Beijing seeks metro funds Railway Gazette International July 2004: City News UP TO 30% of the funding needed to expand Beijing’s metro network for the 2008 Olympic Games will be raised from the private sector. The city government’s Deputy Director-General of Development & Planning Liu Zhi revealed on May 25 that the city was looking to raise 14�5bn yuan in foreign capital by awarding concessions to operate the planned Lines 4, 5, 9 and 10 (RG 3.03 p119). Open tenders will be invited shortly on the basis of a 7:3 public-private partnership. Totalling 103�5km, the four routes are expected to cost 50bn yuan. The city’s investment will be managed by a new company, Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co Ltd, and will fund the civil and E&M works. The private-sector element is expected to fund the rolling stock and station services such as fare collection and passenger information systems. Liu said that under its current master plan, the city expects to invest 230bn yuan in urban infrastructure works over the next four years. Much of this will be through BOT contracts with the aim of opening up the construction market. Some existing planning approval process will be replaced by new regulations to permit market pricing and open tendering.

Los Angeles awards Gold Line contract Railway Gazette International July 2004: City News LOS ANGELES Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded a $600m contract to Eastside LRT Constructors for construction of the 9�6km East Los Angeles extension of the Gold Line. The deal was signed by MTA CEO Roger Snoble on June 1, following the approval of a $491m Full Funding Grant Agreement by the Federal Transit Administration. This came just one day before the bid from the joint venture of Washington Group International, Obayashi Corp and Shimmick Construction Corp was due to expire. Costed at $899m, the extension is expected to open in mid-2009. Running from the present Gold Line terminus at LA Union Station, it will run through the densely-populated and heavily transit-dependent areas of Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, terminating at the junction of Pomona and Atlantic boulevards. There will be eight stations. The high cost reflects the need to build a 2�9km twin-bore tunnel under Boyle Heights including two underground stations.

Five cities dedicate light rail lines Railway Gazette International July 2004: City News A SERIES of service inaugurations saw five North American cities open new or rebuilt light rail lines last month. Pittsburgh kicked off on June 2 by restoring service on the Overbrook line after a major rebuild costing $386m (MR04 p36). The whole route is now double-track with many curves eased, and eight new stations have been constructed. Sacramento was next with a 4�5km extension from Mather Field to Sunrise Boulevard including three new stations opening as scheduled on June 12. Free rides were offered, although the planned ceremonies were cancelled because of former President Reagan’s funeral. The project cost $89m, and a further 12�5km to Folsom is on course to open in 2005. San Jose’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority dedicated on June 23 a 13�km extension with 11 stations from the former I-880/Milpitas terminus to Alum Rock, built at a cost of US$282m. Minneapolis expected to open the first 12�9km segment of its Hiawatha line on June 26, despite concerns over cracks in welded joints that occurred during very cold weather in February 2003 and January 2004. The Twin Cities thus join the growing ranks of US light rail operators (MR04 p28). Calgary was scheduled to open a 2�9km extension of its South line on June 28. This will add new stations at Shawnessy and Somerset-Bridlewood (RG 12.03 p795).

Porto Blue Line extends Railway Gazette International July 2004: City News AT 06.00 on June 6 Metro Porto began revenue service on the final section of its light rail Blue Line between Trindade and Estádio do Drag�o. The 3�5 km extension had been formally inaugurated the previous day by Prime Minister Dr Jose Manuel Dur�o Barroso, bringing the total length of the Blue Line to 16km. The extension runs in tunnel under the city centre to the eastern side, serving five stations. There are three underground stations at Bolh�o, 24 de Agosto and Heroísmo, plus an interchange with CP suburban services and STCP bus routes at Campanh�. Journey times between the east side of the city and the old town have been substantially reduced, with Estadio - Trinidade taking just 8min. End-to-end journey time from Estádio do Drag�o to Senhor de Matosinhos is around 40min. In the longer term, the cross-city tunnel will also be used by Red Line services from Póvoa in the northwest and Green Line services from Trofa in the north. An interchange will be provided at Trinidade with the Yellow Line, which will run from San Jo�o in the northeast to Santo Ovidio on the south side of the Douro river.

HSL Zuid shuttle trains ordered Railway Gazette International July 2004: News ON MAY 24 the Dutch High Speed Alliance and Belgian National Railways signed a contract with AnsaldoBreda for supply of 12 eight-car high speed trains, with options for up to 14 more. To be delivered in April 2006, the units will enter service a year later, replacing the existing push-pull Benelux trains between Amsterdam and Brussels. They will also operate domestic services from Amsterdam and Den Haag to Rotterdam and Breda. Eight of the trains will be owned by the NS-KLM alliance and four by SNCB. The single-deck trains will be equipped to operate on 3kV DC in Belgium, 1�5kV in the Netherlands and 25kV 50Hz on the new line. Each 200m long set will have four powered and four trailer cars, with a continuous rating of 5400kW. There will be seats for 139 first class and 409 second class passengers. AnsaldoBreda has selected Pininfarina to develop the styling, which will be unveiled later this year.

Racine, WI Rail Transit Online July 2004 A 1998 downtown redevelopment plan now being revised will include a proposed streetcar loop running approximately two miles (3.2 km) with 12 stops, bringing back a travel mode last seen by Racine residents in 1940. The route would start at a new transit center now under construction, head east on State Street to Main, south to Sixth Street, west to Marquette Street and return to the transit hub. “Developers want to get next to streetcar stops,” George Crandall of Crandall Arambula, the firm that is revising the downtown plan, told The Journal Times. “Those are not only convenient…but a powerful incentive for developers.” Crandall said streetcars, such as those in Portland, are seen as permanent and dependable while bus routes can be changed at any time. At its height, the Racine trolley system had five routes, the tracks for some of which still exist under the asphalt of downtown streets.

Latest McKinney streetcar is cool Dallas Morning News July 3, 2004 Winnie the newcomer may not be as stylish as some of her counterparts, but she sure is cool. With a small ceremony and a flourish that included a wine bottle christening, the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority drove its newest restored trolley car onto the streets at 5:14 p.m. Tuesday. “I hereby unleash you on an unsuspecting public. God help us all,” joked MATA volunteer and electrician Steve Reed before breaking the wine bottle over the front of Car 143, as Winnie also is known. Named for her Winnebago-like appearance, Winnie cost $3,600 to purchase and about $16,000 to restore. The 57-year-old streetcar first plied the streets of Washington, D.C., and it boasts something no other McKinney Avenue trolley car currently can: air conditioning. It also is rumored to be one of the first air-conditioned streetcars in the country. “It will be a wonderful addition, as far as commuters are concerned, because of the air conditioning,” said MATA Chief Operating Officer John Landrum. Most recently before coming to MATA, Winnie spent her days running along the old Tandy Center subway in Fort Worth. Radio Shack Corp., which operated the Tarrant County subway line for about 25 years, dismantled the train route and sold its four rail cars in August 2002 to make room for a new corporate headquarters. Volunteers poured their hearts into refurbishing the car in the last 13 months, taking out more than 50 pounds of old wiring and removing the institutional-looking fluorescent light fixtures. In their place, they installed original rounded streetcar “bullet” light fixtures that give the interior a more retro feel. They left the original red velvet motorman’s seat. On the outside, Winnie now also sports a more retro look with a red-and- cr�me paint scheme. It also has a single streetcar headlight in place of the two auto headlights it originally had. Still, the newest addition to the MATA fleet can’t quite match the personality of the trolley agency’s four original cars. “This is great,” said volunteer Louis Mullenix before taking off on Winnie’s maiden voyage. “It’s a thing of beauty at least compared to the day it came in here.” But it’s what Winnie has on the inside that matters. Volunteer motormen are expected to lobby for shifts to drive the newest addition to the streetcar system, particularly during the hot summer afternoons. “It’s a different feel when you ride, too. It’s very quiet and very smooth,” Mr. Landrum said. Adding Winnie to the streetcar fleet won’t change the frequency of service, but it will give the trolley agency more flexibility in its schedules. It also will allow give the agency the ability to more easily perform routine maintenance on other streetcars, one of which is almost 100 years old. Passengers should be able to officially climb aboard by late July and check out the streetcar’s original motorman seat and vintage light fixtures, Mr. Landrum said. “It’s part of what we are doing here,” he said. “We are a repository of transit history.”

Tukwila says Sound Transit must provide more parking Seattle Times July 3, 2004 The city of Tukwila wants Sound Transit to provide more parking at the south end of its light-rail line than the agency had planned. Tukwila’s Community Development Department decided this week that Sound Transit must build 600 parking spaces at the South 154th Street light-rail station. Sound Transit had filed a proposal last year to provide about 460 stalls. Spokesman Geoff Patrick said Sound Transit hasn’t ruled out an appeal. The agency has until July 15 to ask the City Council to modify or overturn the department’s decision. The extra parking could cost as much as $6 million and would require buying more land, Patrick said, but the additional expense could be absorbed by contingencies already built into the light-rail project’s $2.44 billion budget. Jack Pace, deputy director of the Tukwila department, said the additional stalls are needed to avoid spillover parking on neighborhood streets that could inconvenience businesses and residents. Sound Transit submitted a modified proposal for 600 spaces, he said. But Patrick said that plan was part of the negotiating process and isn’t Sound Transit’s official position. The South 154th Street station, near the Highway 99-Highway 518 interchange in Tukwila, is the southern terminus of a planned 14-mile light-rail line starting in downtown Seattle. From 154th, shuttle buses would carry rail passengers south to nearby Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The rail line is scheduled to open in 2009. Construction began last fall. The park-and-ride lot at South 154th would be the only one on the line. Sound Transit and Tukwila have disagreed for months on how much parking should be required. Last December, Sound Transit estimated demand would require 420 spaces in 2011 and 720 in 2020. In April, a consultant to Tukwila offered much higher estimates: 875 spaces in 2011 and 1,330 in 2020. To provide that much parking, Sound Transit probably would have to build expensive garages. Tukwila’s decision also requires Sound Transit to monitor the number of cars parked in the 600-space lot and on nearby streets, and provide more parking — up to 1,330 stalls — if certain thresholds are exceeded. Patrick said Sound Transit likes the idea of linking construction of more parking to demonstrated demand. Sound Transit needs several other permits from Tukwila. The city and the regional transit agency have a history of contentious relations. Two years ago the City Council rejected a pact outlining how the city would handle light-rail permit applications. Some members were upset the line wouldn’t serve the Southcenter Mall area, Tukwila’s retail and employment hub. Others said the project was a waste of money. For a time, the rejection appeared to threaten the project’s future; the Federal Transit Agency had ordered Sound Transit to get the agreement signed before applying for needed federal grants to build the line. The federal agency later dropped that requirement, and Sound Transit got the money.

