alleviate those concerns. While repealing the amendment, the council also affirmed a one-year extension of another agreement with its partners in the proposed 61.5-mile system, which eventually would connect DeLand with metropolitan Orlando.

Orlando commuters may ride Sunrail and no one sees the irony

Click title for story link. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the likely name for the planned Orlando commuter rail is Sunrail. I'm surprised no one's pounced on that one. One of the recurring criticisms of the DOT-CSX deal is that it was done out of public view. Out of the sunshine, as some say. This was legal. The meetings part of the Sunshine Law applies to elected officials, not bureaucrats, a distinction that not everyone understood.

Council wants commuter-rail safety net

Rachael Jackson Sentinel Staff Writer December 18, 2008 VOLUSIA COUNTYWhen the Volusia County Council extended its commuter-rail agreement in November, it added a provision to protect taxpayers from footing the bill if the Legislature did not support the 61-mile rail line from DeLand to Orlando to Poinciana. But the county soon got letters from the Florida Department of Transportation and CSX Transportation pointing out that the project is contingent upon the Legislature's approval and that, therefore, the extra language was unnecessary. The agreement between FDOT, Orlando and Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties has to be extended this year so lawmakers can take it up again in 2009. The council will discuss the agreement at a meeting today. County Chairman Frank Bruno said he expects the original language to be approved.

CSX offers a commitment but will it be enough?

Click title for story link. CSX and partners are making threats again!!! Volusia County officials today received a letter from Jacksonville-based CSX Transportation saying the company will not close on its sale of the 61.5-mile corridor for commuter rail until the state Legislature agrees to provisions that would limit the company's financial liability for accidents involving commuter rail on the line. "Without this agreement on the allocation of liability and insurance coverage, CSXT will not close on the sale of the line," says the letter from Lisa Mancini, the company's vice president for strategic infrastructure.The question is whether it will be enough of a guarantee to keep on track Volusia's involvement in the the proposed Central Florida commuter rail connecting DeLand and Poinciana.

CSX on Lakeland Local

The Lakeland Local site has done a great job at keeping up with the CSX events. Click the title to link to the site and catch up on what you may have missed.

State Road 60 residents weigh in on CSX plan

Click title for story link. By Shelly GodefrinNews Chief staff Published: Friday, December 12, 2008 at 4:01 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, December 12, 2008 at 8:14 a.m. HOMELAND - A rail-truck freight terminal is expected to bring growth to the State Road 60 corridor, but residents there want to maintain their rural lifestyle. About 50 residents and city and county officials attended an informational S.R. 60 meeting Thursday night at Homeland Methodist Church south of Bartow. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the public to and get feedback about the Gateway Selected Area Study, which is aimed at developing a vision and plan for the future of the area to the north and south of S.R. 60. The plan will look at existing infrastructure, urban services, environmental features, transportation and economic development.

Official: Alternate Route Must Be Good for CSX

Click title for story link. By Tom PalmerTHE LEDGER Published: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 11:20 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 11:20 p.m. LAKELAND Any plan that diverts freight trains from downtown Lakeland won't work unless it makes business sense for CSX, a state transportation official said Wednesday. The meeting Wednesday at The Lakeland Center was to unveil five possible alternative freight rail routes through Polk County as part of a state-funded study to look at the feasibility of a new route.

Centtal Florida Folks Huddle On Commuter Rail

Central Florida folks huddle on commuter rail posted by Aaron Deslatte on Dec 11, 2008 3:42:13 PMDiscuss This: Comments (0) TrackBack (0) Linking Blogs Add to del.icio.us Digg itOrlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, state Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and state, local and regional chamber folks huddled for about an hour Thursday at City Hall with editors, reporters, editorial writers and columnists for the Orlando Sentinel to air out plans for winning legislative approval of the Central Florida commuter rail project in the 2009 session.The meeting between news side and editorial Sentinel folks, and city, state and regional backers was an "informational" briefing to hash over what sank the deal in the spring legislative session and the chances of passage in the coming year."Last year, we went into the session not anticipating the level of opposition," Dyer said.Dyer called Cannon "our champion in the House," and the region was "very fortunate" to have Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, tapped as Senate Judiciary chairman and Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, as Transportation chair -- the two substantive committees the insurance arrangement will go through on the Senate side. Dyer also called Sen. Mike Fasano, the New Port Richey Republican who chairs the transportation and economic development budget committee, a "supporter." He wasn't exactly a strong backer last spring, so this is noteworthy.The message from the meeting was that backers have rallied their troops and need to re-market the project. In January, Dyer's office will be leading a large group of lawmakers and folks involved with the project up to Charlotte, N.C., to put them on a commuter rail line, backers said.In the last week, a few influental folks like Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, Gov. Charlie Crist, and the Florida Association of Counties have come out early in favor of the insurance liability agreement the region needs before CSX Corp. will sell its 61 miles of rail to the state for the project. Dyer and Cannon both said it was big to have the governor out front in support of the plan, and Dyer noted in the meeting that "other newspapers around the state have not been very kind to the project."Central Florida rail backers through MetroPlan Orlando have met privately with their counterparts in Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and South Florida over the last six months to get all four regions on the same page behind Central Florida's plan.For starters, expect backers to launch a new marketing campaign for the project dropping the Central from Central Florida Commuter Rail and calling it something other than commuter rail."All four markets understand the importance of this, not just to us here in Central Florida, but to all of them," Harry Barley, executive director of MetroPlan Orlando, told the group. He called a Nov. 6 meeting with all four regions a "home run," with all agreeing to back a list of priorities including protecting transortation trust fund dollars and commuter-rail.A few Sentinel folks in the room wanted to know how backers planned to appease the trial lawyers who successfully roadblocked last spring with the help of unions and Lakeland Sen. Paula Dockery.The trial bar last session had heartburn with extending government immunity from injury lawsuits to third-party companies that would be hired to run the rail line. Dyer said without the immunity language, the project would cost more for insurance."If we don't get this done, this will be our biggest failure," Dyer said. "Light-rail was a failure, but we have a second swing at the bat."

Rendell Promotes National Rail System

It seems more states are buying in to what CSX is selling. Click title for story link. Gov. Ed Rendell Friday visited the CSX Chambersburg Intermodal Facility to promote the CSX's National Gateway project to build a rail corridor from North Carolina to Ohio, crossing through southwest Pennsylvania. At a cost of $724 million, CSX, the federal government and six states propose to fund the effort which supporters say will generate around 2,500 jobs in the region and provide a more environmentally friendly method for freight transport. Mr. Rendell has long championed expansion of rails for both passenger travel and shipping and has tripled funding for rail freight since taking office in 2003.

Future Land Use Study Planned for State Road

Public Meeting Notice Future Land Use Study Planned for State Road 60 Area The Polk County Long Range Planning Division is partnering with the City of Winter Haven to conduct a future land use study for the State Road 60 area. The purpose of the study is to develop a vision and plan for the future. The plan will protect natural and community resources and create a blueprint for growth. The study will help to guide future growth associated with the CSX Intermodal Logistics Center. The study goals include: =201. protecting existing environmentally sensitive areas, 2. preserving the countryside, farming, and historical character of the area, and 3. promoting additional economic growth The proposed study area is bordered by Eloise Loop/Thompson Nursery Road on the north; US Highway 27 on the east; Alturas Babson Park Cut Off Road on the south; and 80 Foot Road/Bartow City Limits /Gerber Dairy Road on the west. The Polk County Long Range Planning Division and the City of Winter Haven's Planning Division will be seeking comments and suggestions from residents in the surrounding cities. Local landowners, community and environmental groups, interested governmental agencies, and other public and private stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the vision planning through a series of Community and Focus Group Meetings. A Focus Group, consisting of local residents and business owners in the area will be used to help guide the study efforts. The purpose of the study, as well as a brief overview is available by visiting the Polk County Government website at www.polk-county.net/projects. Once on the Projects page, scroll down until you see the title Gateway Selected Area Study. For additional information contact planneroncall@polk-county.net or call 863-534-6084. Residents are invited to attend one or both of the following Community Meetings: The 1st Community Meeting will be on: December 9th, 2008 Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Location: Chain O' Lakes Complex Poolside Room210 Cypress Gardens Blvd.Winter Haven, FL The 2nd Community Meeting will be on: Date: December 11th, 2008 Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: Homeland Heritage ParkOld Homeland Methodist Church249 Church Ave. Homeland, FL

Pelham to Recommend DCA Approval for CSX ILC

Click title for full story link. In a conversation held this morning (December 4, 2008) Senator J. D. Alexander has learned from Secretary Thomas G. Pelham that he will recommend Department of Community Affairs (DCA) approval of the Winter Haven inter-modal rail terminal planned by Evansville Western Railroad (EWR). EWR is a subsidiary of CSX Transportation. The 318 acre project is a state-of-the art facility designed to facilitate transfer of containerized consumer goods via rail and truck.

