Well, it's finally time to tackle a tough subject; rail travel in the Lehigh Valley. This will be a brief primer since very few people have been exposed to the basics of what it's going to take to achieve success and we will need to return to the topic often to fill in gaps. The title of my piece states not only what we in Easton have all been doing for decades but is also the name of a great new book that came out late last year. I just finished it and am going through a second time to let it all sink in. For anyone interested you can check it out here.
James Howard Kunstler (urban critic and author of books on our built environment, transportation system and energy future) wrote the forward for the book that can be read here.
Some basic information everyone needs to know now:
The first draft of the Lehigh Valley rail study is complete and has been made available to certain people for review. I am not sure but I think it will be released to the public in February. I have read it and there are things that trouble me that I will discuss as we proceed. There is a small but skilled task force in
Easton tackling the issues that effect us here.
Paul Marin; LANTA Board member, chair of LVEDC's rail committee and the person responsible for last year's public rail presentations and county funding initiative has taken a job in Spain and moved out of the country, leaving a leadership void as far as a public face to the rail initiative is concerned. There is a transition plan and team in place but I am not sure we can depend on it yet. Paul is in contact from Spain if problems arise.
The Recovery Act set aside $8 billion for high speed national rail projects in thirteen designated regional corridors. More money will be available through the new Transportation Bill (though how much and for what is unknown)and an additional $1 billion per year for rail was promised as part of the stimulus.
I don't want to overwhelm anyone with details yet, because frankly I'm still trying to get a handle on the LV study, decide how to address it and what mechanism exists through which Easton can effect it's final form. There are both juicy details and technical mumbo-jumbo which permeate both the local study and the national plan. I think the best way to start dissecting this process is for everyone out in reader land to send me your questions about specific areas that may puzzle you by using the comments section of the blog and I will assemble those questions into a new post to start fleshing out what we all need to know if we are to win the battle of bringing rail service back to the Lehigh Valley.
DRL
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17 comments:
to understand why we don't have passenger rail serice is to understand why it left in the first place. many know that Easton used to have MANY trains stop daily (2 stations, and I heard like 160 trains PER DAY, IIRC).
but people don't live in the city anymore. the suburbs killed rail service, just as they killed downtown shopping. cheap cars and cheap gas made sure that people didn't see the need to live and work close to the (only) available transportation.
lots of people bemoan the loss of the downtowns, but times change. everyone has a car now; cities were designed for shopping for people that lived right there. now, we bemoan the loss of the trains, but there has been a paradigm shift in peoples thinking and lifestyles that runs contrary to passenger trains.
the 'what it could be' outlook is just a hundred miles to our east: the Long Island Rail Road, LIRR. just an amazing system, largest passenger rail system in the world. it works because it runs a few spurs right through suburbia, with links to everywhere.
so, for rail to work in the LV, you'd have to run it out into Palmer and Forks, where the city workers live. it would have to be an efficient link to the airports and NYC.
just a few thoughts to share; personally I don't think they'll ever pull this off, but they will manage to spend millions on studies and proposals.
EHB,
I hear what you're saying, and it's important to know our history while still moving forward. The end of our cheap gas guzzling days is looming and with it, America's love affair with suburbia, which is already beginning to decline. We need to get ready, and begin to wean ourselves from our dependency on high consumption of gasoline. To suggest that we'll never have an effective train network in the U.S. is to suggest that the U.S. will continue to slip farther and farther behind the rest of the world. Europe has them, China and Japan have them. If we've already had them before, we can have them again, but the question is: will Pennsylvania be among the first, or the last, due to the action/inaction of our public officials?
Watching the President's town hall meeting yesterday in Tampa, one thing caught my attention. He said that rail projects were being considered all across the country, under Joe Biden's management of the TARP program. Then he handed the mic to Joe Biden, who said, the reason the money is going to Tampa (and Chicago) first, is that they had a PURSUED IT ACTIVELY AND HAD PLAN IN PLACE. As I understand it, while NJ has been trying to develop a plan, PA has been resting on its laurels, waiting to see what happens in NJ. I hope that's not true, because if so, that is the most irresponsible thing I have ever heard--we should have been working together with NJ all along should be working with them now.
