The North American passenger rail market

Railway Age, March, 2005 by Greg Gormick

After more than 30 years of fighting the good fight, urban public transport officials report that transit is becoming the cause that cannot be denied in the minds of both the public and its elected officials. With constituents swimming in cars and gridlock, politicians from all three levels of government and all sides of the political spectrum have responded to the plea for public transit funding. The beast will be fed.

In the U.S., a record number of FTA-funded new-start projects have been approved for FY2006 as part of the TEA-21 reauthorization process (see p. G2). Transit-boosting propositions on the November 2004 ballot passed in many cities and will contribute miles of new rail transit to the growing North American tally throughout this decade. Added to those already under way, it makes for an impressive slate of rail-based projects that will continue chipping away at the automotive addiction that has ensnared metropolitan regions since the 1950s. In Canada, too, politicians of all stripes are falling in line behind light, heavy, and commuter rail projects, and federal contributions from fuel taxes are, at long last, on the horizon.

On the intercity front, things don't couple up as well. Armed with the most action-oriented business plans ever, rail passenger operators have made compelling cases for the decisive and long overdue revival of the passenger train. Despite massive public support on both sides of the border, the powers-that-be aren't yet listening. Amtrak is under executive death threat again, and cutback plans are swirling around VIA's beleaguered head. But only a neophyte who hasn't witnessed the previous storms of controversy over federally funded passenger trains would count them out just yet.

Following is Railway Age's exclusive city-by-city, region-by-region report on North America's expanding, $7 billion passenger rail market.

INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL SYSTEMS

It would seem that running an intercity rail passenger corporation in 21st Century North America means always having to say you're sorry. At least, that's the message that keeps coming from the White House and Ottawa's Parliament Hill. At press time, the debate over Amtrak's future was in full swing, with Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta barnstorming the country to preach the "let's get government out of the rail passenger business" rhetoric. Advocates--including those within the numerous state governments that already fund 403 (b) services--have discounted Mineta's contention that the private sector and state governments will miraculously step up to the funding plate if the Administration's plan to zero-budget Amtrak and force a bankruptcy actually comes to pass. (See Transit Update, p. 19, regular issue.)

Ridership remains strong throughout Amtrak's 46-state, 22,000-route-mile system--an impressive total of 25,215,516 for calendar 2004. Amtrak attributes the continued robustness of its ridership to such "back-to-basics" initiatives as lower fares, better pricing, and more service on certain routes. But credit also goes to an ambitious but basic capital investment program that has eased shortages of equipment just when more seats are needed. Furthermore, product lines that had been touted as breadwinners--such as mail and express--were stripped off by David Gunn, who said they were actually drags on revenue and resources. Under his guidance, Amtrak has adopted a streamlined, railroad-style organizational and operational structure that matches performance to achievable goals. The corporation is no longer staggering along under the illogical, 34-year-old notion it will reach operational self-sufficiency in the face of competition from other modes that continue to lap up federal financial largesse.

Amtrak's rolling five-year strategic planning process, unveiled in April 2003, has gone a long way toward restoring the physical plant and fleet to a state of good repair and making operations more dependable. Capital spending under way for FY2005 totals $716 million, with about $200 million of this amount coming from sources other than the federal government, such as payments from commuter operators. This investment breaks down into $418 mil lion for infrastructure, $208 million for fleet, and $90 million for other areas. The Northeast Corridor has been the primary beneficiary of infrastructure outlays that emphasize track, C&S, catenary, and traction power betterment.

The FY2005-2009 Strategic Plan calls for fleet improvements that would include 386 overhauled, remanufactured, or repaired passenger cars, 70 overhauled locomotives, 10 new switch engines, 80 new autoracks for Auto Train service, and 28 diesel multiple unit cars for regional services.

VIA Rail Canada isn't under quite the pressure facing its American cousin, but Canadian rail passengers and advocates aren't jumping for joy either. VIA's 8,700-mile system includes the major corridor of Quebec-Montreal-Toronto- Windsor, which has seen significant service improvement, including the introduction of new European-built, Bombardier-modified Renaissance rolling stock. When completed, the fleet will consist of 106 cars designed for 110-mph operation on short-haul intercity and overnight sleeping car routes in eastern and central Canada. Another 33 Renaissance "kits" remain available for future growth.