Sound Transit may have a deal for parking at Tukwila station SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER July 3, 2004 One of the most significant remaining hurdles to construction of Seattle’s light rail line — parking requirements for a station in Tukwila — may have been surmounted. The city of Tukwila’s community development department Thursday issued its decision on parking for the last station on the 14-mile line from Westlake Center to South 154th Street, about a mile and a half from Sea- Tac Airport. Sound Transit spokesman Geoff Patrick declined to say whether Sound Transit was happy or unhappy with the decision. Sound Transit Chief Executive Officer Joni Earl will consult with board members before deciding in the next two weeks whether to appeal the parking requirements, he said. Sound Transit staff and Tukwila’s community development department have been negotiating for months on the issue, and Light Rail Director Ahmad Fazel in late May said the city and Sound Transit were “getting really close.” Patrick said the costs of the city’s requirements are within Sound Transit’s light rail budget. The Tukwila segment of the line is on the “critical path” of the schedule for the light rail project, meaning Sound Transit presumably is eager to avoid delay. Tukwila made waves two years ago when its City Council, unhappy over the fact the line wasn’t going to Southcenter, reversed course and refused to enter into a master agreement with Sound Transit on how the many permits involved in the light rail projects would be handled. It was the only jurisdiction to refuse to do so and meant a more arduous permitting process. But Sound Transit officials said at the time the agency would insist upon fair treatment from the city. Sound Transit is not building parking at other stations, but the Tukwila station will, for several years at least, be the last station on the line and is in a suburban area, so city officials said it needed to have adequate parking. Sound Transit projected that 420 spaces would be needed at rush hours by 2011 and 720 spaces by the year 2020. However, Tukwila, relying on a parking consultant, said more spaces would be needed to also accommodate people who would use the lot midday and other non-rush hours. That brought the city’s projections to 875 spaces needed by 2011 - - more than double Sound Transit’s estimates — and 1,330 by 2020. Under the decision released yesterday, Sound Transit must provide 600 spaces when the line opens in 2009. Sound Transit will then have to monitor parking at the lot. If usage exceeds 90 percent, it must build more spaces, ultimately up to the 1,330. Sound Transit had wanted its obligation to be capped at 1,000 spaces. But the city also is requiring that if the light rail line is extended in any direction, Sound Transit must come before the city again and possibly face city demands to provide more parking than even the 1,330. Sound Transit definitely has plans to expand the 14-mile light rail line. However, Patrick indicated Sound Transit is pleased that the decision “recognizes that the amount of parking should be based on actual usage.” Patrick said providing 600 spaces at opening would cost an estimated $5 million to $6 million. The Tukwila station will be at South 154th Street and International Boulevard (state Route 99) currently occupied by a 6-acre Ajax airport parking facility and bordering state Route 518. Sound Transit will have to buy a 1.75-acre lot across South 154th Street now occupied by a mini storage to get to 600 spaces. If it’s required to go much beyond 600, it will have to build a four-story parking garage on the mini-storage lot. Beyond 1,000 spaces it would also have to build a parking structure on the main lot or acquire other property. Also, Sound Transit is required to take certain steps to make sure the lot is used only by transit patrons. This includes a ban on overnight parking at the lot and a requirement that users of the airport shuttle from the lot have a light rail transfer ticket. Sound Transit must also monitor the surrounding neighborhood to make sure that so-called “hide-and-ride” parking outside the lot does not reduce unused parking spaces by more than 50 percent. “The city has tried to take a balanced approach,” said Jack Pace, deputy director of Tukwila’s Department of Community Development. “You don’t want to create a situation where it’s too big a lot and is empty. On the other hand, you don’t want to create too small a lot, where people are parking on streets and around residences.” Sound Transit still must get city permits involving a variety of issues, but Pace said, “The most challenging one to be honest was the parking. I think the other issues are going to be much easier.”

Light rail heavy on accidents; Denver’s accident rate top in U.S., but there are reasons for that Rocky Mountain News July 3, 2004 Denver’s light-rail system, 10 years old next month, has the highest accident rate among 18 major cities with light rail because it operated almost exclusively on busy downtown streets for most of that time. A decade of accident data for the 18.1-mile system examined by the Rocky Mountain News show that nearly all of Denver’s light-rail collisions - more than 97 percent - happened in the short but congested 2.4-mile downtown segment, from the foot of the Colfax Viaduct to Five Points. The one most-hazardous spot on the system is within that segment, at northbound Speer Boulevard outside the Colorado Convention Center. In all, light rail has had 318 collisions with autos and pedestrians through May 31. Yet, no train operator has ever been found at fault. In each case, motorists or pedestrians disobeyed or ignored warnings, police concluded. “There’s no way to protect against someone’s conscious decision to violate traffic laws,” said Cal Marsella, general manager of the Regional Transportation District. Poised for expansion RTD’s rail network is poised for a major expansion when T-REX lines open in 2006 along Interstate 25. Also, voters will be asked in November to approve the FasTracks sales tax question that will help pay for 119 more miles of rail in the metro area by 2017. In addition to RTD’s accident data, the RTD data reveals patterns that pinpont some of its problem areas: - The segment adjacent to the Auraria campus along Colfax Avenue from Speer to Seventh Street - only three-eighths of a mile long - generated 130 collisions. That’s 41 percent of the total. - At the most-hazardous spot, northbound Speer Boulevard where the tracks cross Cherry Creek parallel to Stout Street, 34 collisions occurred. Drivers frequently ran the red no-left-turn arrow and collided with a train. - There have been only nine accidents on the 15.8 miles of light-rail tracks south of Colfax. - No accidents have been reported on the 1.8-mile Central Platte Valley line to Union Station, which opened in April 2002. Three of its five street crossings are protected by gates. That’s remarkable, considering that patrons of Invesco Field at Mile High, the Pepsi Center and Six Flags Elitch Gardens frequently jam the station platforms as trains pull in. - Almost always, vehicle collisions occur when drivers violate red signals or signs, or are unaware of the tracks. “Sometimes people just want to beat the train,” said Bob Kochevar, Denver’s traffic engineer who works with RTD on light-rail issues. The most tragic example was midmorning on Aug. 31, 1996, when a 21- year-old drunk driver passed a line of waiting cars and tried to get around the closed 13th Avenue gates. A northbound train hit his car and pushed it 635 feet. His passenger later died of injuries and the driver was convicted of vehicular homicide. Crossings boost crashes For the most part, other cities with high accident rates also have lots of grade crossings, where light rail crosses a street. Philadelphia, with an older and extensive streetcar system, has 1,702 grade crossings in its 171 miles of tracks, nearly 10 crossings per mile. By comparison, Denver has 34 grade crossings, or 1.2 per mile. But in the downtown area, the concentration is more than 13 per mile. A 1999 study of rail safety by the FTA found that most light-rail systems operate at least some portion of their network on city streets. The result: a greater chance of accidents. Still, five cities have higher concentrations of grade crossings than Denver - New Orleans, Dallas, Sacramento, Portland and Salt Lake City - but had collision rates below the national average. In part, that’s because most of them have more suburban track mileage over which to average the numbers. But some of those systems also run trains on downtown streets and still have fewer total accidents than Denver. Portland, for instance, runs light rail through downtown and the busy Pioneer Courthouse Square. But it reported just 86 accidents systemwide from 1996 through 2001, while Denver reported 136. Marsella noted that after Denver opened the southwest extension to Littleton in July 2000, light-rail mileage tripled and the overall accident rate dropped drastically. In 2000, the accident rate was 22.4 per million miles; in 2001, after a full year operating the southwest line, it was 8.3. “When your only operation is in the most congested area of the region, with all at-grade operations and numerous crossings, the rate will be higher,” said Marsella. “It’s all happening in your highest exposure area and you’re getting burned on short mileage. When we open T-REX, it’ll go way down.” T-REX to double mileage T-REX will more than double RTD’s track mileage but with no new grade crossings, a combination that should continue to lower RTD’s accident rate. FasTracks, with six new rail lines and extensions of existing ones, plans 135 new grade crossings. But Marsella said those will be protected crossings with gates. Cities that use gates at crossings have fewer accidents. In fact, at Denver’s five current gate-protected crossings, there have been only three accidents in 10 years. Two involved pedestrians. Harry Saporta, now a safety specialist with Parsons Brinkerhoff, worked on Portland’s light-rail system and then with the FTA. He helped to rewrite the reporting standards for the National Transit Database so that differences between cities will be more easily accounted for in the data. The changes include reporting collisions by the type of track - whether mixed with street traffic or on exclusive right-of-way. The revisions took effect in 2002, after the reporting period studied. “The data today is much better than it was before,” Saporta said. In terms of total passengers and the miles they’re carried, he said, light rail has fewer accidents than buses and far fewer than private autos. Greg Hull, safety and security specialist for the American Public Transportation Association, said light rail is increasingly popular in U.S. cities. But it takes drivers time to adjust to trains running on the streets. “As we see light rail being introduced into cities, there is always a learning curve with drivers with the introduction of anything new,” Hull said. The learning curve has been particularly difficult in Houston, which opened a 7.1-mile light-rail line to a rash of accidents, 47 since November. If calculated into a collision rate, Houston would be in the stratosphere above Denver. Houston’s big problem has been with drivers turning in front of trains despite warning signs and signals - the same experience Denver has had. Denver’s light-rail line began as a 5.3-mile segment from 30th Avenue and Downing Street to Interstate 25 and Broadway. In that distance, the trains crossed city streets 34 times. Test runs started Aug. 7, 1994. The first collision came two weeks later. A taxi stopped too close to the tracks at a red light on Kalamath Street, just north of Colfax, and was clipped by a southbound train at 10:30 p.m. Nine hours later, the second accident happened. A car turned left off the Stout Street bridge onto northbound Speer in violation of the red no-left- turn arrow. It was hit by a northbound train coming alongside from behind. There were 10 accidents during the two-month testing phase before passenger service began Oct. 7, 1994. All but one occurred in that short stretch between the convention center and Seventh Street. It’s been a trouble spot ever since. In that stretch, the convergence of Colfax, Speer and Kalamath is known as “The Triangle.” Even before light rail it was tough for traffic to navigate. It’s further complicated by the presence of Denver’s principal emergency station, Fire Station 1. Fire trucks and emergency vehicles pre-empt the traffic signals, turning all of them red except the ones they are approaching. Lloyd Mack, RTD’s director of light-rail operations, said light-rail operators are trained to be particularly cautious past Auraria and through The Triangle. Operators undergo eight weeks of training. The first two weeks are in the classroom studying rules and regulations. That’s followed by two weeks of running trains in the enclosed yard at Mariposa Street and Eighth Avenue. Then, trainees take rail cars out on the tracks for two weeks without picking up riders. In the final two weeks, trainees operate scheduled runs with passengers and with a training supervisor in the cab with them. Trainees are told of all the problem areas. Drivers fail to obey signals “It’s basically drivers’ failure to obey signals,” Mack said. “That’s the recurring thing you see in the reports. The operators are well aware of the crossings and accidents that we have, and they’re trained to be cautious when they see cars inching out.” While deliberate disregard of traffic signals is a big problem, inattentiveness is also to blame. In one case, a man walked straight into the side of a light rail train on the 16th Street Mall after he became absorbed in eating a taco and didn’t notice the train. He wasn’t badly hurt. Dave Genova, RTD’s manager of public safety, said the agency studies each accident to determine whether changes are needed. “On many accidents we hear the person say, ‘I saw the flashing light, but I didn’t know why I couldn’t turn,’ “ Genova said. As a result, the city has upgraded the flashing “No Right Turn” and “No Left Turn” signs that come on when a train approaches a cross street. “The new ones are higher intensity . . . and you can see them better in the daytime,” said Kochevar, the traffic engineer. “We’re always looking at our data to see if there are trouble spots.” At Seventh and Colfax, many accidents were due to vehicles stopping for the red light on Seventh too close to the tracks. The city moved the traffic signal poles and masts from the far side of the intersection to the near side, next to the tracks. That forces drivers to stop far enough back to keep the signals in view and their vehicles off the tracks. At Kalamath Street, the signal masts also were moved in front of the tracks and the white stopline on the street was repainted farther back. More signs have been erected warning of train crossings. Traffic gates are most effective, officials say, but they aren’t a practical option on downtown streets because of the extra time they take to lower and raise. Light rail by the numbers 54 million Number of light-rail riders through May of this year. 1.6 million Total miles traveled in 2003 by light-rail trains. 181 Number of collisions involving southbound trains; northbound, 137. 80 Longest number of days between accidents, from Feb. 25 to May 15, 2003. 32 Number of accidents in the 4 p.m. hour, the highest for any hour of day. 24 Number of collisions with pedestrians, including five fatalities and two suicides. 3 Highest number of accidents in a single day: Sept. 21, 1994; Oct. 20, 1994; and Feb. 8, 2001. 2 Number of Denver police cars that have collided with light-rail trains.

