Beginning the Dialogue - Report on SGR - Federal Transit ...

FTA State of Good Repair Workshop
r OVERVIEW
Introduction to FTA State of Good Repair Workshop
On August 13, 2008, <strong>the</strong> Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) convened a two-day workshop
to consider <strong>the</strong> state of good repair (SGR) needs of
<strong>the</strong> nation’s rail and bus transit rolling stock and
infrastructure. Specific issues considered by <strong>the</strong>
workshop included:
n How should state of good repair be defined and
measured?
n What is <strong>the</strong> current condition of <strong>the</strong> nation’s
transit capital assets?
n What level of investment is required to attain
SGR, and how does this compare with existing
funding?
n How are local agencies addressing <strong>the</strong>ir SGR
needs?
n How can preventive maintenance, asset
management and alternative financing
approaches help agencies attain SGR?
n What should <strong>the</strong> federal role in SGR be?
The seven papers in this volume address each of
<strong>the</strong>se questions, provide background on <strong>the</strong> current
understanding of <strong>the</strong> underlying issues, and <strong>the</strong>n
encourage <strong>the</strong> reader to consider alternate
approaches or solutions to <strong>the</strong>se issues. Preliminary
versions of each paper were provided to each
workshop participant before <strong>the</strong> meeting date as
preparation for <strong>the</strong> workshop. The workshop <strong>the</strong>n
included one session related to each of <strong>the</strong> seven
topics.
This report updates each of <strong>the</strong> seven papers and
presents key observations from <strong>the</strong> SGR workshop.
r BACKGROUND
The SGR workshop and related FTA state of good
repair initiatives (e.g., <strong>the</strong> Rail Modernization Study)
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are motivated by a number of related events and
concerns:
n Several highly visible infrastructure failures have
called into question <strong>the</strong> adequacy of <strong>the</strong>
maintenance of <strong>the</strong> nation’s transportation
infrastructure.
n FTA seeks more accurate information concerning
<strong>the</strong> scope and cost of maintaining <strong>the</strong> nation’s
transit capital assets in a state of good repair.
n By law, FTA must examine its grantees’ ability to
maintain <strong>the</strong>ir existing transit systems when
making decisions to support new fixed guideway
projects. FTA is concerned that some guideway
modernization funds have been diverted to its
New Starts program.
n At <strong>the</strong> request of twelve U.S. Senators and <strong>the</strong>
FY2008 Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill,
FTA is currently conducting a “Rail Modernization
Study” to assess <strong>the</strong> level of investment required
to bring <strong>the</strong> assets of <strong>the</strong> nation’s largest rail
transit agencies to a state of good repair.
Given <strong>the</strong>se events and concerns, key objectives of
<strong>the</strong> SGR workshop were to (1) help assess <strong>the</strong> extent
of <strong>the</strong> issue (e.g., what is SGR, how should SGR
needs be assessed, how are agencies currently
addressing <strong>the</strong>se needs, etc.) and (2) obtain local
agency input to FTA’s State of Good Repair initiative.
r SGR WORKSHOP
The objective of this workshop was to obtain local
agency perspectives on a range of SGR-related
issues currently of interest to FTA.
Workshop Participants: The workshop participants
included each of <strong>the</strong> agencies included in FTA’s Rail
Modernization Study as well as representatives of
smaller rail and bus agencies. Participants also
included senior FTA staff – including Deputy