Lets remember what Dennis has said--it's a big report and can't be completely covered in a blog post, but he has read the rail study and can answer questions, so let's ask questions:
1. Dennis, according to the study, is passenger rail viable in the Lehigh Valley as an extension of the NJ line?
2. Do you have a sense of where we are, nationwide, as far as having a PLAN, i.e., where are we in the line for TARP funds so that we can start creating jobs here to lay the track, like they're doing in Tampa?
3. What's next? Are there certain public officials we should be writing/emailing urge them to make this a priority?
Noel,
Thanks for addressing EHB's comments so I don't have to repeat that. We've made national decisions that turned out to be short-sighted. Fifty years is a short time span to destroy a national passenger rail system but that is what we did. We were the model to be held up to world on how to do passenger rail and the world learned well.
Perhaps it is a social psychology unique to America to think that we can always out-technology our way to success. Trains were considered old-fashioned in an age of cars and planes so we ditched them. The rest of the world (having civilizations much older than ours) realized it might not be such a good long-term prospect to bankrupt that investment.
Amtrak was created to bail out private freight railroads and get them out of the passenger business. It was given a mission of both replacing the passenger service the freights couldn't provide and to turn a profit. This was unrealistical and, in the cynical view of the Nixon administration, they never expected it to succeed. At best they expected it to limp along for a few years and then die, leaving passenger rail as part of a bygone era.
But it didn't die and despite all efforts to kill it people still ride the trains - as bad as they are - and want more every year.
I will put your questions on the list for the next post and everyone else should keep 'em coming.
DRL
Dennis,
Thanks for the update. About 8 years ago I was taking the bus to NYC from Clinton, NJ. The parking lot was impossible. I asked why they don't expand or relocate bus stop parking and was told that since rail service from PA to NYC was expected in the near term, they were not permitted to expand parking. Since that time bus stop(s) have opened up between Easton and Clinton.
Are there interests that are actively opposing passenger rail service?
I attended several meetings in 2008 at Lafayette College on this very issue. It was a task force chaired by the Mayors of Easton and Phillipsburg and Lafayette College's President. That task force was merged into the Lehigh Valley effort for the regional effort since the train has to come to Easton before it can go to Bethlehem or Allentown.
Paul Marin is going to be tough to replace. He had the passion and drive. The problem is the LV Planning Commission and a certain County councilman. I saw the Mayor of Easton and Ron Angle on a TV debate program where they went up against Ron Angle and the head of the airport who is also against it. If we let personal agendas like the airport and the bus companies get invovled then we lose our chance at RR. We need to be united as a region and with Obama making high speed passenger rail a priority who knows --- we may actually see it in our lifetime.
Anon 1:45--Could you clarify what you wrote when you said:
"I saw the Mayor of Easton and Ron Angle on a TV debate program where they went up against Ron Angle and the head of the airport who is also against it."
It sounds like Ron Angle is on both sides here, and it's important that we know who our allies are on this, and who the opponents are--thanks for your post!
Joanne,
The answer to your question would depend on who you spoke to at the bus stop. Everyone has their own opinions but they often also have their own "facts". I know the NJT/NJDOT study handled rail and bus solutions along the 78 corridor separately. I'll incorporate your question into my list for the next rail post.
There are people and groups that oppose rail but not always publicly. It is more of a subversive effort where they speak kindly of "cooperation" between pro-highway and pro-rail folks. Their agendas aren't always as blatant as the Rt 22 Coaltion but their blocking of progress behind the scenes is just as damaging.
