Florida HSR Funds Sought

[Train2104]

CA filed a request worth all of the money that Florida gave up. According to their press release, if granted all the money, they would be able to extend the Fresno-Bakersfield line to Modesto plus build 39 miles of HSR track either continuing north or south to the mountains. If given half of the FL money, they could build track only to Modesto. IMO, they will definitely get at least half.

http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/pr_flfundingapp.aspx

As for the NEC, Constant tension is critical, much before this fanciful 2040 dedicated ROW HSR plan that Amtrak has released.

 

[AlanB]

$35.4 for final phase 4th track construction at Rensselaer station

I find this interesting since I thought that this was already funded.

The bypass at Harold interlocking in Queens is interesting because I don't think I have seen it mentioned before. Is there a engineering study on this? WA: $120 million for Cascades corridor projects

The conflicts at Harold are legendary, as both ways RR east/west or for those thinking mapwise north/south to Boston Amtrak essentially must cross over tracks needed by the LIRR to move to/from the East River tunnels and the Hell Gate line to Boston. What's interesting in my mind is that AFAIK, those conflicting moves are being eliminated anyhow as the LIRR's East Side Access work is done to tie the LIRR tracks into the 63rd Street tunnel under the East River and the currently under construction station at Grand Central. And I thought that was fully funded, unless maybe they're trying to lessen the amount of money put in by the State and/or Amtrak.

While this is a bit over simplified, just to give people the idea of what's going on, here's a quickie drawing of Harold Interlocking:

Now first, there are many more switches and even a few more tracks that I didn't draw into my diagram for time expediancy. But when you look at this diagram Lines 2 & 4 are the typical inbound tracks to NYP, with 4 generally used only by the LIRR and 2 being used by NJT, Amtrak, and during rush hours the LIRR. Lines 1 & 3 represent the outbound tracks, with Line 3 being the primary LIRR tunnel and Line 1 being the Amtrak/NJT tunnel and rush hour LIRR service.

So as you can see, in the out bound direction, Amtrak trains going to Boston must cross over in front of all the LIRR trains coming out of Line 3. During off peak times, that's not too much of a problem when everything is on schedule. But during rush hour with the LIRR having trains departing every couple of minutes, essentially shutting down Line 3 for the 2 minutes or so that it takes to cross an Amtrak train in over to the Hell Gate line causes big problems.

And of course the reverse is true in the inbound direction, where the Hell Gate line essentially merges with the LIRR track that leads into the Line 4 tunnel. So it has to cross over the approach to the Line 4 tunnel shutting it down, in order to reach the Line 2 tunnel. And in the meantime, they're trying to get the LIRR trains coming off of the two feeds from Woodside into the Line 4 tunnel.

Essentially, everything is backwards from what is needed.

 

[afigg]

The conflicts at Harold are legendary, as both ways RR east/west or for those thinking mapwise north/south to Boston Amtrak essentially must cross over tracks needed by the LIRR to move to/from the East River tunnels and the Hell Gate line to Boston. What's interesting in my mind is that AFAIK, those conflicting moves are being eliminated anyhow as the LIRR's East Side Access work is done to tie the LIRR tracks into the 63rd Street tunnel under the East River and the currently under construction station at Grand Central. And I thought that was fully funded, unless maybe they're trying to lessen the amount of money put in by the State and/or Amtrak.

Saw some info elsewhere that the Harold bypass is indeed part of the East Side Access project. With a project this big and stretched out over this many years, MTA and NY may be taking a shot at landing some funding. A long shot given the amount of applications for the FL funds.

Some more state applications:

correction for MD: $415 million total; $299 million for BWI Airport station & platform rebuild and 9 miles of 4th track, MD will provide $41 million in matching funds (not sure if the state matching is in addition to the $299 million or part of); $116 million for engineering and design study to replace Bush, Gunpowder, Susquehanna river bridges.

Massachusetts: $98.4 million to replace Merrimack River bridge in Haverhill for MBTA and Downeaster.

NC: $624 million total: for a series of projects, but also includes $300 million to buy 140 miles of the CSX S-Line ROW from Petersburg VA to Cary, NC for the SE HSR corridor. $50 million for 75 miles of the abandoned S-Line, $250 million for 65 miles of the active part of the S-Line.

