writes_of_weigh
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Some of that banging sound you hear is just the "skeletons" in the Tarheel state transportation closet, realizing that an "escape"may be eminent. Seriously though, one finds it curious that someone involved with NC transportation/transit policies/operations in the past decade, where a truly sorry set of circumstances unfolded. They involved, in part, failed rail bridges at Micro and New Bern, administrative misuse of government owned vehicles/property in the NC Rail division/Amtrak offices in Raleigh, mainline tracks between Selma and Weldon termed by an prior Amtrak president(Gunn)..."falling apart", and rail/highway crossings in Fayetteville blocked for hours while unit grain trains were switched in the middle of town, and where despite the citizens of North Carolina owning a mainline of railroad between Charlotte(Greensboro, Durham) and Moorehead the leasing railroad(Norfolk Southern of recent "no we can't run passenger trains to the Atlanta MMPT" fame) in a sterling example of why the "public-private rail partnership" model should be trashed, still tells it's track owners on that route to "take a back seat to their freight trains, and if they get in the way of passengers trains to simply "ride the bus!" One is reminded of that old cliche'... Caveat emptor! Once again, what were the attributes in the fellow's recent employment?!?
@Quad7 The operational "challenges" you suggest for Norfolk Southern's "position" on denying passenger trains access to the Atlanta MMPT, are the usual line they toss out to Amtrak passengers aboard the Crescent, when NS find's it "too hard" to work on their rights-of-way during routine maintenance programs AND run even one passenger train: RIDE THE BUS, INSTEAD! To be fair, CSX has started to use the same line as well, during some of it's r-o-w work windows. Somehow, during much harder times, perhaps like when there was an ongoing world war, and when troops and machines of war, plus the regular daily interruption of hundreds of both freight and passenger trains, NS predecessor roads managed so that the goods and people moved. As for the "hours of service" laws, they have been adjusted several times over the last eight decades, and presumably, need so again. The 18,000 ton Southern coal trains, can easily be uncoupled to form two or even three, easy to handle mini-coal trains. The locomotives are already in the consist! Imagine how THAT would help the employment numbers! It is implausible to switch a heavy rail commuter train onto tracks of a subway system. Let it suffice to say that the results could be "shocking", at best, due to the "third rail." The railroads "rights" are what is paramount in this conundrum. Some readers of this column might be pondering to whom those "rights" have been "granted" - and to what avail? Rest assured - NS might not be amused to find out that those "rights" can be granted to others for "essential" public utility purposes. CSX, BNSF, FEC. Any other rail operators interested? One wonders?
Perhaps both federally funded MMPTs in Georgia(Athens has one, too, next door to The Classic Center) shall suffer the same fate of having sets of moribund railroad tracks adjacent(Spring track in the "gulch" in Atlanta, Athens Line, LLC (former NS Lula - Macon mainline now severed near Bishop, GA)) tracks next door to the Athens MMPT). Did the feds actually fund two MMPTs in this state just presuming that the railroads would literally "bend over" to run passenger trains into/through/from them? Or were they aware that if the railroads failed to provide the necessary track connections, that Federal Surface Transportation Law(Title 49 U.S.C.) would "force" such connectivity, in order for a more perfect union, and to preserve "essential" transport capability? Just random thoughts......bend over, indeed!
Maria - The news from late MAY(see 11ALIVE Bill Liss report on same) seems to be that Norfolk Southern, the great corporate Atlanta citizen/friend, wishes to BOOT downtown passenger service from the proposed "gulch" area next to CNN center, rather than boost any such rail service? Title 49 of the Federal Code, the extraneous(STB=Surf.(Trans.) Board) part of same having to do with public benefit, good transportation vitality, etc. ad nausea, stipulates (by paraphrase)that if a public carrier(i.e. Norfolk Southern) is incapable or unwilling(Springfield Terminal/Pan Am Rwy. situation in the northeast) to provide essential transportation over it's network in part(as seems to be the case in downtown Atlanta) or whole, it can DIRECT such service to be preformed by another capable carrier(i.e. Mr. Buffett's BNSF Rwy. itching to serve the Atlanta market directly via Birmingham and the state owned Silver Comet right-of-way or direct NS competitor, CSX, or perhaps even an Florida East Coast subsidiary currently working on developing Miami-Orlando H-S-R), in order to preserve/serve public utility. Somehow during the last world war, NS and CSX predecessor railroads were able to move, literally, hundreds of trains a day to/from/through the exact spot(old terminal/union stations in the "gulch") as the newly proposed MMPT, while hardly "batting an eye." One wonders if the current "masters" at Norfolk Southern even know what their task is, much less if they are "up" to it. I guess the old Southern Railway slogans: Southern Serves The South, and Southern Gives a Green Light To Innovation, are but wispy words in the current wishy washy corporate vernacular at Norfolk Southern Corporation. What say ye, Wick? And more importantly what say Saxby, Johnny, John, (the Feds) and Nathan, Kasim, et. al......?