CSX gets a favorable draw in Senate committee assignments

click title for story link State Senate President Jeff Atwater named two Central Florida lawmakers who are stong backers of the region's commuter rail dreams to key committee chairmanships Wednesday. Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, was tapped to lead the Senate Transportation Committee and Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, was chosen to lead the Senate Judiciary Committee. Last spring, you might recall, the complex insurance liability agreement CSX Corp. wanted before signing off on Central Florida's $1 billion-plus commuter rail deal got stalled on the tracks when then-Judiciary Chairman Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, demanded the bill go through his committee since it dealt with granting state-sponsored immunity from lawsuits to private companies working on the tracks. Now it is a whole lot more likely to get a hearing in the Senate. In fact, seven of the nine senators appointed Wednesday to the Transportation panel that would also likely hear the bill are from Central Florida: Gardiner; Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando; Constantine; Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera; Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis; Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic; and -- drum roll -- Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, the fiercest critic of the CSX deal last spring.

Mass Transit 'Critical' For Bay Area

Click title for story. By LINDSAY PETERSON lpeterson@tampatrib.com Published: November 26, 2008 TAMPA - U.S. Rep. John Mica said he came to Tampa on Tuesday to encourage local officials to get in line for transportation money that soon will flow from Washington. He also had a warning. The Tampa area is years behind other cities in developing mass transit, he said. "It's critical that Tampa Bay is also in this game. ... It's almost embarrassing to have parts of Florida without a modern transportation system." Mica, R-Winter Park, is minority party leader of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He said he didn't mean to criticize, but his comments still put a few people on defense. "Hillsborough County is moving forward," Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio told Mica at the gathering at Stetson University College of Law's Tampa Law Center. "We're very serious" about mass transit, she said. She said that local transportation officials plan to ask Hillsborough County voters to approve a 1-cent sales tax in 2010 for a commuter rail system. "With local support, we will be in a greater position to make the case to the federal government" for funding, Iorio said.

Meeting on Possible Alternative Rail Set

Click title for story link. By Tom PalmerTHE LEDGER Published: Saturday, November 29, 2008 at 10:10 p.m. Last Modified: Saturday, November 29, 2008 at 11:19 p.m. LAKELAND Updated information on the state study examining alternative rail routes in the area will be the topic of a public meeting on Dec. 10. The meeting will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Lake Hollingsworth Room at The Lakeland Center, 701 W. Lime St. It will be the second public meeting on the project. The first occurred last summer. The $723,398 study, which was proposed by Department of Transportation officials last December, is an outgrowth of concerns expressed by Lakeland business and civic leaders. The concern is that projected increases in freight traffic caused by the construction of a proposed rail freight terminal in Winter Haven by CSX, and the rerouting of freight traffic related to plans for commuter rail in the Orlando area, could set back downtown redevelopment efforts by making the area unattractive to developers. The rail freight terminal was approved in October. Plans for commuter rail in Orlando have still not received final approval. The study conducted by Jacobs Engineering is examining how increases in freight traffic would affect local roads, how rerouting train traffic would affect local traffic as well as CSX and its customers, what alternate routes are available and whether the alternatives are financially feasible. In addition, the study is looking at potential for increasing passenger rail in relation to projected demand, the availability of infrastructure and cost. That study would focus on various routes between and through Polk County and the Orlando and Tampa areas. More information is available at the study's Web site: http://www.fdotrailtrafficevaluation.com/ [Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. ]

Exhaust From Railroad Diesel Linked to Lung Ailments

Click title for story link. TUESDAY, Nov. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term exposure to diesel exhaust fumes may increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes lung conditions such as bronchitis and emphysema. U.S. researchers studied the job and health records of more than 30,000 railway workers and found that those who worked on diesel trains (engineers, brakemen, conductors) were more likely to die of COPD than those who worked in ticketing, signaling, maintenance, or administration.

Tony Sasso responds

Click title for story link. Check out comments to the story on the site. October 30, 2008 A few months ago, the Orlando Sentinel endorsed me in the February special election saying, "Mr. Sasso has the experience and command of the issues facing the district. . . . He's been a champion of managed growth . . ."While I wasn't surprised that the Sentinel endorsed my developer opponent for Florida House District 32, it is my belief that the issue of commuter rail, as now proposed, was the deciding factor in the endorsement. I am a proponent of How Shall We Grow, which includes commuter rail. And while I made this clear, I also said we should consider going back to the table to make sure we get the best deal for everyone, not just for CSX.There are many issues that are as important, or more important, to the citizens of District 32, including education, jobs, taxes, insurance and the environment.In seven months as a representative, I have been an independent voice, often crossing party lines, working for my constituents, not lobbyists. As a freshman, I received awards from the teachers, League of Conservation Voters, Association of Counties and the Marine Resources Council. I have been endorsed by the NRA, police and fire organizations, teachers, nurses, aerospace workers and the Sierra Club. These are citizen groups that know that I listen to and work for the public.

DCA wants Haven to rethink SR 60 growth amendment

Click title for story link. State planning officials at the Florida Department of Community Affairs have finally weighed in on Winter Haven's latest major growth map amendment. I wrote last month that regional planners thought this was probably intense enough to be considered a DRI whenever development is proposed for the property on either side of SR 60 (the idea that Winter Haven extends that far south still seems surreal) as spinoff from the CSX project actually materializes. None of the comments from state planners, to which Winter Haven officials are supposed to respond by the end of the year, was surprising.

Residents contribute suggestions for growth plan

Click title for story link. By Shelly GodefrinNews Chief staff Published: Friday, November 14, 2008 at 4:01 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, November 14, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. WINTER HAVEN - Residents had a chance to help plan the future of Winter Haven at a community meeting Thursday morning. The information received during this and other meetings will be used in preparation for the city's Evaluation and Appraisal Report and a new comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan, which is created about every 10 years, will be used for the city's growth through 2020. Senior Planner Sean Byers said the purpose the meetings is to look at what has worked and what hasn't worked in the past.

FDOT District One Rail Traffic Evaluation

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District One Rail Traffic Evaluation study team will hold a second workshop on Wednesday, December 10, 2008. The purpose of this workshop will be to review the work accomplished to date and receive feedback from the public. Meeting time, place and agenda are as follows: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (Presentation at 6:30 p.m.) The Lakeland Center Lake Hollingsworth Room 701 West Lime Street Lakeland, Florida 33815-1509 Park in the red parking lot. The workshop will involve an open house component and a formal presentation. Attend the event any time between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to speak with the study team and view project materials. At 6:30 p.m., the study team will give a formal presentation. The presentation will be given only once during the workshop. Following the presentation there will be an opportunity for public comment. For directions to The Lakeland Center, visit their web site's directions and parking page by clicking the link below or by copying and pasting the link into your internet browser: http://www.thelakelandcenter.com/x_evt_info/directions-n-parking.aspx. You may also contact the center by phone: (863) 834-8144. This workshop is being held in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related statutes. Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability or family status. Persons who require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or persons who require translation services (free of charge) should contact Ms. Arlene Barnes at 863-519-2349 or Arlene.Barnes@dot.state.fl.us at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting date. Following the workshop, presentation materials will be posted on the District One Rail Traffic Evaluation Study Web Site. You may visit the project web site by clicking this link: http://www.fdotrailtrafficevaluation.com/ The web site has been updated to include a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document as well as the first issue of the project newsletter. For your convenience, a copy of the newsletter is attached to this email. Thank you for your continuing interest and participation in the District One Rail Traffic Evaluation Study.

ALL ABOARD!!!

Click title for story link. Can the insane people of the City of Winter Haven be stopped? This is ridiculous. Meeting in special session, Mayor Nathaniel Birdsong, convened a special meeting of the Winter Haven City Commission for the purpose of holding the final public hearing on the development order for the Evansville Western inter-modal rail terminal to be built on 318 acres of land south of Winter Haven and north of Highway 60. Commissioners held a public hearing taking input from the municipalities of Lakeland and Lake Wales, Polk County Commission, Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce and interested citizens. The meeting began at 9:00 a.m. and just prior to 11 a.m. Commissioners voted unanimous approval for the development order for the project. The Commission then entertained a motion to approve a development agreement with Evansville Western to begin the project. A public hearing was held with no public comment presented regarding the development agreement. The public hearing was then closed and the Commission unanimously approve the motion.

Why Is The State Paying CSX Based on 2005-2006 Land Values?

