OF THE
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
*******
Presented By
KATHRYN D. WATERS
Manager and Chief Operating Officer
MARC Train Service/Mass Transit Administration of Maryland
And Chair, APTA Commuter Rail Committee
American Public Transportation Association
1666 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006-1215
APTA is a nonprofit international association of over 1,400 member organizations including transit systems; planning, design, construction and finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; transit associations and state departments of transportation. APTA members serve the public interest by providing safe, efficient and economical transit services and products. Over ninety percent of persons using public transportation in the United States and Canada are served by APTA members.
Good afternoon Chairman Quinn and members of the House Railroads
Subcommittee. I am Kathryn Waters, Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the Maryland
Mass Transit Administration’s MARC Train Service. I also serve as Chair of the
Commuter Rail Committee of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). On
behalf of APTA, I am honored to testify on the topic of today’s hearing: Obstacles to
Rail Infrastructure Improvements.
Congestion in the Nation’s Transportation Corridors
Mr. Chairman, this week various Subcommittees of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will examine issues related to the congestion
on our nation’s transportation systems. APTA commends House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young for recognizing transportation congestion as a
potential threat to the nation’s economic and social stability. The issue of gridlock
is so timely that it is the cover story of U.S News and World Report this
week in a report titled: Traffic: How it is Changing Life in America.
The message? It’s going to get worse unless things change in a real big way.
Testifying in this room on April 4, U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Norman Mineta stated that a central challenge for U.S. DOT will be to address "the
gap between demand for transportation and the capacity of our transportation
infrastructure." Secretary Mineta’s testimony described capacity constraints in
each of the transportation modes: "That gap is what generates the traffic you face on
highways, the delay you experience on the taxiway or at the gate, the inefficiencies
shippers face when their shipments are jammed up in a rail bottleneck, a beltway traffic
jam, or a port operation struggling with constrained landside transportation access."
Secretary Mineta spoke specifically about the boom in transit ridership, and the pressure
that puts on existing capacity. He indicated that "well established commuter rail
systems are experiencing record growth, and new systems are being planned in other
metropolitan areas to improve access to the urban core from fast growing suburbs."
Clearly, congestion is a problem affecting all modes of transportation.
Addressing the problem thus must include capacity improvements for all modes.
Bottlenecks and Capacity Constraints
Given this broad overview, I would like to share with the Subcommittee
some specific examples of how capacity constraints are affecting commuter railroads.
One of the key issues is the limited expansion capability at the core
of most major passenger rail systems. Mature urban areas have fixed commuter rail capacity
that is largely constrained by central city rail terminals. While expansion capability
exists on the suburban end, crowded trains and the lack of extra terminal space pose an
important challenge to accommodate growing markets. Given the energy and congestion
problems that could encourage mode shifts to commuter rail, it is important to fully
assess and understand the impact to future capacity that mode shifts will have.
Many commuter rail systems have had station sites and rail corridors
fixed since the turn of the 20th Century. Since that time substantial building
and development has land-locked these facilities. Expansion of track and platform
facilities may be virtually impossible given the scarcity of non-developed land options.
Several commuter railroads have conducted computer simulation models to determine if
improvements in signaling and projects that will add rush hour capacity. The majority of
these studies looked at the existing physical plant knowing that expansion plans were
secondary if use of the existing facilities could be safely manipulated to provide
additional train slots. Because of physical space constraint, terminal space is often the
hardest capacity to find. If major urban areas want to retain high density employment
centers, and if suburban commuters want access to these centers, capacity considerations
will need to be addressed.
Specific examples can be cited around the country. Long Island Rail
Road’s service to New York Penn Station is currently at capacity in the morning and
evening peak periods. Forecasted passenger increases cannot be accommodated with
additional service in these high demand time slots. Among other things, this reduces the
flexibility to recover from unplanned service delays.
New Jersey Transit reports storage yards at or near capacity, platform
lengths that limit the ability of systems to accommodate longer trains, and looming
shortages in rolling stock.
