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Update on Brightline West Including Coalition Letter of Support

Rendering of Brightline West train speeding through a desert valley surrounded by mountains with blurry cars on either side.
Illustration provided by Brightline West.

In March, the Nevada Rail Coalition sent a letter of support to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in support of the Nevada Department of Transportation and Brightline West’s grant application for Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail funds. 

As we explain in our letter, Las Vegas currently has no passenger rail service. Brightline West would connect southern California and Las Vegas, providing key access to a growing, diverse population now critically unserved by passenger rail. This multi-generational infrastructure investment would also serve as a powerful example of what high-speed rail could do for other areas, as well as improving equity and climate change resiliency.

The project will bolster additional economic activity for the region by creating over 35,000 construction jobs (10,000+ of which will be union) and approximately 1,000 permanent jobs (900 of which will be union). Brightline West is asking for $3.75 billion in federal funding, and the other 70% of the $10 billion will come from private sources.

The Nevada Rail Coalition shares the Biden administration’s climate goals, which this system would align with. It would divert millions of car rides totaling over 700 million fewer vehicle miles traveled per year to a faster, more efficient, zero-emission transportation option. This is equivalent to removing an estimated 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere.

Read our letter below.

Nevada Rail Coalition Brightline grant support letter march 2023 FINALDownload

In April, a bipartisan group of congressional representatives from Nevada and California also submitted a letter in support of the grant. The Federal Railroad Administration is expected to finalize permits in July. Read more here.

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Information and Coalition Letter on the Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study

Photo of an Amtrak California train in Oakland.
Amtrak California train in Oakland. Photo: Anne Macquarie

In March, the Nevada Rail Coalition sent a letter to Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration, and their partners thanking them for taking on the Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study. We also provided them with recommendations for the restoration of the Desert Wind route and improvements to the California Zephyr route.

The Desert Wind, an Amtrak line that used to connect Denver to Los Angeles through Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, was discontinued in 1997. Las Vegas’s population has grown from 392,074 in 1997 to 2.839 million in 2022 – that’s a 724% increase. Las Vegas is also completely unserved by passenger rail. Restoration of the Desert Wind would provide key access to long-distance rail transportation for a growing, diverse population in Las Vegas.

It would also serve rural towns in Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. The FRA’s own research shows there is significant existing demand for services to and between rural communities in the intermountain west.

The daily California Zephyr route is designed to be a long-distance route, but it also provides critical transportation access to residents of small towns in northern Nevada that are underserved, if served at all, by public transportation. After Greyhound discontinued parallel services in 2018, Amtrak became the only public transport option connecting Elko, Winnemucca, and Reno.

In our letter, we requested the addition of two California Zephyr stops in Wendover and Lovelock, a shift to twice daily service, and commitment to the improvements outlined in Nevada’s State Rail Plan (Chapter 2, page 11). Although it is outside the scope of the study, we also asked the FRA/Amtrak to work with the relevant agencies to expedite the extension of California’s existing Capitol Corridor passenger train service to Reno.

Find out more and read our letter here.

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Nevada Rail Coalition comment on Amtrak long distance rail study

Read our article on the study here.

March 10, 2023

On behalf of the Nevada Rail Coalition, I want to thank and support the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak and its partners in taking on the crucial Amtrak Long Distance Service Study.

Established in 2021, the Nevada Rail Coalition is a citizen-based initiative that brings together unions, environmental organizations, passenger/freight rail advocacy associations, social justice organizations, and community associations for the purpose of building an expanded, robust rail system in Nevada and
neighboring states as the keystone of a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just transportation system. Here is a link to our website

The Nevada Rail Coalition offers below our recommendations, and the reasons for them, for improvements to the California Zephyr route and the restoration of the Desert Wind between Los Angeles and Denver.

Restore the Desert Wind between Los Angeles and Denver

As shown in the chart below, the three major intermountain western cities formerly served by the Desert Wind have grown substantially since the service was discontinued in 1997.

Population growth 1997-2022: Intermountain West cities served by former Desert Wind

City1997 Population2022 Population% Growth 1997-2002
Las Vegas392,0742.839 million724%
Salt Lake City171,5881.203 million701%
Denver495,8052.897 million584%

Las Vegas – Nevada’s largest city, home to 87% of the state’s population, and a destination for 38.8 million visitors annually – currently has no passenger rail service at all. Restoration of the Desert Wind will provide key access to long-distance rail transportation for a growing, diverse population now critically unserved by passenger rail.

