NWA GO

This Wednesday RailNation:DC 2024 finished up. Here is a brief report.

Here is the main take away I got from attending RailNation:DC 2024. Supporting groups like Rail Passengers Association and NWA GO work to get things done. When Jim Matthews was elected President of RPA in 2014 no one wanted to talk to them. But he and the team at RPA worked hard to establish credibility and now RPA helps craft legislation like the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the upcoming High Speed Rail Act. They work with members of Congress from both Parties and the Independents to get legislation passed. When it looked like the House was going to pass legislation to “kill” Amtrak they found members of Congress to stop the law from passing. Including 5 Republicans. Citizen organizations work.

NWA GO will try to do the same for passenger rail in Arkansas. You must realize we are starting from almost nothing. Arkansas is a passenger rail desert. We have the Texas Eagle that comes through the state in the middle of the night and excursion trains like A&M here in NWA. Arkansas congressional delegation voted against all the bills that fund Amtrak, and build and rebuild railroads. I’m going to use my contacts in the congressional offices but it takes time and effort. With time and effort it will happen that we get Members of Congress from Arkansas who support passenger rail in Arkansas. It. Will. Happen.

At the first session RPA Chair President Meredith Richards reported to us that the $66 billion is just now becoming available. The allocated money is now being spent on new equiptment like the new Amtrak Airo and new Acela HSR train sets. There are many construction projects ongoing with Amtrak. Amtrak is now one of the largest construction companies in the US. Wow, more progress has been made than anyone thought possible even a few years ago.

The same will happen if we pass a quarter cent sales tax to fund Ozark Regional Transit Authority. First, the law passes. Second, it takes effect a few months later. Third, sales taxes have to be collected. Fourth, the allocated money is made available. Last, the money is spent and over time ORTA will expand and improve service. I have heard it will take about 2 years before we see improvements. That is the time frame for Amtrak expanding coverage, buying new trains, and so on as reported above.

The next session was one I think many of our community development activists like Strong Towns folks, our city council members, and county court members will want to watch. It featured Jay Covales of JBG Smith Developers, Steve Little, Mayor of Marion NC, Mayor Pat Dent of Williamsburg, and Luke Pretty of Roaoke VA. They discussed the importance of transit development in their communities. Among them they noted that transit development decreased traffic, and increased wages. Building rail infrastructure yielded a return on money spent 4-7 times in development, wages, and bringing new business to the community. They discussed some success stories and it was very impressive.

The next session was the Amtrak panel. This was led by Frederico “Fred” Gazzlo, VP of Product Development, and Nicole Bucicho. VP Network Development. VP Gazzlo worked in the hospitality industry, Carnival Cruise Lines is on his resume. He wants to bring a more satisfactory customer experience to train ridership. For instance he hired corporate chefs to prepare meals. No more dried chicken in the dining car, now you get hotel restaurant quality meals. They looked very appetizing btw. Employing hospitality professionals is one of the things that private firm Brightline does to bring in and retain riders. Also ridership on Amtrak is starting to exceed pre-pandemic levels.

Nicole Bucicho VP of Central Network Development spoke next. One of her jobs is shepherding new routes through the Corridor Identification and Development Program. You have read about the CIDP here before and how important it is to us to get passenger rail in NWA and throughout Arkansas. CIDP is financed by IIJA mentioned above. Money is going out now for new routes like the Amtrak Texas HSR between Houston and Dallas with one stop in College Station. Another new regular speed route between San Antonio and Houston. And significant to us, a new route from Memphis to Nashville to Chattanooga then down to Atlanta GA. Our group’s proposed HSR route linking NWA to Little Rock to Memphis will add leverage to this new route, and the new Memphis to Atlanta to our HSR.

Next we had the Federal Railroad Administration panel. We hears from Doug Gasson Chief of FRA Discretionary Grant Programs. This is where we learn about how these programs result in a new functioning passenger rail route. The CIDP provides money for studies, planning, and development of new rail routes. Then another program, also funded by IIJA, the Federal State Partnership does final design and build out of the new route.

Out of all this we need the US Congress to establish a New Long Distance Public Committee to, if I understood this correctly, help with the 2nd round of CIDP projects. This is about oversight and public accountability. We don’t want Long Distance CIDP money going to build new county jails that the public doesn’t want.

Next was the Legislative Briefing by Sean Jeans-Gail VP of Government Affairs RPA. I have worked with VP Jeans-Gail before when I went to Steve Womack and Ricky Crawford’s offices. He accompanied me and helped me reinforce my case for funding passenger rail. I reported on that last year. This year we have a number of funding and other requests. Continue to fully fund Amtrak, and IIJA and their programs/projects under their umbrella. Increase transparency for Amtrak and the FRA (the pesky don’t use the money to build county jails thing again), and support a American High Speed Rail Act. The last will include a budget request of $41 billion a year. That includes $3 billion for planning, $3 billion for technological improvements, and $35 billion for corridor improvements. We are also asking for support for the Railway Safety Act. This Bill HR 1674 and S 576. We have too many train derailments throughout the US.

There is more information at http://www.railpassengers.org/legistlative.resources. I will print out appropriate material and send a letter. I will share that as soon as I can get it done.

That’s the basics, I will share the YouTube videos as soon as they come up. Or I can find them. Hang in there, Arkansas railroaders, we are far from our destination but we are getting there. I heard from some other regions and they face more opposition than we do. We have a connection in ArDOT who is at least sympathetic. Some state DOT’s flatly state they don’t want passenger rail in any form.

Last I learned that Y’all Aboard is very popular around the US. With that –

#LetsPutArkansasBackOnTrack #YallAboard