Steve
Vogel, President |
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Founded
1979 |
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TAKING RAIL ON THE ROAD This issue of the Peach State XPress is coming to you a few days earlier than usual, to herald a very special GARP meeting. For the first time in its nearly 30-year history, GARP will hold one of its monthly meetings outside the Atlanta area. The Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers is pleased to announce it will hold its February meeting in Dalton, in Georgia's northwest corner. This is partly a response to last year's membership survey, which brought requests for GARP meetings in other parts of the state. It's also a response to the growing enthusiasm in northwestern Georgia for Atlanta-Chattanooga rail service. The meeting will take place Saturday, Feb. 9 at the Dalton Depot and Trackside Cafe at 110 Depot St. in downtown Dalton. Meeting time will be a little later than usual -- 11:45 AM -- to make it easier for GARP members from other parts of the state to attend. Since there's no train right now, the easiest way to get to Dalton from the Atlanta area is via Interstate 75. Heading north toward Chattanooga, turn off at the Walnut Ave.-Dalton exit and drive into downtown Dalton, about one-and-a-half miles down the road. We're hoping to see many of the GARP members who normally attend our Decatur meetings. We're also hoping to meet other GARP members from Atlanta's northern suburbs and from northwestern Georgia. Some of Dalton's top "movers and shakers" will be attending, and after the meeting, many of us will get together for lunch at GARP member Bill Bowen's nearby restaurant. It promises to be a fun and informative day. We hope you can join us! PRIMED FOR THE PRIMARY There's one other reason why this issue of the Peach State XPress is out a few days early. Tuesday, Feb. 5 is "Super Tuesday," when Presidential primary elections will be held in 24 states including Georgia. With the date fast approaching, GARP did some research into the candidates and their positions on passenger rail.
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS The threat of an Amtrak strike has been averted, following a tentative contract agreement between Amtrak and nine of its unions. But the Wall Street Journal reports that the settlement, largely in line with the recommendations of a Presidential Emergency Board, leaves the national passenger railroad facing a $150 million funding shortfall. Amtrak says it is "considering a wide range of options... including possible cost cuts and additional funding from Congress." The National Association of Railroad Passengers is encouraging Amtrak "to close any funding gaps by growing revenues and not by reducing expenses." SMART IDEA A group that advocates restoration of Gulf Coast Amtrak service held its inaugural meeting Jan. 19 in New Orleans. The Sunset Marketing and Revitalization Team (SMART) wants to "preserve, restore and expand" service along Amtrak's Sunset Limited route. That route officially stretches from Los Angeles to Orlando, in Florida, but the Sunset has been running only between Los Angeles and New Orleans since 2005. Amtrak suspended service between New Orleans and Orlando in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, citing infrastructure damage. But even though most of that damage has long-since been repaired, Amtrak -- under intense pressure to cut expenses -- has ignored pleas to resume service over the full route. Amtrak's inaction has left a dozen stations without service, including several Florida Panhandle stations formerly used by passengers from southern Georgia. SMART says its initial goal will be retaining Los Angeles-New Orleans service, still under continuing attack by would-be cost-cutters; but longer-range goals include restoring the New Orleans-Orlando Sunset segment as well as returning Sunset service to Phoenix, bypassed several years ago. The next SMART meeting is scheduled for 10 AM on Saturday, March 22, at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. TOMORROW'S TRAINS? The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission has formally released its "Transportation for Tomorrow" report to Congress. As disclosed in last month's Peach State XPress, the commission recommends spending $8.1 billion a year for 44 years to expand the US passenger rail network. A detailed look at the newly-released report reveals specific recommendations for new trains linking Atlanta to Chicago, Dallas and Miami. It also calls for frequent corridor service linking Atlanta with southeast Georgia, and for corridor service along Amtrak's current Crescent route between Birmingham, Atlanta and Charlotte (where it would link up to another proposed corridor from Charlotte to Washington, DC). For those with an internet connection, the full report can be found at www.transportationfortomorrow.org. The report was endorsed by nine members of the 12-member commission, but sadly, the dissenters included President Bush's Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters. Peters and the others issued a minority report expressing doubt that the proposed expansion of intercity train service would be "cost-beneficial." NO TRAIN TODAY Once again this year, railroad track repair projects are causing headaches for Amtrak passengers in the Southeast. Until Feb. 7, Amtrak's northbound Palmetto will be originating in Florence, SC instead of Savannah, temporarily eliminating Savannah's first scheduled northbound departure of the day. Surprisingly, the southbound Palmetto is not affected. And Savannah will still have two later northbound departures every day, provided by the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star. In that respect, Savannah passengers are better off than New Orleans-Atlanta Amtrak passengers. For four weeks beginning Feb. 10, there will be no New Orleans-Atlanta Amtrak service in either direction on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Amtrak's Crescent will continue to run between Atlanta and New York every day, and it will continue to travel its full route between New Orleans, Atlanta and New York on weekends. While these seemingly-annual wintertime track projects occur during off-peak periods, they still remain a serious inconvenience for hundreds of passengers. When there's no alternative to shutting down a line, Amtrak should at least offer chartered bus service until that line can be reopened. HEADLIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL? Now that the Georgia General Assembly is back in session, there are strong indications that any funding for rail transit will be tied to the issue of transportation funding in general. