Flattened by freight carriers, fleeced by slick operators and dumbfounded by the audacity of the Rail Roads

By Faith Chatham - June 9, 2007
The railroads and regional and Arlington city officials have been meeting, discussing plans and seeking funding to relocate the Union Pacific tracks which run through the heart of Arlington and Grand Praire. Toxic chemicals carried on those tracks pose risk to large populations, but that does not seem to be the major consideration for relocation of the tracks. There is now much community support for commuter rail. Arlington, one of the three cities in this 16 county NCTCOG region, with a population which places it in the top 50 most populous cities in the nation, combined with neighboring Grand Prairie, are the largest cities in Texas not to have mass transit. Failure of the region to meet EPA clean air standards by the year 2010 may lead to Federal funding sanctions.

Increased gas drilling has also skewed previous air pollution forecasts even further into the negative column. Cities of Arlington and Fort Worth rushed to permit gas drilling without accounting for increased carbon dioxide emmissions from generators on gas drilling units. This is cited by the EPA as reasons for rejecting the regions Clean Air Plan.

The dialogue about relocating the Union Pacific tracks irritates me. For decades cries of concerned citizens over shipment of dangerous chemicals on freight trains through major population centers have been ignored. Now, as the freight lines want to improve their bottom lines and reap the profits from shipment of tonnage from China through Texas to Kansas City and Canada, there is a big push to get the taxpayers to underwrite relocation of rail lines. Despite how the rail roads, regional planners and groups like NASCO attempt to sell it, I doubt that protection of civilian population groups or promotion of passenger rail is prompting these inititives. The rail carriers want the tax payers to pay to upgrade rail infrastructure owned and controlled by private rail corporations.

Gee... does this seem familar? Private rail promoters acquire massive segments of American real estate to build railroads and provide passenger and freight services to the American people. Rail road promoters get rich, decided that oil and gas is more lucrative than running rail roads and hauling freight is less bothersome than providing passenger service. Passenger rail is discontinued by most carriers. Eventually public transit authorities develop passenger rail and the US government leases use of the tracks from private rail roads to provide AMTRAK passenger rail service to American citizens. Oil and gas makes land developers rich. Citizens sit for hours while freight trains have priority to the tracks over passenger trains. The energy sector gets richer and richer and citizens pay higher and higher electric, residential gas and automobile gasoline rates.

Somehow it is insulting to think that the public is being expected to pay for upgrading rail road infrastructure for freight shipments! Then comes the push to get the public sector to pay for relocating the UNION PACIFIC tracks which run between UTA and the new Cowboy Stadium in Arlington!

It makes absolutely no sense to me to relocate the Union and Pacific tracks that run through the heart of Arlington. What better location could there be for PASSENGER rail tracks? They run a few blocks north of the University of Texas at Arlington and a few block south of the new Cowboys Stadium.

Why is it that lawmakers and RTC members rush to convert highway transporation project to PRIVATE PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP while ignoring rail which has been a private partnership from its inception?

Why are public dollars tapped for improving privately owned and rail road controlled rail lines? One of the biggest obstacles to effective passenger rail in Texas (AMTRAK) has been the control of privately owned tracks. Freight carriers grant right of way to freight trains while AMTRAK passengers sit for hours, unable to estimate reasonable arrival or departure times.

BSNF, KCS (de Mexico), and Union Pacific want the benefits but do not intend to fork out the cash to maintain and improve their infrastructure. Most train derailments in the US have been attributed to the railroads refusal to properly maintain their tracks. It's time that the rail industry and elected officials (such as County Judge Glen Whitley and the RTC) face some realities. Ownership comes with responsibility. If the railroads refuse to maintain the tracks and pay for desired infrastructure upgrades, they should GIVE the tracks to the government and allow them to be coverted to passenger lines. If they want straighter routes from Mexico to Oklahoma to ship freight at better profit margins for their companies, they should pay for the right of way and construct their own straighter routes. They should not expect the citizens of Texas to underwrite their schemes to improve their bottom lines through prioritization of the TTC over more critical transportation projects designed to solve Texas's most critical transportation bottlenecks. Moving freight is a commercial enterprize. Freight haulers should pay for upgrades to commercial infrastructure.

Moving people is the governments responsiblity. If private public partnerships are called for, there is an excellent opportunity running right straight through the center of Grand Prairie and Arlington. The Union Pacific track passes within walking distance of Grand Prairie's downtown business district, Arlington's downtown business district, the University of Texas at Arlington, the Cowboy's Stadium and Glory Park. There is not enough money left in the sales tax cap (after citizens underwrote the Cowboy Stadium) for Arlington to underwrite rail as a city initiative. However, there is a great opportunity for a private partner to step up to the plate, negotiate a deal for use of existing Union Pacific tracks and provide passenger rail service to citizens of Grand Prairie and Arlington.

The rail roads should devote the effort they've expended on lobbying to change the Texas Transportation Code and changing the eminent domain law to favor exercise of eminent domain for private gain in their push for the construciton of the Trans Texas Corridor into pursuing existing opportunities to provide transportation solutions in passenger rail.