 

[afigg]

There is a press release on the US DOT website on the applications submitted for the Florida HSR funds at http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2011/dot4411.html with a list of the states that submitted applications. Quoting from the release: "We have received more than 90 applications from 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak for projects in the Northeast Corridor, with preliminary requests totaling nearly $10 billion dollars."

The states are:

California

Connecticut

District of Columbia

Georgia

Illinois

Kansas

Massachusetts

Maryland

Maine

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

North Carolina

New Mexico

Nevada

New York

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Washington

Wisconsin

Now to find out what for and how much each state applied for. I've posted some earlier. I would guess that some of the states such as SC, Utah without corridor services asked mostly for planning and study funding.

 

[me_little_me]

Now to find out what for and how much each state applied for. I've posted some earlier. I would guess that some of the states such as SC, Utah without corridor services asked mostly for planning and study funding.

"some of the states such as SC, Utah without corridor services asked mostly for planning and study funding"

Read: The lobbyists for the "Consultants of America who Donate to Politicians" want some free, easy money that they know will never result in actual implementation projects

 

[afigg]

Finding info on a few more state applications, including a major joint application for the mid-West.

CT (update): $227 million for the new Haven to Springfield corridor

Illinois: $186.4 million for the Chicago to St. Louis corridor with $42.4 million state matching & 19.7 million from local/other, $1 million for planning a new station in East St. Louis.

Illinois appears to be the lead on this one:

IL, MI, MO, WI: $806 million in a joint inter-state application to buy bi-level passenger cars and locomotives for all the Chicago hub corridor routes and the St. Louis to Kansas City River Runner in those four states. The application is for stimulus money entirely with no state matching. If I'm reading the application correctly, they want to buy 100 bi-level cars and 31 locomotives. Bold move.

A copy of the the Illinois application can be found here: http://www.connectthemidwest.com/category/federal-hsr-funding/. Warning two of the PDF files are ~2430 pages long!

PA: $248 million for the Keystone East corridor

 

[GlobalistPotato]

There is a press release on the US DOT website on the applications submitted for the Florida HSR funds at http://www.dot.gov/a...11/dot4411.html with a list of the states that submitted applications. Quoting from the release: "We have received more than 90 applications from 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak for projects in the Northeast Corridor, with preliminary requests totaling nearly $10 billion dollars."

The states are:

California

Connecticut

District of Columbia

Georgia

Illinois

Kansas

Massachusetts

Maryland

Maine

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

North Carolina

New Mexico

Nevada

New York

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Washington

Wisconsin

Now to find out what for and how much each state applied for. I've posted some earlier. I would guess that some of the states such as SC, Utah without corridor services asked mostly for planning and study funding.

What's Texas's request?

 

[afigg]

What's Texas's request?

Finally found some info. Texas asked for $43 million total: $18 million for PE and EIS for proposed Dallas/FW to Houston HSR line; $24.8 million for final design and construction of PTC for the Trinity Rail Express corridor. Found some hopefully accurate info here: http://centexunfilterednews.blogspot.com/2011/04/txdot-submits-applications-for-high.html from Centex unfiltered news "TxDOT submits applications for high-speed rail funds".

Getting close to filling in the summary list of state and Amtrak applications for the Florida HSR funds. But still missing DC, KS, MN, NM, NV, SC.

 

[afigg]

The summary list for all the state and Amtrak applications that I have found so far. The only states remaining, except maybe for Minnesota, are likely to have only applied for study funding or not ready for primetime projects. The applications are for the $2.43 billion of Florida HSIPR funds: $1.63 in stimulus funds, $800 million in FY2010 funds which require a minimum of a 20% state or local match.

Amtrak: $1.3 billion for five NEC projects:

- $570 million for the Portal Bridge North replacement for Amtrak, NJ kicking in up to $150 million for $720 million total.

- $188 million for PE and EIS for Gateway project for 2 new tunnels under Hudson river with related infrastructure improvements.

- $50 million for PE and EIS for Penn Station south facility.

- $450 million for upgrades between Philly and NYP for "Power, Signal, and Catenary and Track Improvements" for speed increases to 160 mph.

- $15 million for PE and EIS for Pelham Bay Bridge replacement and evaluate track upgrades for a 5 mile stretch south of the bride for higher speeds.

California: $3.7 billion for HSR, $382 million for the Surfliner, San Joaquin, Capital Corridor.

- $1.44 billion with 20% state match for completing the backbone of Merced to Bakersfield.

