Railroads and Anti-Trust

For full story, click title. A little over 100 years ago, some famous names — J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Minnesota’s James J. Hill — got together and formed the Northern Securities Co., a trust to control the Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and other lines. The nation’s rail system west of Chicago became a monopoly, and there was great public outcry. President Teddy Roosevelt took umbrage, filed a law-suit against the trust and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1904 held that the Sherman Anti-trust Act forbid such monopolistic control. The Northern Securities Co. was dissolved. Out of this, President Roosevelt earned the reputation as a “trustbuster.” Unfortunately, we seem to have forgotten why he was one.

Ballot question asks for input on intermodal plan

(For full story, click on the title) January 24, 2008 By Lynda Hemmerling, correspondent Proponents of a nonbinding referendum question facing Crete Township voters hope results will open the lines of communication with the village of Crete. The question on the Feb. 5 ballot states: Do you agree with the plan to construct an 850-acre intermodal freight facility on farmland west of the Balmoral Racetrack in Crete Township? The village has no obligation to acknowledge or respond to the question. CenterPoint Properties Inc. is in the process of developing the site as an international hub for the transfer of goods between trains and semi-trucks beginning in 2009.

Zoning Battle Over

If Eric in Kansas can do it, so can we!!! FROM KANSAS: The first zoning battle of the Johnson County Intermodal is over. Thank you to the many JCIC members and friends who attended last night's zoning hearing on the proposed Old 56 Warehouses!!!! The Southwestern Consolidated Zoning Board, voted 6-0 against rezoning the land on Old 56 Highway or approving the preliminary development plan. Their primary concerns, like ours, were diesel truck traffic congestion, pollution, and health. As you may remember, many said this was a "done deal", a slam dunk, there was no way we could make a difference. They were wrong! Our friends and neighbors on the zoning board were too smart and knowledgeable for that. They had studied the issues, understood what the impact of these warehouses would have been on Gardner, its citizens, and the rest of Johnson County - and took decisive action. Remember this the next time somebody tells you the Intermodal is a 'done deal". In my opinion, a good reason the zoning board unanimously voted NO is that they are from this part of the County, know the road network, and could not be fooled into believing the warehouses could operate without swamping Main Street in Gardner with diesel trucks and semitrailers. The developers put so many players on the field (over a dozen guys in suits) it couldn't be believed - and they weren't. The Southwest Consolidated Zoning Board is a very savvy group! However, this warehouse development plan is not quite dead. The Board of County Commissioners will hear the zoning board recommendations at 9:30 on Thursday, February 28, and could support or overrule them. Please plan to be there! While all the zoning board members are from this part of the County, none of the members of the County Commission are this far south. So they don't have quite the level of knowledge of the real world of Southern Johnson County that the zoning board has - or that you have. Because of that, your presence will be even more important on February 28 than it was last night! A few thoughts about the meeting: -- Johnson County planning and engineering personnel are very smart and dedicated. However, they don't have the freedom to reach common-sense decisions without constraints that we do. They have to operate within a set of rules and regulations. They acted heroically within the boundaries of what they can do and can't do. The planning, public works, environmental, and medical departments of the County worked hard to analyze this project and propose what they could to make it safe. They recommended zoning and approval of the preliminary development plan, but with 20+ stipulations, including a 300 foot buffer to protect the health of me of me and my wife. The medical and planning literature says you need much more that that - 1000 feet - but I am confident they did all they could. And grateful. --Several years ago, I spoke in front of the BOCC and urged them not to consolidate the zoning boards. I told the commissioners that the township zoning board is the best unit of local government in the County, because it is the closest to the people and has the best "on the ground" knowledge. That is still true. If you know any of the zoning board members - please get in touch and tell them "Thank you". -- After hearing Paul Licausi's team of PR people, lawyers, engineers, and others, and speaking to a few of them, I honestly don't think they have any conception of the havoc they would wreak if this project went forward. It is not their job to look out for us - that is our political representative' job - but they are human and most are probably reasonable people. I spoke with a representative of USAA - the outfit funding these proposed warehouses. He said they are a responsible corporation, and want to do the right thing. I am a USAA member from a USAA family (if you are a USAA member you know what I mean) and plan on following up with him. If you are a USAA member, please let me know. --Gardner was remarkably silent on this development. While the Gardner planning director and Dave Drovetta were there, neither of them spoke up when the zoning board asked for Gardner comments. It was remarkable. I have long had a hunch that the City of Gardner never acted on this proposed development because Chamber of Commerce members who didn't want their community or businesses destroyed stopped them. Last night's silence made that seem a plausible scenario. So, please pat yourself on the back, congratulate the other JCIC team members, and get ready for February 28. I would like to part with a humble and grateful "Thank you" for helping to protect me, my wife, and the citizens of Gardner. You did good work!!!! Regards,Eric Kirkendall