Title 49 of the Federal Code, the extraneous(STB=Surf.(Trans.) Board) part of same having to do with public benefit, good transportation vitality, etc. ad nausea, stipulates (by paraphrase)that if a public carrier(i.e. Norfolk Southern) is incapable or unwilling(Springfield Terminal/Pan Am Rwy. situation in the northeast) to provide transportation over it's network in part(as seems to be the case in downtown Atlanta) or whole, it can DIRECT such service to be preformed by another capable carrier(i.e. Mr. Buffett's BNSF Rwy. itching to serve the Atlanta market directly, or direct NS competitor, CSX, or perhaps even an Florida East Coast subsidiary currently working on developing Miami-Orlando H-S-R), in order to preserve/serve public utility. Somehow during tne last world war, NS and CSX predecessor railroads were able to move, literally, hundreds of trains a day to/from/through the exact spot(old terminal/union stations) as the newly proposed MMPT.
What say ye, Saxby, Johnny, Nathan, Kasim, et. al......?Maria - it seems that while the Atlanta Link trip followed an adaptation of Horace Greeley's advice to "Go West......young...", the GDOT folks had their attention diverted in the opposite direction, the Tarheel state to be precise, where they have been coordinating H-S-R meetings(as reported by WRAL(( http://dot.ga.gov/AtlantaCharlotteHSR))) in order to, one assumes, plan for the higher speed movement of frozen chicken feet(found in abundance in the Gainesville area) to either a freight train connection in Atlanta or Charlotte, but, unfortunately missing the Brain Train connection to/via Athens. Who knows? Maybe DOT Secretary nominee Foxx can arrange for the SE H-S-R Raleigh-Richmond "dog leg" to be straightened out for a nice high speed 220 MPH run between Atlanta/Charlotte and the Northeast.
Maria - If there is a continual bemoaning of lack of funding for deepening the Savannah river there and out to the Atlantic, and if the Panama Canal is mostly ready for the post-Panamax super carriers, what's to prevent those ships from simply sailing on to Norfolk, where there is deep port hydrology in place, and even(in concert with the State of Virginia and Norfolk Southern Corp./RR)upgraded rail infrastructure, too. It suggests to me that the player's in this game, with their hands out for this "n" that but not THAT, are just a wee bit too deep into political gamesmanship/one up-man-ship. If Norfolk Southern, which stands to benefit immensely from an deepened Savannah River and the resultant expected traffic surge, can shoulder rail upgrade burdens in Virginia, why can't it do so in Georgia, as well? Too, why can't CSX make this sort of investment as well? I assume that if Warren Buffet owned those railroads, too, the upgrades or at least the capex plans for them would already be in place. The added benefit would be in keeping the GA DOT from "gumming up the works." As a reminder, Norfolk Southern somehow figured out how to run it's freight trains and some additional PASSENGER TRAINS on it's Virginia rights-of way, too(t)!
The last memorable message from the "tree crowd" appeared on the side(s) of Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad boxcars about three or four decades back and stated simply that "Trees are America's RENEWABLE resource". Due to a series of mergers there are seldom boxcars seen on freight trains lately, lettered for that railroad(it's now the Chattahoochee Bay Railroad or some other such critter but too, nowadaze, there is so much "urban scrawl" which appears on the sides of railroad equipment due to, IMHO, non-existant boots-on-the-ground railroad security, it'd be likely impossible for such a message to appear for the captive audience at rail-highway crossings of late. Curiously, that admired(by some) southwest Georgia shortline's previous and slightly more well know advertising slogan was simply "BETTER BY A DAM SITE", as it's rails were hard by the Walter F. George lock and dam on the Chattahoochee in Early county.