- $960 million with 20% state match for construction north from Merced toward the Bay Area.

- $1.3 billion with 20% state match for construction south from Bakersfield to the Tehachapi Mountains.

- Caltrain: $382 million for more than 12 improvement projects for its Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor passenger rail lines.

CT: $227 million for New Haven to Springfield corridor

District of Columbia: set of access and capacity improvements to Union Station focused on improved access from the Metro, an improved western entrance and a new north entrance to Union Station. Did not find a dollar figure.

Georgia: $22.5 million for a $38 million dollar project to build a new station in Atlanta.

Illinois: $186.4 million funding with matching funds for a total of $248.5 million for Chicago to St. Louis corridor projects; $1 million for planning a station in East St. Louis.

Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin: $806 million in a joint inter-state application for rolling stock for all the Chicago hub corridor services and the River Runner; to buy 100 bi-levels and 31 locomotives, includes a 20% reserve.

Kansas: ?

Maine: $59.1 million total: $38.3 million for improvements to the Pan Am Railways tracks between Portland and Plaistow, NH to add double tracks, sidings curve modifications to reduce trip times by 10 minutes; $20.8 million to add double tracks and replace rail for the MBTA owned tracks in MA.

Maryland: $415 million total: $299 million for BWI Airport station & platform rebuild and 9 miles of 4th track, MD will provide $41 million in matching funds; $116 million for engineering and design study to replace Bush, Gunpowder, Susquehanna river bridges.

Massachusetts: $98.4 million to replace Merrimack River bridge in Haverhill for MBTA and Downeaster.

Michigan: $196.5 million for Kalamazoo to Dearborn section of the Chicago-Detroit corridor for upgrades to 110 mph, $5.2 million for Kalamazoo-Dearborn Deferred Maintenance Program that could begin this summer, $2.9 million for the West Detroit Connection Track Universal Crossover; $3.5 million for an intermodal station in Ann Arbor.

Minnesota: $145 million for Twin Cities to Duluth Northern Lights Express project.

Missouri: $937 million total: $337 million for current Kansas City to St. Louis corridor and St. Louis projects; $600 million for study, engineering, and ROW acquisition for KC to St. Louis HSR corridor.

NC: $624 million total: for a series of projects, but also includes $300 million to buy 140 miles of the CSX S-Line ROW from Petersburg VA to Cary, NC for the SE HSR corridor. $50 million for 75 miles of the abandoned S-Line, $250 million for 65 miles of the active part of the S-Line.

New Mexico: ?

Nevada: request for planning money for a western HSR network connecting Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and LA.

NY: $517 million for 8 projects: $294.7 million for Harold interlocking 2 mile bypass route to avoid conflicts with LIRR, $49.8 million for phase 2 design of Moynihan station, $112 million for new signal system from Croton-Harmon to Poughkeepsie, $18.6 million for replacing 48 miles of Hudson signal system from Poughkeepsie and Albany, $35.4 for final phase 4th track construction at Rensselaer station, $4.1 million for track and platform upgrades at Schenectady station, $1.4 million for PE for Rochester intermodal station, $1.75 million for Niagara Falls high-speed rail and maintenance facility.

Oregon: $13.1 million total for 5 Cascades projects.

Pennsylvania: $248 million for Keystone East corridor: upgrade 5 interlocking segments with track, signal, catenary improvements to reduce Harrisburg to Philly trip times by 20 minutes, install high level platforms at 3 stations. $73.3 million in matching funds provided for $321.2 million total project.

Rhode Island: $31 million: $25 million for 3rd track at Kingston station for Acela and Amtrak bypass traffic, $6 million for studies including TF Green Airport station

South Carolina: ?

Texas: $43 million total: $18 million for PE and EIS for proposed Dallas/FW to Houston HSR line; $24.8 million for final design and construction of PTC for the Trinity Rail Express corridor.

Utah: requested funding for a study of high speed rail corridors in the Intermountain West.

Vermont: $80 million for Ethan Allen western corridor expansion.

WA: $120 million for Cascades corridor projects.

Wisconsin: $150 million for Chicago to Milwaukee Hiawatha service for new rolling stock and maintenance facility. Specifics are not clear.

Note: Virginia did not submit an application.

So how would you divide up $2.4 billion? Role play LaHood and the FRA staff.