Tell Mitt Romney You're Not Happy!

After reading the following Tribune article, I was concerned that with such a high profile figure such as Mr. Durden on Mitt Romney's finance committee, and the shady business relationship of Mr. Durden and the state, this might be something Mitt may want to look into. With Romney's Christain values, I wonder if he wants to be associated with this type of deal. Take a moment to email him and tell him of your concerns. Let us do away with the state's veil of secrecy once and for all! http://www.mittromney.com/ContactUs http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/23/na-transit-commissioners-role-questioned-in-csx-de/

Planners: Rail Bid Missing Details

Proposal for freight terminal in Winter Haven needs more data, staff says. By Tom Palmer The Ledger BARTOW Evansville Western Railway's development of a regional impact application for a rail freight terminal in Winter Haven is missing some key information on traffic, environmental data and compatibility issues, according to a preliminary county staff analysis. "They didn't look far enough in their analysis; they didn't look at the big picture," county planner Ben Dunn told commissioners during an agenda briefing Friday morning. The issues raised in the county's comments have been a major concern in the months leading up to Evansville's submission of a formal application last month for approval of the project. The project, first proposed in 2006, involves plans to build a railroad freight terminal on a 318-acre site in Winter Haven north of State Road 60. Evansville Western Railway is a subsidiary of Jacksonville-based CSX Transportation. The project will involve bringing freight and automobiles to the Winter Haven facility by train and transferring the cargo to trucks, which will transport them to destinations around the state. Polk County's comments, which have not been formally submitted, are part of a preliminary stage of the development of regional impact review in which various agencies comment on the sufficiency of the application. Some of the highlights of Polk's comments include:There is limited information about which roads will be affected by truck and employee traffic. There is little information on how truck traffic will affect area intersections, including the extension of a dead-end residential road called Pollard Road to State Road 60. There is not enough information on the development's impacts on surrounding development - particularly residential areas - in unincorporated sections of the county.More information should be submitted regarding access to affordable housing for employees within 10 miles of the project. There is inadequate information on how groundwater and surface water will be protected. There is inadequate information on how wetlands impacts will be mitigated because the project plan includes development of a portion of the wetlands on the site. There is inadequate information on the locations of some of the protected species. The 318-acre site, which CSX purchased from Winter Haven for $6.9 million in September, is part of a larger proposed 1,250-acre parcel that would contain warehouse and distribution facilities that would be developed by other private companies. The larger parcel is not part of the current DRI application. The decision to locate the freight terminal in Winter Haven is the result of a deal brokered by former Gov. Jeb Bush that would bring commuter rail to the Orlando area by selling part of CSX's tracks and rerouting trains through other parts of the state, including Lakeland. The additional train and truck traffic the project would bring has raised concern among Lakeland city officials and some downtown Lakeland merchants because they feel it will set back downtown revitalization efforts.Residents around the relatively rural site have actively opposed the project as well, arguing it would intrude on their peace and quiet. Polk County's comments will be forwarded to the Central Florida Regional Planning Council, which is involved in the initial review of the project. County Attorney Michael Craig, who is former assistant city attorney in Lakeland, said based on the city's experience with CSX over the years, county officials should seek as much firm, detailed information as possible. "Get it in writing so it's clear and unambiguous," he said. "Otherwise they will drive a train right through it.'' Once all of the comments are in, Evansville's consultants will have an opportunity to comment and to make any changes regional planners require. No public hearing will be scheduled until the questions on whether the application contains enough information for review have been resolved. [ Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com. Read more views on county government at http://county.theledger.com ]

