Consultants for the Indiana DOT worked up a proposal to upgrade... the key to making the Hoosier State a viable corridor is improving the actual route to make it competitive with driving. That means finding a better way to get into Chicago and generally remaking the old Monon from a secondary line into an actual signaled, higher speed line. That will cost money, which Indiana doesn't want to spend.
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I think we've move past popcorn and into full on Yakety Sax:But a former executive of Corridor Capital LLC, the company INDOT was negotiating with to manage the service after the state’s contract with Amtrak expires, said INDOT ignored warning signals.
The contractor lacked financing, experience and didn’t have rail cars ready to go, said Mark Singer, who from February until September was Corridor Capital’s vice president of strategic planning and brand management.
Singer said he joined the company believing he could help move a concept to a viable business. He left what he called “an environment of mendacity” after a series of company setbacks, including Chairman Jim Coston’s plan to have Indiana finance Corridor Capital’s startup costs.
“I was shocked to find out his own investors were not going to pony up ... to the table to finance this operation,” Singer said. “The state was going to pay $1.6 million to rehab equipment they were only going to be leasing for two years.”
The state would have paid an additional $1 million in annual lease payments, he said
I guess bicycle advocates have done a better job presenting their case!On another rail forum I read that is also discussing the Hoosier State situation, this was just posted. Thought it was an interesting thought process:
Just these 5 biking related projects this month that would pay for better than a year and a half of the Hoosier State deal.
The train advocates don't have the courage to follow the money?I guess bicycle advocates have done a better job presenting their case!On another rail forum I read that is also discussing the Hoosier State situation, this was just posted. Thought it was an interesting thought process:
Just these 5 biking related projects this month that would pay for better than a year and a half of the Hoosier State deal.
The dynamic tends to be a bit more complicated than that (witness some of those rail trail fights, such as some of the stuff surrounding the Purple Line). Generally, though, what seems to happen is that the bike folks get used as handy cover for an anti-rail effort at one time or another...the bike stuff isn't really material to the anti-rail effort except as a handy excuse.The train advocates don't have the courage to follow the money?I guess bicycle advocates have done a better job presenting their case!On another rail forum I read that is also discussing the Hoosier State situation, this was just posted. Thought it was an interesting thought process:
Just these 5 biking related projects this month that would pay for better than a year and a half of the Hoosier State deal.
Bike projects are peanuts. Consider real money, like the $1 Billion
interchange -- yes, ONE BILLION DOLLAR interchange rebuild
proposed for Milwaukee. For one billion less spent on highway
interchanges you could take half an hour out of the trip Indianapolis-
Chicago ($200 million) and subsidize the Hoosier State for 40 years
($20 million a year including capital costs). Oops, double counted the
capital cost. So, upgrade the train route, subsidize two trains a day
for 40 years, and still have enuff money to build a bike route from
Green Bay to Terre Haute. LOL.
Anyway, I have the impression that bike advocates are supporters of
passenger rail. Why attack our allies instead of our opponents?
Did anyone?Mr. Singer was aware of all actual facts associated with the Hoosier State start-up mobilization. He had zero experience in mobilizing a train service transition,
If they had, Amtrak would have learned what the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) learned on September 4th, when a large team from the FRA, INDOT staff and virtually the entire Corridor team met at INDOT in the morning and inspected equipment at Columbus in the afternoon: The three coaches and business-class cafe car Corridor arranged to lease for the Hoosier State had operated many times in Amtrak trains carrying charter groups and the cars had passed inspection by the Amtrak Mechanical Department and were certified for operation in Amtrak at speeds up to 110 mph.
Could be Columbus, IN., which is just south of Indy, but I've never heard of passenger rail cars being kept at either location.If they had, Amtrak would have learned what the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) learned on September 4th, when a large team from the FRA, INDOT staff and virtually the entire Corridor team met at INDOT in the morning and inspected equipment at Columbus in the afternoon: The three coaches and business-class cafe car Corridor arranged to lease for the Hoosier State had operated many times in Amtrak trains carrying charter groups and the cars had passed inspection by the Amtrak Mechanical Department and were certified for operation in Amtrak at speeds up to 110 mph.
So what passenger cars are stored in Columbus (I presume Ohio)?
peter
I understand that most of the CC people were the ones that founded the Twentieth Century Railroad Club that ran excursions.Corridor Capital responds.
Did anyone?Mr. Singer was aware of all actual facts associated with the Hoosier State start-up mobilization. He had zero experience in mobilizing a train service transition,
Someone recently posted information on this topic, but the thread was locked. Can threads please be merged? Or at the very least moderators who lock threads should provide a link so we can find more info.
Further... this thread is about Hoosier State in general.. and was started way before the current Corridor Capital issues, I think the current issues could have it's own thread, I don't like how threads get locked for no reason. Lock threads if there is an issue... if something is talked about twice... reference it and leave it alone.
Corridor Capital responds.
Did anyone?Mr. Singer was aware of all actual facts associated with the Hoosier State start-up mobilization. He had zero experience in mobilizing a train service transition,
Something better be agreed to, and signed by the end of January 2015 or there might not be a Hoosier state or a successor to it.
http://wlfi.com/2014/12/02/negotiations-continue-to-save-hoosier-state-line/“There is encouragement on the end of INDOT for us to be a participant in the continuation of this service,” West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said. “We’re looking at another private contractor to possibly take over that route, and that’s where we are currently in that negotiation.”
Dennis said the city will not continue to pay $16,000 a month to support the line come Feb. 1.
Well someone has to pay for the line? Do they think that bill goes away if "fill in the blank" is running the train vs. Amtrak?Something better be agreed to, and signed by the end of January 2015 or there might not be a Hoosier state or a successor to it.
That seems to be exactly the case
http://wlfi.com/2014/12/02/negotiations-continue-to-save-hoosier-state-line/“There is encouragement on the end of INDOT for us to be a participant in the continuation of this service,” West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said. “We’re looking at another private contractor to possibly take over that route, and that’s where we are currently in that negotiation.”
Dennis said the city will not continue to pay $16,000 a month to support the line come Feb. 1.
It's the right wing mantra jis! Private for profit companies can always do a better job than government, especially when the government subsidizes them!What makes these guys think that just using a private contractor to contract put the running to Amtrak will reduce the overall cost completely beats me. There must be something special in the water that people drink in Indiana.
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