[edit notes: updated DC, MN info]

 

[Steve4031]

Give it to Illinois!!!! Lol.

 

[Eric S]

The summary list for all the state and Amtrak applications that I have found so far. The only states remaining, except maybe for Minnesota, are likely to have only applied for study funding or not ready for primetime projects. The applications are for the $2.43 billion of Florida HSIPR funds: $1.63 in stimulus funds, $800 million in FY2010 funds which require a minimum of a 20% state or local match.

Thank you for going to the trouble of compiling such a summary.

 

[AlanB]

My guess is that Amtrak will get money for Portal, either CT will get some money or Maine, another chunk to Illinois for the CHI-ST. Louis corridor, and the rest to California. Slight chance that Oregon/Washington will get some.

 

[afigg]

Found some info on a couple of more of the applications for the Florida funds, although the figure for the MN application is based on a spreadsheet that turned up with a google search and not on a official press release or posted copy of the application. I'll go back and edit my list to update it.

DC: set of access and capacity improvements to Union Station focused on improved access from the Metro, an improved western entrance and a new north entrance to Union Station. Did not find a dollar figure, but the Metro station modification really should be funded by Washington Metro and/or FTA.

Minnesota: $145 million for Twin Cities to Duluth Northern Lights Express project.

There is a total of over $9 billion in requests, so the $2.43 billion won't go very far. However, some are easy to put aside: the CA HSR request for extensions beyond Merced to Bakersfield, the MO $600 Kansas City to St. Louis HSR application (maybe some study and planning funding); the $806 joint request by IL, WI, MI, MO for rolling stock because the states should put some skin in the game first and get the costs down.

 

[jis]

My guess is that Amtrak will get money for Portal, either CT will get some money or Maine, another chunk to Illinois for the CHI-ST. Louis corridor, and the rest to California. Slight chance that Oregon/Washington will get some.

Portal actually has $150 million commitment from NJ. The Governor has actually signed off on the commitment. This was announced by NJ Transport Commish Simpson at TransAction in Atlantic City on Thursday. So if the full request for Portal is granted then the construction of the North Bridge and dismantling of the current Portal Swing Bridge would be fully funded. The NJ commitment makes this request eligible for funding from both the 100% pot and the 80-20 pot. Apparently in spite of the loud sounds coming from the Tea Partiers, John Mica (R Florida and Chair of Transport and Infrastructure Committee) is supportive of this.

 

[afigg]

Here is one cut I came up with at splitting the $2.03 billion remaining of the returned Florida HSR funds for the applications that were submitted that I know of. Since many of these have state matching, they can be funded out of either the $1.63 billion of stimulus or $400 million of FY10 funds. With uncertain funding in the next several years, the issue is how to best allocate the funds so there are real service improvements, but also to start some Preliminary Engineering and EIS studies so if funding becomes available in a few years, those projects are ready to move forward.

My thinking is to fully fund some key projects – Portal bridge replacement for the NEC, Keystone East, and the Illinois application for the St. Louis-Chicago corridors. CA HSR gets a chunk for the Merced to Bakersfield section. The rest gets spread between a mix of some PE studies, but mostly to projects that will improve service for a number of corridors. Amtrak gets funding to start the Gateway Project PE. WA and NC have enough funding already for years of project work, give them small amounts to maintain some momentum, at least in the political context. Maine submitted 2 applications; fund the smaller one for double tracking the MBTA owned line in MA so the project work helps 2 states and the MBTA. Help Michigan with additional funding for the Kalamazoo-Dearborn section to buy the NS line and start fixing up the tracks for 110 mph speeds. If Texas is serious about considering a Dallas/Fort Worth to Houston HSR line, give them the $18 million to get started. All numbers in the list are in millions.

Amtrak $570.0 Portal Bridge North Replacement in NJ ($150M NJ state match)

Amtrak $60.0 NYP Gateway Project PE and EIS (out of $188M million requested)

Amtrak $15.0 Pelham Bridge replacement and track upgrades PE and EIS

CA HSR $600.0 Merced to Bakersfield with 20% state match ($1,440M requested)

CA $30.0 Surfliner, San Joaquin, Capital corridor projects

CT $75.0 New Haven to Springfield MA Corridor (out of $227M requested)

IL $186.0 Chicago-St. Louis corridor Joliet-Dwight section, ($62M state match)

Maine $20.8 Improvements and double tracking for MBTA tracks for Downeaster, $5.2M state match