A restored Desert Wind would also serve currently unserved rural towns in Nevada and parts of Utah, or, in eastern Utah and Colorado, rural communities served only by one daily California Zephyr. The route between Denver, CO and Glenwood Springs, CO is the top long-distance station pair serving a small community by volume of annual trips, and the route between Glenwood Springs, CO and Granby, CO, is one of the top ten station pairs connecting two small communities. These statistics, taken from FRA’s slide show about the Amtrak Long Distance Service Study prepared for regional working groups [slides 123 and 124], show significant existing demand for services to and between rural communities in the intermountain west.

Improvements to California Zephyr Route

Service to Rural Communities

The daily California Zephyr, though designed as and designated a long-distance route, is a critical transportation resource to residents of the small towns of northern Nevada. As in many rural areas in the US, northern Nevada towns are underserved – if even served at all – by public transportation. According to Nevada’s State Rail Plan, “following Greyhound Lines’ abandonment in 2018 of its parallel services, Amtrak represents the only public transport option between these cities [of northern Nevada].” So residents who do not own an automobile or are unable to drive use the Zephyr to access key services – including medical visits – in cities to the east and west along the Zephyr route.

To enhance service to Nevada’s rural communities, we request that

  • The FRA/Amtrak consider adding two California Zephyr stops in northern Nevada, in Wendover and Lovelock.
  • Amtrak make the improvements outlined in Nevada’s State Rail Plan including improvements to existing Amtrak stops in Elko to make the trains more safely and conveniently accessible to disabled and elderly passengers. [Nevada State Rail Plan, Page 3-6]
  • Amtrak expands California Zephyr service to twice daily.

Service to California

Northern Nevada has a growing population and a rapidly expanding economy:

  • Population in Washoe County, NV, which includes the cities of Reno and Sparks, grow 15% from 2010-2022. Other communities in northern Nevada -Carson City, Douglas County, Fallon – also grew by about 15% in that time period.
  • The student population of the University of Nevada, Reno, grew from 17,679 to 20,722 from 2010 to 2022. This includes a substantial non-Nevada-resident student population. According to the Reno Gazette Journal, “In five years, UNR’s nonresident undergraduate enrollment has more than doubled.”
  • Northern Nevada is seeing rapid growth in jobs. According to the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, in 2022, 27 companies relocated or expanded their workforce in Greater Reno-Sparks. “The companies will add a combined 2,263 new jobs, at a record average wage of $32.67, along with 12 new headquarters.”

This growing population is not adequately served by one daily California Zephyr. Accordingly, we request that California Zephyr service be expanded to twice daily. Further, though we understand that it is outside the scope of this study since it is not a route at least 750 miles long, we request that FRA/Amtrak work with California’s Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, the Nevada Department of Transportation, and the Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission to expedite the extension of the existing Capitol Corridor passenger train service to Reno.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Anne Macquarie

Co-chair, Nevada Rail Coalition

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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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Rail Coalition: Trains are the ticket to zero emissions

March 4, 2022 Richard Bednarski

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is This-Is-Reno-Logo-240.webp

Commute times are increasing across northern Nevada. As the population continues to grow, rush hour could soon rival Sacramento and other large cities. An increase in congestion leads to increased vehicle emissions and the potential for worsening air pollution rises.

The Nevada Rail Coalition (NRC) was established last year to advocate alongside the Sierra Club for development of both statewide passenger and commuter rail systems…

Photo by Stijn on Unsplash

Read This Is Reno article HERE

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Nevada Rail Coalition Works to Expand Rail Across the West

Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter e-news February 10, 2022

“Rail travel is a convenient, comfortable and energy efficient means of mass transit,” said Janet Carter, Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter Executive Committee member. “Studies have shown that many people prefer train travel over any other form of transportation. However, in Nevada we are limited by a lack of availability of good rail options. The Nevada Rail Coalition seeks to amplify existing routes and help create new ones so that all Nevadans can enjoy the comfort and convenience of rail travel.”

Amtrak passenger train traveling the Truckee River Corridor in the Sierra Nevada.
Image: Mark Lovgren Photography

CLICK HERE to view article

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