The capacity crisis is helping bring about extraordinary cooperation by
regional partners. A "Mid-Atlantic Rail Operations Study" has been initiated by
Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, CSX, and the I-95 Corridor Coalition (a coalition of states and
public interests from Maine to Virginia). All partners, including my home state of
Maryland, are working openly with one another to look at the "choke points" and
what can be done to relieve the problems.
While time has restricted me to limit these several examples to
northeastern states, the problems are by no means focused only there. I’m sure each
of you are aware of problems in your own Congressional districts that speak to the
congestion of our railroad corridors.
Obstacles to Rail Infrastructure Improvements
The Subcommittee has asked for examples of governmental obstacles that
can inhibit the institution of rail service. In particular, the Subcommittee has asked for
impediments related to the reinstitution of service on abandoned rail lines. It has been
noted that environmental reviews are often required that ignore the long-standing railroad
presence in these corridors, and that treat the re-instituted service as a complete
"new start."
A relevant commuter rail example of this predicament would be the Green
Bush Branch commuter rail project, one or the three segments of the Colony Line project
currently being developed by the Massachusetts Bay and Transportation Authority (MBTA).
Passenger service on these lines was initiated in 1849, continuing until 1959 when traffic
shifts to the interstate highway system contributed to the abandonment of rail service. In
1983 the Massachusetts legislature ordered a feasibility study to examine re-instituting
rail service on the abandoned lines. The environmental review process began in 1987. In
1997, passenger service was re-instituted on two branches of the Old Colony project,
service that has been highly successful. However, the third segment, the Green Bush
Branch, has been caught in a continuing environmental review. Although the line involves
no federal funding, it does require certain Coast Guard permits and thus is subject to
NEPA requirements.
The Old Colony project is an important component of a regional strategy
to alleviate highway congestion. Efforts to prolong the review phases of the project or to
postpone the project altogether only allow congestion to worsen. APTA has long been a
supporter of environmental protections and historic preservation policies. However, there
appear to be two lessons that can be derived from the long and complicated history of the
Green Bush Branch.
First, agencies need to be mindful that certain groups are misusing the
environmental review process can be inappropriately be used to cause undue delay to worthy
projects. In this case, a project on a historic railroad corridor. Second, reviews should
focus more on how to enhance rail. When one compares the use of the existing corridor in
the context of favorable land use policies against the alternatives of developing a whole
new corridor to meet transportation demands, the public necessity of the transportation
investment becomes more clear.
APTA would be please to survey its members to obtain information on
their experiences in re-instituting rail passenger service on abandoned railroad
corridors.
Conclusion
In the Subcommittee’s exploration of obstacles to rail
infrastructure improvements, APTA would like to highlight a major obstacle to many
communities seeking to implement new passenger rail service. On April 25 APTA President
Bill Millar testified before this Subcommittee calling for a better process for using
freight corridors for passenger operations. Where passenger rail agencies have been denied
access to rail freight corridors, there is no process for the public interest to be taken
into consideration, and local officials have no recourse or ability to appeal the
unilateral decision of a freight railroad. APTA has called for a federal process for local
and regional passenger rail projects, as currently exists for Amtrak, to help resolve
disputes involving use of freight railroad rights-of-way and allow passenger rail projects
to advance under fair and reasonable terms. I understand the Subcommittee will be giving
further consideration to this topic, and APTA will have much more to say at that time.
Finally, APTA stands together will all partners in the railroad
community in noting the importance of all of the nations railroads in the context of two
headline policy issues: congestion and energy. While the hearings this week are focused on
congestion, we also note the national discussion of a national energy policy. Growth of
the nation’s railroads will help our nation address both of these policy goals.
In regard to energy, I note that when 1,000 solo commuters leave their
cars at home and commute on existing transit service for a year, the nation reduces fuel
consumption by 273,000 gallons. Railroads in general and public transportation in
particular have a key role in energy conservation. APTA urges Congress to consider the
importance of railroads in a national energy policy.
APTA appreciates the opportunity to testify, and looks forward to
working with the Subcommittee to assure that our nation continues to be served with an
efficient and effective freight and passenger rail network.
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