Passenger Trains > Senate eliminates ALL rail projects in Washington State

(Sighs)

This woman is pure stupid. I have no idea why she would assume that the funding would be for freight and passenger rail.

http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics/2009/03/25/senate_plan_pays_for_all_i_5_carpool_lan

Haugen said she also eliminated almost all railroad projects from the 2009-11 budget. That includes the Point Defiance bypass, a project to build rail lines south of Lakewood, providing a more direct route for freight trains into the Port of Tacoma. Rail projects in Washington will have to apply for federal funds that have been made available as part of the federal transportation stimulus package.

She said there is more than $8 billion set aside for rail nationwide.

I don't see in the link what you are saying happened.

The linked article includes the paragraph quoted verbatim in Macster's post:

"Haugen said she also elminated almost all railroad projects from the 2009-11 budget...."

I wonder if she even talked to WSDOT about this.

The article says Haugen's plan is an improvement over the governors plan that pushed projects so far into the future they never would be built. Maybe she should be the next governor.


Macster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> (Sighs)
>
> This woman is pure stupid. I have no idea why she
> would assume that the funding would be for freight
> and passenger rail.
>
> http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics/2009/03/2
> 5/senate_plan_pays_for_all_i_5_carpool_lan
>
> Haugen said she also eliminated almost all
> railroad projects from the 2009-11 budget. That
> includes the Point Defiance bypass, a project to
> build rail lines south of Lakewood, providing a
> more direct route for freight trains into the Port
> of Tacoma. Rail projects in Washington will have
> to apply for federal funds that have been made
> available as part of the federal transportation
> stimulus package.
>
> She said there is more than $8 billion set aside
> for rail nationwide.

There is a similar strategy occurring on the highway side. Depend upon fed funds now, shuffle the funding and construction schedule, hope that things get better by the time the federally funded projects are done. It's not a bad strategy given the circumstances, but it will require a dynamite application to FRA to pull it off because competition will be heavy. Given the rail infrastructure needs, 8 gigabucks will not go all that far.

In another way, this is not an unreasonable approach. Federal funding has been promised since 1991. It has not occurred. The legislature has funded things 100% that were supposed to have had a federal match, just to show that the state is serious. For example, the Vancouver project is huge and is 100% state funded.

Senator Haugen has been an important supporter of the rail program. I don't think she is setting out for failure, just making a substantial bet hoping she has a good hand.

TAW

Well here we go the state of Washington doesn't want to pay for it's own projects and they drop it on the hopes that the Federal Stimulus will pick it up. Therefore the Feds should withhold any stimulus money headed for Washington state.That's what it looks like to me.Don't hang this on the rest of the United States to pay for it.Washington state needs a better attitude about it.What realy needed to be writen into the stimulus is a dollar for dollar match between local state and Federal money toward these projects.At least try to contribute something to the cause.Remember there are other states that would just love to get this money for their projects.Wahsington state don't welsh out on your responsibilities and don't even try to ask for any stimulus money for it.

msdgbar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well here we go the state of Washington doesn't
> want to pay for it's own projects and they drop it
> on the hopes that the Federal Stimulus will pick
> it up. Therefore the Feds should withhold any
> stimulus money headed for Washington state.That's
> what it looks like to me.Don't hang this on the
> rest of the United States to pay for it.Washington
> state needs a better attitude about it.What realy
> needed to be writen into the stimulus is a dollar
> for dollar match between local state and Federal
> money toward these projects.At least try to
> contribute something to the cause.Remember there
> are other states that would just love to get this
> money for their projects.Wahsington state don't
> welsh out on your responsibilities and don't even
> try to ask for any stimulus money for it.

Uh, who is doing what? The feds promised a high speed rail corridor matching funds program, like highways have, 18 years ago. Washington has spent a few hundred megabucks and the feds have funded a few grade crossing signals. The budget that has been cut back was a valiant attempt to go it alone. In fact the midrange plan that was finished in December was a blueprint for what might be possible if the state were to try to go it alone.

That said, if you want a dollar for dollar match in the stimulus funds, sign WA up for about 2.5 megabucks please.

TAW

Good thing the late Ruth Fisher, former State Senator from Tacoma, isn't around. Mary Margaret would lose again!

Mary Margaret is apparently in her last term. She just barely won re-election. She wants to go out with a bang. She runs the Transportation Comm. like some kind of a fiefdom. So TAW, isn't there something in the setup where WA has to pay a % of the Cascades service, or it doesn't run?

Vermont just went through this with the Ethan Allen between Rutland and New York. The Vt. Legislature finally came through and said they were going to keep the train. In fact, now they are even talking about extending it to Burlington, which might threaten The Vermonter. But, that's another story...

Barry Stone

poffcapt Wrote:
>So TAW, isn't there
> something in the setup where WA has to pay a % of
> the Cascades service, or it doesn't run?

Yes. Infrastructure and operation are two different things. The feds never promised anything for operation. The state pays Amtrak to run the trains. If they don't do that, the service ends except for the two original Amtrak trains. The article did not say anything about eliminating operating funds, just capital project funds. Since there can be no fed stimulus bucks without operation, I assume that the legislature will continue to fund operation.

TAW

As someone commented at the end of the Tacoma News Trib article, it's a long winding road to the end of the legislative process.

<That includes the Point Defiance bypass, a project to build rail lines south of Lakewood, providing a more direct route for freight trains into the Port of Tacoma.>

Huh? Isn't the Point Defiance bypass project to provide a more direct route for Amtrak trains between Tacoma and Olympia. What does it have to do with freight trains into the Port of Tacoma, I've never heard that freights would even use the route (except to serve local customers as they do today).