Click title for story link. Very brief point to ponder, and I’ll come back to it later. No one seems to know exactly how much the state is paying CSX and for what in the rail realignment deal. It all depends on how you define it. But figures I’ve heard range from $491 million to almost $700 million. All of those numbers are bound up in one way or another with the value of the 61 miles of land and track the state plans to buy from CSX. That value was tabulated in 2005 or 2006 as the secret negotiations unfolded. So let me ask you: Is your house worth as much now as it was in late 2005? Maybe our friend Jane Healy, late of the Orlando Sentinel editorial page, can explain to us why state taxpayers, at the bottom of a historically severe recession, should pay CSX based on boomtime 2005-06 land values. Jane?

Critics grow louder about rail cost

Click title for story link Nov. 13, 2008By Isaac Babcock Observer Staff Critics of Winter Park's entry into the commuter rail system argued for a re-examination of the costs of the project at Monday's City Commission meeting, citing that it would be the most expensive system per mile in the country's history. The new angle of attack came as part of a prolonged push from City Commissioner Beth Dillaha and some city residents, who said the city is rushing too quickly into a deal to become part of a proposed commuter rail system before understanding the financial implications. "It is the biggest project we will have ever taken on," Dillaha said. "I think there is always wisdom in re-examining a project." She said the system would cost $10.5 million per mile — a record for U.S. rail systems. "It's the most expensive rail project in the history of the United States," she said.

BNSF Railway looking at new technologies to reduce air pollution

Click title for story link. Winter Haven dismissed cancer concerns, but other parts of the nation do not look the other way when the health and welfare of it's residents is at jeapordy!!! Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer Article Launched: 11/10/2008 01:55:40 AM PST SAN BERNARDINO - Experimental exhaust filters, locomotives with multiple engines, and diesel engines with built-in brains are among the technologies that government officials and BNSF Railway executives are considering to reduce air pollution. BNSF has received serious criticism from Westside residents after environmental regulators announced earlier this year that people living near the 168-acre rail yard face elevated cancer risks. The danger, in the eyes of the California Air Resources Board, is the diesel pollution emitted by trucks and locomotives. The obvious imperative is to reduce diesel pollutions. One method that BNSF executives are already using to cut back on pollution is using engines that automatically shut down when left idling. Tom Ison, a BNSF executive who oversees hub operations from St. Paul, Minn., to Los Angeles said new diesel engines come equipped with an "electronic control module" that monitors how much fuel engines are consuming. "On a low idle, when it's not being used, it senses that," he said.

Amtrak weighs return of direct route to Miami

Click title for story link. It would use Florida East Coast Railway tracks paralleling I-95. By LARRY HANNAN, The Times-Union It's a little early to get nostalgic for 2001, but Amtrak officials have begun talking about turning back the clock and taking a second crack at a passenger train route from Jacksonville to Miami. Amtrak offers passenger service from Jacksonville to Miami on its Silver Star and Silver Meteor trains, but the Silver Meteor takes nine hours and goes to Orlando, while the Silver Star takes almost 11 hours and goes to Tampa on tracks owned by CSX. Using the Florida East Coast tracks would create a quicker route down the east coast of Florida while also allowing stops in cities like St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

Amtrak seeks arbitration over delays on Union Pacific tracks

Click title for story link. More than a year after a breakthrough deal was reached to help Amtrak trains operate on schedule, the passenger railroad is seeking arbitration to resolve disputes with the Union Pacific Railroad, officials said Monday. Freight disruptions and slow zones on track owned by the Union Pacific are severely delaying Amtrak trains, including on routes through Illinois.

Calif. voters approve $10B bond for bullet trains

Click title for story link. Nov 5, 5:44 PM (ET)By DON THOMPSON LOS ANGELES (AP) - California voters are green-lighting the nation's most ambitious high-speed rail system, approving a nearly $10 billion bond to put speeding bullet trains capable of topping 200 mph between the state's major metropolitan areas. The measure, which passed with 52 percent support Tuesday, will fund the first phase of what is projected to be a $45 billion, 800-mile project built with state, federal, local and private money. Backers sold the proposal as an innovative alternative to soaring airfares and gas prices. In the closing weeks of the campaign, they touted estimates that it would create nearly 160,000 construction-related jobs and 450,000 permanent jobs.

Mass. To Acquire Some CSX Rail Assets

Posted Oct 2, 2008> TRANSPORTATION> > Mass. to acquire some CSX rail assets> > > By Susan A. Baird> PBN Web Editor> > BOSTON – A multi-year rail-transportation agreement between the> Commonwealth of Massachusetts and intermodal transportation giant CSX> Corp. “significantly increases options for commuters and lays the> groundwork for improving the flow of product shipments,” state and> company officials said in a statement today.> > The agreement will expand commuter-rail service to Worcester by the> end of the month and help speed completion of the South Coast Rail> project. (READ MORE) Financial details were not disclosed.> > Commuter rail “is an important part of the governor’s statewide> transportation plan to relieve congestion,” Mass. Transportation> Secretary Bernard Cohen said in a statement today. “Reaching> agreement on important terms for four strategic rail assets,> including the CSXT-owned portion of the lines to the South Coast,> moves a top priority – South Coast Rail – one step closer to> reality.”> > The agreement – the product of nearly four years of talks between> CSX and state and federal officials, including the Massachusetts Bay> Transportation Authority (MBTA) – calls for the addition of five> commuter trains to serve Worcester, plus possible additional trains> “as rail capacity is created,” the parties said today. It also> “will facilitate the Patrick-Murray administration’s plan to> extend commuter-rail service to New Bedford and Fall River; provide> the potential for even more commuter service for Worcester; and> create the ability of area companies to ship or receive products on> double-stack rail cars,” helping reduce truck traffic on the> region’s crowded highways.> > “This is an historic day for all of Massachusetts, and most> especially for Worcester and the South Coast,” said Lt. Gov. Timothy> P. Murray, who led the state negotiating team. Joining him for> announcements today at South Station in Boston and Union Station in> Worcester were, among others, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, U.S. Rep.> James P. McGovern and CSX Chairman, President and CEO Michael J. Ward.> > Kerry described the pact as “a milestone in the public> transportation history of Massachusetts – a history which, for the> people of Central and Southeastern Massachusetts had been marked by> decades of insufficient rail service.” The deal “is the result of> months of intense negotiations between CSXT and federal and state> officials,” he added, “and it has the potential to provide an> economic boost to the entire commonwealth.”> > “Thanks to our partners, Senator Kerry and Congressman McGovern,> we’ve reached an agreement that increases commuter options and> ultimately could make Worcester the new rail hub of New England,”> said Murray, who has been working to expand regional commuter-rail> service in the state since his tenure as Worcester’s mayor. “We> appreciate CSXT staying at the table and making this agreement a> reality.”> > The “main elements” of the deal, as laid out in today’s> announcement, are:> > • By Oct. 27, the MBTA will extend five Framingham-Boston commuter> trains to Worcester, via CSX Transportation Inc.’s Boston Line.> > At a future date, the commonwealth intends to purchase CSXT’s rights> in the line, “increasing the potential for additional commuter> service, while also taking control of dispatching and maintenance.”> > • As soon as possible, the commonwealth and CSXT will “begin> increasing the vertical clearances of bridges along the railroad main> line between I-495 and the New York state line,” to make it possible> to accommodate double-stack freight trains along the full length of> that line. “The commonwealth will assume responsibility for raising> highway bridges, while CSXT will be responsible for lowering tracks.”> > • By June 2009, Massachusetts will buy CSXT’s New Bedford-Fall> River Line, along with the company’s rights in the Boston Terminal> Running Track and West First Street Yard in South Boston, and the> Grand Junction secondary line from Beacon Park Yard to Cambridge, Mass.> > • To expand commuter-rail capacity over time, the state “is> investigating whether it can help CSXT to relocate the company’s> locomotive service facility out of Boston, in the near term.> Ultimately … CSXT also plans to move its operations out of Beacon> Park,” the parties added. (The sites to which those facilities would> move have yet to be determined.)> > “We salute the vision and perseverance of Massachusetts leaders at> every level of government,” said Ward, the CSX chief executive.> > “The entire nation is recognizing the benefits of freight railroads> to the environment, the economy and traffic conditions on our> highways,” he added. “One train can carry the load of 280 trucks,> and is three to four times more fuel efficient.> > “The Massachusetts plan turns existing freight-rail infrastructure> into a 21st-Century solution for both commuters and businesses.”> > Additional information about transit projects in the Bay State is> available from the Mass. Executive Office of Transportation & Public> Works at www.eot.state.ma.us.> > The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority – established by> state legislation in 1964, to replace the former Metropolitan Transit> Authority (MTA) – traces its history back to the establishment of a> public ferry in 1631. Additional information, including schedules for> MBTA bus, trolley, subway, boat and commuter-rail service, is> available at www.mbta.com.> > CSX Corp., based in Jacksonville, Fla., is a leading provider of> rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck trainload services. It is the> parent of CST Transportation Inc. (CSXT), which took over part of the> Conrail system in 1999. Additional information is available at> www.csx.com.

