Good Week, Bad Week Investors Chronicle 04/12/2002 News Analysis Balfour Beatty The construction company continued its push into the US rail market with new contracts and an acquisition. Balfour Beatty has been selected to design and build an 18-mile commuter line in South Boston, and an extension to the San Diego light rail system. The company has also bought an Alabama-based rail maintenance business for $3.5 million, possibly rising to $6.2 million. The shares nudged up to 231p, a 14 percent premium to January's buy tip. Streetcar System Carries Great Promise For Downtown Tampa The Tampa Tribune 04/13/2002 Everyone will win when electric streetcars return to Tampa's streets on Saturday, Oct. 19, after a 56-year absence. The attractive, bright red and yellow, air-conditioned streetcars will help bring more tourist dollars to Tampa by providing cruise ship passengers and other urban tourists with easy, inexpensive access to hotels in downtown Tampa, attractions such as the Florida Aquarium and the Ice Palace, and unique shopping, dining and leisure experiences in downtown, Channelside and Ybor City. Meeting and convention planners, who will bring visitors to ride Tampa's new streetcar system and visit other regional tourist attractions, are already making inquiries. Commercial development along and near the streetcar's tracks is booming. Millions of dollars in new entertainment, retail, commercial and residential development is either under construction, complete or scheduled for completion by 2005. Property values along the streetcar alignment have been rising steadily and could double within four to five years. Other cities that have brought back their streetcar and urban transit systems have found they prove to be intrinsically attractive tourist attractions and powerful economic stimulants for urban redevelopment, as well as being enormously popular with local residents. And because our state and federal governments are matching the city of Tampa's gas tax investment on a 4-to-1 basis with funds specifically designated for transit, Tampa taxpayers win too. The Florida Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation, with persistent urging and grant applications from HARTline, the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the city government, are paying the majority of the $32 million cost of building the first 2.3-mile segment of the system and 100 percent of the costs for the ancillary, complementary, intermodal transportation facilities being built on both ends of the track. Southern Transportation Plaza ($14.5 million) will be located next to the Tampa Convention Center. Ybor Station ($7.3 million), the "car barn" and streetcar museum for the system, is being built in Ybor City. So Tampa's residents will get a clean, friendly and efficient transit system that will provide easy access to events and attractions in Tampa's urban core and significantly alleviate the gridlock that often precedes and follows shows or games at the Ice Palace and multiple downtown events, without having to pay any additional taxes. The groups involved in bringing Tampa's streetcars back (Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway Society, the city of Tampa, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, the MPO, FDOT and Tampa Historic Streetcar Inc.) were aware that it takes time for new transit systems to optimize operating revenues. Protecting Tampa taxpayers from paying any operating costs was a very high (and early) priority. A unique and innovative plan to cover the system's operating costs was developed before the groups obtained any construction funding. The streetcar system's operating costs during the first three years will be covered through a one-time federal grant along with a special assessment on private property in the three areas the streetcar serves -- downtown, the Channel District and Ybor City. The special assessment of one-third mill is very important to the streetcar system and is a strong indication of the support the system has received from the local business community, the Tampa Downtown Partnership, the Channel District Council and the Ybor City Development Corp. From year four on, operating costs will be funded through fare box revenues, the special assessment, interest on an $8 million to $10 million endowment fund built through the sales of streetcar system naming rights, revenue generated by electronic streetcar and station stop advertising, and potential income generated through joint public/private commercial development at Ybor Station and Southern Transportation Plaza. And Tampa itself wins because it gets an important piece of its history back, thanks to the leadership of Mayor Dick Greco and the commitment of the Tampa & Ybor City Street Railway Society, which first suggested the return of the streetcars in the mid-1980s. The group that began as 100 streetcar enthusiasts is today composed of hundreds of active members, and it has played a key role in expanding the public support for this exciting project. Tampa's first electric streetcar system ran from 1892 until 1946 and was the Southeast's largest with 53 miles of track, about 70 cars and more than 24 million passenger trips a year during its heyday. For 50 years Tampa residents used and enjoyed streetcars, viewing them as an essential part of their lives. We believe that will happen again. Come join us on opening day and see for yourself. (NOTE: adding a human perspective) Woman, 20, Dies When Train Hits Car; Unguarded Crossing: