At the August 3 Board meeting, in accordance with the newly approved Bylaws (see enclosure), the Board of Directors approved Judy Eisenhower as Executive Director. Please join with us in welcoming Ms. Eisenhower.
Also at the August 3 meeting, the Board appointed the following officers for the upcoming year. These officers will serve until the next annual meeting.
President: Mike Garey
Vice-President: Rob Bohannan
Secretary: John Gale
Treasurer: Rob Lindley
The Board wishes to extend special thanks to the outgoing officers: President Jay Myers, Treasurer Nancy Crosby, and Secretary Liz Garey.
It is the Board's intent to appoint persons to these positions on a one-year basis, with the Vice-President assuming the position of President in the year following.
As indicated on the cover of this newsletter, ARPA's Committees have also been changed. At an August 31 Planning session, the Board examined its Key Processes and determined a set of targets and objectives upon which we should concentrate.
Out of these targets and objectives came the following committee structure:
The committees' targets and objectives can be found on Info Sheet #4, included in this newsletter.
These Committees will all be meeting monthly. The plan is to have most meetings at the new ARPA office in Scottsdale (see below). The tentative meeting schedule is:
Executive 3rd Saturday
Finance 2nd Tuesday
Governmental Affairs 4th Tuesday
Public Relations 4th Wed.
The Program Development committee will meet periodically, at the request of the Board, as necessary.
Please call the Executive Director at 602/947-5710 for the latest on meeting times and places.
This report has moved to its own page.
To support the efforts of the Executive Director, several Board members have helped Ms. Eisenhower in establishing an office in Scottsdale. Our thanks to the World Affairs Council and the Scottsdale Ramada Valley Ho Hotel for their cooperation.
The new phone number is 480/941-5710.
It is the hope of the Board that these additions will be but the beginning of dramatically increased ARPA accomplishments this year.
After several showings, the ARPA Regional Rail videotape seems to be a hit with its audiences. The narration, video images of Arizona places, and the whole presentation of the possibilities of Arizona Rail have created much interest and led to lively question sessions after its viewings.
ARPA again thanks the Maricopa Community Colleges and all who helped make this production great. We now have sixty copies of the video available, which should suffice for some time to come.
So far, the video has been shown to transit groups, church groups, and an amateur radio club, to name just a few.
If you know an organization which might be interested in discovering the possibilities of regional rail in Arizona, please contact Judy Eisenhower at 480/947-5710.
Will the recently approved Tempe ½c sales tax for mass transit lead other Valley cities to weigh options to improve their transportation? A recent editorial in the Mesa Tribune raises that possibility: "As survey results have improved in recent years, the Phoenix Chamber has become an advocate for expanded bus service… Ultimately, that would boost business and the economy, the chamber notes. Tempe's lead, backed by encouraging survey results and support from the business community, may spur the Valley-wide action that is badly needed to break gridlock." [Mesa Tribune, 23 September 1996.]
The Tempe referendum also included a study of rail options between Tempe and Phoenix. As reported in the last ARPA newsletter, another study is already underway for transit options in the east Valley. [It is in ARPA's purview to ensure that the people of the Valley get not just "more studies" but real hope for regional rail. - Ed.]
In the last Timetable, we quoted Terry Goddard as having stated that there was a train station under Sky Harbor Terminal Four. To clarify the issue, one of our members brought to light the December 31, 1989 issue of the Arizona Republic, page E1 of which states that "If the Valley ever build a rapid-transit system, a $6 million shell is in place under the entire terminal for a light-rail train." Apparently the terminal structure was constructed so that a rail station could be added later; to actually put a station in place would require excavation under the terminal, and construction of a tunnel for rail access.
As you may have read, Amtrak has recently announced several changes. According to an Amtrak memo, "In reaction to an accelerated reduction in federal funding, the Amtrak board of directors has given preliminary approval to a business plan for fiscal year 1997 that would permit the passenger rail company to maintain a national system, including increased train frequencies on some routes and the discontinuance of some others."
Three thousand miles of railroad will no longer see passenger trains.
According to the Washington Post, Mark Cane, president of Amtrak's Intercity business unit, said "Based on lessons learned, you either have to be daily in a market or not in a market." This, of course, is what ARPA has been advocating with reference to the Sunset Limited for many years. Only the Sunset and the Cardinal now remain tri-weekly.
Rather than the previous less than daily service, the again daily departures on the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Crescent, and City of New Orleans are "more consistent and less confusing."
The memo also states Amtrak is looking to "shift capacity to those services which provide the best market opportunities, achieve higher utilization of assets and equipment, reduce terminal and switching costs, [and] Improve Amtrak's bottom line economic performance."
According to Don Phillips in the Washington Post, "Amtrak estimated the changes, combined with other efficiencies, will save about $44 million in fiscal 1997. Even with that, Amtrak said it will be $60 million short of its budget needs… Basically, [the] announcement is an admission of the failure of Amtrak's 1995 cutbacks, which were designed to save long-distance routes by reducing their frequency to as little as three trains a week."
Among the changes and discontinuances:
The Sunset Limited will operate Los Angeles to Orlando, FL only.
The Texas Eagle, which connects with the Sunset Limited at San Antonio, will be canceled south of Saint Louis. This will leave Little Rock AR, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin TX, without passenger rail service. Further, it removes the last Midwest - Southern Arizona service (other than the Thruway bus from Flagstaff connecting with the Southwest Chief.)
Discontinuance of the Pioneer will leave Boise, Idaho without train service. The city only this July purchased its train station for an intermodal transportation center.
Even though the Northeast- Florida route will see a third daily train, the Silver Palm, it is widely believed that with the "fixed train consist" that about the same number of seats and rooms will be available on three trains as are now on two.
In the Northeast, the Broadway Limited service and name will be restored. Vermont will gain an additional train, the Ethan Allen, using equipment which otherwise would lay over at Albany.
Several ARPA observers noted the September 22 Sunday newspaper Parade insert's Amtrak ad, which shows the three "All Aboard" regions - but noticeably does not show any routes.
At least one late report indicates the Texas Eagle may remain in the Fall timetable. Also, this from NARP on September 16:
"On September 11, the conference committee on the 1997 DOT funding bill approved language allowing states to use CMAQ (Congestion Management and Air Quality - part of ISTEA) to save the threatened trains. That is an opportunity, but does not save the trains in itself. States still would have to go through the normal CMAQ process--approval by local planning boards (MPO's [MAG is the MPO for the Phoenix area - Ed.]), state DOTs, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). We understand that the FWHA would cooperate.
"That whole process could take longer than the time that is left, and could run into the problem of some states already having their CMAQ money committed to other projects. Highway interests will fight hard at the state level (where they are strongest) to keep states from using CMAQ money on trains."
Several other avenues are also being pursued in Washington to give Amtrak funds to operate these trains, for some short time at least.
Arkansas Rail informs us that several new documents have been posted on their Web pages. Check out new postings "Texas Eagle vs. Amtrak Accounting" and "Equipment Utilization, Amtrak's Achilles Heel." Also see "Ridership, Revenue and Politics along the Texas Eagle Route".
Union Pacific has now merged with Southern Pacific. The latest news can be found on the Internet. These pages also contain several system maps which may be of interest.
Canada's VIA Rail will be using the IC-3 trainsets (see the previous ARPA newsletter) in revenue service around Toronto starting September 29.