As always, the devil is in the details. If confirmed by Senate Commerce, and then the full Senate, the "devil" will actually be Charlotte's recent mayor Foxx. Some have already confused the tarheel state's two Foxes, when actually there is only one Foxx(D) and one Fox(R). The new "devil", may actually only be the Secretary of Transportation for our increasingly multi-muddle transpo-clogged state/nation. He seems to be able to at least grasp the notion that it takes forward motion of multiple modes to begin to even address the multi-modal-muddle. Perhaps Mayor Reed wasn't quite ready to surrender his still dark head of hair(does only his stylist know?/do we care?) Anyway, if confirmed, one wonders if the new DOT Secretary to be, might begin to address North Carolina's deficient rail network, which in recent years has seen it's share of collapsing bridges, abandoned rights-of-way(s), and over burdened route structure(which by the way, links Georgia mainlines to the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S.) Will the "devil" become an archangel, delivering funding in the hundreds of millions of dollars to Georgia's Savannah River port vision, or perhaps require a rebuild of long abandoned Atlanta bypass alternate rail routes in order to prevent a (Texas style)"Tower 55" like rail traffic meltdown at Howell Junction? One particularly wonders if he may involve himself in extricating Amtrak from the qui-tam "situation" in which it posited itself in 2001, by terminating a fare collecting/depositing safety whistle-blower, who in his time came to know where many closets containing rail-centric "skeletons" are located, still "banging around", causing politcal/real world rail congestion consequences/questions. Dealing with this individual may smooth many current route "congestion" problems, and media perception of those seemingly impassable ways.
There's the devil you know......then the "new" devil in the details. In this case, the new "devil" is an attorney. And if confirmed by Senate Commerce, and then the full Senate, the "devil" will actually be Charlotte's recent mayor Foxx. Some have already confused the tarheel state's two Foxes, when actually there is only one Foxx(D) and one Fox(R). The new "devil", may actually only be the Secretary of Transportation for our increasingly multi-muddle transpo-clogged state/nation. He seems to be able to at least grasp the notion that it takes forward motion of multiple modes to begin to even address the multi-modal-muddle. Perhaps Mayor Reed wasn't quite ready to surrender his still dark head of hair(does only his stylist know?/do we care?) Anyway, if confirmed, one wonders if the new DOT Secretary to be, might begin to address North Carolina's deficient rail network, which in recent years has seen it's share of collapsing bridges, abandoned rights-of-way(s), and over burdened route structure(which by the way, links Georgia mainlines to the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S.) One particularly wonders if he may involve himself in extricating Amtrak from the qui-tam "situation" it posited itself in in 2001, by terminating a fare collecting/depositing safety whistle-blower, who in his time came to know where many closets containing rail-centric "skeletons" are located, still "banging around", causing politcal/real world rail congestion consequences/questions. Dealing with this individual may smooth many current route "congestion" problems, and media perception of those seemingly impassable ways.
As has been the case since Atlanta was Terminus(near the Zero mile-post) and was linked to Augusta by iron rails(with other slightly older rail routes in the southern region of the state outlying from the then bustling seaport of Savannah) transportation, if by clipper ship, steamboat, steaming passenger and freight trains, automobile, bi-plane or jet, commerce and intersecting transportation modes are what have been the job creators. The people who populated the executive suites of Georgia headquartered financial institutions knew this as well and tended with great care and guidance, the modernization, expansion and connectivity of those varying modes, and their attendant jobs production. Alas, that knowing generation is long gone, and the tenders of those fires of commerce and industrialization and job production took their secret knowledge to their graves. The crew in charge of the circus now, is literally attempting to "scare up" the resources to enlarge a river's esophagus and mouth so that it can engorge itself of huge elsewhere-envisioned and constructed cargo vessels, which when they digest their loads of chicken feet, forestry products, excavators and other assorted and sundry Georgia grown/made products, will back down that river to the ocean and head for distant shores, ONLY IF, the chicken's feet processed in/near Gainesville, and the excavators near Athens, and the forests of the likes of Oconee, Wilkes, Greene and surrounding counties can find their direct rail route from Athens to Madison to Machen to Eatonton rebuilt too. The circus master can't seem to find the money for this either.
Calling Kafka!....Kafka!...Make yourself known. Oh that's right...you have. Let's see. An attorney(by trade)(potential ambulance chaser?)heading a state created transit(public transportation) oversight committee,(A state unable to either properly maintain or logically/safely privatize ((TEA payer owned assets(Heart of Georgia Rwy leased right-of way and wayside structures(i.e.rail-highway crossing signals which if properly functioning safely, can save lives via the prevention of car/train collisions, but due to state "oversight" has repeatedly "dropped the ball" (surprise, surprise) in the transportation arena))which is intent on privatization of Marta with associated "cost controls", but continuing safety oversight from a funds bankrupt(and one might assume, shortly, far less such vigilant) federal government. Listen carefully. This Kafka-esque train-wreck-in-the-making will be hurtling by an Atlanta subway platform, soon enough. Perhaps, a recently reemployed(-deployed?) state Senator now working at GPB can report "live" from the scene, God forbid. One wonders, too, if this is such a good idea, why a Warren Buffet type investor hasn't already "scooped up" Marta, and other such systems across the nation? Could it be that we'll all soon be walking to our destiny(s) anyway?
