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Inching towards Vegas: Brightline West Releases Environmental Documents for Cajon Pass

High Speed Rail Alliance reports that Brightline West has released an Environmental Assessment for the Cajon Pass section of the Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail project. This is an important milestone that had to be completed before construction could begin.

Graphic from High Speed Rail Alliance

In a newsletter to members, High Speed Rail Alliance writes:

“The Cajon Pass Segment is a 49-mile high-speed line between Victor Valley and Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The segment includes two new railway stations, one in Hesperia and another in Rancho Cucamonga, while the Victor Valley station is part of a previous environmental report. For this segment, Brightline West is proposing to use 48 miles of I-15 right-of-way and the station at Hesperia, under a lease agreement with the California Department of Transportation.

Brightline West also recently reached an agreement to acquire five acres for the station at Rancho Cucamonga. This station is a critical part of the project, as high-speed trains will connect with Metrolink here, allowing riders access to and from LA Union Station and over 60 other Metrolink stations. High-speed rail service could eventually be extended from Rancho Cucamonga directly into LA Union Station, connecting to the California High-Speed Rail network.

As Brightline West continues to move forward, there’s optimism that we could have American high-speed rail in operation by the end of the decade.”

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Improved passenger rail from Sacramento to Reno – need your voice!

Sacramento-Reno Rail Extension Study: It appears local transit agencies are actually talking seriously about better passenger train service between Reno and the Bay Area! Please take this short survey to let them know northern Nevadans want better transportation options than driving on dangerous, crowded I-80 over the mountains.

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Railroads should give workers the benefits they seek

From “Supply Chain Dive” trade publication: It’s time to get freight rail back on track with a stable workforce and improved service, writes the National Association of Chemical Distributors.

The following is an opinion article written by Eric R. Byer, president and CEO of the National Association of Chemical Distributors.

Over the last several months, U.S. businesses dependent on freight rail have watched negotiations between the railroads and their labor unions become more heated. There could be dire economic ramifications if an agreement is not ratified: A nationwide freight rail shutdown would cost the American economy $2 billion daily.

MORE HERE..

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Rail Workers Group Supports Public Ownership and Control of the Rail Industry

In response to more than a decade of declining rail service in the United States, the cross-craft rail workers group Railroad Workers United (RWU) has called for public ownership of the railroad system. On October 6th, the RWU Steering Committee voted unanimously to approve a Resolution to this effect.

In a news release, the RWU says, “Since the North American private rail industry has shown itself incapable of doing the job, it is time for this invaluable transportation infrastructure – like the other transport modes – to be brought under public ownership. During WWI, the railroads in the U.S. were temporarily placed under public ownership and control. All rail workers of all crafts and unions supported (unsuccessfully) keeping the rail under public control once the war ended, and voted overwhelmingly to keep them in public hands. Perhaps it is time once again to put an end to the
profiteering, pillaging, and irresponsibility of the Class One carriers. “

“Railroad workers are in a position to take the lead,” according to RWU Steering Committee member and passenger conductor J.P. Johnson.” We can spearhead the drive for a rail renaissance in this country, one that is vibrant and expanding, innovative, creative and environmentally sustainable, one that can properly handle the nation’s freight and passengers in the 21st century.”

MORE HERE

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Let’s not forget our history

American Indians and the Transcontinental Railroad

As we advocate for passenger rail as the foundation of a sustainable, equitable, lower-carbon transportation system, we have to remember that we’re not building this sustainable system in a historical vacuum. We were reminded of this when, browsing through presentations at a rail history event at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden this summer, we encountered this short history by Elliott West,  Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, about how development of the transcontinental railroad played a major part in displacing native American communities: 

“…Railroads, as a technological marvel, appeared and spread just as the nation was acquiring and establishing its control over the far West and its native peoples. The first rail lines began operating in the 1830s, but they truly began to come into their own early in the next decade. The amount of trackage in 1840, fewer than three thousand miles, increased ten times over in the next twenty years, then leapt to more than 115,000 miles in 1880. Those same years saw the acquisition of the far West, its political organization, the start of its economic transformation— and the conquest and dispossession of its native peoples. The two developments—westward expansion and the establishment of a national rail system—cannot be understood apart from one another. The consequences for American Indians were especially doleful….”

“Across the Continent, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way,” art by F. F. Palmer, published by Currier and Ives, New York, NY, 1868. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Read more here https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/development-west/essays/american-indians-and-transcontinental-railroad

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Passenger Rail Comeback?

