Passenger Trains > Fred Frailey: FRA/Indiana "truce" re: Hoosier State

Fred Frailey reports that a "truce" has been reached between the
FRA and Indiana, regarding the Hoosier State, and that the Iowa
Pacific deal looks to be still "on."

> Indiana and the Federal Railroad Administration are reported to have
> smoked the peace pipe, as to the Chicago-Indianapolis Hoosier State.
> At issue was whether Indiana had to become a railroad under FRA’s
> supervision to insure that safety rules are obeyed. As I understand
> it, the two parties agreed to draw up a memorandum of understanding,
> thus ending a standoff that threatened to end the life of this
> state-supported passenger train.

There is not a mention of what Northeast Joe is thinking of doing next.

Story:

Hoosier State darts and laurels



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/15 10:00 by GenePoon.

It seems that the FRA had a legitimate interest in making sure that safety rules were being followed. Look at the mess we are seeing in regional airlines flying under the brand of more established airlines with maintenance being outsourced to third parties in foreign countries. It's a great way to diffuse responsibility to avoid regulatory oversight.

The recent crash of Manx2 Flight 7100 is the end result of the unconstrained use of these practices. The accident report details the extremely convoluted contracting relationships going on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx2_Flight_7100#Operation_of_the_accident_aircraft

Well, that's a pretty broad stretch...

This is a good outcome.

Seems to me the FRA made an over-reach by claiming powers that it doesn't have under law. They were called on it, and backed off. Probably see more of that as Amtrak comes under fire and its various operating contracts are put up for bids.

No different than the Department of Labor operating as a branch of the AFL-CIO when the Democrats are in power, or the Department of Energy operating as a creature of big oil when the Republicans are in power.

This is a very good outcome, not only for Indiana, but for all states and other groups who sought to bring about rail passenger service at various levels. The FRA needed to be opposed.

This is merely a truce. The battle is not yet won. Even if it is, FRA will try again somewhere.

mbrotzman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It seems that the FRA had a legitimate interest in
> making sure that safety rules were being followed.
> Look at the mess we are seeing in regional
> airlines flying under the brand of more
> established airlines with maintenance being
> outsourced to third parties in foreign countries.
> It's a great way to diffuse responsibility to
> avoid regulatory oversight.

Sure they have such an interest but that's beside the point here. The FRA claimed that since the Indiana DOT had contracted with Iowa Pacific to provide the train, that they (the DOT) were in effect a railroad and hence had to bear all the extra costs and responsibilities associated with that label, including liability coverage, a staff to monitor rules compliance, certification of engineers, drug testing of employees, etc. etc. The costs of all this would have risen to unreasonable levels, not to mention the fact that such factors are borne by real railroads, not transportation departments.

Local politicians of cities along the route and Indiana's two senators lobbied for the train and for FRA to eliminate its implausible and unreasonable demands. It was a bipartisan effort and fortunately it was successful. I strongly suspect that the transportation secretary--a strong supporter of passenger rail--also applied some pressure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/15 17:44 by calumet.

Bureaucracies that are not supervised adequately tend to try to increase the size of their fiefdom. it is in the nature of things. So such skirmishes are to be expected if the political masters are busy bickering about other stuff.

If it keeps the Hoosier State running, its all good, politics, Federal bureaucracies and all.

I applaud Iowa Pacific and look forward to riding the train after they begin its operations.

*ahem*

Mr. Ellis, once you get settled in with the Indy-Chicago run, maybe you could cozy up to the Louisville & Indiana and extend service down here to Louisville with your own crews (or an L&I crew) where we have a house track adjacent to a far nicer Union Station than the dismal, dark and nasty one in Indianapolis. Maybe a couple of days a week at first. Maybe?

timecruncher

---

Has it been 12yrs now since the KY Cardinal left town?

The Ohio advocacy group wants it extended to Cincy, with schedule altered to run 2 hours earlier southbound, 2 hours earlier northbound. Of course, that would miss some connections in Chicago, make Beech Grove access more difficult, and require Ohio to partially subsidize, for which there is fat chance with Kasich there.

Until the Ohioans fix the Kasich problem I don't think they will get any more trains, except for perhaps a daily Cardinal through the good graces of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Thanks for all the ideas. Let us just get our feet on the ground here, and get some riders on the Hoosier State to start with, and build some support for track improvements and more trains.