FRA SIS Briefing
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Transcript of FRA SIS Briefing
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The Steel Interstate System Initiative Can MainstreamRail Development into
Next-Generation Surface Transportation Policy
RAIL Solution Discussion with FRA
The Issue
The North American rail system is not designed to shoulder majorshifts in mobility responsibilities from Interstate highways. Efforts to developrail for public benefits tend to beprojectfocused. The private rail industryremains resistant to public involvement of any kind that does not fit itsbusiness model.
The Purpose of our outreach to FRA
RAIL Solution has determined that rail must be developed
systematicallyto supplant building new highway capacity and achievestrategic national goals such as energy security. Emerging High Speed Rail,or Higher Speed Rail (HrSR), for passenger trains, has equal applicability forserving new markets of shippers that our freight railroads cannot presentlyattract or handle. HrSR is well suited for intermodally moving large volumesof time-sensitive, mid-range shipments that now go by road. Higher SpeedRail needs to be distinguished from true High Speed Rail; each representing aproper tier of rail infrastructure with designated transportationresponsibilities.
We offer that Higher Speed Rail improvements must be uniformly
applied to our nations core rail network and that this initiative can bebranded as the Steel Interstate System to aid its inclusion as a facet ofmodally integrated surface transportation policy.
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A little background
In 2003, citizens organized to oppose a border-to-border truck tollwayproject in Virginias I-81 Corridor that would have negatively impactedfarmlands, watersheds and sacred Civil War battlefields. With little to norail background these citizens formed RAIL Solution to offer a rail-basedalternative capable of handling the additional 3-5 million annual trucksthat Virginia Department of Transportations consultants were forecastingby mid century; comprised mostly of NAFTA commerce moving from theSouthwest to the Northeast. (See www.railsolution.org)
A study for Virginia by Reebie Associates stated that intermodal railservices could divert large numbers of trucks if certain infrastructure andoperating criteria were met.
The March, 2004 Draft Reebie study concluded if substantialdiversion of traffic from trucks to [Norfolk Southern] is to occur in thiscorridor, NS's average train speed needs to be increased to approximately60 mph, or 15 mph faster than average truck speeds of 45 mph, in order tooffset the minimum projected terminal time. To do so would requiresignificant track upgrading as well as increasing NS's maximum authorizedspeed for intermodal trains to as much as 79 mph, comparable to its existingmaximum allowable speed for passenger trains."
http://www.railsolution.org/http://www.railsolution.org/ -
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Most of RAIL Solutions Steel Interstate infrastructure specificationswere developed by Reebie Associates and were gleaned from a presentationby Joseph Bryan to the AASHTO Standing Committee on Rail Transportation(SCORT) in 2003. Mr. Bryan chose a picture of a compact, roll-on/roll-off
open technology intermodal facility to illustrate the type of service thatwould attract a new market of shippers.
Former FRA Administrator Gil Carmichael has described how corridor-wide improvements for intermodal rail can be applied to a nationwide systemof existing mainline railroads. He calls this concept Interstate 2.0. Carmichaelhas long asserted that premium intermodal freight and intercity passengertrains require similar infrastructurewhat we are now calling Higher SpeedRail.
Mapping the Steel Interstate System remains a work in progress. GilCarmichael has never produced a map ofInterstate 2.0. Beginning in the
1970s, the Department of Defense identified railroad main lines havingmilitary significance as the Strategic Rail Core Network(STRACNET). TheMillennium Institute uses the STRACNET map to describe which rail lines toupgrade and electrify in order to move most ground shipments withoutpetroleum energy.
The National Association of Railroad PassengersGrid and Gatewaysmap also closely mirrors the STRACNET map, but with an intercity passengerrail focus.
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The FRA can undertake a low-risk, low-cost initiative to engagestates and regions in refining the conceptual Steel InterstateSystem map so planners know which routes to include in their
State Rail Plans for HrSR development.
Future Steel Interstate System in the United States
By building over time (25 years), by 2040, USA would have a fastspeed system for freight and passengers that will:
Be approximately 38,000-45,000 route miles
Serve all of the population centers reached by the Interstate highways
Provide fast intermodal freight in parallel with most interstate highwayroutes, moving at least 60% of all mid- and long-range shipments
Provide passenger rail capability for short and intermediate distanceswith every Metropolitan Statistical Area served by a minimum of 20
daily passenger trains each way Move 200 + daily trains in any Steel Interstate corridor at speeds
between 79 mph and 110 mph
Financing Methods
The pent up desire for more passenger rail service to places HighSpeed Rail will not reach can leverage public seed money to improvetracks shared with freight. The host freight railroads can learn to offermore profitable, premium services that take advantage ofincrementally increased capacities and speeds.
Other incentives to railroads might include:o Some funds from government to share feasibility/engineering
study costs. (USDOTs Corridors of the Future Program needsmore modal balance)
o Government guarantee of loans and other securities (bonds) to
finance the SIS improvements.o Electric power company financing of electrification.
o State and local government partial financing of grade
separations and station infrastructure through highway and localtransit programs
o Donation of public right-of-ways for curve straightening and line
relocationso Total cost of system may be in the $500 Billion range. If the
investment can be sustainably recovered, the cost becomes anon issue.
Steel Interstate Benefits Thinking Strategically
The electrified Steel Interstate System, when completed, would requireabout one percent more of electricity production and save about 7% of
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the nations oil consumption, just for freight transport, according tothe Millennium Institute.
This dividend would accrue to the nation year after year, and is themost efficient way to power the nations ground transportation sectorwith renewable energy.
It is clear that oil will become increasingly unaffordable and ultimatelyunavailable as everymans fuel. Mobility is key to our quality of life.
The Steel Interstate System assures continued mobility of goods andpeople in a post Peak Oil world, moves the U.S. a long way down theroad to energy independence, and has strategic national defenseimplications as well.
We appreciate the opportunity to begin this dialogue with the FederalRailroad Administration and look forward to pursuing the next steps.
For more information, please visit www.steelinterstate.org
www.railsolution.org
David Foster, Executive Director
342 High Street, Salem, VA 24153-3948
(540) [email protected]
Michael Testerman, Vice-chairman
314 N 27th ST., Richmond, VA23223-7322
(804) 649-1405
http://www.steelinterstate.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.steelinterstate.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