CSX deal will help SouthCoast rail plan

Click for story link October 24, 2008 5:25 PM A comprehensive multi-year rail transportation agreement for the $100 million purchase of CSX Corp. rail lines across the state, including tracks needed to bring commuter trains to Fall River and New Bedford, was announced recently by state officials. "This is an historic day for all of Massachusetts, and most especially for Worcester and the SouthCoast," said Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, who led the negotiations with CSXT.

CFDC approves commuter rail resolution

Click title for news link The Central Florida Development Council has approved a resolution supporting commuter rail. The resolution was approved Monday. The County Commission will be approached next month by Orlando and Tampa business leaders to support a resolution, perhaps the same one CFDC considered.

Federal Bail Out And Rail Profits

Yes... We taxpayers are asked to bail out our Nation's financial system .... but our rail system doesn't seem to have any problems at all ..... see the rail financial news below. But Orlando City Hall, Winter Haven City Hall, and our Tallahassee State House still seem to think the State's taxpayers need to pay extortion to CSX Railroad at the expense of many good statewide public services just to get a few public benefits for Orlando.... Read one Conservative Congressman's crystal clear perspective on the "financial bail out" below ..... then ask yourself if we will not have the same crystal clear historical record after the fact in just a few short years or even months .... as to just how bad for Florida's taxpayers the negotiations were between FDOT and CSX if the "deal" is allowed to stand as is? Now also ask yourself how railroads can have record earnings when the economy is so "depressed" for everyone else .... is it because it is the most fuel efficient mode of transportation we have and they have no real competition to keep freight rates down? Why does everything in the grocery store cost more now than it did just a few short weeks and months ago? So again .... why is it we need to give the rail industry corporate welfare .... when they don't seem to care about the public's welfare? 10/22/2008 NS sets five financial records, drops operating ratio below 70 for first time How’s this for quarterly financial results: Norfolk Southern Corp. set five records and posted a sub-70 operating ratio in the third quarter.Railway operating revenues increased 23 percent to a record $2.9 billion, income from operations jumped 31 percent to an all-time-high $894 million, net income soared 35 percent to a record $520 million, diluted earnings per share rose 41 percent to a record $1.37 and NS’ operating ratio improved 2 points to a best-ever 69.1.“It was an exceptional quarter for our company,” said NS Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Wick Moorman during the Class I’s earnings conference this morning. “It’s a confirmation of the strength of our diversified business portfolio and ability to offset volume declines in the housing-related and automotive sectors.”Although coal demand was strong and NS handled record coal tonnage, continued weakness in the automotive and housing-related industries contributed to a 1 percent year-over-year traffic volume decline to 1.9 million units. Automotive volume fell 30 percent to 86,639 units vs. third-quarter 2007’s total. General merchandise revenue increased 13 percent to $1.5 billion despite a 6 percent volume decline, coal revenue jumped 52 percent to $876 million as volume rose 6 percent and intermodal revenue increased 16 percent to $560 million against flat volumes. Revenue per unit jumped 24 percent to $1,527 compared with third-quarter 2007’s total.Revenue gains primarily can be attributed to rate increases and higher fuel surcharges, said Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Don Seale.Meanwhile, railway operating expenses jumped 20 percent to $2 billion compared with third-quarter 2007’s expenses. The main culprit: fuel costs, which soared 64 percent to $474 million as the average price per gallon shot up 65 percent.Skyrocketing fuel costs have been a “consistent theme in 2008,” said EVP-Finance and Chief Financial Officer James Squires.— Jeff Stagl LETTER FROM CONGRESSMAN GENE TAYLOR OF MISSISSIPPI 4TH TO CONSTITUENT October 16, 2008 Dear David: Thank you for expressing your opposition to the Bush Administration's request to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to spend $700 billion to bail out investment losses by Wall Street firms. I voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (the bailout bill) when it was defeated in the House by a vote of 205 to 228 on September 29. I voted against it again on October 3, but this time the House passed it by a vote of 263 to 171. The bill that passed Congress was badly flawed. It will expose taxpayers to hundreds of billions of dollars of debt and yet would do almost nothing to solve the underlying problems in the economy. The second bill actually was worse than the first bill. The only changes were to add $150 billion in special interest tax breaks, and increase FDIC insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 per account with no increase in the premiums paid by banks. The amount of federally-insured deposits will increase by $670 billion, from $4.46 trillion to $5.13 trillion. Our nation is facing a severe economic crisis caused primarily by the greed of Wall Street investment firms and the government's failure to protect taxpayers and the public from the excesses of financial speculators. Mortgage brokers, investment banks, and speculators created a housing boom that turned into a credit bubble and now has ended in a devastating bust that affects all sectors of the economy. On September 18, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke met with Congressional leaders to request broad authority to purchase bad investments in order to get those losses off the books of Wall Street firms. Two days later, Secretary Paulson sent a 2½ page bill requesting absolute authority to spend up to $700 billion to buy bad mortgage-backed debt from investment firms and then eventually try to sell them. Over the next week, Congressional leaders negotiated some improvements to the plan. The agreement would require companies that dump their bad assets on the government to give the government warrants for company stock. If the companies recover and their stock prices rise, the government could sell the stock to repay some of the bailout cost. Congressional negotiators also got the Administration to agree that companies bailed out by taxpayers would have limits on the pay, bonuses, and 'golden parachutes' of their executives. The deal would set up an independent oversight board and a special inspector general to guard against fraud and corruption. Finally, the Treasury would get the $750 billion in three installments rather than all up front. I appreciate that the Congressional negotiators improved the Administration's proposal, but it is still a bad bill based on the same very bad idea. Secretary Paulson would still have up to $700 billion with broad discretion to decide what bad assets to buy, who to buy them from, how and when to sell them, and who to hire to handle all the transactions. This is very dangerous authority to give to any person or agency. There is enormous potential for insiders to game the system at taxpayer expense and for the process to expose taxpayers to many more liabilities. I do not know if the Secretary of the Treasury reads his own agency's financial reports, but the federal government does not have $700 billion. In order to buy $700 billion in bad investments, the Treasury would have to sell $700 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. The Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian and European banks and investors would take several hundred billion dollars out of their current investments and loan that money to the U.S. government. The net effect to U.S. taxpayers would be to substantially increase our debt and interest payments owed to foreign countries, institutions, and investors in order to gamble on bad Wall Street investments. The net effect to the global economy would be to take $700 billion that currently is in relatively good investments and launder that money through the Treasury into bad investments in order to take losses off the books of a few Wall Street firms. For the past three decades, Wall Street has lectured us about the efficiency of markets. They said it was good for the country when plants relocated to Mexico, or China, or Malaysia, or when loyal workers were forced to take early retirement or wage and benefit cuts. Now that Wall Street is facing the consequences of its own greed, we are told that big financial firms are too important to let the market determine their fates. Even if I could get past the fact that all the money would be borrowed, I have zero confidence that the Administration's scheme would improve the national economy. Buying up bad debts will not restore confidence to the financial system. Putting the burden on taxpayers will not eliminate the consequences of the past decade of unwise and excessive credit and investment practices. I am afraid that all of these bad investment losses will have to be absorbed, and I believe they should be absorbed primarily by the people who are responsible for them rather than by the taxpayers. The only way the government can restore confidence to the markets is to establish proper protections and oversight of financial transactions. The risky investment strategies were products of the unregulated or poorly regulated sectors of the financial industry. Federally regulated mortgages guaranteed by FHA and VA did not offer subprime loans and have not had significant default or foreclosure problems. Most depository institutions regulated by FDIC did not make or purchase subprime or other risky loans. That activity was driven by the unregulated investment firms and mortgage brokers. The Bush Administration, the Federal Reserve, and the Securities and Exchange Commission refused to perform adequate oversight while investment banks infected the national economy with risky, complicated securities. The Republican-majority Congress helped to cause the problem by weakening federal regulation of financial markets. In 1999, Congress enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that had prohibited banks from engaging in securities investment and insurance. I voted against Gramm-Leach-Bliley and predicted at the time that it would put banks and depositors at risk. The Glass-Steagall Act was enacted in 1933 after investigations showed that some bank failures during the Great Depression had been caused by fraud in the securities and investment activities of the banks. Glass-Steagall enacted a common-sense separation of the core functions of a bank - account deposits and lending - from the risks of investment speculation. After Glass-Steagall was repealed, banks, insurance companies, and investment firms merged under large holding companies. The entrance of large banks into the investment market encouraged the unregulated investment firms to engage in riskier investments in order to attract investors with the possibility of higher returns. In 2000, the Republican Congress also snuck through legislation that prohibits regulation of derivatives, which are complex and risky transactions that bet on the future of other financial instruments. The 2000 financial deregulation package also included the 'Enron loophole,' which exempted Enron's energy trading from federal regulation. That provision was written by Enron lobbyists and was pushed by Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas. The deregulation package was added to a large must-pass funding bill a few days before Christmas in 2000, with no separate vote allowed on the regulation exemptions. Over the past decade, the mortgage industry relaxed loan standards and made it very easy for people to buy homes. The increase in home purchases and a construction boom of larger new homes caused housing prices to rise rapidly. Many people who had affordable mortgages were enticed to refinance their homes or take second mortgages to spend the equity in their homes. Over three years, from 2001 through 2003, 45% of U.S. households with a first mortgage refinanced their homes. The mortgage industry was so confident in rising home values that they started issuing low-document loans without verifying the buyers' incomes, and subprime loans to people with poor credit histories and little income. The banks, mortgage brokers, and investors did not care if buyers borrowed more than they could pay because the homes themselves were still increasing in value. In fact, overextended home buyers created demand for new mortgages, either through refinancing or through sales to new buyers. The mortgage and investment industries invented new ways to make money from mortgages. Investment firms bought mortgages from banks and brokers, and then bundled them together into mortgage-backed securities (MBS). They sold the MBS to investors and used that money to buy more mortgages. Wall Street firms designed an elaborate scheme of interlocking financial products that they believed would insure their investments, so they did not have to hold reserves to cover potential losses. Investment banks that held mortgage-backed securities created collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) to sell the cash flow from mortgage payments. The mortgages would be sliced into several 'tranches,' (French word for slice) with the top rated mortgages in the tranche that pays first but at a lower interest rate. Investors holding the lowest rated mortgages receive higher interest payments but have a much higher chance of default. Wall Street created another financial instrument to try to hedge against that risk of default. Credit default swaps (CDS) are contracts that work something like insurance. The owner of an investment could pay a premium to insure the risk of default. If the investment defaults, the seller of the CDS has to cover the loss. However, because credit default swaps are exempt from regulation, anyone can buy a CDS for anything if he can find a willing seller. There is no requirement that the purchaser of a CDS actually owns the financial instrument that he is insuring from default. As a result, investors could use CDS to 'insure' against the default of someone else's property. With so many ways to cash in on mortgages, Wall Street firms, investors, and mortgage brokers funded boiler room operations to push subprime mortgages, interest-only mortgages, and other risky loans. Some mortgage lenders engaged in fraud to inflate both the appraisal of homes and the incomes of the buyers. Many subprime lenders engaged in predatory lending practices, such as mortgages with low teaser rates and then large balloon payments. These mortgages forced borrowers to refinance, but they were charged prepayment penalties when they did so. Boiler room lenders increasingly included yield spread premiums (YSP) in subprime mortgages. A yield spread premium is essentially a kickback to the mortgage broker for selling a mortgage with a higher interest rate than the borrower could have received. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not cause the mortgage crisis, but they contributed to it and became victims of it. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) owned by stockholders, but are chartered by the federal government to serve the mortgage finance industry. They buy mortgages from banks and other mortgage lenders so that those lenders have funds to make additional loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bundle the mortgages together into mortgage backed securities that they sell to investors so that the GSEs have funds to buy more mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not buy subprime loans directly from banks. The commercial banks and savings and loans that are regulated by the federal government also did not make subprime loans. The GSEs did make unwise investments in mortgage-backed securities issued by investment banks that included subprime mortgages. No government agency or policy required any lender to make subprime loans. The current financial difficulties of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are largely due to the fact that they are not diversified. They only invest in mortgages, so their fortunes are completely dependent on a healthy housing market. When housing sales stalled last year, new mortgages stopped coming in, and investors reduced their holdings of securities and stocks tied to housing loans. The Bank of China sold $4.6 billion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities in July and August. The loss of investment capital caused short-term cash flow problems. The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in conservatorship and replaced their CEOs. The Treasury has agreed to purchase up to $100 billion of preferred stock from each of the GSEs in order to give Fannie and Freddie sufficient funds to buy new mortgages from lenders. The flaw that burst the housing and credit bubble was the simple fact that, over the long run, housing prices cannot keep rising much faster than incomes. In 2006 and 2007, housing prices stopped increasing. In some communities with struggling economies, housing prices fell dramatically. A few months later, the number of mortgage delinquencies and defaults grew because borrowers who got behind in their payments could no longer refinance or resell their homes. Over the past year, more and more low subprime loans and adjustable rate mortgages have become delinquent. These mortgage defaults threaten the mortgage-backed securities (MBS), the collateralized debt obligations (CDO), and the credit default swaps (CDS) that were backed by those mortgages. There are so many of these MBS, CDOs, and CDS everywhere in the financial and investment system, that the uncertainty about their value has frozen the credit markets. The Bush Administration's proposal would purchase the worst of these investments in order to open up the traditional lending market. I strongly oppose the authority for the Treasury Secretary to purchase credit default swaps or collateralized debt obligations that are based on mortgages. If the government buys mortgages, at least we get real estate collateral that could be sold to repay some funds to taxpayers. The derivative contracts, especially the credit default swaps, are not covered by whole mortgages or other assets that the government could expect to sell. Investment banks issue and sell securities to governments, corporations, and institutional investors. They also provide financial advice and services for their corporate clients, including help with mergers and acquisitions. Investment banks are different than commercial banks, which primarily handle deposits and make loans. Although the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act removed the wall between commercial banks and investment activities, banks that hold deposits that are insured by the federal government are required to maintain sufficient capital reserves. Investment banks are not regulated by FDIC. At the beginning of the year, Wall Street had five big investment banks: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch. All five have been substantially changed because of their holdings of questionable mortgage-backed securities and derivatives. Bear Stearns was purchased by J.P. Morgan Chase after the Federal Reserve agreed to take $30 billion of Bears Stearns' bad investments. Merrill Lynch was purchased by Bank of America. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have decided to become regulated bank holding companies so they will be eligible to borrow funds from the Federal Reserve. The market has punished the big Wall Street investment banks for making bad business decisions. That is as it should be. I do not believe the taxpayers should absorb their losses or the losses of their investors. I am very bothered by the Treasury's action to bail out AIG, an enormous insurance company. The insurance subsidiaries of AIG are in good financial condition because they are required to maintain access to enough capital to cover their insurance liabilities. However, the parent holding company was heavily invested in mortgage-backed securities and overextended in risky credit default swaps. Investors lost confidence in the parent company and the stock price plummeted. Secretary Paulson decided that AIG was 'too big to fail,' and agreed to give AIG up to $85 billion in exchange for warrants to purchase 80% ownership of the company. This action is particularly infuriating to me because the Bush Administration sent a Treasury official to Congress last year to oppose my bill to allow the National Flood Insurance Program to offer wind and flood coverage in one policy to avoid disputes over the cause of damage. The Treasury official said that 'Federal government interference in the wind insurance market will displace private markets, promote riskier behavior, be unfair to taxpayers, and be economically costly.' Now, the same Department of Treasury of the same Administration has decided to bail out a big private insurance company, an action that certainly displaces private markets, promotes risky behavior, is unfair to taxpayers, and is economically costly. We now can conclude that the Administration's opposition to hurricane insurance reform was not based on any principle or conviction. They simply modify their positions to serve the interests of the insurance industry and Wall Street firms. Thank you again for sharing your views about this bill. If I may be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to ask. Sincerely, GENE TAYLOR Member of Congress GT:jad