From the Christian Science Monitor in August: All Aboard: Why rail travel is making a comeback

‘Passenger rail is handling the double whammy of a summer vacation surge and end-of-pandemic travel bump well – or at least better than its competitors. Amtrak, which has a monopoly on long-distance rail travel, has hurriedly restored services it mothballed during the worst of COVID-19. Ridership is up, too, reaching 85% of pre-pandemic levels in the Northeast and showing a promising pattern elsewhere. The company is even opening up new lines.”

More here: https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2022/0805/All-aboard-Why-rail-travel-is-making-a-comeback

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Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act Introduced

September 23, 2022

Addressing some of the complaints of poor service for shippers, the chairs of four House committees dealing with transportation, commerce, infrastructure and agriculture introduced the  Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act in August 2.

A press release issued by the House committees says, “Rail customers have increasingly expressed concern with inconsistent and unreliable rail service. The impacts of erratic rail service have been particularly acute in the agricultural and energy sectors. To better understand why rail service delivery problems persist, the Railroad Subcommittee held two hearings, one in March 2022 and one in May 2022, and the Surface Transportation Board held a hearing on urgent issues in freight rail service in late April 2022.

 All three hearings documented serious problems in the freight rail industry stemming from years of Wall Street focus on increasing railroad operating profits to allow for stock buy backs and dividends, rather than investing those profits in expanding critical freight rail service to more places and serving more industries. Despite these hearings and actions undertaken by the Surface Transportation Board, severe service issues continue to hamstring rail shipments across the country. This bill seeks to stem that tide.”

 Read the rest of the press release here. https://transportation.house.gov/news/press-releases/chairs-payne-jr-defazio-scott-and-costa-introduce-freight-rail-shipping-fair-market-act

By Davidellias – Camera, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21068755
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Wikimedi Commons user Davidellias

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U.S. Freight Rail in Crisis

9/23/2022

Rail Strike?

Working conditions for railroad workers in this country have deteriorated as freight railroads, while making record-breaking profits for their shareholders, continue to cut costs. Many observers say we are at a crisis point for US freight rail. 

When contract talks between railroads and rail unions on wages and working conditions  stalled this summer, President Biden convened a presidential emergency board (PEB) that issued a recommended settlement in mid-August, then later revised it to answer some of the Union’s concerns. While the leadership of the rail unions recommend that membership vote in favor of the revised proposal, there is still a chance that membership will vote against ratification.

Nevada Rail Coalition leaders,  many of them Union members/leaders, are actively engaged in the current labor action against the country’s freight rail corporations. Here is Ron Kaminkow, co-chair of the NRC steering committee, quoted in The Guardian  on why rail workers have had enough:

“Kaminkow said many railroad workers don’t have any paid time off at all, with the PEB recommending just one added day of paid time off. Workers are currently on call consistently throughout the year, making a life-work balance near impossible and contributing to fatigue issues, illnesses, job safety and discontent among the workforce.

‘It’s our speculation that if this contract is approved and the PEB recommendations form the basis for a tentative agreement, and this is what we end up with, you will probably see thousands of workers in train engine service who will wait to get the best paid lump sum settlement and then they’ll quit. So it doesn’t solve any of the problems that the industry is facing,’ Kaminkow added. “I’ve worked in the industry 26 years, and it’s – I never thought I’d see it like this.’”

more HERE

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/14/us-railroad-strike-union-pacific-bnsf

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April 2022 Nevada Rail Coalition Newsletter

OUR FIRST NEWSLETTER!

NRC is a citizen-based initiative advocating for an expanded, robust rail system in Nevada and neighboring states as the keystone of a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just transportation system…
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Funding for Nevada rail? We urge transportation leaders in the state to step up to identify statewide priorities for rail and apply for BIL grant funding. ..
NRC suggests Reno Capitol Corridor passenger rail extension to Federal Railroad Administration
Passenger Rail in Montana? The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority “We are embracing passenger rail as a way to bring this state and this nation back together again.” Dave Strohmaier, Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority….
Washington State legislature has approved $150 million for advanced planning work on proposed Cascadia “ultra” high-speed rail passenger service linking Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland…
California Governor Newsom budget proposal includes $4.2 billion in funding for high-speed rail…
A strong majority of Americans – Democrats, Independents, and Republican – want more investment in passenger rail…
President Biden’s budget includes significant funding for rail: “a historic $17.9 billion, a $15 billion increase over the 2021 enacted level….”

SEE THIS LINK for full newsletter

“Switching under the Storm Clouds” BNSF engine 526 at the Sherwin Williams Paint Facility in Fernley; Photo by Mark Lovgren; Used by permission.

V&T Steam Engine emerging from a tunnel in Gold Hill, Nevada.