Rail traffic may rise in region

Rail traffic may rise in region By AMY REININKSun staff writer A Florida Department of Transportation project to bring commuter rail service to Central Florida could mean increased freight traffic to rail lines in Alachua County and a new overpass on State Road 26 in Orange Heights. The $491 million project, which would add commuter trains to a 61.5-mile stretch of CSX rail line in the Orlando area, would route roughly eight or nine freight trains per day from that rail line onto the CSX line that cuts through Hawthorne, Waldo and other parts of eastern Alachua County, said Fred Wise, manager of the FDOT's Rail Office. To help accommodate the expected increase in train delays, the FDOT is planning to build an overpass on SR 26 near Orange Heights sometime in 2010, when the increased freight traffic is expected, Wise said. The project has met resistance in cities like Lakeland, where the downtown area is bisected by the rail line that will receive extra freight traffic. Polk County legislators have decried the project, saying frequent train delays will hamper downtown business and disrupt residents' lives. U.S. 301 in Waldo and State Road 20 in Hawthorne already have overpasses over the rail line. Wise said FDOT employees also have met with officials in Starke to improve signals at rail crossings and make other safety-related changes. "The goal is to mitigate the impacts of this to make sure there's a smooth transition to the increase in freight traffic," Wise said. Waldo Mayor Louie Davis said the U.S. 301 overpass should prevent most traffic problems in his city, located northeast of Gainesville. But he said he worries about pedestrian traffic on the two city roads and one county road in town that cross the rail line. "My main concern is that if you increase the number of trains per day, you increase the probability of accidents involving the train," Davis said. "Pedestrians don't really have the option of using the overpass instead of the smaller roads, so that's something that worries me." Waldo served as a stop for passenger trains on that CSX rail line until a few years ago, said Phil Denton, organizer of Yulee Railroad Days, a multi-day festival that celebrates railroad history in communities like Waldo. Denton said though the increase in train traffic could add some delays, it has symbolic significance for the area and could even mean the return of passenger service through Alachua County in the future. "I know one thing for sure: It's better having a live train track than a dead one," Denton said. "It's good for commerce, good for industry and good for the town to keep access to the train tracks open. Having the train tracks still in use rather than yanked up presents opportunities for the future." Amy Reinink can be reached at 352-374-5088 or reinina@gvillesun.com.

Railroads See Ethanol In South In 2008 (Could it be Polk County?)

Tue Jan 15 00:34:20 UTC 2008 By Julie Ingwersen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Rail carriers see the Southeast and Southwest as the next likely growth areas for the U.S. ethanol market in 2008, executives with two of the largest ethanol haulers said. CSX Transportation, a unit of CSX Corp. , plans to build three ethanol terminals in the South this year, Kyle Hancock, CSX vice president for industrial and agricultural products, said in an interview Friday as part of the Reuters Global Agriculture and Biofuel Summit in Chicago. "For us, the market that is growing this year and that we expect to continue to grow into next year is the southern market -- the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida," Hancock said. The CSX terminals, currently in the development stage, would load and unload ethanol unit trains of 80 to 85 tanker cars. Hancock would not give the specific locations but said the terminals would likely be built in 2008. CSX currently operates five such ethanol terminals in the Northeast, all built within the last few years as the boom in biofuels took off. "The industry has the capacity now in terms of terminal capacity in the Northeast to handle all the demand that will go there," Hancock said. Through about 60 locations overall, CSX shipped 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol last year, or about one of every five gallons produced in the United States. Like CSX, Union Pacific Corp. , which runs the largest U.S. railroad, sees the construction of unit train terminals as critical to the growth of the ethanol sector. "That's one of the key pieces of our strategy," Paul Hammes, Union Pacific's vice president and general manager for Agricultural Products, said at the summit on Monday. "Getting those in place, where they can handle large units efficiently and get them into the distribution network of major markets like California, like Texas, potentially Las Vegas and Arizona ... is very important in terms of moving this product efficiently." Hammes said he expected "several more" unit train terminals would be built in the region in the next 18 months. "Markets like Phoenix and L.A., which today operate just six months out of the year, in the winter ... if those markets evolve into 12-month markets, those certainly could be potential markets for more terminals," Hammes said. Currently serving 59 ethanol plants, Union Pacific shipped 1.4 billion gallons of ethanol in 2007, or 48,000 carloads, up from 20,000 carloads in 2003. (For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/) (Editing by Christian Wiessner)