The Impact Project

Click title for site link. What is THE Impact Project? The Trade, Health & Environment Impact Project (THE Impact Project) is a collaboration of community and university partners focused on reducing the impacts of trade, ports and goods movement activities on health and community life. The collaborative is funded by The California Endowment.

Rail/Road Math

Click title for story link. Same song and dance, different company. October 20, 2008 Rail/Road Math Jim Young, chair of Union Pacific, was interviewed in a "Q&A" in Sunday's Oregonian (if it's online, I haven't found it). Here's an interesting exchange on Commuter Rail: Q: Do you see Union Pacific getting into the business of passenger rail with the new emphasis on mass transit? A: There's an infrastructure challenge on the highways. We are approached by city leaders who want to put commuter rail on the freight rail. That's a complete mistake. The last thing we want to do is take freight off to make room for commuters. That freight just ends up on the highway. For example, a load of lumber moving out of the Pacific Northwest displaces two to three trucks. Capacity is so tight, it wouldn't be a good thing for the environment or the country. I can understand the community's perspective. But what I have to protect is the freight business.

Art The Plumber Supports Thompson

The comments within this story are very enlightening. Click title for story link. Contributed by Bill Rufty - Posted: October 17, 2008 6:16:11 PM There has been a lot of ink and Internet time devoted to "Joe The Plumber," who the Republican presidential campaign team has adopted as their battle cry signifying what they say is their concern for the "little guy." But Art The Plumber is supporting a Democrat, at least in a competitive race for state senator in Senate District 17, which includes the southern half of Polk and neighboring counties.

Rail Traffic Evaluation

I've copied and pasted the email message sent out yesterday from FDOT representitives. The Florida Department of Transportation District One Rail Traffic Evaluation Website is up and running. You may visit the website by clicking on this link: http://www.fdotrailtrafficevaluation.com/. Please note that some applications cannot open a web page directly from an email link. If this happens to you, open your internet browser application (Internet Explorer, America Online, Firefox, etc.), copy the address from this email and then paste it into the browser's address bar. The website includes an overview of the project, downloadable presentations and materials from previous public workshops, links to related municipal and transit-oriented resources, and contact information for the project. The website will be updated with new information as the project moves forward. Thank you very much for your interest and participation in the District One Rail Traffic Evaluation project.

Transportation at a Crossroads."

Click the title above to link to the story site. Turn on your speakers and watch part II. It is informative.

Public Private Partnership Brings New GenSet Ultra-Low Emission Locomotives to CSX Transportation

CSX knows of air pollution problems in Michigan and is willing to limit these cancer causing emissions there. Why not in Winter Haven? Are we to presume that diesel emissions only cause cancer in another state? DEARBORN, Mich., May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CSX Transportation (CSXT), the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) today announced the introduction of two ultra-low emission GenSet locomotives at CSXT's Rougemere Yard in Dearborn, Michigan. GenSet locomotives reduce nitrous oxide and particulate matter emissions by 80 percent and can create carbon dioxide emissions savings of approximately 50 percent by monitoring engine idling and switching to a "sleep" mode after a period of inactivity. The technology for these locomotives was purchased through a public-private partnership with the state of Michigan. The locomotives are the first low-emission locomotives to be deployed in Michigan, as well as on CSXT's 23-state rail network. "Cleaner air benefits Michigan's environment, benefits our company and its workers, and benefits our nation," said Tony Ingram, executive vice president and chief operating officer, CSX Transportation. "Thanks to our partners, we are able to bring in these GenSet locomotives you see here today. They send out 80 percent fewer emissions than a typical yard locomotive and also use less fuel." The new GenSet locomotives were retrofitted through a partnership between CSXT, MDOT, and SEMCOG. In addition to the two GenSet locomotives currently operating, CSXT and state officials are negotiating the purchase of two additional locomotives. This partnership made it possible to accelerate deployment of this ultra-low emission locomotive technology in this nonattainment area, helping the region take steps to meet its air quality goals. "Michigan is committed to working with the private sector to bring environmentally-friendly transportation technology to the state," said MDOT Director Kirk Steudle at today's event in Dearborn. "We know that often what is good for transportation can be good for the environment and we look forward to continuing to work with the private sector on this important issue." The GenSet locomotives will be used to switch cars within CSXT's Rougemere yard in Dearborn. GenSet locomotives are significantly quieter than existing locomotives; they achieve the most stringent noise level requirements for off-road capital equipment. "The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments is pleased to sponsor this important initiative in partnership with CSX Transportation," said Carmine Palombo, transportation director, SEMCOG. "Working together, the pollution reductions from this project will help Southeast Michigan meet and maintain national air quality standards." CSXT has invested more than $1 billion to upgrade its fleet with technology that reduces fuel consumption and air pollutant emissions. Through these efforts, the company has improved its fuel efficiency by approximately 80 percent since 1980. CSXT is a member of the EPA's Climate Leaders program in which the company has committed to reducing its emissions and leveraging other means for environmental benefits. CSXT is also an award-winning and charter member of the EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership. This partnership was designed to promote voluntary reductions in fuel consumption and emissions. CSXT's fuel conservation measures and better management of its waste stream have already contributed to that goal. CSX Transportation Inc. is a principal operating company of CSX Corporation. CSX Corporation, based in Jacksonville, Fla., is one of the leading transportation companies, providing rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services. The company's transportation network spans 21,000 miles with service to 23 eastern states and the District of Columbia, and connects to more than 70 ocean, river, and lake ports. More information about CSX Corporation and its subsidiaries is available at the company's web site, www.csx.com. SOURCE CSX TransportationCONTACT: Bob Sullivan of CSX Transportation +1-877-835-5279Janet Foran of Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT)+1-517-335-7176Sue Stetler of Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG)+1-313-324-3428

Sweetest Fliers Arrive in Mailbox

Remember JD Alexander bought a business next to the proposed rail hub and stands to make millions off the backs of Polk County! By Lonnie Brown Published: Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 12:01 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 2:36 a.m. The Coffee Guzzlers Club members were gathered at the usual table at the Sam 'n' Ella Cafe. Nevermore, the club's pet raven and mascot, had a special request to make. Quoth the Raven: "I need to have my mail forwarded to one of your addresses, because there's a state senator living in my mailbox: J.D. Alexander." Hmm. That may not work either. Mine is full of him too. Nearly once a week, if not twice, a full-color postcard mailer tumbles out of the mailbox. I have almost a dozen since I started saving them several weeks ago. J.D. in a suit, blue shirt and tie. J.D. in a white polo shirt. J.D. The Lake Wales Republican is up for re-election to his District 17 seat, which covers the southern half of Polk County, and all or portions of six other counties to the south. Even though Democrats have a slight edge in registration throughout the district (44 percent Democratic, 39 percent Republican), Alexander has a long lead in campaign contributions and name recognition. He has drawn Democratic opposition in the Nov. 4 election from Scott Thompson of Winter Haven, 42, a third-generation citrus grower who characterizes Alexander as "a professional politician," who "has been in Tallahassee for a decade, and he has made some very powerful friends." The powerful friends have stoked Alexander's campaign treasury with $383,000 in monetary donations and another $75,300 in in-kind contributions, according to the September contribution list. Thompson's contributions pale by comparison: $7,840 in monetary donations and $8,300 in-kind contributions. For every $1 Thompson has raised, Alexander has collected $28. Thus far in the campaign, Alexander has outspent Thompson by an even grander margin: $53 for every $1 Thompson has spent. But Alexander doesn't have any money in the stream of mailings that have been stuffed in the district's mailboxes. Of the ones I have collected, many are from the Republican Party of Florida, touting Alexander for cutting taxes "to help stimulate our economy and create new jobs." Others, however, come from political committees with warm, fuzzy names. One of those was paid for by Citizens First, which lists its address as 400 Capital Circle SE, Suite 18-123, Tallahassee. The "suite" is rather small. It is measured in inches, actually. According to a report last year in the St. Petersburg Times, the address "is a UPS store in a strip shopping center, where mailboxes rent for $12 a month. Each of those political committees had its own postal box or, as they more elegantly put it: 'suite.'" The contact person listed for Citizens First when it was formed just before the November 2004 elections was Kim LeeBove. A news story in The Palm Beach Post identified her as a bookkeeper for a company run by Randy Nielsen, a political consultant whose clients include sugar-industry and home-building interests. In the past three years, Citizens First has raised $368,000. Of that amount, just more than half - 54 percent - came from the U.S. Sugar Corp. and Florida Crystals Corp. Interestingly, another of those oversize postcard mailings featuring Alexander - this one from Floridians for Conservative Values - came from the same street address as the one from Citizens First. It was only three mailbox suites away from Citizens First. In fact, the treasurer for Floridians for Conservative Values is the same Kim LeeBove listed as the contact person for Citizens First. Like Citizens First, Floridians for Conservative Values is a 527 political group, named for the section of IRS code that created them. This mailer praised Alexander, who "slipped an amendment prohibiting the commercial garbage [proposed for a Bartow landfill] into a bill passed by the Legislature." Who are these Floridians who take such an interest in Alexander - or what goes into a landfill in Bartow, for that matter? As it turns out, Floridians for Conservative Values is largely financed by the sugar industry. According to campaign reports filed by the organization, of the $271,000 raised since 2006, nearly 80 percent has come from the U.S. Sugar Corp. and Florida Crystals Corp. This is what passes for campaigning for office these days: suites that are smaller than a bread box. "Citizens" with "Conservative Values" who aren't living, breathing people, but corporations masking as them. That's the reality of it - once you peel off the sugar coating. [ Lonnie Brown, The Ledger's associate editor, is interlocutor of the Coffee Guzzlers Club. The club motto this week is: "Now that you're in there, can we bring you anything? A sandwich? How about a sugar cookie?" ]

Railroad cargo fee needed

Click title for story link. Article Launched: 10/05/2008 12:28:28 AM PDT The representative from BNSF at the community meeting held at San Bernardino's City Hall on Oct. 1 did little to lower my concerns about the railroad's commitment to lowering the health risks to residents living close to its San Bernardino rail yards. Studies presented by California's Air Resources Board showed that the air around our yards is the worst in the state. Residents in the vicinity of the yards have 17 times higher risk of cancer than residents near the Union Pacific yards in Colton. The BNSF representative repeatedly stated there was only $7 million available to remedy the contamination produced from train and truck diesel engines. The representative indicated that it would take $3-plus million of those funds to construct more entry gates to the yards so incoming diesel trucks would not have to idle for long periods at the few points presently available. Little would be left for immediately acquiring newer, more efficient engine technology.