Bangkok subway opens to public today; The underground system, which can carry 40,000 passengers an hour, may reduce number of cars on the streets by a third The Straits Times (Singapore) July 3, 2004 Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej will inaugurate Bangkok’s new underground rapid rail system at the capital’s Hua Lamphong station this evening, slightly ahead of schedule to ease traffic problems. And to help run a unified, integrated transport system for the future, the government has said it wants to buy both the new underground system as well as the existing elevated two-line Skytrain. The US$2.8 billion (S$4.8 billion), 20km ‘blue line’ - as officials are calling the underground rail system - has been undergoing limited trial runs for two months. >From this evening, it will be thrown open to the public with an initial flat fare of 10 baht (42 Singapore cents) for the entire route - an 18- station north-south journey that the trains will complete in just over 30 minutes. Rates will be progressively increased. From Aug 12, fares will be raised to 12 to 31 baht. And after July 3 next year, they will cost 14 to 36 baht for anyone taking the train. The system can carry 40,000 passengers an hour and will run from 5am to midnight. Bangkok Metro Company Limited (BMCL), which owns the system, will start with 19 trains and will order five more when the passenger load increases to 300,000 a day. ‘It will be a great help,’ Bangkok resident Panuwich Tachalertsuwat, 24, a website content manager, told The Straits Times. ‘It could be the beginning of solving Bangkok’s traffic problems. It will reduce the use of fuel and also reduce pollution.’ The underground may attract as many as 250,000 passengers a day in its first year, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit told reporters. This should help ‘to reduce the number of cars on the city’s streets by as much as 30 per cent’, he said. ‘At a time when oil is expensive and traffic is bad, we believe a lot of people will use the system as it is fast and convenient,’ he added. Meanwhile, the Transport Ministry has said negotiations on the purchase of the Skytrain and the underground rail system may be finalised by the end of the year. ‘We expect the deal will be concluded late this year since we need time to discuss more in order to get a good price,’ Mr Suriya said. The government wants to buy the elevated Skytrain from Bangkok Mass Transit System and the underground from BMCL to accelerate plans to extend and integrate the systems, making them easier for passengers to use. It would also enable a coordinated approach to managing traffic in the city of more than 10 million people. The government plans to spend up to 400 billion baht over the next six years to expand its subway and toll road system to ease congestion. With the underground in operation, the two mass rapid rail systems will cover 44km.

Drinking, spitting and photography in the subway prohibited Thairath July 3, 2004 MOTC has come up with Ministry Regulations for the security and cleanliness within MRTA areas. The regulations were declared in Royal Gazette on June 29, 2004: 1. Prohibited 1.1) Noisy and annoying acts 1.2) Firearms and replica of firearms 1.3) Stinking materials 1.4) Heavy Luggage beyond the individual carrying items 1.5) Dangerous material 1.6) Spitting, smoking, drinking 1.7) Pinking plants and flowers around subway gates 1.8) Panhandling and asking for donations 1.9) Sexual harassment and other obscene acts 1.10) Standing or putting feet on the seats 1.11) Leaning on screen doors or subway doors 2. Activities which need permission 2.1) Leaving subway cars and walking along the tracks when the subway cars break down 2.2) Entering prohibited areas 2.3) Taking a pets into the subway stations (except guide dogs for the blind) 2.4) Hawking or selling materials or services inside the subway 2.5) Using materials that cause noise (e.g. mobile phones, soundabout) 2.6) Advertising or making announcements 2.7) Photographing or using video cameras 2.8) Taking bicycles or 2-wheeled vehicles inside the subway Violators of this regulation can face 1 month in jail or a 1000 baht fine or both. Security inside subway will be provided by the police, security guards, and other officers who have been empowered by Penal Codes according to MRTA governor, Ministry Regulations, and Article 62 of MRTA Act of BE 2543 to arrest violators before delivering them to the police and other officers.

LRT’s first week: Customers were many, snags were few Star Tribune July 4, 2004 Twins fans, a steady stream of exploring joy riders, and commuters who switched from cars and buses stepped aboard Hiawatha light-rail trains in the first week of service. Paying ridership exceeded expectations, rising from about 11,800 on Monday to preliminary counts of more than 15,000 on both Tuesday and Wednesday, when Twins games brought trainloads of fans to and from a stop right outside the Metrodome. Target ridership for this year is 9,500 per weekday and 19,300 by end of 2005. “We are very pleased with the public response to the Hiawatha line, and we are getting much positive feedback from our customers,” said Mark Fuhrmann, chief of staff for the rail project. Eager new riders included Brad Hanson, 50, of south Minneapolis, and Adrian Person, a retiree from Mankato. Last week Hanson left his car in the garage four out of five days and took the train and a connecting bus to his work as a computer specialist for HealthPartners near the Mall of America in Bloomington. “I’m really enthusiastic,” Hanson said. “I am getting a lot of reading done. It’s quiet, and it runs on schedule.” It takes a little longer, but “it’s so much more relaxing than driving.” Person and her fiance drove up from Mankato and took the train from the Fort Snelling Park park-and-ride lot. “The ride itself was great, just 20 minutes to downtown, where we met a friend for lunch … It eliminated the hassle of fighting traffic and the problem of where to park the car, and we were both able to enjoy the sights,” she said. Despite the early enthusiasm, the word to the staff is “we can’t let our vigilance down,” said Joe Marie, Metro Transit’s assistant general manager for rail operations. “The expression is: You are only as good as your last rush hour. We still need to meet customer expectations for the next 365 days a year,” Marie said. The focus in July will be on perfecting service in the first 8 miles of the line. In August, attention will shift to preparations for opening the last 4 miles of the line to Bloomington, Marie said. Acceptance testing is also ahead on 19 more rail cars yet to be delivered. The trains are making 228 scheduled trips per day, and early checks show that on-time performance has been about 98 percent last week, with some trains slightly ahead of schedule. Not every train at all times of the day is packed, but many rush hour, midday and game-time trains have been standing room only. The peak-hour service has been provided with 12 train cars — three two-car trains and six singles, Marie said. With 14 cars available, that leaves two spares. Twenty-four cars are on order for the full line, which is scheduled to open in December. No trips were missed last week because of vehicle problems. But a false fire alarm in a traction power substation at the maintenance base took out power there for about 50 minutes starting at about 4 a.m. Thursday. Without the power, trains could not be moved out from the maintenance base and buses ran the train schedule temporarily, replacing 13 train trips. Metro Transit drivers and the train control center have rehearsed for this type of emergency, and bus routes were in place, Marie said. Other glitches included some malfunctioning of some ticket machines and one door that had to be adjusted as a result of packed-in passengers leaning on it. Three Twins home games last week swelled ridership. So many game-goers arrived by train that Marie added extra two-car trains to take fans home when the games let out about 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. “After the game we saw six or seven trains fully loaded both nights,” Marie said. Trains also took thousands of fans to Thursday’s midday game and crush loads were reported on southbound trains between 2:15 and 3 p.m. after the game. More trains may be added for future day games, Marie said. To Metrodome patrons, Metro Transit has marketed a $3 pass that is good for six hours — covering the time of the game and travel time to and from the Metrodome. Purchase of such a pass on the platform going to the game eliminates the need to stand in line with a crowd after the game for a second ticket, Fuhrmann said. Fans bought more than 900 of the six-hour passes last week. Also during the first week of service, drivers continued to complain about train-related traffic delays. The city of Minneapolis reported it has asked the Federal Highway Administration for help in adjusting traffic signals tripped by the train, and south Minneapolis residents who live along the line began to complain of light-rail riders parking in neighborhoods. City Council Member Gary Schiff reported: “The park-and-riders have arrived and are filling up neighborhood streets. Block club leaders are clamoring for petitions sheets to install critical parking [restrictions].”

Amtrak luring travelers Northwest Herald July 4, 2004 WASHINGTON Amtrak, the nation’s passenger railroad, is on track to break the 25-million-passengers mark for the first time. Officials said the 33-year-old rail line, which has a major hub at Union Station in Chicago, has boosted ridership 6.2 percent through the first seven months of fiscal 2004 that ends in September. The passenger figures were released last week when officials said Amtrak will need about $8.6 billion in federal subsidies through the 2009 fiscal year, 3.9 percent more than last year’s projection. Amtrak’s subsidy for this fiscal year is about $1.8 billion. The number of riders through April rose to 16.2 million as Amtrak boosted marketing efforts, such as Internet ticket sales, to encourage long- distance travelers to switch from planes and buses, spokesman Clifford Black said. Long-distance train travel increased 9.1 percent, he said. Amtrak has made “incremental and steady” progress, President David Gunn said in a statement. More than $4.1 billion, or about half of the five- year funding request, would be for capital projects. The capital projects are linked to Amtrak support for federal funding for freight railroads, which “face serious problems of capacity, congestion and reliability,” Gunn said. About 90 percent of the 23,000 miles of track Amtrak uses is owned by freight railroads. Freight railroads are carrying 64 percent more business over 37 percent less track than in 1980, leading to congestion. Passenger train delays have risen 15 percent in three years. Amtrak officials also proposed federal backing for trains in corridors including Detroit to Chicago and Portland, Ore., to Seattle. The railroad is reviewing its long-distance train network, which may have to be changed because freight railroads are considering abandonment or sale of underused tracks in states such as North Carolina, Kansas, North Dakota and Florida.

REPORT RIPS LIRR; Environmental rules violated Newsday (New York) July 4, 2004 The Long Island Rail Road failed to properly inspect tanks holding thousands of gallons of oil on properties in Suffolk and Queens, in what an independent state audit described as a haphazard approach to a serious environmental issue. The railroad also did not register nearly half of the tanks uncovered by auditors as required by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, according to the report by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspector general. That means there was no appropriate record of the exact location of some tanks, both underground and above ground. But railroad officials say they have complied with all recommendations made in the audit of bulk oil storage during 2001-02, which was released recently after Newsday filed a Freedom Of Information request for the report. The railroad will properly inspect and register their tanks, LIRR officials said. “We have implemented or are working on every recommendation,” said Jose Fernandez, LIRR vice president of system safety and security. “We put together a policy and a work plan which identifies individuals in each department to have accountability and responsibility.” Audit findings The audit found that the railroad did not designate a department or program responsible for managing its bulk petroleum storage tanks. In the report, auditors found 35 tanks, providing a snapshot of how the railroad handled its bulk storage of petroleum, including waste oil, diesel fuel and kerosene. The audit identified unregistered and uninspected tanks in the train yards at Babylon, Port Jefferson and Speonk. It also found unregistered and uninspected tanks in the yards at Hillside, Holban, Long Island City, Richmond Hill and in the West Side yard. Though the audit did not explicitly cover leaks or spills, such loose reporting can lead to dangerous conditions, the report said. “If the railroad is supposed to be doing their job, but doesn’t have a comprehensive plan, the risk is presumed. We don’t have to wait for a spill,” said Inspector General Matthew Sansverie, who heads the independent oversight agency created to review the operations of the MTA and its constituent agencies. “What I can tell you is that it was a very haphazard approach.” The audit also found the railroad sometimes used unsafe and inappropriate storage devices. According to environmental regulations, all stationary tanks at facilities with a combined storage capacity of 1,100 gallons must be registered. Any waste oil tanks must be registered as well. All regulated above-ground tanks must be inspected monthly. The report found no formal inspections of some tanks for up to 15 years. In Queens, the railroad is subject to state DEC regulations. On Long Island, DEC delegated regulatory authority to the counties, which have stricter environmental controls. The report said the railroad initially took the stance they were not subject to the stricter county laws because the LIRR is a state entity, but railroad officials have since said they will agree to work with both Nassau and Suffolk counties. The LIRR also agreed to step up recordkeeping of its bulk storage tanks, Fernandez said. Monthly inspections set LIRR officials said they have met with representatives from Suffolk County and have sent letters to Nassau County as well. And they have implemented monthly inspections as required by law. The regulations required for petroleum bulk storage were designed to “protect the public health, welfare, and the lands and waters of the state.” Tank maintenance and spill prevention are key components of this goal, the report said. “An important concern is how readily the LIRR could access tank data in an emergency,” the report read. The Inspector General made 12 recommendations to the railroad, including designating a unit to oversee compliance with the regulations, maintain an inventory of tanks and develop detailed inspection procedures. Fernandez said the railroad has taken the appropriate steps and has paid serious attention to its oil storage issues, including removing older underground storage tanks that pose the greatest environmental risk. He also said the railroad has never been cited or fined. “We realized we needed to put a better control to it,” he said, “even though in some aspects we felt we were responding properly.”