MI $100.0 Chicago-Detroit corridor Kalamazoo-Dearborn section, West Detroit crossover (out of $205M requested)

NC $26.8 Phase I complete Raleigh to Richmond EIS/ROD, Phase II Charlotte to Raleigh for increase to 5 trains/day ($624M total requests for plus 20% state match for 8 phases)

NY $35.4 Final phase of 4th track at Rennselaer station

NY $4.1 Track and platform upgrades at Schenectady station

OR $13.1 Five Cascades projects

PA $248.0 Keystone East upgrades to reduce Harrisburg to Philly trip times by 20 minutes and increase speeds on corridor to 125+ mph ($73M state match).

TX $18.0 PE and EIS for Dallas/FW to Houston HSR line

WA $28.0 Cascades projects (out of $120M requested)

Total $2,030M

Have no idea when the FRA and LaHood will announce the actual grants, but when they do, we can see just how far off my list is. :lol:

 

[Ozark Southern]

How would I divide it up? Well, of course it'd be $937 million to Missouri for KCY-STL upgrade to 220mph, and $1.46 billion to Illinois to begin the STL-ORD 220mph line. But that's just me.

 

[jis]

Rumor has it that it will be by 1 September.

Incidentally, Governor Christie has signed off on the $150 million from NJ. This was announced by NJ DOT Commissioner Simpson at TransAction in Atlantic City week before last. So that money is available contingent upon the federal money coming through. This makes the Portal grant request eligible for receiving money from the 80-20 bucket in addition to the 100% bucket.

BTW, this actually funds half the total Portal Bridge replacement project, which in total calls for and has EIS for replacing the two track bring with a total of 5 tracks. That is being built in two phases and scaled back to 4 tracks. The 2 track North Span is what would be funded if this grant request comes through. An earlier grant request for $38.5 million came through and FFGA was completed on last week. That was for completing final modified design taking into consideration change in plans from ARC to Gateway. This will require reconfiguration of Swift and also Portal interlockings to be different from the original plan. The South Span will be built in conjunction with the new tunnels, if and when they are built. But the total design and plan will be taken care of now. Somewhat similar to how the interstate highways system was built in segments based on an overall plan.

BTW, I think you have a very well thought out list above!

 

[afigg]

Rumor has it that it will be by 1 September.

If you mean the announcements for the re-allocation of the Florida HSR funds, I would expect the timeframe will be weeks, not September. The stimulus funds have to be put to work by September, 2012 with construction starting on some part of the overall project (or PE studies underway) and completed by Sept, 2017. The clock is ticking on the stimulus funds, which will be a major factor in the decision on which projects to grant funding from the $1.6 billion. So the funding is likely to go to existing projects or corridors which are already funded, have agreements in place and are ready to break ground by next year or to projects where there are low risks in getting the agreements in place. The Amtrak owned portions of the NEC, Keystone East, NHV-Springfield lines are good candidates to get funding because Amtrak is not going to say no.

Incidentally, Governor Christie has signed off on the $150 million from NJ. This was announced by NJ DOT Commissioner Simpson at TransAction in Atlantic City week before last. So that money is available contingent upon the federal money coming through. This makes the Portal grant request eligible for receiving money from the 80-20 bucket in addition to the 100% bucket.

BTW, this actually funds half the total Portal Bridge replacement project, which in total calls for and has EIS for replacing the two track bring with a total of 5 tracks. That is being built in two phases and scaled back to 4 tracks. The 2 track North Span is what would be funded if this grant request comes through. An earlier grant request for $38.5 million came through and FFGA was completed on last week. That was for completing final modified design taking into consideration change in plans from ARC to Gateway. This will require reconfiguration of Swift and also Portal interlockings to be different from the original plan. The South Span will be built in conjunction with the new tunnels, if and when they are built. But the total design and plan will be taken care of now. Somewhat similar to how the interstate highways system was built in segments based on an overall plan.

BTW, I think you have a very well thought out list above!

Thanks for the complement on the list. Just threw a bunch of them into a spreadsheet and played around to get the number to $2.03 billion. An extra $400 million would have made it easier.