Witness Said He Tried To Comfort Woman While She Was Dying Ventura County Star 04/13/2002 An Amtrak train smashed into a sports car at a rural railroad crossing north of Camarillo Friday afternoon, killing a 20-year-old woman. The driver was identified as Nichole Laster of Camarillo. Tom Stoddard was working at the Halle Tree Farm less than 15 yards from the intersection about 2:30 p.m. when he saw the car cruise through the unmarked crossing just as the northbound train was about to roll through. "She smiled and waved at me as she drove by," a shaken Stoddard said as he sat under a tree next to the crossing on Bell Ranch Road. "I was yelling 'train, train,' but I don't think she heard me or even saw the train until it was too late." He added that Laster did not appear to have stopped before crossing the tracks, despite a stop there. Stoddard said Laster turned and saw the oncoming train only as she was crossing the tracks. "She tried to accelerate and almost made it," he said. But the train rammed the back of the silver car with a tremendous force, throwing the woman from the car. "When I reached her she was lying on the ground saying, 'No, no, no'," Stoddard said. Clothes from inside the car were scattered hundreds of feet away. Amtrak officials told investigators the passenger train was traveling at 68 mph when it hit the car. No one aboard the train was reported injured by the collision. Laster was taken to St. John's Pleasant Valley MedicalCenter in Camarillo, where she was pronounced dead. Stoddard said she stopped breathing several times as he sat next to her, waiting for paramedics to arrive. "Each time she stopped breathing, I'd say 'breathe, breathe', and she would," said Stoddard, who has worked at the tree farm for 20 years. He said that during that time he's had the misfortune to witness about 10 such accidents along that stretch of track. An Amtrak train hit a tractor on Nov. 23, killing the driver and causing it to burst into flames as it was going through another unmarked crossing near Las Posas Road in Camarillo. That collision also injured 12 of the train's 150 passengers. And in November 2000, an Amtrak train struck a truck at another unmarked crossing near Moorpark with enough force to cut it in half. The collision killed the truck's driver. In response to the accidents, the California Highway Patrol, along with a coalition of rail companies and public agencies, gave three presentations last year to hundreds of farm workers about the dangers of railroad accidents. Officials say it takes at least one mile for a 12-million-pound train traveling at 55 mph to come to a stop. Stoddard said locals have been asking for years that a crossing arm and warning lights be installed at the Bell Ranch Road intersection. But he said so far no one has been willing to pay the estimated $150,000 such an installation would cost. Crime On E. County Trolley Route Brings A Law-Enforcement Sweep The San Diego Union-Tribune 04/13/2002 A spate of violent crime along the route of the San Diego Trolley through the East County prompted a two-day police crackdown this week that yielded 10 arrests and about 80 citations, authorities said yesterday. Groups of six officers from La Mesa, transit security and the Sheriff's Department rode commuter trains from noon to midnight Thursday and noon to 9 p.m. yesterday, checking passengers for tickets. Anyone without a ticket was cited and checked for warrants. Police said their presence may have prevented crime. La Mesa Detective Justin Smith organized the sweep after getting numerous reports of assaults and other crimes involving juveniles along the tracks and at trolley stations. A woman was shot in the hand by a robber this week while she was sitting with her husband on a bus bench along Palm Avenue not far from a trolley stop. "It perked our interest to get some high-visibility enforcement out there," Smith said. "Overall, they're pretty effective," Smith said of the sweeps. "It keeps crime down for a period of time. Your being out there keeps the people away that are going to do the most violent stuff, or at least moves them away." The sweeps stretched from the Massachusetts Avenue station in south Lemon Grove to the end of the Orange Line in Santee. La Mesa police Officer Mark Falcione said the checking of passengers did not involve any sort of profiling. "Everybody gets their ticket checked," he said. One 13-year-old girl was arrested yesterday when officers learned of a warrant for her arrest for a school fight. Some riders were irked at the stepped-up enforcement. Michael Perry was pulled off a train at a La Mesa station and cited for riding the train without a ticket. Perry, 47, said it was his sixth such citation, the second in recent days. "I'm going to be late for work," he said. "They weren't polite. They're a bunch of rats." Falcione said Perry was cited on the first day of the sweeps and warned there would be a second. Raul Escamilla was pulled over a few stops south and cited for riding without a ticket. Escamilla said he hadn't ridden the trolley for two years and forgot to get a return ticket for his trip home. He felt he should have been given a warning instead of a ticket. Other passengers said the sweeps weren't an inconvenience. "It doesn't bother me," said Raquel Martinez while boarding the trolley at the La Mesa station. "Lots of times, there are people on drugs on the train. If they see the officers, it makes them more respectful." Foes Line Up Against Light Rail Utility Deal; City Is Offering