E1m state payoff for former Luas boss Sunday Times (London) July 4, 2004, THE state has agreed to pay the former head of the Luas tram system close to E1m after ousting him from his job. Donal Mangan agreed the settlement a fortnight ago, two years after he was replaced as acting chief executive of the Rail Procurement Agency. The former public servant was responsible for placing the contracts for the trams and line construction of Luas, the light rail system that was launched in Dublin last week. But his job was advertised without consulting him and Mangan was offered another position in the company. He started legal action to force the government to reinstate him after he was replaced. He reported every day to the office in Parkgate Street and drew his full salary of E150,000 until the legal action was settled. He was not allowed to work, even though he still had the use of a secretary and a company car. Transport sources said that Mangan received a “high six-figure sum”, one of the biggest of its kind. Mangan refused to comment yesterday on the value of the package. The 58-year-old Cork man said going to work in an office with nothing to do for two years was a very lonely experience, but it was much harder on his family than on himself. “It is good that it is over,” he said. “Going in and out of the office was very trying, particularly when some staff came to me and said they would like to talk to me but it was disapproved of. “It would have affected my family more than me. They were not directly involved in this, but were dragged into it. When somebody is doing a job, and nobody has told them they have done anything wrong it is not a pleasant situation.” In March 2002 the board chaired by Padraic White, the former IDA boss, advertised to fill the post permanently. Frank Allen, a former banker, got the job. Mangan was offered another position as a project manager of Luas, which he declined. He has since been appointed chairman of VoIP Ireland, a start-up phone company. Mangan was not invited to the opening of the Luas system last week but said he was proud of the E775m light rail system. More than a quarter of a million people have so far travelled on the Luas line from Sandyford to St Stephen’s Green, and it is estimated that 300,000 people will have used the tram service by teatime this evening. Travel on the Luas has been free of charge since it opened on Wednesday, and free travel continues until the last tram tonight.

Athens untrammeled; Latest addition to mega-projects around Athens, a brand new tramway set to make a record of its own Greece Now July 4th, 2003 Banish the image of San Francisco-style streetcars or lumbering communist-era people-carriers. The first of Athens’ trams part of the capital’s plan to unclog the city center and take visitors to Olympic Games venues in 2004 unimpeded was delivered late May 2003, conjuring images more in keeping with a futuristic movie. The shiny silver trams, created by Ferrari designer Pininfarina and made by AnsaldoBreda, comprise five cars each and are reminiscent of a sleek Japanese bullet train. Thirty-five of them will whisk passengers from Syntagma Square to the south coast of seaside Glyfada suburb by next August. Expected to carry 35,000 passengers a day, the light rail vehicles (together with the underground Metro, buses and a highway ringroad ), will relieve the commuting burden in and around the four-million-strong metropolis. Routes and lanes Two lines covering 24-kilometers (15 miles) will open by the time of the Olympic Games next summer, and two more phases of extension works are expected to be completed by 2010, Transport Minister Christos Verelis announced in May. Greece is building the first phase on a 50-50 funding basis between the European Union and the state, whereas the extensions, to seven lines covering 81 kilometers, will be undertaken with the private sector. The construction and supply of the 346-million-euro first phase is by the Terna (Greek) / Impregilo (Italian) joint venture. The tramway will run from Vassilissis Olgas Avenue and connect the marble Panathenaiko Stadium to Zappeion Gardens, near central Syntagma Square. The 48-stop line will run down Ardittou Street, through the island middle of Kallirois Avenue and onward to the Saronic coast at Paleo Falero, from where the line will branch west to Glyfada and east to Neo Falero metro station at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. Tramcars will share the road with regular cars in some sections, says the head of the transport ministry’s managing authority, the 3rd Community Support Framework Operational Program for Railways, Urban Transport and Airports (SAAS) , Eleni Yoti. But mainly the tram, which can reach speeds of 70km/h, will have its own exclusive lane. “It’ll go right along the seaside, and in some places go by the road between the two lanes,” Gioti said. “But in some places towards the center it’s going to be mixed traffic.” Asked if she thought the trams would hinder the vehicular flow, Gioti said trams sharing the road with cars is common practice in other cities, but “there will be a whole study of how to circulate both, so these things will be managed.” Extending lines, initiatives The extensions, constructed at an estimated cost not exceeding 630 million euros, would cover an additional 57.1 kilometers and link the city center and the south coast’s stadium with Piraeus station and Perama in western Attica, a long line (27.6 km) linking Aghia Paraskevi in the east via Peristeri in the west, Syntagma Square to Ano Patissia station and Votanikos in the city center, and the Athens University campus at Ilissia via Alexandras Avenue from Larissis railway station, later reaching the suburb of Zografou. The government’s public transport initiative, which has the date with Olympics as a fixed deadline, is trying to slow, if not reverse, the trend of commuters driving cars into the city, which exacerbates the traffic flow and raises pollution. In just ten years the number of cars in the European Union has trebled, but the sharp upward curve is expected to taper off when public transit improves. The Greek government is doing its part to meet the recommendations of the EU White Paper on transport 2001-2010 , offering citizens quality and safe urban transport and lessening pollution and gridlock. Coming a long way It is not the first time Athens has had trams plying urban streets. But old tramlines were paved over in the 1950s to make way for vehicles, as no one guessed at the time that the traffic problem would eventually become so acute. The tram resurrection, however, has had its share of birthing pains when line construction began in August 2002. Residents and the mayors in some seafront districts initially opposed the plan, while a segment of the line through the city center had to be rerouted due to its proximity to antiquities, especially around central Hadrian’s Arch . Despite the delays, Greece is building the railed rapid transit in record time. A tramway of similar length was once constructed in a record 32 months. Greece will shave another ten months off, having it ready in a mere 22.

Bangkok subway opened July 3 2Bangkok.com July 4, 2004 7:14pm, July 3, 2004 - The subway is OPEN! At 7:14pm, the gate went up at the Rama 9 subway station (right). Crowds rushed into the station and lined up to buy tickets. Passengers who bought the 10 baht token received a BCML frame with a subway postcard. Those who purchased the 300 baht Smart Card received a BCML billfold. A northbound subway car that arrived at the station at 7:36pm was already so packed with people that no further passengers could board. Bangkok Subway FAQ And the number one question we get at 2Bangkok.com: Is it safe/practical to build a subway in flood-prone Bangkok? All the entrances and shafts to the subway are built above the 200 year flood level for Bangkok (1.2-1.5 meter above ground level). If the water goes over the 200 year flood level, all openings have “stop block” doors that close to seal the openings. There are also water traps to keep water from going down into the stations. What will it be called? METRO (in English) / Rot Fai Fah Mahanakhon (in Thai). Will there ever be a tunnel under the Chao Phrya River? It will happen someday! It is already budgeted at 2 billion baht per kilometer. There are underwater tunnels in Hong Kong and San Francisco, so why not here? What will the gauge be? 1.435 meter-gauge (the same as for the BTS Skytrain) with a third rail for power transmission What will the fare be? 15-35 baht - Dailynews, May 4, 2001, reports: The fare rate will be 14-36 baht and 15% discount during the first few months after the operation. How often will the trains run? every 4-6 minutes and every 2-4 minutes during rush hour. Trains run everyday from 06:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. How fast will they go? 35 km/hr How much will it cost? 108.148 billion baht (about US$ 2.75 billion) The ratio of investment between public and private sectors is 80:20. The public sector will pay for construction and private sector will pay for the trains. How much do the workers who work on the construction site make? 175 baht (about USD$ 4) a day - from Manager Sunday, March 10, 2002 What is the passenger capacity? More than 40,000 passengers per hour per direction How many passengers is the system expected to carry a day? Initial estimates: Year 2002-3: 404,880 passengers/day Year 2010: 631,837 passengers/day Year 2020: 836,268 passengers/day Update: October 17, 2001 - “BMCL currently estimates a daily ridership of 237,000 for the subway for the first year of operations, down from original projections of 430,000.” What other subway can the design of the Bangkok subway be compared with? The Bangkok subway will be similar to the one in Singapore with doors along the platform to save on air-conditioning, prevent accidents and suicides, and prevent hazardous chemicals from easily circulating through the system in the event of a terrorist attack. What are the stations like? The stations will be 20 meters deep, be about 18-25 meters wide and 150-200 meters long, depending upon location. The rails will be on either side of the platforms, except at some places that will require multi-level tunnels (e.g. Silom Station). Most tunnels will run side by side, but under Rama 4 Road, which is covered by elevated roads, they will run one above the other. What are the lines and when will they be completed? Blue - The Bangsue-Huay Kwang section of the MRTA Blue Line (this is the northern section) was going to open December 2002, then was pushed back to August 12, 2003, then late-2003, February 2004, and finally August 2004.

MORE WOES FOR NEW FLEET; LIRR plunges into toilet repairs Newsday (New York July 5, 2004 First the seats, now the toilets. Starting this week, the Long Island Rail Road will begin modifying the bathrooms on its new M-7 fleet because the toilets clog, leaving some facilities out of order, railroad officials said. “We have had some problems and we are working with the manufacturer to come to a resolution concerning those problems,” said LIRR spokesman Bob Brennan. “All the cars are going to be modified. We have 276 in service and there’s 138 bathrooms. They are all going to be modified.” According to the LIRR, problems include defective level sensors, kinks in the flexible piping and a seizing flush regulator. All work is under warranty from toilet manufacturer Temoinsa of Spain, and the cars’ manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation Inc. of Canada. But the toilet problem is the latest in a string of criticisms of the new cars, which cost $1.7 million apiece. Since the introduction of the M-7 cars in 2002, the railroad retrofitted cars because they swayed too much while traveling in extreme cold. Also, the railroad plans to refit extended arm rests because commuters have complained they catch on pants and tear pockets. And, commuters have complained the new seats are too narrow. Peter Haynes, president of advocacy group LIRR Commuter’s Campaign, said he has heard complaints that a number of the M-7 bathrooms seem to be consistently out of service. “When a new car comes in, everyone looks at it and it is brand new and everyone says, ‘Oh gee, this is nice,’ but they have been here a couple of years and now we are starting to see the design failures and the maintenance failures,” he said. “Ten to 20 years down the road who knows if these are going to be better than the [older] M-3s.” But railroad officials have been pleased with the M-7 trains, which they said have exceeded reliability expectations. The M-7 has an average 217,084-mile mean distance between failures, the measure of how many miles a train runs before it needs mechanical service. The M-7s have surpassed the contractual number of 100,000 miles between service. By contrast, the much older M-3s average 47,784 miles between failures. By April 2006, the railroad expects to be running 678 M-7 cars on all electrified lines, making up the bulk of the LIRR’s electric fleet. Brennan said new cars will have bathroom modifications before they are put in service. The situation is “not unusual with new equipment like this,” as the kinks are worked out as the cars roll into service, Brennan said. Brennan said the toilets are serviced every three to four days and that customers and cleaning crews had noticed problems. “I can’t emphasize the point enough that these are still under warranty and it is not costing us a dime,” he said.