Interesting if Amtrak is indeed cutting the North Portal Bridge replacement to 2 tracks. The NEC master plan has 3 tracks on it and the line has 3 through tracks at Secaucus station. Leaving the bridge at 2 tracks would make the segment still something of a bottleneck. Might mean that Amtrak is counting on the Gateway project moving forward to provide 4 through tracks in the long term. I think the Gateway project - or some version of it - will happen, but it could easily be dragged out for 20 years waiting on funding and changing degrees of political support.

 

[jis]

Rumor has it that it will be by 1 September.

If you mean the announcements for the re-allocation of the Florida HSR funds, I would expect the timeframe will be weeks, not September. The stimulus funds have to be put to work by September, 2012 with construction starting on some part of the overall project (or PE studies underway) and completed by Sept, 2017.

I dunno. I am just repeating what I heard from people who ought to know, like the guy who manages NEC Capital Projects. Well more accurately he said that it would not be a problem to meet the deadlines if the grants were announced in September when someone asked him about the date. Of course better things can happen and they may be announced earlier.

BTW, this actually funds half the total Portal Bridge replacement project, which in total calls for and has EIS for replacing the two track bring with a total of 5 tracks. That is being built in two phases and scaled back to 4 tracks. The 2 track North Span is what would be funded if this grant request comes through. An earlier grant request for $38.5 million came through and FFGA was completed on last week. That was for completing final modified design taking into consideration change in plans from ARC to Gateway. This will require reconfiguration of Swift and also Portal interlockings to be different from the original plan. The South Span will be built in conjunction with the new tunnels, if and when they are built. But the total design and plan will be taken care of now. Somewhat similar to how the interstate highways system was built in segments based on an overall plan.

BTW, I think you have a very well thought out list above!

Thanks for the complement on the list. Just threw a bunch of them into a spreadsheet and played around to get the number to $2.03 billion. An extra $400 million would have made it easier.

Interesting if Amtrak is indeed cutting the North Portal Bridge replacement to 2 tracks. The NEC master plan has 3 tracks on it and the line has 3 through tracks at Secaucus station. Leaving the bridge at 2 tracks would make the segment still something of a bottleneck. Might mean that Amtrak is counting on the Gateway project moving forward to provide 4 through tracks in the long term. I think the Gateway project - or some version of it - will happen, but it could easily be dragged out for 20 years waiting on funding and changing degrees of political support.

Because it is down to two tracks the cost is down to $750 million or so. It would be about $850 to $900 million if it was 3 tracks as originally planned. Afterall at the end of it all whatever goes over that bridge has to fit into two tunnel tracks, so it is not really a huge bottleneck - well not any more than the tunnels are that is.

I think the Gateway Project will happen way before 20 years. Th Republicans of the current breed have a short lifespan.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I think the Gateway Project will happen way before 20 years. Th Republicans of the current breed have a short lifespan.

You are a cockeyed optimist.

 

[jis]

I think the Gateway Project will happen way before 20 years. Th Republicans of the current breed have a short lifespan.

You are a cockeyed optimist.

:hi:

Anyone would have to be a raving lunatic to be in the rail (or even infrastructure) advocacy business in this country without being a "cockeyed optimist"

BTW, wasn't it you GML that had assured us that it was OK to have ARC canceled since a better alternative would get built? :unsure: So were you just being devious back then or have you become more pessimistic since then? Or perhaps your time horizon was 50 years and you forgot to disclose that while encouraging all to support canceling ARC?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I had stated that if ARC could not be made more sensible, it would be better to kill it because having a superior alternative built in the next 20-50 years would be better than it being built badly and having To wait another 100+.

 

[George Harris]

Anyone would have to be a raving lunatic to be in the rail (or even infrastructure) advocacy business in this country without being a "cockeyed optimist"

Greetings from a "cockeyed optimist". I have been in the engineering side of rail of all flavors for the most part of the last 40 years.

 

[jis]

Anyone would have to be a raving lunatic to be in the rail (or even infrastructure) advocacy business in this country without being a "cockeyed optimist"

Greetings from a "cockeyed optimist". I have been in the engineering side of rail of all flavors for the most part of the last 40 years.

:hi: Greeting from another publicly recognized "cockeyed optimist", though not an RR industry insider. Just an overall "cockeyed optimist", but mostly grounded in reality, as many of my posts in these fora will attest to, what can I say?

 

[WICT106]

Count me as another optimist -- though it has been difficult over these past few months, what with a governor from the Party Of "No." What do you say we at least talk about what has worked, what hasn't, in promotion of rail ?