Train Left Running For Days

Train left running for days Jan 7, 2008 11:52 AM EST Jan 8, 2008 08:16 AM EST COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - There's been a big headache for people in a Columbia neighborhood. A train with its engine running has been on the tracks near their homes for the past four days. They want to know what's going on. We haven't gotten any explanation from train company CSX, but after we called them Monday morning and went out to the tracks to investigate, the train was finally moved. It had been sitting in Columbia's Olympia neighborhood since Friday. It's engines have been on and off, frustrating neighbors who say they had trouble sleeping at night. One neighbor even called the sheriff's department, but that neighbor tells us she still couldn't get any answers. Here's how she describes what was a very noisy weekend: "It was a constant, constant 'Rrrrr.' It was a pretty bad noise, and it got louder and louder. You know when an engine starts revving up it gets real loud? It was vibrating our house." We wanted to know what was going on as well, so we called CSX. We're told this sort of thing shouldn't happen, but when it gets cold enough, engines might be left running so that they don't freeze. CSX is still investigating, but not long after we made our call, we heard a different sound. After days of waiting, neighbors watched as the train finally moved. CSX says it encourages neighbors to call its hotline whenever they have similar complaints. The "Tell CSX" line is (877) 835-5279. Posted by Bryce Mursch

CSX Should Come Clean on Bridges

This editorial could have come from any person in any town in Florida. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=248&dept_id=505345&newsid=19169155&PAG=461&rfi=9

Union Pacific Targets 50 MPH (What Lakeland May Have To Look Forward To)

Union Pacific targets 50 mph through Angleton By John Lowman The Facts Published December 27, 2007ANGLETON — Union Pacific trains soon will spend less time in town. On Dec. 15, the railroad began increasing by 5 mph per week the speed at which trains travel on tracks in the city, from an average of 25 mph toward a target of 50 mph. While city leaders are a little uneasy about the increase, there is no cause for alarm, Union Pacific Director of Regional Public Affairs Joe Arbona said. “It will enhance safety by increasing fluidity through the system,” Arbona said. “When you go in and out of a town quicker, you’re less likely to see problems at crossings because people are less likely to try and beat a train since it takes just a few minutes for it to get by. We’ve seen reductions in crossing accidents in trains going more quickly in and out of town.” Increases are in specific areas, not countywide, Arbona said. He was not aware if there were increases planned in other Brazoria County cities. In some cases, the speed limit hikes are on miles-long stretches on which there are no steep curves. The increase through Angleton is based on the tracks there, which are rated at 60 mph for freight trains, Arbona said. Nationwide, Union Pacific has invested $3.2 million in track construction, replacement and improvement, and rail is rated the safest form of ground transportation, Arbona said. While the tracks are considered safe for travel at up to 60 mph travel by Union Pacific and the Federal Railroad Administration, Angleton City Manager Greg Smith is a little wary. “We got notification they upped the speed limits on their tracks in Angleton,” Smith said. “We have no control over it. The feds have approved it and the railroad notified us of the changes. Anytime you have traffic traveling at a greater rate of speed, you’re always concerned about safety.” Which is one of the reasons Union Pacific is making the change slowly, Arbona said. “We’ll do it gradually so people can get used to it,” he said. Even at 25 mph, it takes between a half-mile and a mile to stop a train, so drivers should always use caution at crossings, Arbona said. “You don’t want to take risks like trying to beat a train,” Arbona said. “You definitely need to be extra prudent at crossings and avoid any tragedy by looking both ways and being extra careful.” Safety always should be a priority when crossing tracks, Mayor J. Patrick Henry said. For now, residents can only accept the change and keep an eye out when near railroad tracks, he said. “There’s probably nothing we can do about it,” Henry said. “They’re going to go through Angleton at 50 miles per hour. The tracks are rated for 50 and are safe until they’re not, I guess.” John Lowman covers Angleton for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581. Copyright © 2008 The Facts