Stay In The USA? Call Center Magazine July 5, 2004 There may be no better time than now to expand, move or consolidate your call centers into an American location. The economy is beginning to grow, creating demand for call centers. King White, senior vice president, Trammell Crow Call Center Services (Dallas, TX), says the industry added 10,000 net new call center jobs in the U.S. in 2003. Selecting the Right Communities There is no single region in the U.S. that is better or worse for call centers. Boyd reports geographic and cost differences between U.S. locations are narrowing. But there are some states and cities of varying sizes that are showing up well on site selectors’ databases. California has made the biggest comeback, reports Boyd. He points to California’s recent workers compensation reforms, including a 30% rate reduction. The state is now taking on unemployment insurance reform by first tightening eligibility requirements (call center workers must earn at least $1,125 on the job before receiving benefits) and cracking down on fraudulent claims. “Companies had written off California because of its business climate and unreliable power but now they are coming back,” says Boyd. Within the state, he points to San Joaquin Valley: from Sacramento to Fresno, for low/medium-end call centers. The valley has high unemployment, moderate real estate costs, bilingual workers and low disaster risks. The San Francisco Bay is also becoming affordable again for higher-end, especially technical, support centers. Real estate costs are much lower with the dot-com bust; Boyd reports that call center rental rates are only one-third of what they were in 2000. Wages have moderated resulting in high unemployment in Silicon Valley. At the other end of the country, southern New Jersey shows well in Boyd’s analysis for large supplies of bilingual workers and reasonable wages. Cities include Trenton, Burlington, Pennsauken and Hammonton. Boyd says Trenton is a candidate site for financial service, health care, pharmaceutical and software support. From a demographic support, both low-end and high-end call centers can be successfully staffed at a Trenton location, with mass transit playing a major role. “Many of our corporate clients place a high priority on the availability of public transit to enhance their ability to recruit and retain their call center employees,” explains Boyd. “This is especially true in the Northeast Corridor where public transit is well established and heavily relied on by call center applicants.” Mass transit attractiveness isn’t just limited to the East. A new light rail line helped downtown Tacoma, WA, attract a call center. The Tacoma News-Tribune reports that Credit Advisors Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest credit counseling services, cited the city’s new downtown light rail line as a key reason why it selected the city and the location for its second call center. The light rail enabled the firm to pick a building near the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus. It wanted the vibrancy of the downtown but needed means to bring its employees into the center. “The major reason we made Tacoma our new location is the light rail,” Phil Natsiopoulos, national enrollment director for Credit Advisors, told the newspaper. “It was sexy to us.”

Unruly passengers turn off some light-rail regulars Sacramento Bee July 5, 2004 By spring, Sacramento Regional Transit will extend its eastern light-rail line all the way to historic downtown Folsom. One of the agency’s challenges will be to convince potential new customers in suburbia that the trains not only are competitive with cars timewise, but also are safe, relaxing and enjoyable. The relaxing and enjoyable parts still need work. Last week in Rancho Cordova, a woman on her way to the courthouse downtown got on and immediately announced her presence - basically put on a show - angrily shouting profanities at her son, ordering him around, threatening him. The boy looked to be about 4 years old and didn’t seem to be doing or saying much to warrant the barrage. The guy across from us muttered: “Someone ought to call Child Protective Services.” Another light-rail commuter called last week to say she is fed up with some of the people on the train between downtown and Watt Avenue. One woman last week, with no provocation, berated the other passengers, shouting nonsensically about government. “I kept thinking, “When is someone from light rail going to come on?’ But no one did,” our caller said. The next morning, a young couple was playing loud music on the train. Again, no transit police were around. “Hello?” our caller said. “How are you going to get people to get out of their cars to put up with this?” RT officials get these same complaints regularly, said Lt. Mark Sakauye, head of the RT police force. The problem, he said, is that light rail is “public” transit, and the public includes a great variety of people, some not so clean, some not so well-mannered. People have the right to be what and who they are in public, Sakauye says. He agrees that odd-acting passengers definitely make others ill at ease, and even cause some people to feel unsafe. RT has been beefing up its security in hopes of making riders feel more at ease. The agency now has multiple sets of cameras on newer buses and trains, and at some light-rail stations, although officials still are experimenting with how to use them effectively. The agency’s police force was boosted last year from 24 to 32 officers, all from the city police and county sheriff’s departments. They were handed a new tool last year - an ordinance that allows them to kick people out of light-rail stations who don’t have a ticket for an upcoming train. The agency’s onboard transit officers, the people who check tickets and monitor behavior, will increase in a few months from 17 to 23, Sakauye said. But that increase, in fact, only partially compensates for the reduction last week in the number of private security guards contracted with RT at some stations and on some trains. Sakauye says RT officials feel they can get better service on trains from transit officers the agency trains than from a private contract security service. But what exactly is that service? The penal code allows transit officers to kick someone off the train if his or her behavior is unruly, Sakauye said. That involves judgment calls, based on the situation, Sakauye said. He said officers won’t confront many people whose behavior or appearance may bug some other riders. “Something may be offensive to one person, but unnoticeable to others,” he said. “We tell (transit officers) do the best you can. Apply the reasonable person standard.” The almost hidden reality is that most light-rail riders are respectful of each other, and the trains generally have a good feel. Yet, unfortunately, it only takes one rude passenger to leave a lasting memory of unease and distaste. It would help a whole lot, riders say, to add a different memory to the ride - that of more transit officers coming aboard more frequently to check tickets and send the message that law, order and politeness prevail.

Talk of the town; London’s transport - Observations on media coverage by Ivor Gaber New Statesman July 5, 2004 Transport is one of the capital’s major talking points. If business meetings, lunches or dinner parties in the past began with swapping commuter horror stories, they now commence with wonderful tales of buses arriving on time or traffic flowing freely through town. Yet public perceptions of London’s transport are not always accurately reflected in the media. In fact, public perceptions and the media appear to operate in two, if not three, parallel universes. Universe one is the real world in which officials and politicians struggle to keep London moving with a transport infrastructure best described as ‘creaking’. This world occasionally features in media coverage, but by and large journalists are happier dwelling in their own universe. This universe has two sides. On one side, London’s transport problems are caused by bungling bureaucrats, malign politicians or old-fashioned ‘loonies’ who come together to thwart London’s hard-pressed commuters, particularly the car drivers among them. On the other side, bright young things never have to bother about when the last Tube goes, or where the night bus to Crouch End stops, and instead criss-cross London in taxis (which they never have to wait for). In the first, ‘public’ universe, people face shared problems and find collective solutions; in the other, individuals face their own problems and seek private solutions. Transport for London (TfL) struggles to cater for these very different perceptions. At the heart of the matter is that, even though around 90 per cent of London’s commuters travel by bus, Tube or rail, the media agenda is largely the motorist’s. When TfL embarks on a major road improvement scheme, it is invariably reported in terms of the potential disruption to traffic. When the Mayor announced his plan for controlled emission zones, the media focused not on the environmental benefits, but on the protests of taxi drivers about the cost. But nothing has demonstrated the bias in favour of the motorist more than the coverage of the introduction of congestion charging last year. The tone, led by the Evening Standard, was negative almost to the point of hysteria. Recent research from Goldsmiths College has revealed the predominance of scare stories throughout the media, including fears of ‘innocent’ drivers being fined, extra passengers bringing public transport to a halt, low-paid workers being unfairly penalised, local businesses being driven out of the capital and gridlock outside the zone. The car-loving coverage is hardly surprising, as the research also revealed that the majority of reporting on the congestion charge was by motoring correspondents, who interpreted it as an illegitimate attack on the rights of ‘freeborn Englishmen’ to drive their cars wherever they liked, irrespective of the consequences. In transport, as in other areas of life, the media running is usually made by those with the loudest voices - and they tend not to be commuters. Throughout the whole congestion charging debate, the voices of bus, train and Tube users were rarely heard. Officially they are represented by the London Transport Users Committee, but this organisation’s media profile is so low that it doesn’t even feature on TfL’s website. As far as the congestion charge was concerned, no national or London-wide newspaper or broadcaster published a single comment from the organisation throughout the controversy. Without a recognisable ‘authoritative’ voice, the opinions of those most affected by the charge, and by transport developments more generally, go unheard, and journalists are able to continue to dwell in their own universe, more or less untroubled by reality. Ivor Gaber researched media coverage of congestion charging for the Unit for Journalism Research at Goldsmiths College, London, from whom copies of the research report are available. The research was funded by the GLA

Subway chaos Bangkok Post July 5, 2004 Huge crowds rush to try subway… Passengers jostle for space, trains delayed… …Most flocked to Hua Lamphong and Bang Sue, the first and last stations, where enthusiastic travellers were forced to wait in the crowds for two or three trains to pass before they could squeeze aboard. …”It’s really crowded. Two trains have passed and I still can’t get on,’’ said one passenger at Hua Lamphong station… An officer at Hua Lamphong station said the 10-baht fee had attracted too many people. Instead of leaving the station after reaching their destination, many people continued riding, taking several trips back and forth.

TriMet posts record ridership - 315,700 each weekday; Record ridership 2 months in a row TriMet News & Info July 6, 2004 TriMet averaged 315,700 rides each weekday in May, the most ever in the agency’s 35-year history. That’s nearly 6 percent higher than in May 2003. TriMet’s previous record was 308,100 weekday rides reached in April 2004. MAX ridership TriMet’s MAX light rail system posted a new record of 97,900 weekday rides in May. Blue and Red line rides grew by 1,400 over a year ago, while the May 1 opening of the Interstate MAX Yellow Line added 11,800 weekday rides. The Interstate MAX Yellow Line added 5.8 miles of trackway through North Portland, bringing the total MAX system to 44 miles. “Whenever we add service or open a new MAX line, TriMet attracts more riders to the entire system because they can go more places more easily,” said Fred Hansen, TriMet general manager. Bus ridership Ridership on TriMet’s 15 Frequent Service bus lines carried the majority of bus riders for the first time, tallying 52 percent of all bus trips. Frequent Service Lines offer service at least every 15 minutes every day. Combined, TriMet buses carried 217,800 each weekday, up 1.4 percent from May 2003, and nearly reaching TriMet’s April 2004 ridership record of 220,300.

Now is the time to build BART extension The Argus (Fremont, CA) July 6, 2004 SANTA Clara County’s civil grand jury is questioning the need for a BART extension to San Jose. They are focusing on the short-term economic picture in the Bay Area as the basis for their recommendation. But planning for public transportation based on the short-term is short-sighted. Transit projects must be developed and built in the present to provide for a better future. Santa Clara residents voted resoundingly for the BART extension in 2000 when the high-tech, dot-com boom was peaking. They saw the need to prepare for the future today. While we have gone through an economic downturn in the recent past, we are, and I predict will, continue to see significant recovery. No one can dispute that the Bay Area economy is growing again and will continue to grow along with our population. There always will be more people who want to live here, more businesses that want to locate here and more traffic than we know what to do with. How will Silicon Valley businesses survive without BART and the other transit systems planned by the Valley Transportation Authority, which is the agency responsible for building the South Bay BART extension? Also indisputable is BART’s value as a significant part of the alternative to our traffic woes. With trains running every 15 minutes or less during commute hours, BART makes hundreds of round-trips each business day, carrying hundreds of thousands of commuters. Other heavy rail solutions such as the ACE train, Capitol Corridor and Caltrain cannot hope to achieve that kind of frequency or number of round trips. In addition, BART is often one of the only solutions for late night or off-hour travelers. Additionally, the recent environmental impact report predicts the BART extension will take as many as 84,000 people off our crowded roads in 2025. Think about it. That’s a significant reduction in the number of vehicles polluting the South Bay’s precious air. Without BART, the South Bay would get the brunt of the pollution caused by those additional trips. That’s because reports show the vast majority of drivers will head to the South Bay to work each morning from their East Bay and San Joaquin Valley homes. And given the traditional wind patterns, the smog they produce will blow down to San Jose, Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy to settle like a dirty blanket. It takes vision and optimism to plan for a future that seems just a distant dream, but much of what makes the Bay Area special is the tremendous vision of our residents and business and community leaders. Now is the time to support an efficient, effective, environmentally friendly travel alternative like the BART — if we want to give commuters a route around gridlock and help control air quality in the future. We must build now to keep an additional 84,000 people off the roads. If not, our successors will look back and wonder how we could be so short-sighted. Thomas Blalock was elected to the BART Board in 1994 and re-elected in 1998 and 2002. He represents Fremont, Newark, Union City and portions of Hayward. He has an extensive background in planning, engineering and administration, with a career spanning 43 years working for Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Fremont. He was public works director in Fremont for 20 years before his retirement in 1995.