To Pay To Move Power Lines In Rainier Valley The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 04/13/2002 Another legal challenge may face Sound Transit's light rail segment in Rainier Valley, after critics questioned the proposed cost-sharing arrangement with Seattle. The City Council Transportation Committee was told yesterday that committing the proposed $21.5 million in city utility costs to the project through a community-development fund would violate state law. At least two council members said they're comfortable with the arrangement, under which city utilities would pay to move utilities for the new line, which will require widening of four miles of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. One official said this is normal practice when roads are widened. But Jorgen Bader, secretary of the Seattle Community Council Federation, told committee members the arrangement is a "rip-off of ratepayers" and violates a state law requiring a benefiting unit of government to pay the cost of services provided by another unit. City Light, for the most part, would not be reimbursed for the expense. Bader and two other speakers said City Light ratepayers shouldn't have to pay the costs of running the trains through the neighborhood. Bader said it could be paid with general tax funds but not with utility money. The council has not yet approved the arrangement, supported by some Rainier Valley neighborhood and business leaders. The fund was negotiated between Sound Transit and the city three years ago to help pay for the street work and compensate displaced landowners and businesses. Although it is not clear who would bring legal action, the proposal is "most likely to be challenged in court," said George Curtis of Save Our Valley, an organization that filed its own suit against the project two years ago. Most of the suit was thrown out. Curtis said a compensation arrangement similar to the one under discussion now was struck down by a court in Portland when that city built its light rail line. Critics said it's not appropriate to ask City Light to commit money to the project, given its disastrous recent losses in the electricity market and its staggering $1.7 billion debt. But two committee members, Richard Conlin and Heidi Wills, said it's legal for the city to contribute the utility work. Wills said it will allow Sound Transit to put more of its money into programs to assist and move the hundreds of businesses the project will displace. Assistant City Attorney Will Patton said city utilities always bear the complete cost of moving their facilities when roads are widened and the law Bader cited doesn't apply in the Rainier Valley case. He said City Light will be compensated for some work it will do for Sound Transit -- "more than the normal zero, but less than 100 percent." And several speakers, some of them members of a steering committee that developed the fund proposal urged the council to approve it. Pat Chemnick, of the Southeast Effective Development organization, said the fund will create redevelopment opportunities in the valley, "in the community that's hit the hardest" by the ground-level rail line. The controversial line, which many residents wanted buried in a tunnel, "split our community in half," said Eric Pettigrew, president of the Rainier Chamber of Commerce, but the fund has "started to bring (it) back together." Thao Tran of the Vietnamese Business Council said his group opposes the rail line, but wants the fund established if it is built. He said there is a "very real" possibility that building the line and widening the street will wipe out 300 businesses. Committee members, after some debate and minor amendments, agreed to send the measure to the full council April 22 or April 29 depending on when final language is completed. One possible change is language emphasizing that the Rainier Valley fund arrangement is unique and should not be viewed as a precedent for other areas. Council President Peter Steinbrueck expressed concern that if the fund is approved, other neighborhoods will ask for "equal treatment" in similar circumstances. Councilman Richard McIver said, however, that Rainier Valley is a case of "a disadvantaged community trying to get to the same level as everybody else" in the city. Sound Transit plans to run its trains along the center of the street surface, necessitating widening it. Construction is to start in 2004 and continue through 2007. The segment is part of Sound Transit's initial 14-mile, $2.1 billion light rail line to be operational by 2009. Ridership Flies High On High-speed Train; Sept. 11 Has Had A Lasting Effect The Philadelphia Inquirer 04/13/2002 BOSTON -- Amtrak's high-speed Acela Express train got a big boost after the terrorist attacks, and seven months later it appears to be holding. Credit comfort, fear of flying, or backed-up airport security lines. In any case, business travelers have steadily been trying Acela Express between Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington. According to the best available records from Amtrak and airline companies, the train appears to be competing neck-and-neck with the US Airways and Delta Air Lines shuttles, which still have not fully rebounded from the Sept. 11 attacks. Acela's initial projections of 3.9 million annual riders at full capacity still look rosy. Nobody knows how Acela Express will fare once the novelty wears off and airport lines shrink, or whether Acela will solve enormous financial headaches that Amtrak blames