Maria - further on H-S-R developments.....as so many have commented about North Carolina and it's developmental DOT Rail Division, not to mention either, the privately owned/funded Florida East Coast Railway's H-S-R plans for Miami - Orlando along Florida's Atlantic Coastline, there is now actually a "window"(webcam) which allows one to view how certain rail operations in the Tarheel state occur. The camera is "control-able" at times, with differing perspectives. One wonders if such an "eye" were afforded a view of similar developments in the Peach state, just how many decades one might have to gaze upon the tracks, before a true commuter train or High-Speed inter-city train might appear?
Follow this link to NC train observations near Charlotte : http//24.123.188.36/sample/LvAppl/lvappl.htm
This plan is now likely "snake bit" erstwhile known as sequestrated. Soooo elected officials and transportation planners, what are your plans B & C for this scenario? You did receive a paycheck for such, right? Or was that too, outsourced to some third world backwater friend of bidness? Taxed Enough Already INDEED!
The proposal (in part) for "an independent, wholly owned government entity, (free from?)outside of political influence" sounds like an attempt to regurgitate AmQuack(er Trak).....if it walks and talks like a duck....and I can just hear Herman Cain inquiring,
"How's that workin' for ya?".
Maria - How magnanimous of a local billionaire who has generously provided the public with a place to go see fish, and now soon wants to do the same....(provide a place for the public to go see) for fowl. One wonders if this individual might consider an investment in the public ability to simply....go....given the abject failures of those whose job that is. I have a "napkin sketch" plan I'm certain I could interest him in.....or perhaps some Kabbage Kash or a IndieGOGO or Kickstarter loan might suffice. It's really quite simple......and boxes in those who continue to play the "No transit for you" game in Atlanta. The fish tank is done. The bird cage is about to commence. Any choo choo takers?
I'm curious if transpo-camp attendees considered/discussed the following regarding proposed inter-city terminal construction? Hopefully, recent revenue increases(tax intake) at the state can all be directed to Norfolk Southern, so that they won't have to go begging for money to build a replacement Brookwood(Peachtree) Amtrak depot (Amtrak can't contribute) at Northside Drive and the Norfolk Southern Atlanta-Charlotte mainline or at the gulch area MMPT(whenever it may be "envisioned"/constructed). The current Amtrak station rests on Norfolk Southern freight train weakened "footings" which some contend may cause a collapse of the facility, unless expensively remedied, sooner rather than later. As to the "vision" of either Governors Barnes or Deal, which must have occurred during some bizarre sweat lodge ritual, or perhaps a transportation seance(crystal ball not included, presumably), I predict, that if Carter ever develops this site for any type of Amtrak related rail service, the wailing and gnashing of teeth which will occur once it is discovered that the facility can NEVER be used by say Macon-Atlanta commuter rail services or Clayton or Rockdale county connected commuter trains, simply because such trains would REQUIRE either a reverse move(Amtrak policy, nationwide, has been to prohibit reverse moves into terminals/stations/depots due to safety considerations) from/to Howell Jct.(about half a mile west of this site) or purchase of more expensive cab-control commuter cars or additional motive power(locomotives) for dual operational direction of the train, and red faces aplenty. By the time cost factors for altering the signal and dispatching consoles AND factoring in the huge expenses associated with Positive Train Control implementation at the proposed MMPT sites, I'm almost certain that none of this will occur in the next fifty years.
What a shame that these "facts" weren't taken into consideration when these visions(nightmares?) were occurring and your tax dollars were being tossed around for such property purchases(you know, to solve the transportation mess created during and across several governors terms). Otherwise, to construct even a "temporary" Amtrak station at the Atlantic Station mmpt site, for the current Crescent service, and with slim chance that Atlanta-Gwinnett-Gainesville commuter trains or Atlanta-Athens-Charlotte H-S-R will ever utilize this proposed Greyhound/bus/Amtrak facility, constitutes sheer flim-flammery in the name of transportation solutions, at it's worst. But, all the consultants, and transportation professionals knew this already. Right. Sure wish I could tap into the e-mail stream right now. Oh, that's right. I can. That, too, is for sale, at the right price. Best of luck, GOV. This way to the egress.......but, I digress.
Hopefully, recent revenue increases(tax intake) at the state can all be directed to Norfolk Southern, so that they won't have to go begging for money to build a replacement Brookwood(Peachtree) Amtrak depot (Amtrak can't afford it) here or at the gulch area MMPT(whenever it may be envisioned/constructed). Remember, the current Amtrak station rests on Norfolk Southern freight train weakened "footings" which some contend may cause a collapse of the facility, unless expensively remedied sooner rather than later. As to the "vision" of either Governors Barnes or Deal, which must have occurred during some bizarre sweat lodge ritual, or perhaps a transportation seance(crystal ball not included, presumably), I predict, that if Carter ever develops this site for any type of Amtrak related rail service, the wailing and gnashing of teeth which will occur once it is discovered that the facility can NEVER be used by say Macon-Atlanta commuter rail services or Clayton or Rockdale county connected commuter trains, simply because such trains would REQUIRE either a reverse move(Amtrak policy, nationwide, has been to prohibit reverse moves into terminals/stations/depots due to safety considerations) from/to Howell Jct.(about half a mile west of this site) or purchase of more expensive cab-control commuter cars or additional motive power(locomotives) for dual operational direction of the train, and red faces aplenty. What a shame that these "facts" weren't taken into consideration when these visions(nightmares?) were occurring and your tax dollars were being tossed around for such property purchases(you know, to solve the transportation mess created during and across several governors terms). Otherwise, to construct even a "temporary" Amtrak station at this site, for the current Crescent service, and with slim chance that Atlanta-Gwinnett-Gainesville commuter trains or Atlanta-Athens-Charlotte H-S-R will ever utilize this proposed Greyhound/bus/Amtrak facility, constitutes sheer flim-flammery in the name transportation solutions, at it's worst. But, all the consultants, and transportation professionals knew this already. Right. Sure wish I could tap into the e-mail stream right now. Oh, that's right. I can. That, too, is for sale, at the right price. Best of luck, GOV. Next.
First - the good mayor, while I'm certain has most of the best of intent, on the subject of effective, world-class, modern transit and rail-centric development for the denizens of Atlanta, and the greater metro area to boot, he must be more adept at defining for what he wishes. While the metro wide workforce grinds it's way to and fro each workday morn and eve, stuck in the morass that defines "mobility" in Atlanta, and indeed much of interconnected north Georgia, it's elicits little surprise that much wistful "dreaming" occurs and is blathered and bloviated over as regards a more rapid commute, to suggest that "high speed commuter rail" is a solution to decades of inattention to the metro areas traffic woes.....well one might just as well wish for "Scottie", erstwhile tending the transporter room controls aboard the starship Enterprise, to "engage" and beam us up.....er, to.
To clarify, this very week, discussion has occurred on some transpo-tilted forums, as to the defining of H-S-R vs Higher Speed Rail vs Amtrak speed rail(?) (an obvious oxymoron) vs 100+ m.p.h. passenger train operating speeds(prevalent on certain Southeastern U.S. rail routes in the mid-twentieth century) when personal time was important and a factor in much of daily life activities and actions. Now some seem, in general discussion, to pile on their hopes for gridlock solution(s) as high speed (fill-in-the-blank)(light rail(?)(trolley(?)). At least he recognizes that a higher velocity rail vehicle just might be requisite in the tool-box for any pending fix for either the airports future or the States. See, Senator Reed just might not be implausible after all.
I wonder what Doc Broun and others of his ilk(and potentially with a "hat in the ring") might have to say about this subject?
Senator Reed - Indeed!
How ironic that in neighboring North Carolina, a paragon(some believe) of transit planning and development, that a proposal has evolved from two state legislators( one Democrat, one Republican) to fund the resurrection of a waylaid/abandoned rail route which would ultimately link the NC port of Wilmington to the Research Triangle/Global Logistics park areas. A presumed new clarity of vision on the part of some tarheel legislators about how the world may or may not function well in the post-Panamax shipping upheaval might be instructive to some in the Peach State in terms of rail infrastructure revivals(like an Atlanta bypass via Bremen-Carrollton-Senioa-Griffin or perhaps in North East Georgia a Lula-Athens-Madison-Gordon bypass of Atlanta or better yet a Toccoa-Lavonia-Elberton-Athens-Watkinsville-Machen-Macon bypass of Atlanta. Can do in the Peach State?