ART FOR THE STATIONS; Rail art running late; Projects by 10 of 19 artists chosen to brighten the light-rail system are off track, and at least two face possible cancellation Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN July 6, 2004 Trains may run on time in the metro area’s new light-rail system, but roughly half of the $2.5 million in art that was supposed to grace the system’s 12 stations has been delayed or derailed. Projects by 10 of the 19 artists who were chosen in September 2001 are incomplete, suspended or under review by the rail system’s management. Rail officials say they expect most of the projects to be completed this fall, but at least two may be canceled. Others were hung up by delays preparing the artists’ contracts, and one is embroiled in a dispute over its quality and finish. Light-rail art program manager David Allen insisted that the project was on track despite glitches that left some stations unadorned when the system officially opened June 26. “We’re not really looking at it as a delay,” Allen said. “We didn’t dedicate the art Saturday; we dedicated the system. We had 88,000 people come through in one weekend, and we never would have dedicated multiple art works at the same time.” Minneapolis sculptor Aldo Moroni, who was hired to make a $45,000 frieze of hand-painted steel plates representing Minneapolis buildings, said his project was on hold for a year while rail-system lawyers and bureaucrats fiddled with the contract. After the contract was settled in January, he completed the 57 steel plates, up to 8 feet tall, that were to have lined both sides of the Cedar-Riverside station platform. He had a crew waiting to install the plates last week, but rail officials rejected the project before it was hung, Moroni said, for technical and aesthetic reasons. “I’ve done a lot of public stuff. People like my stuff, and I’ve never had this happen,” said Moroni, whose most prominent sculpture is a 30-foot-long ceramic mural in the lobby of the Federal Reserve building in downtown Minneapolis. By contract, he has 15 days to resolve the rail project dispute, during which time he plans to hang the work in his Minneapolis studio so train officials and the public can see it. Josh Collins, a spokesman for the rail system, said he had not seen Moroni’s piece and didn’t know why it was rejected, but expected a settlement. “We are very optimistic that the work will be installed and that everybody will be very happy with it, but at this point we’re not comfortable that it is complete and ready to be installed,” said Collins. Delays and anxiety Contract delays hampered even artists who have finished. St. Paul photographer JoAnn Verburg, who completed a $119,950 project covering five stations, said that two years of contract delays forced her to redesign part of the work. Her project includes life-size photos of oak trees, leafy in spring and bare in winter. By the time her contract was approved in January, the only suitable tree she could find with leaves was in Portland, Ore., so she flew there, photographed it and integrated it into the composition via computer. “I’m very conscientious about my work and my time, so the delays were very anxiety-producing,” Verberg said. But, she added, “It was a great commission, very challenging, and I loved it.” New York artist Janet Zweig is still awaiting approval for the most expensive project, a $300,000 interactive sound-and-video piece, portions of which will be installed this fall at each station. Her design features whimsical little video kiosks and speakers through which rail passengers may encounter short bits of poetry, song, jokes or other reflections about the state from about 100 Minnesotans. Before the work is installed, rail officials must listen to and approve all five hours of the audio-video material, a process underway this week. Nature of public art Other artists have grumbled that such oversight is micromanaging the creative process, but Zweig disagrees. “I have no complaints,” Zweig said by phone Friday from her New York studio. “The Met Council has been fantastic. They’ve been nothing but kind and helpful, and I think it is only fair and reasonable that they review it. And I think they’re going to be pleased by how talented and humorous Minnesotans are and how much they love their state.” Ellen Lanyon of Stockbridge, Mass., chalks up the delays to the nature of public art. Lanyon is creating eight porcelain-coated steel murals of Minnesota icons (including a loon, a walleye, trees), each 8 feet wide and 22 feet tall, for the outside of the rail system’s maintenance and administration building. Twenty-one months lapsed between the time her designs were approved and her construction contract was issued in January 2004. Meanwhile, the cost to fabricate the mural rose 10 percent and scheduling conflicts forced her to change fabricators. Extremely frustrated by the delay, Lanyon said, “I was embarrassed not to have it ready on June 25th; I tried, I really did.” She added “Public art is just a long process. You have to expect a lot of bureaucracy, and it takes patience to see a job through.” Arts administrator Allen praised the artists’ professionalism and took responsibility for many of the delays. “This is the first time the Met Council has done artist contracts, and there were a number of issues we had to plow through,” he said. Finished and not Other works yet to be finished are a $110,000 stone-and-metal sculpture by Keith Christensen of Minneapolis; an $80,000 neon piece by Michael Flechtner of Van Nuys, Calif.; an $83,500 metalwork and platform design by Philip Larson of Minneapolis, and the last section of a $162,000 railing project in four stations by Deborah Mersky of Seattle. The future is less certain for two projects: A $130,000 interactive sound-and-light sculpture by Massachusetts artist Christopher Janney is on hold and may be canceled because it poses safety problems, Allen said. Likewise, a project by Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishii of Chapel Hill, N. C., for the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood has not been designed yet because planners have not been able to raise the needed extra money - more than $100,000. The artists have been paid $8,000 for site visits and preliminary planning, but “we have elected not to proceed until we know we have funds for the project,” Allen said. Additional artists who have finished their work are Richard Charles Elliot of Ellensburg, Wash.; Sheila Klein of Bow, Wash.; Penny Rakoff and Bill McCullam of Cleveland; Cliff Garten of Marina Del Rey, Calif.; Gregg LeFevre of New York; and Janet Lofquist and Andrew Leicester of Minneapolis.

Streetcar picks up backers Seattle Times July 6, 2004 A proposed South Lake Union streetcar is starting to look like the Love Train, thanks to a public-relations campaign that’s roped in support from a Native American group, an African-American group, an Australian-themed restaurant and many more companies and organizations. Armed with a new study that details ridership and cost projections, boosters are gearing up to get the Seattle City Council on board the streetcar project and overcome concerns that the city has more important priorities, such as a $500 million maintenance backlog for streets, sidewalks and bridges. A study the city released last week says the proposed streetcar from Westlake Center downtown to South Lake Union would have two trains running through the area at any given time, each of them carrying 30 to 35 riders an hour, on average, in the first year. That ridership could double or triple if the neighborhood grows as expected. The streetcar would cost at least $1.4 million a year to operate, in addition to a $45 million tab for construction, cars and engineering. More than half of the capital cost — $25 million — would come from a special tax on property owners near the route, reducing the hit to taxpayers citywide. According to the study, $8.5 million would come from secured state and federal grants and $9 million from pending federal grants, leaving $2.5 million to be determined. Some skeptics remain unimpressed. “I’m just struck by how much they are pushing for something this silly. Why is a city with so little money for basic transportation needs, spending on this? I think it shows desperation,” said Eugene Wasserman, president of the North Seattle Industrial Association and a member of a city- appointed panel that recently identified the $500 million maintenance backlog. While touting some of the study’s key facts last week, a public-relations firm also was stressing that diverse streetcar supporters include the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and Outback Steakhouse, which recently opened a restaurant near Lake Union’s south shore. Dozens of companies with direct financial interests in South Lake Union redevelopment are also part of a lobbying coalition called Build The Streetcar. The Seattle Times, which owns property in the area, has not taken a position and is still studying the streetcar, according to company spokeswoman Kerry Coughlin. Jobs touted Michelle Sanidad, CEO of the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, said the streetcar would help families get to health and social services in the South Lake Union area. Sanidad said the streetcar also could help bring visitors to a Northwest Native Canoe Center planned for a new South Lake Union Park. James Kelly, executive director of the Urban League, said his group’s backing for a streetcar is similar to its pro-monorail stance. “Anything that creates job opportunities, we’re all for that, with unemployment for African Americans in double digits,” Kelly said, referring to the percentage of unemployed. Redevelopment, led by Paul Allen’s Vulcan company, is projected to bring up to 20,000 jobs to the South Lake Union area, where Allen owns 60 acres. Vulcan has maintained that a streetcar would spur development and help workers get around the area. Kelly said he has no assurances that African Americans would get jobs in the biotech hub envisioned for South Lake Union. But, he said, “We’re at the table asking for meaningful participation, not just crumbs or handouts.” Kelly said the Urban League, Vulcan and the University of Washington are working on a plan that would identify opportunities for minority contractors and business owners in South Lake Union. He said construction, retail and building maintenance might provide the best job prospects for minorities. Vote may come soon As a transportation system, the streetcar would feature less convenience than Sound Transit’s new Tacoma streetcar. The Tacoma line, already beating its ridership estimates with 2,300 daily users, benefits from a park- and-ride garage as well as a track corridor mostly separate from automobile lanes. Tacoma trains can stop other traffic at intersections, something not envisioned at South Lake Union. Seattle streetcar backers say the system would work fine running in road lanes, similar to what is done in Portland and San Francisco. The $214,000 study, by Parsons Brinckerhoff, Nelson Nygaard Consulting Associates and URS Corp., also said the streetcar would fare well when compared to similar projects in other cities. Parsons Brinckerhoff — which is also leading Sound Transit’s study of future expansions — may potentially reap engineering contracts for the streetcar if the plan gets approved. Asked if the firm can be objective, senior project manager Art Borst said: “If we don’t do that, we don’t stay in business. It would be very obvious if we didn’t produce an objective report.” The streetcar campaign is intensifying because the City Council may soon vote on moving the project forward. The Seattle Department of Transportation hopes a key council committee will consider next Tuesday a plan that would take streetcar analysis to a more detailed level, in which operating and financing plans would be drawn up. If the council approves that, a final “go” or “no-go” vote would follow. In preparing for a council decision, streetcar supporters took journalists on a walking tour of the proposed route last month. They also sent reporters some key findings from the streetcar study before it was released and before council members had even seen it. And tomorrow they will hold a fund-raiser for the streetcar hosted by Mayor Greg Nickels and Council President Jan Drago. The promotional blitz even includes a painted mural on a high-rise building at Sixth and Westlake avenues. Councilman Nick Licata said the lobbying has barely begun. “The council is going to be like Troy looking out at a bay full of Greek ships with all the constituents the mayor is going to corral. He wants this trolley badly,” Licata said. Other needs But streetcar opponents may also buttonhole council members. Fremont developer Suzie Burke said she wouldn’t support the streetcar “unless we get every other transportation need taken care of, and I don’t think we’re even close.” Burke also said she’s disturbed by the aggressiveness of the pro-streetcar campaign. “This is not being done by good-choice methods. This is being done by who can buy the most push,” she said. Given the city’s continuing budget constraints, Licata said council members will not want to be seen as favoring South Lake Union over other neighborhoods. “Council members will look at this and ask, ‘Are we putting too many eggs in one basket?’ That’s where the debate is going to be.”