on decades of federal underinvestment and political pressure to run unprofitable routes. But for now, more travelers are trying the 15-month-old service, which experts say gives Amtrak a window to impress passengers and lure them permanently from the air shuttles. Acela ridership in August, just before the attacks, stood at 96,037, or 218 passengers per train. It jumped to 201,176, or 340 per train, in October, according to Amtrak figures. The monthly numbers dipped later in the fall as the airlines rebounded and Reagan National Airport near Washington reopened, but they passed 200,000 again in February, and most recently were running at a monthly rate of 219,917, or about 300 per train. U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics filings show that in December, Delta and US Airways reported a combined 215,366 passenger boardings on the shuttle routes, down from 330,040 in December 2000. Both airlines acknowledge that traffic remains below the pre-Sept. 11 level. "It is a very big concern for us," Delta spokeswoman Peggy Estes said. "We are implementing programs and looking at new ones to get our business traveler back." Acela Express ticket revenue totaled $25.5 million in March, but officials will not say whether that represents a profit. Acela Express trains use an advanced tilting system to take turns at higher speeds. But because of track conditions, these trains reach 150 m.p.h. for only 18 miles in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and go no faster than 135 m.p.h. between Washington and New York. That means Acela Express saves only about 15 minutes on the Philadelphia-Washington route compared with Amtrak's conventional trains, called Acela Regional. The saving from Philadelphia to New York is about 29 minutes; to Boston, it is about 51 minutes. From Philadelphia, a flight to Washington takes an hour and five minutes; to New York, it takes an hour; the trip to Boston is an hour and 15 minutes. A next-day, same-day return Acela ticket between Boston and New York cost $236 on Amtrak's Web site this week. A comparable flight on both airlines cost $411. However, Acela Express can be more expensive than some shuttle fares on weekends or with advance purchase. (Round-trip from Philadelphia, Acela Express costs $151 to Washington, $133 to New York, and $302 to Boston.) For business travelers, Sept. 11 altered the train-versus-plane equation, whose variables include cost, door-to-door travel time, and amenities. "It boils down to, 'How much time is it going to take when I leave my office in Boston to when I arrive in New York?' " said Thomas Nulty, president of Navigant International, an Englewood, Colo., company that makes $6 billion in annual travel arrangements for businesses. But it's not just the time involved. Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, of Lafayette Hill, Pa., says his group plans to release research soon showing that, among business travelers who have cut back flying 25 percent or more, 56 percent cited airport hassles as the main reason, followed by costs at 27 percent. Safety was a distant third. The airlines are trying to respond. US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said an express security line had shuttle passenger check-in down to 20 minutes. Delta is tripling its number of electronic check-in kiosks systemwide and rebuilding its shuttle terminal in Boston. "We need to convince our customers that the airport experience really is something that can be hassle-free," Castelveter said. Amtrak: The Smaller, The Better New York Daily News 04/13/2002 Last week, outgoing Amtrak President George Warrington sent 46 state governors a sort of ransom note threatening to eliminate 18 long-haul lines if the national rail system did not receive enough federal funds to sustain operations for the next year. Go ahead. We double-dare you. Amtrak lost $1.1 billion last year, the most in its 30-year history. It has proven itself incapable of stanching the flow of red ink from its operating budget. This is a time for drastic measures to keep at least some lines running -- particularly those that pay their own way. (The Boston-New York-Washington line reportedly carries almost as many passengers as airlines serving the same corridor.) Maintaining full service on every route across the country is no longer profitable, or viable. For example, the Sunset Limited, which runs from Orlando through New Orleans to Los Angeles, loses $347 per passenger. Better to sacrifice some routes for the sake of those where the rails fulfill a necessary mass transit need and function -- in the Northeast Corridor, around the Chicago area and along the Pacific coastal corridor. President Bush has said he will approve the same level of funding for Amtrak as in 2001 -- $521 million -- but some members of Congress, fearing election-year repercussions if service is cut to their communities, have bought into the poor-mouthing. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.) have co-sponsored bills to give the rail service $1.2 billion -- twice what it received this year -- for operations and infrastructure repairs. A more sensible proposal comes from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who would cut federal funding and explore privatization. In February, the Amtrak Reform Council suggested several fixes for the ailing system, such as splitting tracks and terminals off from rolling stock and bidding out lines to private operators. Those suggestions need serious consideration. Congress shouldn't be cowed into pouring more resources into Amtrak. Election year will come and go. This operational maw of a rail system will still be there, greedily sucking up ever more money. Howard Makes Tracks To Oppose Maglev Plan; To Officials' Surprise, One Route Option Cuts Through Big Development The Baltimore Sun 04/13/2002 The speedy Maglev train that Maryland officials are promoting as a new East Coast transportation option could be years from construction, if it is ever built, but it has Howard County officials and developers blinking. To the surprise of local leaders, state transportation planners drew one of three alternative routes through Emerson, a huge mixed-use Rouse Co. planned community along Interstate 95 near Savage, where $400,000 to $500,000 homes are beginning to rise. State and county politicians -- usually friendly to new rail transit plans -- are turning against Maglev, arguing that it would be a waste of money and would do nothing for Howard County except bring trouble. "It's a train for executives, highly paid executives," said Del. Frank S. Turner, a Columbia Democrat. He and others argue that the $500 million Maryland would be expected to contribute to the project could be better used for more conventional transportation projects with a greater local impact. State officials say the I-95 route was created in 1994, before the Emerson development was approved. The route also traverses Lennox Park, a 50-home community along Route 103 near the Dorsey MARC commuter rail station. Howard officials and builders have just awakened to the Maglev route and its implications, thanks to a prospective Emerson buyer. "A family buying a house called and asked what's the status of this (Maglev) line. We couldn't answer the question," said Alton J. Scavo, senior vice president of Rouse Co. Rouse, which developed Columbia, is building a suburban village on 570 acres, with 1,215 homes and apartments and 1.8 million square feet of commercial and retail space. Emerson straddles I-95 at Route 216. Scavo wrote to state Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, saying the proposed route "has already cast a pall over home sales," and he vowed to "vigorously oppose this implied, or real taking (of land)." Scavo had no answers. Neither did Howard County Executive James N. Robey, chairman of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. Robey also wrote to Porcari, requesting a public meeting in Howard County on the Maglev route. The meeting has been scheduled for April 30 at Murray Hill Middle School in North Laurel. The Baltimore-Washington area is competing with Pittsburgh for federal money to help build the 240-mph, $3.5 billion train. If this area wins, trains would whisk about 35,000 people a day between the two cities, with a stop at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Trains would run every 10 minutes during peak rush hours. Maglev project manager Suhair Alkhatib said the trains would take 30,000 vehicles off the roads, helping Maryland with its worsening air pollution and congestion problems. The three alternative routes will be narrowed to two late this year, said Suzanne Bond, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration. An environmental study has established that 153 houses are within 100 feet of the proposed 40-mile rail line, she said. Alkhatib said any route selected will be adjusted to minimize its impact. The train would be elevated over about half of the route to clear obstacles, he said, and the high speeds require that it follow a fairly straight course. That's why the route veers off I-95 south of Route 32 and across Emerson. "There is room to adjust the alignment," Alkhatib said. Robey said he is keeping an open mind on Maglev because he doesn't have enough information on which to base an opinion. "We need to consider all the options on regional transportation," the county executive said. Others have doubts. "We had heard the I-95 alignment would be within the I-95 right of way. I have concerns about the whole project," said County Councilman Guy J. Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat. Alkhatib said commuters would make up fewer than 20 percent of riders, 40 percent would go to BWI, and the rest would be tourists and conventioneers. The one-way fare between Baltimore and Washington would be $26. "It's not mass transit. Maglev is about the (2012) Olympics. What that does for our constituents is nothing except impact their neighborhoods," said Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Howard Democrat who opposes the route. The Baltimore-Washington area is competing to attract the 2012 Summer Olympics. Lora Muchmore, who lives about a mile from Emerson, asked, "Who is going to develop? Who is going to buy in an area that potentially could be chosen? I work in Arlington, Va., but I cannot get on this train." The reaction in tiny Lennox Park was surprise. "Get out of here. I didn't even know," said Carol Martin, a longtime Lennox Park resident who thought the route would pass through Anne Arundel County, where Linthicum residents have organized against Maglev. Homebuilders are trying to calm fears. Harry "Chip" Lundy, president of the Williamsburg Group, which is building houses in Emerson, said he learned about the proposed Maglev route Thursday. He said he doubts it will affect home sales. "Are people not going to buy homes in Washington, D.C., because they're worried about a nuclear attack?" he said. "The likelihood of that is greater than the train going