Anon@1:45,
There are always a lot of wanna-be players on issues like this and facts and opinions often get convoluted beyond belief. The airport guy is already in trouble with both county commissioners on the state of the airport and I wouldn't worry about him. That the Port Authority of NY already discounted LVIA as the fourth regional airport for metro overflow air traffic due to lack of rail service should tell us something.
Angle never met a public spending program he liked. His acid test; the imaginary old lady on fixed income in Mount Bethel has never been sighted in person but if we found her she'd probably be pro-rail too.
I'd think a lot of these voices will fall by the wayside going forward as this (rail service) is something that will take on it's own momentum out of sheer need and lack of alternatives. We need to make sure it takes the proper form (in land use practices, etc) to best serve the region.
DRL
Dennis--one more question to add to my list: could you spell out the differences between high-speed rail and improving regular passenger rail so that readers know that high-speed is not the only option on the table, and why it would also be viable if handled properly?
Noel,
I'll go into the differences in detail on the next post but in short: There are few places in this country besides long haul routes that will support true high-speed rail. What the administration has done is latch onto the "high speed" buzzword as a way to rally support for rail in general. The public loves speed and anything high tech and I can't blame them for using the rhetoric, even if people like me are a little put off by the misconceptions it can lead to.
If we end up with higher frequency routes that are clean, safe and on time (with some upgrade in travel times) I'll be happy. Inter-connectivity, mode choice and higher frequency are what will drive higher farebox receipts.
DRL
And doesn't the current speed of train service have also to do with interruptions by freight trains? If you could speak to that as well, that would be great.
Looking forward to the new post!
I mis-spoke. I meant that Panto and a gentleman named Paul Marin were on the side of passenger rail and Angle and the guy from the airport were against it. Sorry about the mistake.
No problem--thanks for the correction. Good to know.
"high speed" is confusing because it means many things. It use to mean 90-110 mph on shared track and 110-150 mph on dedicated track. I think Obama is speaking about speeds in excess of 150 mph on dedicated track. The best reason that we are unable to achieve high speeds has more to do with grade crossings and a need to re engineer for safety. The Keystone line that runs from NYC to Harrisburg through Philadelphia is capable of speeds of 110 mph but is unable to achieve such speeds in Pennsylvania because of safety issues. Some of the stimulus money is headed for cleaning up that corridor and improving travel time. Right now, a Lancaster commuter can expect to spend three hours traveling to NYC. That's not bad, but it can be better. The Obama proposal is short on high speed upgrades. Two of the upgrades involve Pennsylvania.
The introduction of the high speed trains may throw a monkey wrench into a lot of planning. If Obama sees a need to build a national passenger train network, much like the Interstate Highway system in service and impact, it may move passenger trains to new tracks and new corridors. That's expensive but so are trips to the Moon and Mars. Regional areas may use large rail hubs with access through local public transit and massive and cheap public parking. We Lehigh Valley residents would go to one location and catch a high speed train. Just a thought; in today's world, thoughts are cheap.
I commuted to NYC for years. The rides are long. Parking at old still mothballed stations was a pain in the neck. Expensive, if you were lucky to find a place. I moved a lot from facility to facility always looking for the best and cheapest and easiest parking. So, I used Somerville, Far Hills, Morristown, Metro park and on and on. Best ended up being Jersey City after I-78 was completed through the Wachtung Reserve. In Jersey City you only have to deal with PATH. Hoboken and Newark were pains in the neck.
Working in NYC I met all kinds of Pennsylvania commuters. Those who came from Bucks County(geographically closer to NYC), Poconos, Reading. But the best were those from Pike County. NJ Transit provided commuter service to Port Jervis, These people commuted for periods of more than three hours. All those mentioned areas are looking for train service. A lot of money
I don't expect that train service will change Easton much. That first poster, EHB, is right. People who spend hours commuting are looking for rural-suburban living. That's an opinion. And I don't have any empirical data to back up my opinion and I have not found any data to contradict my opinion.
Want an education on passenger service: go to National Association of Railroad Passengers. Want to see what was once Easton's passenger station:
http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/lehigh_train_station.htm
When passenger train service ended 50 years ago, the Express stated that approximately 200 people commuted to NYC daily.