Anger at ‘barmy’ road-building plans The Guardian July 6 2004 Transport campaigners today reacted with dismay to government plans to build a new “expressway” toll road in the North, accusing the transport secretary of “caving in to the roads lobby”. Alistair Darling announced today’s twin measures - ahead of next week’s spending review - which would see trial car-sharing lanes and, more dramatically, a new pay-as-you-go motorway between Birmingham and Manchester. Both schemes were welcomed by most motorists’ organisations, who said the new toll road would help relieve congestion, but Transport 2000 dubbed it “barmy” to build a new toll road rather than charge road users for existing motorways. Mr Darling made the announcement to MPs in the chamber ahead of Monday’s spending announcement by the chancellor, which is expected to reveal make-or-break decisions of funding for rail projects such as London’s Crossrail project and East London line tube extension. However, the Conservatives complained that the government was adopting Tory road proposals, and that the new M6 road would not be ready before 2020 at the earliest. The transport secretary said the ideas for car-sharing had come from a trip he took earlier this year to the US, and if it could work there “there is no reason why it could not work here”. Car-sharing pilots would be tried between certain junctions on the M62, the M3, the M1 and the M61, as the Observer revealed on Sunday. There will be a public consultation until September on the new toll road for 50 miles north of the existing M6 toll road around Birmingham. With two new separate pay lanes both north and south, that would effectively create Britain’s first 10-lane motorway. Transport 2000, who campaign for a sustainable road and rail infrastructure, warned: “This could be the start of LA-style superhighways. “We are in favour of road charging, but not creating new roads with tolls.” The group’s director, Stephen Joseph, said: “This is breathtaking in its significance for the environment. The idea that we could build our way out of congestion with new toll motorways was originally called ‘blue skies thinking’ by Lord Birt, but it leaves a black cloud hanging over the English countryside and our commitment to tackling climate emissions. It was barmy when Birt suggested it; it’s barmy now. Friends of the Earth said it was “angry and bitterly disappointed” about the plans. The group’s transport campaigner, Tony Bosworth, said: “When it came to power, Labour said that we can’t build our way out of congestion and promised to cut the amount of traffic on our roads. But the government has now caved in to the roads lobby. This new toll motorway will encourage more people to drive and won’t solve our transport problems.” The new Tory transport spokesman, Tim Yeo, dubbed it a “press release masquerading as a policy”, dismissing the consultations as being empty without “commitment to any new roads, no commitment to actually widening the M6, no commitment to actually introducing carpool lanes - just a commitment to start more consultation processes. The only thing that will be enhanced as a result of today’s statement is your reputation for indecision.” The car-pooling studies will look at the M62 between Brighouse and Leeds; the M3 Bagshot to Thorpe; the M1 Milton Keynes South to St Albans; and the M61 north-west of Manchester. The expressway is proposed for a 51-mile stretch of the M6 between junctions 11a near Cannock and junction 19 near Knutsford. If the scheme is sanctioned, it will become Labour’s first toll road, as the existing 27-mile M6 Toll - which opened last December to connect junction 11 of the M6 in Staffordshire with junction 4 in Warwickshire - was a Conservative initiative. Motoring organisations universally welcomed the statement. The Freight Transport Association spokesman said: “The route is presently heavily congested and the provision of a new road, albeit tolled, would be welcomed by UK industry operating goods vehicles. “However, it is essential that, unlike the present M6 toll road, a level of fee is set at a rate which offers value for money. RAC Foundation executive director Edmund King said: “The proposed toll road should help to relieve congestion in this important corridor and give motorists a choice. However, we must ensure that the government builds in safeguards into the contract to ensure that that there is some degree of control into the levels of service and tolls charged. AA Motoring Trust director John Dawson said: “This scheme makes sense. It could be modelled along the lines of the hot lanes the Americans have which can provide the guaranteed journey times that some motorists rely on. The new Lib Dem transport spokesman, John Thurso, reconfirmed his party’s commitment to road user charging, saying “more toll roads are not the answer”. Other MPs expressed safety concerns over proposals that some of the car share schemes could occupy the existing hard shoulder of motorways.

Sales taxes give boost to DART ; Light-rail lines to some suburbs could be finished a year early Dallas Morning News July 7, 2004 DART light-rail construction may get on track sooner than planned, thanks to better-than-expected sales tax revenue. If the positive trends continue, Dallas Area Rapid Transit could eliminate one year of the current three-year construction delays for rail lines to Fair Park, Pleasant Grove, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Irving and Rowlett. And even more months of delay could be saved on certain rail segments, depending on how fast contractors can lay the track. “Those cities have been waiting a long time for light rail,” said Gary Thomas, DART president and executive director. “It’s a large priority here to maintain the schedule and hopefully accelerate the schedule.” If approved by the DART board this month or next, the accelerated rail schedule would bring light rail to Fair Park and the Medical Market Center by the end of 2009 rather than the end of 2010. In addition, the pace of construction could allow those segments to open even earlier. Under the new schedule, DART’s final rail segments to Rowlett and Las Colinas would move from 2013 to 2012, and trains would get to D/FW Airport in 2013 instead of 2014. “We will be looking at making up the year delay and then some,” said DART board vice chairman Mark Enoch of Rowlett. “We want to start laying track.” Delegating oversight DART also hopes to shorten the delays by giving contractors more responsibility and oversight in building the planned 46 miles of rail lines. A single contractor would help design the rail lines and be responsible for the entire project, including any cost overruns and delays. DART says the contractor could build the rail lines more efficiently and with fewer major changes. All suggested opening dates remain well behind the original construction schedule, which had trains reaching Fair Park in 2007 and D/FW Airport around 2010. Three straight years of declining sales tax revenue for DART and across much of the region forced the transit agency to delay many of its projects, lay off workers and cut bus and rail service. DART gets most of its operating and capital funding from sales tax revenue, and the agency expects to get about $330 million this year, up from its $304 million projection last fall. Before the economic downturn, the transit agency in 2000 predicted that it would receive $476 million in sales tax revenue in 2004. A slight slowdown in sales tax collections last month caught the attention of Mr. Enoch and board member Bill Velasco of Dallas, chairman of the DART board’s administrative committee. In the first eight months of DART’s fiscal year, sales tax numbers continually outpaced last year’s revenue by about 7 percent. But figures reported in June were virtually even with 2003 levels. If the slower trend continues, the board could consider taking a more conservative stance rather than announce revised opening dates it can’t deliver, Mr. Velasco said. Sales tax revenue is only one piece of the puzzle. DART also is waiting to hear this fall about its request for a $700 million federal grant to help build the rail lines to Fair Park, Pleasant Grove and northwest Dallas. Without that funding, rail lines could suffer extensive delays. As DART’s financial picture improves, it also must balance the needs of its employees with the demands of building the rail lines more quickly. Last year, a tight budget prevented salary increases for all employees. DART has discussed a 2 percent raise and a 2 percent bonus. Cities and towns along the future light-rail tracks already have visions of what the rail cars and their passengers will bring. Farmers Branch is planning a major convention center development, and Dallas wants the rail line to anchor a new entertainment district linking downtown and Fair Park. Entertainment plans “We’ll be pleased to see that acceleration of the schedule,” said Dallas City Council member Sandy Greyson, chairwoman of the transportation committee. “We’re pursuing the entertainment district for development in the next 10 years or so, and the rail line is going to be a big part of that.” The rail line also could be a major benefit in any talks between the city and the Dallas Cowboys about moving to Fair Park, Ms. Greyson added. In many cities, light rail is seen as a way to transform a neighborhood or city. Leaders of some area cities are eyeing the Las Colinas line because it will connect D/FW Airport, Dallas Love Field airport and downtown Dallas. Irving hopes to attract a host of shops and apartments along the rail line in Las Colinas and would like to see the construction schedule accelerated even further. “What we’re talking about is moving the opening date back where it was,” said Irving Mayor Joe Putnam. “We always hoped for that, and somehow expected it.”

Wheels in motion for light rail project Baynews9 website July 7, 2004 The Tampa Bay Commuter Rail Authority is taking steps to make the dream of a local light rail system a reality. “We’re going to build this sucker unless somebody stops us,” said state Senator Jim Sebesta. Sebesta is pushing the idea of a light rail system to carry commuters from Hernando to Manatee, and from Pinellas to Polk. But once the commuters get to the train station, how will they get to their destinations? Hernando County resident Len Tria has checked out light rail systems in Dallas, St. Louis and Portland. He says successful systems have one thing in common. “Every light rail system has a bus feeder system that brings riders to it, every one,” said Tria. So now the rail authority is scouting potential locations for so-called inter-modal centers — stations where commuters can get off the train and get a cab, bus or another train to take them to their final destination efficiently. “We’re trying to figure out how to put all of those mass transit systems together,” said Sebesta. “And there may very well be more than one inter- modal center for each of the counties.” Possible locations for the centers include downtown sites in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater. The board hopes to have final locations picked out later this year. Then work begins on planning potential routes. Tria says when it’s done, it will be worth it to Bay area commuters. “Everyone has to remember that a journey of 10,000 miles begins with one step,” said Tria. Sebesta says a Bay area commuter rail system could also connect to a high-speed Orlando/Miami rail system. He says a company called the Global Rail Consortium has offered $400 million in private money to help get the project started.

Residents’ opposition stalls trolley project; SEPTA gets a lesson in local politics Philadelphia Daily News July 7, 2004 IT BEGAN AS A grand and ambitious project, heralded by SEPTA officials and rail enthusiasts as a glorious return to the golden age of trolley transit in Philadelphia. But in just a few short weeks, it has become a $58 million lesson in local politics - and how easily good intentions can be derailed by bad manners. Now, a beautifully restored fleet of lime and cream PCC trolley cars - the centerpiece of what was supposed be the return of trolley service to SEPTA’s Route 15 line - sits idly in the Elmwood Depot in Southwest Philadelphia, gathering dust instead of passengers. Newly refurbished stops along Girard Avenue are still awaiting riders and the familiar clang of the trolley’s bell, which hasn’t been heard there since 1992. And freshly printed Route 15 trolley schedules, promising service would begin June 13, don’t match the times being kept by the buses that are still in use on the popular Haddington-to-Port Richmond route. Transit officials won’t even speculate on when the long-awaited trolley project will get on track. “We’re temporarily not resuming service,” said Frances Jones, SEPTA’s assistant general manager for government affairs. “I can’t give you a best estimate.” The trolley folly is an untimely embarrassment for the cash-strapped transit agency, which carries a $70 million deficit into the new fiscal year and which has lobbied incessantly in Harrisburg for increases in state funding. It’s all because of a narrow, three-block piece of North 59th Street between Vine Street and Girard Avenue - the end of the line - that SEPTA needs converted to a one-way street in order to safely operate the trolley line. Those three blocks of 59th Street are home to about 60 working-class families who feel their concerns about SEPTA’s nearby Callowhill Depot have long been neglected by the transit agency. And so it goes that a small part of the city is holding up a very big project. “SEPTA being here has been nothing but a hardship,” said Carol Campbell, the powerful Democratic leader of the neighborhood’s Fourth Ward. “We only see them when they want something, and now they’re trying to sell us a bill of goods. And you know what? It’s not going to fly. We’re all against it.” Campbell and her constituents have more than anger to back up their words. Traffic flow on North 59th Street can be changed only by City Council ordinance, which must be introduced by the Council member who represents the area. Councilman Michael Nutter said he’s unimpressed with SEPTA’s conduct in the neighborhood. “It does appear that there has been an incredible amount of planning and design and renovation work, a whole series of steps, that in the final analysis was going on in a vacuum that seemed to have nothing to do with the people who live directly near the Callowhill station,” said Nutter. “They appear to be the last to know,” added the councilman, who said SEPTA approached him several weeks ago about the need for a traffic change. “I will not support the changing of direction of traffic on North 59th Street unless and until SEPTA reaches agreement with the affected neighbors,” Nutter continued. “Or unless some other plan is developed that keeps traffic flowing in both directions with the least amount of disruption to the residents, with their agreement.” SEPTA officials know they need to mend fences before trolleys can rumble up the 59th Street rails. “SEPTA has to do some things to gain the confidence and respect of the community,” said Jettie Newkirk, a lawyer and SEPTA board member who has been working to resolve the dispute. “And that will take the time it takes.” So how did SEPTA run out of time, and get off track in the first place? Residents, community leaders and even some transit officials acknowledge that tensions over the Callowhill Depot have escalated in recent years. Locals have complained that SEPTA employees use surrounding streets to park their vehicles, causing more congestion and parking difficulties. They say the employees also ignore street-cleaning regulations, making it harder for city crews to keep their curbs tidy. Residents and community leaders also say SEPTA broke promises to maintain its property and improve the neighborhood. “They never came to us with a summer program, or a way to give kids two or three hours of work,” said Campbell, who lives just a block south of the depot. “They’ve never said ‘Let’s have a partnership,’ or a scholarship for Overbrook [High School]. They could have invested some money in the community, but they never reached out to the community.” Nutter agreed. “Part of the animosity is not just about the trolley,” he said. “SEPTA made commitments for improvements and amenities in the neighborhood and basically never carried them through. If that’s the nature of the relationship on small items, then when you have a big thing come up, you’re going to be more or less inclined to not go along with it.” Newkirk said SEPTA’s relationship with the neighborhood had deteriorated in recent years as plans to move the Callowhill Depot from 59th and Callowhill streets got delayed. “It was anticipated that by this time the depot would be gone,” she said. If the depot moves, she added, then the residents probably would drop their opposition to the trolley. SEPTA officials had known for months, however, that the Callowhill Depot move would be delayed and the Route 15 trolley would be ready to resume service. SEPTA officials said they knew months ago that they’d need traffic changes to North 59th Street. Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson said SEPTA first approached her department in January of this year. The Streets Department agreed that due to the narrow width of 59th Street and the location of the trolley tracks in the middle of the street, it would need to either make North 59th Street one-way or remove parking on one side of the street. “The problem is you have tracks down the middle of the street, and now it’s a two-way street,” said Tolson. “You can’t have parking if you want a two-way street.” If SEPTA knew it would have a problem, it certainly didn’t tell the community, the riding public, or even its own drivers until the last minute. One SEPTA driver, a former trolley man with more than 20 years’ experience, said he jumped at the chance back in May to bid for work on the Route 15. It was only when he reported for work on June 10 - three days before the scheduled start of trolley service - that he was told he’d be driving something else. “They said report to bus instruction,” said the driver, who spoke under condition of anonymity. “One day of bus instruction. Now I’m driving a bus.” Schedules had already been printed and posted on the Internet. For the foreseeable future, it appears that the road to Girard Avenue - North 59th Street - will remain a two-way street with parking on both sides and no Route 15 trolley service. It is, technically, a safety issue. Streets Commissioner Tolson said the process of analyzing traffic and making changes can take anywhere from “a couple of months to probably…years.” SEPTA is also still waiting for the rest of its cars. The transit agency has so far received only 10 of the 18 refurbished PCC trolley cars it intends to use on the Route 15. The last of the cars won’t arrive until the end of the year, said spokesman Jim Whitaker. He said that if service should resume before that time, light rail vehicles would be used to supplement the PCC’s. Some residents of 59th Street fondly remember the trolley. “It was a comfortable ride,” said Fred Sharp, 77, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. “But the traffic should be two ways.” “The trolley was always really warm, in the winter. A little slower, but an excellent ride,” said 59th Street resident Carmella Johnson, 41. “I’d like to see it back on the street, but keep the traffic two-way.” “If it takes parking, that’s going to be trouble,” said Rena James, 40, who drives to her retail sales job. “I don’t have a problem as long as they have parking.” Newkirk said SEPTA officials are again scouting for somewhere to move the Callowhill Depot. And SEPTA’s Frances Jones is trying to stay positive about the trolley line’s prospects. “We don’t like to see it as a debacle,” said Jones, who has been attending community meetings with Newkirk and other SEPTA officials. “Unfortunately some things haven’t transpired the way we wanted, but we’re optimistic we can work with the community to bring it to a favorable disposition.” Nutter said SEPTA should study shifting the trolley track to one side of 59th Street, so two-way traffic could be maintained. Cleaning up the area, finding additional parking and doing landscaping would also help, he said. “You need to do something,” said Nutter, “to give people a little better sense that you actually care.