through Emerson." $19 Billion Rail Plan To Ease Beijing Jams South China Morning Post 04/13/2002 Beijing is spending more than $21 billion yuan (HK $19.7 billion) on three mass-transit railway projects in another attempt to deal with the city's worsening transport problem. The projects, totalling 88km in length, include two light-rail lines that will run through the northern and eastern suburbs, and a 28km subway line running north to south through the centre. Beijing's first subway line opened in 1969, but after more than three decades, the total length is still only about 54km, concentrated in the downtown area. Some local analysts say the meagre network is a major reason for the traffic congestion and air pollution in the city. Gao Delong, the head of Beijing's Major Project Office, announced on Wednesday that the municipal Government would throw its weight behind the three projects to try to ensure early completion. He said the light-rail system, a 41km inverted U-shape line through the northern suburbs, could be finished this year, and that half of it could undergo trials in October. The rail system will serve several large residential areas that have mushroomed in recent years, beyond the future 2008 Olympic Games site. Work has also begun on the 19km light-rail line -- an extension of the current east-west subway line under the downtown area -- eastward to the Tongxian district. Some tracks have been laid and several stations finished. Mr Gao said the line should go into operation next year. The 12 billion yuan subway project -- considered vital for alleviating north-south traffic jams -- has, however, been plagued with problems. Work had been due to begin last year but was halted due to financial difficulties. Mr Gao said the state-run Beijing Subway Corp was negotiating with a Canadian company to get the work started. He said the Government hoped the project would begin this year. The municipal Government has promised exemptions from land-use fees and other incentives. In the past 20 years, Beijing has focused largely on new road-building projects and now boasts three ring roads. It also claims to have more flyovers than the rest of the country combined. Nonetheless, traffic congestion is getting worse. "We realise that road construction will actually increase the amount of traffic," said Zhang Chunsheng, at the Beijing Transportation Engineering Society. He said the city's population was spreading quickly to the northern and eastern suburbs as a result of the massive development of the centre. "Only railway lines can carry large numbers of passengers quickly during rush hour," he said. Mr Zhang said that even if the city had the land to build more roads, the increased amount of car exhaust fumes would make it a bad choice. He said the city had decided to halt the building of flyovers in an effort to cut air pollution. 30,000 Commuters Tell Miseryrail 'We Are Still Unhappy' Daily Post (Liverpool) 04/13/2002 THOUSANDS of long-suffering commuters on Merseyside have demanded a dramatic improvement in the region's rail service. Transport chiefs have been "staggered" by the huge response to a survey on the future of the Merseyrail network. Of 65,000 questionnaires distributed on the Northern and Wirral lines, almost 50pc were completed. Leaflets were also distributed at libraries and community centres. A four percent response was expected. Merseytravel, the public transport watchdog, commissioned the survey to assess public priorities for a network which handles 28 million journeys every year. Coun Mark Dowd, chairman of Merseytravel, said: "We expected to get above average responses. But we're staggered by this kind of co-operation from so many people." The authority is drawing up a shortlist of companies to compete to run the network when the current Arriva Trains deal ends next February. The successful bidder will be announced in the autumn. Neil Scales, chief executive of Merseytravel, said: "It just shows how much the people of Merseyside care about their rail network. "This survey will be presented to the eight companies bidding for the contract. "It will say to the bidders, 'This is what the people of Merseyside want, this is what you have to deliver'." Criticism of the punctuality and reliability of trains clearly emerged as the public's key priorities. A third of passengers rated the punctuality and reliability of Merseyrail trains as "poor" or "very poor" and almost 70 percent said it needed to be improved. "Trains are always cancelled in the morning. Very inconvenient, " said one reply. Another said: "When the trains are on time the service is second to none. Unfortunately this does not happen very often." Concerns over the reliability of trains, which have seen the network branded "Miseryrail", are already being addressed, says Merseytravel. Trains are being refurbished and, in six or seven years, new ones will be built. Merseytravel's vision is to have a "single integrated public transport network accessible to everyone". A proposed tram system, which could be approved in the next three months, will fill in gaps in the bus and rail networks. Other key priorities identified by rail users were personal safety, cleanliness and ticket prices. Almost 20 percent thought personal safety on the rail network was "poor" or "very poor" while more than 40 percent gave similar verdicts on the toilets. On the bright side, more than 50 percent of replies rated the helpfulness of staff as either "good" or "very good." Merseytravel plans to