Anon.@8:40...
You bring up a lot of interesting points and I will include further discussion on some of those points in post #2. The speed issue right now has more to do with legalities than mechanical abilities. Positive Train Control (PTC) is a GPS-based system that prevents train crashes when trains are either too close together or the engineer doesn't touch the controls for a specified period of time.
It is expensive, but all European trains have it already and it would have prevented the head on collision of a California Metroliner and a Union Pacific freight two years ago that killed twenty-five people. Without it trains are prohibited from traveling faster than 79 mph and so that is what they have done to avoid the cost of installation: slowed down. This will become a moot point soon since PTC will become mandatory on all passenger trains within the next few years.
Also, remember this isn't just about getting from Easton to NYC. It's about starting to create the intermodal links necessary to give all northeast US travelers the options we don't enjoy now when gas prices surge again. Your reference to NARP is appreciated and I'll include some thoughts from them next time too.
DRL
It is not clear what Obama is attempting to accomplish. He announced this national effort to create a high speed rail network similar to Europe. He did not throw much money at the project. He chose several routes for high speed rail construction. In Pennsylvania he provided funding for a study of Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. He also funded grade crossing improvements to the Philadelphia Harrisburg tracks. That request has sat in Washington for years. It was never related to a national objective until now.
Some things he did not do: He did not move any federal funding to Positive Train Control. That was unusual considering as stated that such a program is necessary to provide high speeds. The Feds seem to be confused over best technologies in light of a legislative requirement to outfit the system by 2016. Estimated to be at leat 10 Billion.
He did not fund the I-80 Lackawanna route to Scranton. They have done their studies, acquired their rights of way and are ready to go. That's a bad sign for any other regional extensions of service.
He did not discuss Amtrak. To have a successful national network, Amtrak has to go.
Many of us are confused as what his real objectives are, Meanwhile there are many regional commuter proposals left lingering.
Locally, a proposal which is not even a proposal yet has not and will not get any federal attention. I believe our best effort is to seek some rail transportation from the Lehigh Valley to Philadelphia. There, we can catch trains to anywhere. A better likelihood that such a route gets funded.
I don't favor a New York commuter train. I learned to live without it. I think if you start thinking about best land use practices keeping commuter services out of the Lehigh Valley means that the urban cores of Newark, Elizabeth and Hudson Counties repopulate. Pushing train service out here only ignores those areas and kills alot of our farmland. If you need train service you drive or bus to a station that provides the service. Train service to Easton, east or west, requires a lot of federal support and I don't think that it will ever be justified.
Wow--this is all really interesting and that's why this on line conversation is so important, so we can educate ourselves and each other, and come to some sort of conclusion together about the most efficient steps to take to pursue bringing passenger rail to the Lehigh Valley.
Anon 9:43--you raise a lot of good question and make good points. I disagree on your last point though--passenger rail from Easton to NYC would help repopulate all stops along that train's service--Newark would definitely be a stop as the airport is there. If the trains were brought up to speed, multiple stops in NJ wouldn't be an issue. There are a lot of commuters in Easton that work in NYC and the passenger train to NYC would attract more middle-class homebuyers and be a boon to our property values.
Anon@4:26...
Remember a few things: The President is only one of about five hundred people in the federal government who wouldn't know one end of train from the other. The thirteen routes for "high speed rail" were not his doing. The transportation study group that was set up under Bush was charged with figuring out where our transportation needs (in all modes) would be in the future.
Bush's Secretary of Transportation (Mary Peters I believe) refused to allow the committee to even discuss passenger rail...this is the same woman who was quoted as stating bicycles are not transportation. In any event, the most knowledgable people on the committee split off and formed their own rail working group and forced the material into the final report. When completed, everyone voted to include it except Peters and two high-level Bush lackies.
I'll digest your other comments for my next post.
DRL
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