The Silver Rail Blog

The Wall Street Journal continues the negative tone of its coverage of Amtrak.

This article seems to--incorrectly--blame Amtrak's long distance trains for what the Journal perceives as Amtrak's negative financial performance.

Different standards and definitions are applied to the word "subsidy" when the Journal discusses air travel and highways, of course.There are those who argue that air, bus, and private autos pay their way with user fees.

Those arguments are false, as these modes are subsidized by the general fund at the Federal level, as well as in many states.

--Jackson McQuigg

 

From the Orlando Sentinel:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/05/dockery-my-guess-is-that-scott-will-sign-off-on-sunrail.html

--Jackson McQuigg

In case you missed the Coalition's Spring Meeting of Members and Board Elections, held on May 7 in conjunction with National Train Day in Tampa, they are now available online.

Simply click here.

The Officers section of the website has also been updated to reflect the new leadership of the organization.

For more information about the Tampa Union Station endowment fund mentioned in the minutes, check out the joint Friends of Tampa Union Station-Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers press release, available here.

--Jackson McQuigg 

From the Orlando Sentinel:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-high-speed-rail-grants-20110509,0,4250769.story

--Jackson McQuigg

Thank you to all who attended National Train Day at Tampa Union Station and the FCRP Spring Meeting of Members!

Media coverage of the National Train Day event, which drew over 2,000 people, was significant. Some of the coverage can be found by clicking here and here.

More on National Train Day and the Tampa Union Station endowment fund can be found at the Friends of Tampa Union Station Facebook page, www.facebook.com/tampaunionstation.

In case you missed the meeting, minutes from the Spring Meeting of Members will soon be posted here to The Silver Rail Blog.

--Jackson McQuigg

From the Orlando Sentinel:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-sunrail-opponent-dillaha-20110504,0,5303935.story

--Jackson McQuigg

The Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers and its members statewide made this happen!

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/may/05/2/tampa-union-station-restoration-fund-announced-ar-205007/

See you on Saturday at the FCRP Members Meeting and National Train Day in Tampa.

For more details, click the Events and Meetings tab at left.

--Jackson McQuigg

Join us in Tampa on Saturday, May 7 for National Train Day and the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers' Spring Meeting of Members and Board elections!

National Train Day festivities will be better than ever this year, with Amtrak Superliner equipment on display, model trains, and a display from none other than the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers, which is co-sponsoring the event.

The FCRP meeting begins at 10 AM, while the National Train Day festivities begin at noon.

To find out more about National Train Day at Tampa Union Station and the Coalition's Spring Meeting of Members, click on the "Events and Meetings" tab at left.

--Jackson McQuigg

As most FCRP members certainly must have heard in the media by now, House Budget Committee Chair and GOP Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin recently introduced his Fiscal Year 2012 Budget for consideration by the House of Representatives.

The contrast with the Democrat Obama Administration's proposed budget is, of course, significant.

What would be the GOP plan's impact on passenger rail if adopted?

For starters, it zeroes out high speed rail funds. Worse still, it sets up a precedent of cost-benefit analyses for new and existing services which demonstrates Ryan's hostility towards passenger and commuter rail.

The double standard being proposed for passenger rail is highlighted by the uses of the word "subsidization" an the phrase "self-supporting commercial services" in the following portion of the budget document:

"Since 2008, funding for the Department of Transportation has grown by 24 percent – and that doesn’t count the stimulus spike, which nearly doubled transportation spending in one year. The mechanisms of federal highway and transit spending have become distorted, leading to imprudent, irresponsible, and often downright wasteful spending.

Further, however worthy some highway projects might be, their capacity as job creators has been vastly oversold, as demonstrated by the extravagant but unfulfilled promises that accompanied the 2009 stimulus bill, particularly with regard to high-speed rail.

In the wake of these failures, and with the federal government’s fiscal challenges making long-term subsidization infeasible, high-speed rail and other new intercity rail projects should be pursued only if they can be established as self-supporting commercial services.

The threat of large, endless subsidies is precisely the reason governors across the country are rejecting federally-funded high-speed rail projects. This budget eliminates these projects, which have failed numerous and clear cost-benefit analyses."

The full budget proposal is available here: http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf

Since highways and aviation are also subsidized with tax dollars (including tax monies from the general fund) and are not self supporting, FCRP and NARP disagree with Congressman Ryan's double standard for passenger rail.

Read about what you can do to take action to change this wrongheaded double standard at NARP's website here: http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/main/act/

--Jackson McQuigg

This week, FCRP President Steve Sayles spoke out against a request to abandon a portion of the Seminole Gulf Railway in Sarasota County by filing comments with the Surface Transportation Board.

Interestingly, the petition to abandon comes from homeowners who live near the little-used portion of track-- not from the railroad itself.

Many thanks to FCRP member Alex Grantt of Bonita Springs for prompting these comments.

The text of FCRP's letter follows.

--Jackson McQuigg

 

 

March 24, 2011

 

The Honorable Cynthia Brown

Chief, Section of Administration

Office of Proceedings

Surface Transportation Board

395 E Street, SW

Washington, DC 20423

 

RE: STB Docket AB-400 (Sub Number 5), Seminole Gulf Railway Adverse Abandonment, Sarasota County Florida

 

Ms. Brown:

 

This letter is to inform you of the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers’ opposition to the adverse abandonment request concerning the portion of Seminole Gulf Railway’s line between milepost 892.00 and 891.40.

 

As background, the Coalition believes that abandonment of any railroad infrastructure in this portion of Florida would be a dire mistake, as such infrastructure could well be utilized in the future for commuter rail, passenger rail, or light rail transit.

 

The communities of Southwest Florida, of which Sarasota County is a part, are some of the fastest-growing areas of the state.

 

Indeed, on March 17, 2011, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune published an article entitled, “Census Data Tells Story of A Complex Decade” which noted, “despite a housing downturn and the Great Recession, Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties added more than 130,000 people in the past decade undefined the equivalent of gaining new cities the size of Sarasota, Bradenton and North Port, combined.”

 

This is significant. As Southwest Florida’s population grows, its needs for transportation options will increase; passenger rail, commuter rail, and light transit will almost certainly become part of Sarasota County’s future.

 

As such, abandoning this section of railroad would eliminate part of what ultimately might become a useful link in a transportation corridor linking Lee, Sarasota, Manatee, and Hillsborough counties and their growing populations which are already nearly 3 million people combined.

 

With the public’s interest in mind, therefore, we oppose the petitioner’s request for waiver and exemption of proper abandonment proceedings in this matter, and the abandonment itself.

 

Yours sincerely,

/signed/

Stephen Sayles

President, FCRP