The rail roads (and regional transportation planner) have focused on getting the laws changed so that the public underwrites improvements to privately owned rail infrastructure. It is time Union Pacific, KCS, BSNF and other rail conglomerates step up to the plate and carry more of the civic repsonsiblity. Hey, maybe Mr. Jones might underwrite some of the expense. After all, passenger rail in Arlington located near his stadium would be a definite plus for transporting fams to all games -- not just a one time trip to the Super Bowl.

June 9, 2007 1:46 PM

Commuter rail to cost twice the estimate in campaign

New contracts bring total to more than $10 million annually
By Ben Wear - AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF - Tuesday, May 22, 2007The Capital Metro board awarded a $112 million contract Monday to Veolia Transportation Services Inc., a French company, to run the agency's freight rail and commuter rail operations for the next six years and four months.

The initial cost to run commuter rail is $9.4 million a year, including separate debt payments for its rail cars: almost twice the $5 million annual operating cost estimate shared with the public during the 2004 campaign to approve the 32-mile line from Leander to downtown Austin. The line will begin operations in late 2008.

The operating cost could be higher if Capital Metro, as some board members want, brings all commuter rail workers under the agency's umbrella and union pay scale rather than having them work directly for Veolia. Furthermore, Rich Krisak, Capital Metro's rail manager, said the numbers do not include fuel costs. Capital Metro will pay those directly, including an estimated $700,000 annually to fuel the diesel commuter rail cars initially.

Taken together, that would bring the first-year operating cost to $10.1 million.

Right Track PAC, a political action committee that worked closely with Capital Metro during the 2004 election, said in a widely disseminated mailer during the campaign that "Cap Metro estimates the new commuter rail system will cost approximately $60 million in capital and construction costs, and will require an additional $5 million annually to operate the trains and to lease-purchase the rail cars."

"It's pretty clear that from the beginning, Capital Metro has been deceptive at best, lying at worst, in their presentation to the public of the cost of this commuter rail system," said Jim Skaggs, a retired high-tech executive who has opposed Capital Metro rail ventures for the past decade. "This just confirms that they can't afford to continue on the way they have."

Capital Metro spokeswoman Andrea Lofye, when asked about the increased costs, said, "First of all, we don't know who Right Track PAC was. What we put out had different costs. . . . Our operating costs in the Veolia contract are on par with our own independent estimates for commuter and freight services."

Right Track PAC's chairman was former Austin Mayor and now state Sen. Kirk Watson, a Democrat. Its treasurer was former Austin City Council Member and longtime civic leader Lowell Lebermann Jr. According to a "Long-Range Transit Vision Update" released by the agency in May 2004, "Initial operating costs are estimated at $5M — including lease-purchase of vehicles."

The $112 million bid award to Veolia includes:

• $35.6 million for commuter rail, not including the cost of the rail cars.

• $61.5 million for freight rail operations, beginning in October. Capital Metro has another subcontractor handling freight rail operations on its track, primarily runs to and from the Marble Falls area to haul rock.

• A $14.6 million contingency, or 15 percent of the total, for the company. Krisak said much of that contingency is in place to account for possible quick growth in both the commuter rail and freight rail systems. Capital Metro's six cars will handle just 2,000 passengers a day, running primarily at rush hour.

The payments to Veolia are based on an hourly rate, however, and would increase if the agency decides to run the commuter rail service on an all-day basis or extensively on weekends.

The agency is considering ordering more cars.

bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698


Commuter rail costs

• $35.6 million of the $112 million bid is for commuter rail.

• First-year operating cost would be $5.2 million.

• Agency has $4.2 million annual payments to retire rail car debt.

• Fuel would cost $700,000 a year initially.

$2 billion from new tollway sparks 'wish list'

By DARLA MILES / WFAA-TV - Tuesday, June 5, 2007

We don't know yet which company will get to run the 121 toll road in
Collin and Denton counties but we do know it's going to mean a lot of money for a lot of counties - billions of dollars, in fact.

Counties are busy preparing a "wish list," long before the first toll is paid to drive along the new 24-mile stretch of 121 in Denton and Collin counties.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments will start cashing in on the project.

"The big check comes probably later this summer, the projects will be picked this fall, construction can get started in the spring time," said Michael Morris, the organization's director of transportation.

That's a $2 billion check. A private and public contractor are in still in competition for the bid but whichever company is chosen, it will hand over anywhere from $2.1 to 2.5 billion up front.

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us this month, as we sort out NTTA, and the private sector proposal but at the end of the day, it's a nice problem when two different organizations are trying to write you a check for several billion dollars," Morris added.

The windfall is going to be divided between nine counties. Morris is working with the transportation authorities from each county on their priority list, many of which include rail requests.

•On the list in Dallas County is rebuilding LBJ freeway, Trinity Parkway, and more downtown trolleys.

•In Denton County, the money may be spent to rebuild I-35E over Lake Lewisville and extending the passenger rail from Carrolton to Denton and to Farmers Branch.

•In Collin County, the priority is widening US-75 north of 121 and expanding the rail line to Frisco.

•In Tarrant County, the money could be spent to build a passenger rail between downtown and TCU and downtown and the airport.

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