Rail yard story (Rail Yard Pollution)

Click title for story link. By Andrew EdwardsStaff WriterSAN BERNARDINO -- Air pollution cutbacks can't come soon enough for several people who live near BNSF Railway's yard here. Westside residents crowded the council chambers at City Hall Wednesday night to demand air quality improvements around their neighborhoods. State regulators and BNSF employees heard about three hours from angry, frightened and impassioned words from people who demanded to know why the best possible technology could not be purchased for the San Bernardino rail yard at the earliest possible time. Wednesday's meeting followed the release of a draft cleanup plan that sets targets for emissions reductions to be achieved in 2015 and 2020. Although BNSF executive Mark Stehly took pains to point out the rail company has tried to cut pollution since 2005, but many in the audience remained upset by having to wait for more breathable air.

Railyard revamp plan gets a 'go slow' signal

Why is there no STB involvement in Winter Haven? http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=727803&category=BUSINESS By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor First published in print: Thursday, October 9, 2008 MECHANICVILLE — Plans to redevelop an abandoned railyard in Mechanicville and neighboring Halfmoon have been delayed after the U.S. Surface Transportation Board said it will require an environmental assessment of the project. The concerns center around the additional truck traffic the new yard would create as vehicles move between it and the Northway, and then to nearby warehouses. Pan Am Railways, formerly Boston & Maine Railroad, announced in July a joint effort with Norfolk Southern Railway to establish a new rail company to operate between Mechanicville and Boston. As part of that effort, tracks would be improved and a $40 million intermodal "logistics center" would be built on the site of a former railyard in Mechanicville and neighboring Halfmoon.

F&M gets state approval to move rail yard project along

Click title for full story link. A state agency has given Franklin & Marshall College approval to excavate and refill an old dump near the School Lane Hills and Barrcrest developments.The decision — which can and likely will be appealed — sets in motion a $40 million-plus project to relocate Norfolk Southern Railroad's Dillerville rail yard to the dump site in Manheim Township.The relocation would free up land for use by Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster General Hospital in northwest Lancaster City.F&M's vice president for external affairs, Keith Orris, said this morning that the college is finalizing the bidding process for removing material from the dump. He said the neighborhoods will be informed when the schedule is completed.

Mass. to acquire some CSX rail assets

Same song and dance as in Florida! http://www.pbn.com/stories/35473.html By Susan A. Baird PBN Web Editor BOSTON – A multi-year rail-transportation agreement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and intermodal transportation giant CSX Corp. “significantly increases options for commuters and lays the groundwork for improving the flow of product shipments,” state and company officials said in a statement today.

CSX Plan's Spinoffs May Need Review

Click title for full news link. By Tom PalmerTHE LEDGER Published: Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 10:20 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 12:24 a.m. BARTOW Expected spin-off development south of the planned CSX freight-transfer terminal in Winter Haven may eventually trigger more intense review by regional and state planners.

Haven Planning Commission OKs CSX Proposal

Click title for new link. By Merissa GreenTHE LEDGER Published: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 11:10 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 11:10 p.m. WINTER HAVEN In Lakeland, the CSX proposal to construct a major rail freight facility north of State Road 60 has been called a gorilla. At Wednesday night's Winter Haven Planning Commission meeting, one of a handful of residents who showed up to oppose the project characterized it as a hippopotamus.

Downtown 'Party' Is On Hold For Now

Click title for news link. Published: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 9:50 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 10:26 p.m. LAKELAND A tiger on a leash - or better yet, a gator - serves as fitting a metaphor as any for Lakeland's downtown sector. Civic and business leaders said as much Tuesday at the annual luncheon meeting of the Downtown Lakeland Partnership, a 140-member group dedicated to downtown prosperity, at The Lakeland Center. Members and guest speakers painted a rosy picture of the city's future - taller buildings, more condominiums, shops and entertainment venues, and yes, more parking garages. The only thing holding up the party is, of course, the wallowing economy. "It's no longer a question IF downtown Lakeland will be successful," Jim Studiale, the city's director of community development, said to a crowd of roughly 300. "We are sure of success."

New port missing rail connection

Click above title for news link. Depending on where you stand on the issues of lifestyle and economic development, talk of increased port traffic is either the sweet drum of river water on the belly of a port ship or the disquieting sound of more container trucks rumbling down Interstate 26. An explosion of new and planned development by eight national and international firms promises to transform the 70-mile stretch of Interstate-26 from Charleston to Orangeburg into a "distribution center corridor." An estimated 20 million square feet of industrial and warehouse space is already in the works, with speculative buildings ranging in size from 200,000 to 1.5 million square feet slated for construction in and around Jedburg within the next year.

A Government Derailed

Click title for story link. By Michael Lee PopeThursday, September 18, 2008 In the days before Norfolk Southern began operating an ethanol loading facility on the city’s West End, railroad officials tried to contact the Alexandria Fire Department several times to no avail. Voice-mail messages went unreturned even though city officials were aware the railroad was days away from opening a facility where thousands of gallons of hazardous materials would be loaded from rail cars to tanker trucks every week. According to court documents, city records, interviews with officials involved in the dispute and information obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, top-ranking officials made a series of missteps in the months before Norfolk Southern began its ethanol "transloading" station in April."I wish I could say this was an April Fool’s joke but it is not," wrote Chief Fire Marshal Robert Rodriguez in an April 1 e-mail to senior city officials. "We received a voice mail message this morning from Kelley Minniehan … of RSI Logistics. He wants to put keys in their Knox Box at the NS site."

Congress Hustling to Pass Rail Reform After Deadliest U.S. Crash Since 1993

Click title for story link. LOS ANGELES — After a fatal commuter train collision, Congress is hurrying to pass new laws that would limit hours engineers work, mandate technology to stop trains on a collision course and enact the rail industry's first other major reforms in 14 years. The train oversight and safety agency, the Federal Railroad Administration, has operated under an expired 1994 law, and until the Sept. 12 crash, it looked like Congress would end another legislative session without changes. Twenty-five people were killed when the Metrolink commuter train collided with a freight train, the nation's deadliest train accident since 1993. Now lawmakers are scrambling to come up with a final deal by the end of the week on sweeping reforms pushed for years by the National Transportation Safety Board. The House and Senate have passed versions of the bill, but hope to resolve differences before the election recess Friday, according to Senate aides. "We regulate in this country by counting tombstones," said Barry M. Sweedler, the former director of the NTSB's office of safety recommendations. "If you don't have enough people dead, not much gets done. The pressure isn't there to do it." In 1993, Amtrak's Sunset Limited jumped the rails on a weakened bridge and plunged into a bayou near Mobile, Ala., killing 47 people.

Residents fear the worst from intermodals

Click title for story link September 21, 2008 By STEWART WARREN SWARREN@SCN1.COM At the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, the diesel trucks go on forever. In a single hour, hundreds rumble through Elwood's 2,200-acre industrial park -- and the place is open around the clock, seven days a week. Some bring cargo in, others haul it out. The yard is a transfer point for goods, a spot to shift materials from a train to a truck, or a truck to a train. Experts say Will County's unique network of highways, interstates and rail lines is the perfect place for that kind of work: It's very close to Chicago but not nearly as clogged with traffic.

CSX Following In The Same Footsteps?

Below is a link to a news report about the tragic crash and deaths in Texas. It's amazing how the story focuses on freight becoming priority over passenger service and this crash proving that freight and passenger should not be on the same tracks in this CEO's eyes. It's long been rumored that CSX may be using the commuter rail deal to gain taxpayer dollars by having the State of Florida take control of the rail lines for passenger service. The hope of CSX, it is rumored, is to ultimately have no passenger service on these lines and the tax payers bearing the burden of cost for track maintanence, repairs and liability, thus freeing up CSX dollars. http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/columnists/david_hendricks/28675324.html You be the judge.

Winter Haven Planning Commission Public Hearing

The Winter Haven Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 5pm in the John Fuller Auditorium at Winter Haven City Hall, 451 Third Street NW, to consider the CSX/Evansville Western Intermodal DRI and to approve the Intermodal site. Please make plans to attend and speak.