Selling the Harcourt Street line to Luas; Buying up land for Luas was a difficult and sometimes legalistic business, writes John Morley The Irish Times July 7, 2004 Taking the Luas last week on the green line from St Stephen’s Green to Sandyford was a personal journey of achievement, which started nine years ago when I first advised a client who owned part of the former Harcourt Street railway line. Negotiations followed with CIE for the sale of the land to them but a deal could not be agreed at that time. Later I was asked for advice by other owners with the result being that I finished up acting for 11 owners who between them held around seven hectares (17 acres) along the route. The formal compulsory purchase procedures for the sale of the lands to the Light Rail Project Office (now the Railway Procurement Agency) commenced in February 2000. Most of the cases are now resolved with the sale of the seven hectares to the Railway Procurement Agency for compensation of over E28 million. More than E1 million in compensation for cases on the red route from Connolly to Tallaght brings the total compensation dealt with by the Hamilton Osborne King compulsory purchase team for the Luas to almost E30 million. As well as private individuals our clients included four schools, retail outlets, a charity and a statutory body. Negotiating with the Railway Procurement Agency wasn’t a quick or easy process. When we finally succeeded in engaging the agency in negotiation, the levels of compensation on offer proved in most cases to be unrealistic and lower than the market value levels on which compensation is based. In order to achieve a fair level of compensation for the clients we were forced to refer five of the 11 cases to arbitration. This is a very high proportion of arbitrations. In other compulsory purchase schemes (mainly roads and motorways), which we also handle, reference to arbitration is relatively infrequent. Compensation for land taken by compulsory purchase is based on market value. Owners are meant to receive the amount they could have realised if, instead of being compulsorily acquired, they had been free to sell their property on the open market. In addition, owners are entitled to compensation for what is known as injurious affection. This is the reduction in value to other adjoining land in their ownership caused by the loss of the land being compulsorily acquired. Circumstances in which this happen vary greatly but can, for example, include the loss of a scenic view from other land in the same ownership or if the acquired land is put to a very noisy or otherwise noxious use. Finally, the owner being compulsorily acquired is entitled to compensation for any interruption to business or domestic activities. This is known as disturbance. A trader may suffer from reduced levels of turnover during and after the construction works but, to be claimable as compensation, any losses must arise from the loss of the land being acquired from him or from the use to which the acquired land is put. The complexity of compulsory purchase compensation assessments can be judged by the fact that each of the five arbitrations took a minimum of four days with two of the hearings lasting over a week. With senior counsel and town planning, engineering and other experts involved in addition to the valuers, the costs of arbitration can be substantial, particularly if they last any length of time. These costs are normally the responsibility of the acquiring authority. There are many ways in which the compulsory purchase procedures can be improved with one being to make the whole process much more user-friendly and understandable to the owner being compulsorily acquired. Once a scheme involving compulsory purchase is authorised, an owner can expect to receive what is known as “Notice to Treat”. This is a formal legal notice, which requires the owner to confirm and give details of his ownership of the property and to submit his claim for compensation. This is the stage at which many owners feel vulnerable and in need of guidance as to what they should do and as to what happens next. In many financial transactions, such as those dealing with share ownerships, insurance policies or even paying income tax, there are usually guidance notes concerning a person’s rights and liabilities and a warning given that the matter should be referred as soon as possible to a professional adviser. Sometimes there are step-by-step instructions. Not so when it come to compulsory purchase. Whilst there may occasionally be a recommendation to seek professional advice, no guidance is ever given to an owner as to his rights and neither is there any type of explanatory guide explaining the whole process. Even a standardised form on which the affected owner can set out his compensation claim would be of great assistance. Several years ago Hamilton Osborne King produced a brief guide to the whole process and copies of these were sent out to the Department of Local Government and the Environment. I see the Luas as a very welcome addition to the city’s infrastructure. With its links to high people usage locations, such as Tallaght town centre, the city centre and the new Dundrum town centre, as well as the hospitals at Tallaght and St James and several schools along the route, it should be able to remove a considerable amount of traffic from the streets. Other major infrastructural schemes on which the Hamilton Osborne King compulsory purchase team have been engaged are the M50 and the Dublin Port Tunnel. Since the mid 1980s we have negotiated sales to the Dublin local authorities of extensive sections of the M50. While some cases were referred to arbitration, the vast majority were settled by negotiation. Again, there was a variety of clients involved, including several private individuals as well as three schools, a religious order, three development companies, a cemetery, and a golf club. Compensation settlements in the Dublin area negotiated by Hamilton Osborne King or awarded to them at arbitration within the last three years now total E100 million. In Cork, the Hamilton Osborne King compulsory purchase team is headed up by director Isobel O’Regan. Here, the firm acts on the other side of the fence and has represented Cork County Council in several recent schemes. These include the Ballincollig and Glanmire/Watergrasshill bypasses where 134 hectares (332 acres) were acquired by the County Council.

Independent panel to review whether monorail’s figures add up SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER July 8, 2004 The next critical test for Seattle’s new monorail project is about to begin: showing everybody the money. City Council members have ordered an independent financial review of the Seattle Monorail Project. Monorail officials say their reviews and a recent audit indicate the project is feasible. Critics say monorail officials’ financial estimates are much too rosy, especially when compared to the same projections by outside experts. “Every aspect of their financial plan is almost unreasonably optimistic,” said Ben Porter, who studies federally funded transit systems and analyzed the monorail numbers for critics. “It would be like (predicting) every Mariner would bat .400.” Questions about finances have dogged the project since initial estimates of the monorail’s receipts of a motor-vehicle excise tax, for the moment its chief source of cash, fell 30 percent short. The City Council’s financial review is a last step to assess the project’s risk before giving the green light to construction, slated to begin this fall. “One of the reasons we’re doing a financial analysis is to assess that risk,” said Councilman Nick Licata, a backer of the system. “We have to do it out of an obligation to watch over use of public funds and out of a need to see if the project can be done financially, as well as from the standpoint of engineering.” Monorail officials have for months said they’re convinced the 14-mile, $1.75 billion system will be able to finance its own construction and several years of operation, reaching break-even by 2020. If the city’s review is “independent and professional, it should say what all the other reviews have shown” — that the project is feasible, monorail board member Cleve Stockmeyer said. The ultimate proof will be “what the bidding teams give us” as prices for building and operating the line, board member Cindi Laws said. Supporters say the system, narrowly approved by voters in 2002, is more likely to succeed than other public-works projects because initial costs will be known in advance and be paid by a tax base that’s growing. The 1.4 percent tax is levied on vehicles registered in Seattle, costing the owner of a $15,000 car $210 per year. The new monorail would connect Crown Hill to West Seattle via Ballard, Queen Anne, downtown and Sodo. Initial estimates have said it eventually would carry 20 million riders a year. Financial assumptions being challenged by critics include: Tax collections The monorail has accepted the conclusions of a recent study by ECONorthwest of Portland, which predicted that motor-vehicle excise tax collections, now running just under $4 million per month, will increase by 6.1 percent between now and 2030, based on household and income growth and the price of new vehicles. Critics point to another study by Seattle economist Dick Conway, which forecast a more modest 4.8 percent annual growth in the tax base, fewer vehicles per household, lower car prices and a smaller population of driving-age residents. Sound Transit, by comparison, has forecast a 4.5 percent growth in motor vehicle excise tax revenue through 2025, using Conway’s calculations but adjusting them for the part of its service area that includes Seattle. Porter says if Conway’s prediction is true, the monorail could end up with $11 million less in revenue in 2030 than it needs to pay its bond debt. Porter says monorail estimates, which he analyzed for the monorail watchdog group On Track, also predict an unusual growth in the amount of money the monorail will spend paying its debts each year through 2030, something public agencies try to avoid. In the 12 months when the monorail received full-month tax collections, revenue has ranged from a low of 72 percent of expectations to more than 100 percent. According to a recent monorail presentation, collections during those months exceeded 90 percent of the amounts billed to car owners. Jonathan Buchter, the monorail finance chief, says bond-rating agencies and insurers he’s talked with are confident the tax will grow over time, as both economic studies forecast. He says the monorail agency stuck with ECONorthwest’s prediction because it was done for the monorail and “it seems we ought to rely on it.” He said in the year the monorail has collected the tax it has grown more than 3 percent, slightly more than ECONorthwest predicted for the first two years of monorail collections. “So far it’s been right on,” he said of the ECONorthwest forecast. Buchter acknowledges that the monorail estimates that annual debt payments will continue rising through 2030, but the agency believes its tax income will be going up as well. Between 2010 and 2030, according to the estimate, debt payments will rise each year to $176 million in 2030. But the agency predicts its revenue will rise during the same period, to $275 million in taxes by 2030, ending up with more than enough to pay back what it owes. Fares The monorail has predicted that it will collect more than $20 million in fares annually from system riders by 2020 , the year the system is supposed to be self-supporting, assuming today’s average fare of about $1. Metro, which operates 18 bus lines in the same street corridor, has estimated it would take in between $11 million and $14 million that year, depending on the amount discounted for transfers. The monorail also has forecast it would take in more than $19 million that year in “entrepeneurial revenues” such as special tour trains, advertising and retail developments at stations. Critics question both estimates. Richard Borkowski of People for Modern Transit says the fares, and whether riders can transfer without extra charge between the monorail and Metro buses, will largely determine how