Passenger Trains > Legal spat could derail Tarrant County Amtrak plan

Legal spat could derail Tarrant County Amtrak plan
Star-Telegram
by Gordon Dickson

> About $7.2 million in federal funding awarded to North Texas to
> double-track the Trinity Railway Express line and improve Amtrak
> rail service could be sent back to Washington because of a legal
> dispute that has now dragged on for nearly two years.

> If the federal stimulus funding awarded in 2010 is returned to the
> federal government, it effectively would put the brakes on plans to
> move Amtrak's daily Texas Eagle service onto the TRE line. It
> currently uses the Union Pacific Railroad line between Dallas and
> Fort Worth via Arlington.

> Regional planners have hailed that move as a way to improve Amtrak's
> on time performance -- by allowing the trains to avoid rail
> congestion in the Tower 55 area near downtown Fort Worth -- and to
> clear the way for the possible opening of a new Amtrak station
> serving Northeast Tarrant County and other areas in the middle of
> the Metroplex from TRE's CenterPort station.
>
> The spat is between Amtrak and TRE, a commuter rail service co-owned
> by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, also known as the T, and
> Dallas Area Rapid Transit. At the heart of the dispute is the issue
> of liability -- in other words, who would be responsible for any
> damage or injury incurred during passenger train service.
>
> Amtrak has asked for TRE to assume liability on its line, even in the
> event of a crash involving an Amtrak train. TRE has balked at that
> proposal.

Full story:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/08/06/4159189/legal-spat-could-derail-tarrant.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

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So, Amtrak doesn't want to be liable for ANYTHING? Even if it's THEIR FAULT?

Hope they get this one worked out. I thought this reroute was one of the more useful projects to come out of the stimulus mess.

Anyone who has ever ridden the TRE line will see how much sense this re-route makes. It eliminates a reverse move at Tower 55, enabling the "Eagle" to run straight through Ft. Worth rather than having to back across one of the busiest rail crossings in the nation.

Amtrak's liability is capped by Federal law at $200 million per accident, so I'm not sure why this such a big issue. Amtrak also releases freight railroads over which it operates from liability, so why should TRE be different?

This would be a tremendous improvement, for all the reasons above.

It's also something that's been in the works for about 15 years, or however long it's been that UP "allowed" the tri-weekly Texas Eagle to be operated daily. The story I've always heard from local folks is that UP agreed to the daily operation contingent on Amtrak pursuing the rerouting of The Eagle on TRE between Dallas and Ft. Worth.

Friends have told me that Amtrak has talked with TRE about it for many years, and TRE keeps saying no, that it doesn't have the capacity. Every once in a while, UP asks Amtrak how the negotiations are going.

Someone on this board probably knows when the Eagle went daily; I'm guessing it was back in the mid 1990s, so this deal, such as it is, has been going on for a long, long time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/12 06:51 by knotch8.

cracker41 Wrote:
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> Eagle went daily 1997 or 1998, not too long after
> barely surviving that train-off mess.

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Let's get the dates correct. Who knows; someone may use Trainorders archives for historical research
and we don't want to steer them wrong.


Fall 1997: Texas Eagle saved from extinction at the hands of Amtrak by efforts of a Texas-Arkansas based
volunteer group, which through grassroots efforts involving local communities and civic leaders,
persuades the Texas legislature and then-governor George W. Bush to loan Amtrak $5.6 million to continue
service until additional revenue streams could be identified and implemented. Loan is due in full
with accrued interest on July 31, 1999. Amtrak puts up all its ex-Santa Fe Hi-Level cars as collateral.
This was followed by a takeover of yield management functions for the Texas Eagle from Amtrak by the
volunteer group, to increase passenger revenues; and by an incentive by Amtrak Mail and Express to develop
and increase express freight business on the train.

February 1998: Texas Eagle expands to quadweekly, Chicago-San Antonio. One train each week is extended,
San Antonio-Los Angeles.

May 1999: Amtrak and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison present a ceremonial check for $5.6 million plus interest to
Texas Governor George W. Bush in repayment of the loan made by the state to Amtrak in 1997, as yield management
by the volunteer group, mail and express revenues, and the addition of one frequency boost revenues.

May 2000: Texas Eagle begins daily operation between Chicago and San Antonio. At the same time, in
accordance with an agreement between Amtrak and Union Pacific, Texas Eagle resumes westbound operation
via Marshall, Longview and Mineola; for several months it had been operating westbound on the
ex-Cotton Belt Route along with UP through freights which run directionally in that region, paired
with the ex-Texas and Pacific route, used for eastbound through freights.

During a ceremony at Fort Worth celebrating the daily Texas Eagle service, the Texas-Arkansas volunteer
group announces that it has increased Texas Eagle passenger revenues by $2 million by taking over
yield management from Amtrak.

May 2001: Once-weekly San Antonio-Los Angeles Texas Eagle service ends. Express freight business to/from Los
Angeles never materialized.



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/12 07:55 by GenePoon.

GenePoon Wrote:
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> > Amtrak has asked for TRE to assume liability on
> its line, even in the event of a crash involving an Amtrak train.

I don't know what the big deal is. Amtrak is already liable for any mishap involving their trains on any line where they are the tenant, whether it's their fault or NOT!

I guess they can keep trying . . .

RailNet802, owevaaaah

Isn't this similar to the spat that Amtrak had with Florida regarding SunRail and later TriRail, that was all recently resolved?