A lot to say about Metrolink disaster

16 September 2008 - LA Times A lot to say about Metrolink disasters How The Times responded to L.A.-area commuter-train disasters of the not-too-distant past. Posted September 15, 2008 Sadly, the topic addressed in Tuesday`s editorial ``Make the tracks safer`` is one the editorial board has been forced to address three times in the past seven years. Before last week`s Metrolink crash in Chatsworth, which claimed more than two-dozen lives, a rush-hour collision in 2005 between several trains and a personal automobile on the Glendale-Los Angeles municipal border killed 11 people. In a 2002 accident that eerily resembles last week`s tragedy, a Metrolink train travelling through Placentia collided with a freight hauler on the same track, killing two people. The following observation from an editorial reacting to that incident resonates now: ``The April 23 head-on collision between a freight train and a Metrolink commuter train that left two passengers dead underscored another unfortunate fact of railroad life in the county. Existing corridors force freight and passenger trains to share tracks.`` Below are Times editorials that reacted to each Metrolink accident. Some, including the 2002 editorial and one several months after to 2005 crash, offer advice to policymakers who are addressing rail safety. Another editorial offers praise to rescue workers. First, the editorial following the 2002 accident in Orange County: May 5, 2002 Rail Issues Lack Easy Fixes Some South County residents want to derail a proposal that would send high-speed trains barreling through the heart of San Clemente. The fatal Metrolink commuter train crash April 23 in Placentia is fueling a new sense of urgency for a plan that would move increasingly busy railroad tracks running through the city into a trench below street level. The growing chorus of railroad blues might sound like a bad case of NIMBY in a county that just grounded an airport proposal. The noisy parade of passenger and freight trains rolling through the county is growing longer, though, and talk of 200-mph passenger trains racing between San Diego and San Francisco is moving into the realm of serious public policy debate. Existing railroad tracks were laid decades before suburban sprawl blanketed the county, so there is no easy way to give frazzled commuters a ticket out of freeway gridlock, or accommodate freight traffic that carries goods to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Solutions that will eliminate bottlenecks along tracks are costly and will emerge in bits and pieces. The proposed four-mile trench through Placentia, for example, would keep automobiles and pedestrians out of harm`s way by eliminating 11 dangerous grade crossings. The plan is worth implementing as funds become available; Placentia residents are assaulted by the blaring horns of more than 70 daily Metrolink, Amtrak and Burlington-Northern Santa Fe trains. The trench is a real-world solution patterned after the $2.4-billion, 20-mile Alameda Corridor that eliminated traffic jams and noise in municipalities bisected by busy tracks linking the port with freight yards in Los Angeles. The April 23 head-on collision between a freight train and a Metrolink commuter train that left two passengers dead underscored another unfortunate fact of railroad life in the county. Existing corridors force freight and passenger trains to share tracks. Those bottlenecks threaten to stall discussion of innovative proposals, including the California High-Speed Rail Authority`s envisioned fleet of high-speed passenger trains. One key bottleneck is in San Clemente, where northbound and southbound trains share a single set of tracks perched beneath delicate coastal bluffs. Stand at the foot of the municipal pier and it`s clear that the extremely narrow railroad right of way that barely accommodates one set of tracks wasn`t built to handle high-speed trains. Safety is an issue in San Clemente, where seven people have died during the past decade while trying to walk across railroad tracks. On a recent morning, a middle-aged couple ignored the flashing red lights and crossing gates as they scrambled safely across the tracks and toward the pier. Seconds later, a northbound Amtrak Surfliner drowned out the rhythmic pounding of the surf. The rail authority is considering two possible solutions in San Clemente. Unfortunately, neither is an easy or good one. The first would create a pair of high-speed tracks that would run along the existing seaside corridor. The second is a mammoth, five-mile railway tunnel that would run under Interstate 5. The environmental cost of anchoring two sets of high-speed tracks near the fragile bluffs would be unacceptable. It`s difficult to imagine the rail authority finding hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to finance a massive tunnel. The rail authority`s charge to move Californians into the future is laudable in a state where transportation alternatives are a necessity. However, the problems of Placentia and San Clemente show that it won`t be easy to move passengers and freight in a manner that coexists with nature and civilization. The following 2005 editorial praised rescue workers who responded to the Glendale Metrolink disaster: January 27, 2005 A Response of Grit and Grace The emergency response to Wednesday`s commuter train wreck on the border of Glendale and Los Angeles was everything the region could have hoped for. All those earlier rehearsals, some in preparation for possible terrorist attacks, paid off. Hundreds of firefighters, police officers, sheriff`s deputies and paramedics from jurisdictions across the county raced to rescue trapped passengers and get them to hospitals. At least 11 people died in the crash and about 180 were injured, but things that could have gone wrong -- confusion over who was in charge, missed radio connections -- didn`t. A command center resembling a small city rose with astonishing swiftness in a Costco parking lot, its orderliness in stark contrast to the derailed and jackknifed trains on the vast lot`s edge. Costco workers were the very first responders to the predawn tragedy on their doorstep. They rushed out in the dark and rain, toward flaming, smoking rubble. The passengers themselves remained calm in the midst of chaos, helping each other. Residents countywide can take credit for passing a 2002 measure that increased property taxes to keep trauma centers open and able to handle the influx of injured. Californians are tested veterans of devastating earthquakes, fires and mudslides. Wednesday`s man-made catastrophe may be even harder to comprehend. With one train car tossed on its side like a discarded toy and others crushed like cans of Coke, the wreckage looked like the work of a suicide bomber. In fact, police say, it resulted from the act of a 25-year-old man, now in custody, apparently bent on suicide. He appears to have driven his Jeep Cherokee around barriers and onto the tracks, then changed his mind. He jumped out, leaving the SUV to be struck by one Metrolink train, which derailed into another coming from the opposite direction on another track. It will be up to psychologists to discern what forces were acting on the SUV driver, and to the courts to determine what to do with him. Federal transportation safety experts will study the crash to see if barriers were adequate and whether the configuration of the Metrolink train -- the heavier locomotive was in the rear rather than the front -- contributed to the derailment. In the meantime, Californians can take some comfort in knowing that the response to this most inexplicable tragedy was carried out with grit and grace. The following 2006 editorial discouraged state legislators from passing a bill in response to the 2005 Metrolink crash: June 27, 2006 Way off track ON JAN. 26, 2005, AN APPARENTLY SUICIDAL motorist parked his SUV across train tracks near Glendale, causing a horrific accident that killed 11 passengers and injured 180 others. Today, a state Senate committee is scheduled to consider a bill that its sponsors say could help avert such tragedies in the future. The committee should reject it. A special committee on rail safety headed by Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) has considered the results of studies performed in the wake of the disaster and crafted a bill now before the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing. The bill would force rail lines to close off the first 10 rows of the lead cars in so-called push trains, in which the train is pushed from behind by a locomotive rather than pulled, and end push-mode operations entirely in 2010. The bill might soothe the grieving with a feeling that all those deaths had at least resulted in a law that would save lives in the future. More likely, however, is that the measure would be costly and result in reductions in rail service without necessarily improving safety. A study by the Federal Railroad Administration found that push mode doesn`t result in more derailments than pull mode. Supporters of a ban say the study considered only the likelihood of derailment, not the extent of injuries. Data do show more deaths in crashes involving trains in push mode, but there have been too few incidents to reach firm conclusions. A final version of the report released Monday contained computer modeling of the Glendale crash and concluded that it would have been just as deadly with a locomotive in front. Rail operators estimate that it would cost more than $200 million to buy enough locomotives to put them at both ends of California`s commuter trains, which could be necessary if push mode were banned. Other options could cost even more. For example, railroads could build ``wye`` tracks, which are configured like the letter Y and allow trains to reverse direction by performing something like a three-point turn. But a Metrolink spokeswoman says it would take a parcel of land the size of Dodger Stadium for a single wye, and Metrolink alone would need 21 of them. Even if the land were available, which it isn`t, it would be prohibitively expensive. The state is obliged to pay the mandated costs of its legislation, but that`s a tricky proposition. It is notoriously difficult to get the Legislature to reimburse agencies and municipalities for the cost of complying with its laws. If rail services like Metrolink have to pay the cost, it may mean reductions in service. Further, design improvements may be about to render the issue moot. Metrolink has ordered 87 new cars, scheduled to arrive by 2010, that are said to be far superior to current models, incorporating new safety features such as energy-absorbing technology and better seating configurations. If the safety difference between push and pull trains is murky now, it will get even murkier when these cars come online. If the bill would produce measurable improvements in safety, it would be worth the price. There is no evidence that it would. To head off future crashes, the Legislature should focus on things that could actually make a difference, such as more barriers to keep cars off the tracks and more grade separations where roads and tracks meet. But the state`s transportation system should not be hobbled because of one man`s apparent attempt to commit suicide.