The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials held a hearing on Sept. 24 focused on the challenges faced by U.S. commuter railroads.
It was the first subcommittee hearing in a decade focused solely on the challenges and needs of commuter railroads and served as the first of several hearings anticipated to be held this fall as Congressional leaders begin the process to reauthorize a surface transportation bill.
“[Commuter] railroads play a vital role in the lives of tens of millions of Americans,” said Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL). “In 2017, 29 commuter railroads provided an estimated 510 million passenger trips. It is important to remember that every person on commuter rail means one less car on our congested roads.”
Rep. Lipinski noted that in addition to reduced traffic congestion, commuter railroads help establish a cleaner environment through the reduction of green house emissions. However, these railroads face challenges surrounding funding, their partnerships with host railroads, such as Amtrak and service expansion issues.
American Public Transportation Association (APTA) President and CEO Paul Skoutelas, Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski, Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff and Metrolink CEO Stephanie Wiggins provided testimony at the hearing, as well as laid out their vision of what should be considered in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization.
Skoutelas reminded members of the Subcommittee that commuter rail is a $9.9 billion industry that provides more than 500 million passenger trips a year and is 18 times safer than traveling by car. In the past decade, nine new commuter lines have opened. Regarding Positive Train Control (PTC), Skoutelas said the technology will cost the commuter rail industry $4.1 billion in installation costs and $160 million in annual costs.
APTA is urging the Committee to invest $145 billion over six years in public transportation, which would address the entire state-of-good-repair backlog and fund all Capital Investment Grant (CIG) projects in the pipeline in the next six years. APTA also recommends a zero-based review of the CIG program to assess all statutory, regulatory, and other administrative requirements. On a final call to action, APTA wants the Committee to create a Passenger Rail Trust Fund funded in part with new, long-term, dedicated revenues to significantly increase passenger rail investment to $32 billion over six years, which would include $7.1 billion for CRISI grants. The association would also like to see the CRISI program’s eligibility extended to commuter rail in order to fund operations and maintenance of PTC at $160 million annually and passenger-rail grade-crossing grants at $250 million annually.
Metra’s Derwinski assured the Subcommittee that the railroad will meet the 2020 deadline to implement PTC, but the cost to do so is expected to be more than $400 million, which is equivalent to what the railroad receives in federal formula funding during a 2.5-year period.
“Broadly, Metra, and the commuter rail industry, face two broad challenges: a lack of sustainable and consistent federal funding for operations and capital projects and a legacy passenger rail system that must grow its service to meet increased demand but is constrained by several external forces,” said Derwinski.
Metra is urging Congress to create a new grant program specifically for commuter railroads to fund PTC operation and maintenance, as well as dedicated formula funding for commuter railroads to effectively plan safety and capital expenditures.
“Considering the importance of shared stations and state-supported routes to commuter and intercity passengers, we encourage this Subcommittee to consider measures that improve transparency at Amtrak,” said Derwinski. “Our current passenger rail system has not kept up with the pace of growth in commuter rail operations. Short-trip and commuter passenger services have increased dramatically, yet lack parity with our intercity and long-distance passenger rail counterparts. We believe the federal government should consider mechanisms that level the playing field between Amtrak and publicly owned commuter rail agencies.”
Sound Transit’s Rogoff encouraged the pursuit of further environmental streamlining to speed the delivery of federally funded or permitted projects. He cited the Pacific Northwest’s intense focus on environmental impacts, but also noted the frustration experienced when federal environmental and permitting process slows project delivery.
He also recommended:
- Implement One Federal Decision when using two or more funding programs
- Ensure adequate federal agency staffing to reduce processing times
- Harmonize RRIF and TIFIA procedures
- Extend RRIF TOD authority expiring December 4, 2019
- Streamline TIFIA loan compliance procedures
- Improve CIG Core Capacity definitions
- Provide more clarity on FRA’s System Safety Rule
- Expand the use of Categorical Exclusions (CEs) for work on existing transit projects
- Modernize historic preservation laws
- Align level boarding standards across agencies
Metrolink’s Wiggins told the Subcommittee that the population of the six Southern California counties served by Metrolink is 21.5 million people, more than half of California’s total population. While the railroad was aggressive with its PTC implementation, it has also taken the lead to adopt additional safety technologies such as automatic train stop, inward and outward facing cameras, crash energy management technology, automated external defibrillators and a surveillance detection system.
“Safety is a core value you cannot put a price tag on. Nevertheless, for Metrolink to continuously build upon its successes, we will need the support of the federal government by making the waiver for technology applications under the CRISI Program permanent, as an example,” said Wiggins.
She asked that Congress consider the following as surface transportation reauthorization efforts begin to ramp up:
- Provide full eligibility to the CRISI Program for commuter rail as a qualified applicant;
- Provide substantially more funding for critical railroad crossing and right-of-way improvements to deter trespassing and reduce railroad crossing incidents to keep people safe;
- Include dedicated new funding for commuter rail in the surface transportation authorization bill that does not supplant existing funding sources.