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who presides over the State Senate, told the Morris News Service that the Senate will likely support T-SPLOST legislation. The "T" in that acronym stands for "transportation." SPLOST stands for Special Purpose Local Option Tax. If T-SPLOST legislation becomes law, groups of counties, cities and towns could band together to levy sales taxes for transportation purposes including light rail and/or commuter rail. As the General Assembly mulls its options, there will be at least two pro-commuter rail demonstrations outside the State Capitol in Atlanta. The Georgians for the Brain Train Group will hold a rally on the Washington Street Plaza from 9 AM to 10:30 AM on Thursday, Feb. 14, and GARP members are invited to attend. Other advocacy groups will sponsor a second rally, on March 17. Next month's issue of the Peach State XPress will have details about that rally. THE INTERNATIONAL German train operators have signed a new contract, ending months of periodic work stoppages... Argentina has signed an agreement to build Latin America's first high-speed rail line, a 422-mile route between Buenos Aires and Cordoba... High-speed Eurostar "Chunnel" trains carried a record 8.26 million passengers between London, Paris and Brussels during 2007... The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec are considering possible high-speed rail service in the Quebec City-Montreal-Toronto-Windsor corridor... Canada will spend $19.2 million (Canadian) to improve passenger rail and urban transit security... The Canadian government is increasing funding for Algoma Central passenger train service between St. Ste. Marie and Hearst, in Ontario. NATIONAL LIMITED The Illinois General Assembly has okayed a new funding plan that will avert threatened Chicago-area transit cutbacks... Amtrak says a daily round-trip train between Chicago and the Quad Cities would carry an estimated 110,000 passengers annually; capital costs were estimated at a lower-than-anticipated $14-$23 million; optimistic officials in Dubuque, IA have already selected a station site... A new study pegs the projected cost of a Minneapolis-St. Paul-Duluth high-speed rail line at $350-$400 million... The Missouri Dept. of Transportation is recommending that the state spend $10.6 million for track capacity improvements to reduce Amtrak delays along Union Pacific's St. Louis-Kansas City line... A bill filed in the Oklahoma legislature would earmark some vehicle registration fees to expand passenger rail service in the state; among other things, the bill calls for extending Amtrak Heartland Flyer service to Wichita, KS, and train service from Oklahoma City to Tulsa and on to St. Louis... Kansas City light-rail advocate Clay Chastain has filed suit against the City Council, following its recent repeal of a voter-approved light-rail system... New Jersey Transit has postponed the start of New York-Atlantic City train service until this summer... Maryland may add another line to its MARC commuter rail system; it's considering service between Washington, DC and St. Mary's County... Gov. Bill Richardson says he now favors a regional one-eighth-of-one-cent tax to support continued operation of New Mexico's "Rail Runner" commuter trains after federal funding runs out... Amtrak has moved out of its old Albuquerque, NM station, and into the Alvarado Transportation Center, shared with Rail Runner trains and Greyhound buses. DIXIE FLYER The Birmingham City Council has approved plans to build a streetcar line in the Alabama city, with service to begin within two years... Miami's Tri-Rail commuter trains carried a record 3.5 million passengers in 2007, a 10.2% increase over 2006... The Florida Dept. of Transportation plans to bring Amtrak service back to downtown Jacksonville, as part of a $147 million dollar plan to establish an intermodal transportation center at the former Jacksonville Union Station, now the city's convention center... Virginia has entered an agreement with the Norfolk Southern railroad for $57 million in track capacity improvements between Manassas and Front Royal; the program will speed up freight traffic and also make it easier to establish passenger service along the line... This is the last call for this year's National Association of Railroad Passengers regional convention, Saturday, March 1, in Tampa; you can find more information on NARP's web site at www.narprail.org, or on the Florida Coalition of Railroad Passengers web site at www.fcrprail.org. THE GEORGIAN The Atlanta City Council is expected to vote soon on the proposed Peachtree/Downtown streetcar line... The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has announced a safety review, following New Year's Eve escalator accidents that injured 11 people at MARTA rail stations; MARTA's chief operating officer, Frank Beauford, resigned 10 days after the accidents, but MARTA says it had nothing to do with the mishaps... The Albany Herald carried an upbeat story about University of Georgia fans who rode Amtrak's Crescent from Atlanta to New Orleans to attend the Sugar Bowl... For the first time, Georgia's official state road map shows the locations of Amtrak stations. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP GARP's Jock Ellis dispelled myths about streetcars in a letter to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's City Life section... In the Marietta Daily Journal, GARP's Dick Hodges rebutted an anti-transit op-ed essay from Benita Dodd of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation... Thanks to Dick Hodges of Marietta, Rick and Julie Clarke of Hoschton and William and Katherine Herring of Atlanta for renewing their GARP membership at the contributing level, and thanks to former GARP President Tim Wolfe for renewing at the contributing level, and adding a generous additional donation... If you haven't renewed your GARP membership for 2008 yet, you're running out of time: GARP dues are $20 for regular members, $10 for senior citizens or student, $30 for families and $50 for contributing members; you can send your check to GARP at PO Box 851, Decatur, GA 30031 or you can pay by credit card using the new PayPal option on GARP's web site, www.garprail.org. NEXT MEETING: Saturday, February 9, 11:45 AM PLACE: Dalton Depot and Trackside Cafe at 110 Depot St. in downtown Dalton CARPOOLING: Encouraged. Send an email to info@garprail.org and we'll see about coordinating Copyright © 2008 Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers, Inc. |