repeat the surveys at yearly intervals. Bob Hynd, managing director of Arriva Trains Merseyside, said: "We have had the franchise for two years, before that it was MTL. As far as reliability is concerned, over the last three months we have consistently met our charter target of 99 percent of trains running. "We recognise there have been problems with punctuality and we have been negotiating with the Strategic Rail Authority to change the timetable to make it more punctual and we have now reached agreement. "The new timetable will be in place from the start of June." Officials Push Ahead On Dulles Rail Project; $3.3 Billion Plan Among Options Being Considered Washington Post Friday, April 5, 2002 The biggest transit project in the region and one of the largest in the country -- a $3.3 billion proposal to build rail to Tysons Corner and Dulles International Airport -- nudged ahead yesterday as Metro directors gave initial approval to a draft environmental impact statement. The idea of building rail to Dulles has been kicking around since the 1950s, but it is finally gaining political, financial and practical momentum. Metro directors say they expect to give final approval to the environmental statement in two weeks, then launch a seven-month period of public comment and hearings on the options. The directors will then vote on a final plan and seek federal acceptance and permission to begin construction. The draft study analyzes three ways to build rail in the 24-mile Dulles Corridor, which stretches from the West Falls Church Metro station in Fairfax County to Route 772 in Loudoun County. Most of the alignments call for a rail line to run down the median of the Dulles Access Road, but the analysis includes four options for routing rail through Tysons Corner, including two alignments with short tunnels. The study also looks at several proposals for bus rapid transit, a relatively new kind of transportation that does not exist elsewhere in the region. Bus rapid transit would use 60-foot buses that would travel at high speeds in their own lane on the Dulles Access Road and mimic the behavior of subway cars, stopping at stations to unload and collect passengers along the route. Bus rapid transit doesn't follow a schedule; service is as frequent as on the subway. One drawback to bus rapid transit is that it won't work in Tysons Corner because of the traffic around the shopping centers and office parks, said Metro Chief Operating Officer Richard A. White. Bus rapid transit would have to stay in the median of the Dulles Access Road; passengers bound for Tysons would get off the bus rapid transit at a proposed Spring Hill Road station and then board buses to Tysons, Metro officials said. Ridership analyses found that rail would attract more than twice as many daily passengers as bus rapid transit and about three times as many new transit trips -- passengers who would otherwise drive or not travel at all, according to the draft study. Although bus rapid transit would be cheaper to build and operate than rail, trains would attract more riders for the investment, it said. The draft statement also found that development would be greater around rail stations than around bus rapid transit stations. At $481 million, a bus rapid transit system from West Falls Church to Loudoun County is the cheapest plan under consideration. Metro projections show that passengers would make 30,300 trips on an average weekday in the first year of operation. The most expensive plan outlined in the study is a $3.3 billion, two-stage program that calls for bus rapid transit to be built first and then gradually replaced by a rail line. Projections show that passengers would make 71,900 daily trips the year the rail line opened. The transit project would be funded at the federal, state and regional level. Under a financing plan created by state officials, Virginia would seek 51 percent of the capital cost -- the maximum allowed -- from the federal government. The state's share would be $800 million, or about 24 percent, and would be drawn from Dulles Toll Road revenue. State officials plan to raise tolls on the road. Fairfax would pay $514.1 million, or about 16 percent of the cost, which county officials say would be raised through bonds and a special tax district. Loudoun would owe about $152 million, or 5 percent, while the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority would pay $133.5 million, or 4 percent, from passenger facility charges. None of the financing for the Dulles project depends on the sales tax referendum that has been under consideration in the Virginia legislature. TRAX Faces Challenges for West-Side Lines The Salt Lake Tribune 04/14/2002 In the pre-TRAX days, transit planners had to wade through minefields filled with reticent city councils and reluctant businesses to push through the Salt Lake Valley's first light-rail line. Now, with full trains barreling between Sandy and Salt Lake City, the mood has changed. West-side cities and businesses want TRAX -- and they want it yesterday. But land mines again loom. This time, though, the barriers are technical, not political. The overriding question: How can the Utah Transit Authority efficiently link two proposed west side extensions -- with a total tab estimated at $525 million or more -- to the main north-south line. "We've got some serious engineering design issues," acknowledged Barry Banks, a transportation engineer for the Wasatch Front Regional Council, a governmental planning organization. For example: