Minutes of Joint Committee Meeting - Lexciestuff.net

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCILTRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD2101 Constitution Avenue Washington, D.C. 20418COMMITTEE CORRESPONDENCEADDRESS REPLY TO:David C. WilcockVHB, Inc.99 High Street, 10 th FloorBoston, MA 02110-2354Telephone: (617) 607-2935Internet: dwilcock@vhb.comMinutes of Joint Committee MeetingAP070 COMMITTEE ON COMMUTER RAIL TRANSPORTATIONMONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2009 from 8:00 AM – NOONWASHINGTON HILTON HOTEL, WASHINGTON D.C.David Wilcock, Chairman AP070Raymond Tomczak, SecretaryWebpage: www.trbcommuterrail.orgCALL TO ORDERCommittee Chair, David Wilcock (VHB), called the meeting to order at 8:03 AM. Mr. Wilcockwelcomed everyone to the meeting.ATTENDANCEMembers and friends of the committee introduced themselves. A total of 53 people were inattendance. See attached attendance sheet.AGENDASee the attached meeting agenda.GENERAL ITEMS FOR THE RECORDTRB Liaison ReportPeter Shaw and Karla Karush, speaking on behalf of Transportation Research Board (TRB),offered comments on several items:• This year there will be an award presented for the best transit paper published by TRB.• The Strategic Planning Committee of TRB is going to look at all 15 groups and make surethat all topics are being covered and reducing any duplication.• Next year's annual meeting theme will be “Investment Strategies: Bold Ideas to Meet BigChallenges”.• TRB Technical Activities Council would like to see a more specific focus spent by ourmembers on items of substance and increasing ways of communicating with memberswho may not be able to attend TRB. David noted that four of our twenty-two memberscould not attend this year’s conference with several working at public agencies. BruceHorowitz (ESH Consult) noted that we should be trying to get young and emeritusmembers a stipend to attend the conference. Tom Hickey (METRO) noted that manytransit folks that work at DOT’s will not be attending this year’s conference and suggestedthat TRB find ways to lower the attendance fee. Peter would like to see high technologytools (i.e. conference calls, live web cams, etc.) used to foster greater participation inmeetings.• There are several upcoming transit conferences to be aware of including: Light RailConference in April in Los Angeles and a BRT conference in Seattle in May.The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a unit of the National Research Council, which is the principal working arm of the corporateinstitution that includes the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.

Annual Meeting January 12, 2009Meeting Minutes for Committee on Commuter Rail Transportation AP070Business Meeting Page 2• This year the number of papers/invited presentations is around 3,400 with half shown inposter sessions. Attendance is somewhere between 9,000 and 10,000. Sponsorship iscontinuing to grow. The goal of TRB is to publish approximately 25% of the papersreceived. In early February TRB asks that nominations be submitted for special paperawards.Chris Jenks, Transportation Cooperative Research Program (TCRP), offered the following itemsof note:• About $5 million in FY 2010 has been established for TCRP. There could beappropriations from Congress in the Federal Economic Stimulus bill that expand thisprogram.• TRCP is now in its 16 th year of existence with about 550 projects having been authorizedand over 475 publications.• In 2008 twenty five publications were released by TCRP, but none were related tocommuter rail.• In FY 2009 some projects of interest include:o #834 – Enhancing Rail Bus Operating Rule Complianceo #41 – Methodology of Comparing Environmental Benefits of Transit Projectso #130 – Shared Use of Rail Infrastructure with Non-Compliant Rail Equipment• FY 2010 problem statements are due June 15 th• Solicitation for synthesis topics was just released this week. Typically six or seven arefunded a year. March 31 st is the deadline to submit ideas for synthesis topics.• This year TCRP is expecting $9.3 million in federal funding. Ray Tomczak (HNTB) askedif there was anyway that TRB could request a larger share of federal economic stimulusfunding. Chris said that since TRB is part of the National Academies of Science wecannot advocate for additional funding. It’s best to channel such advocacy efforts throughgroups like APTA and AASHTO.• David noted that Pete Sklannik (Wilbur Smith) and Paul O’Brien (Utah Transit Authority)started putting together a statement on best rail design practices that we are looking tosubmit to TRB this year by the June 15 th deadline. Members of the committee wereencouraged to develop TCRP statements.• David implored upon members and friends of the committee to develop research needsstatements and get them entered into the TRB database. Topics could be selected fromsuch items as New Starts, legacy systems, best operating practices and best foreignpractices. Bruce Horowitz spoke of how past committees tried to look at news ways ofoperating trains with one man crews. David said it would be great to have a topic thatlooked into what an agency would need to do develop a commuter rail service.• David Nelson (Jacobs) and David Wilcock volunteered to develop a TCRP topic lookingat contracting practices. Paul O’Brien noted that he was part of a technical advisorypanel who reviewed a similar topic. Steve Abrams (Chicago Transit Authority) reportedthat a good place to look for such information would be in the International Rail TransitCommittee.AP070 COMMITTEE BUSINESSReview of Midyear Meeting Notes (05/31/2008)The minutes of the mid-year meeting that was held on May 31, 2008 in San Francisco werediscussed. A motion was made by Tom Hickey to accept the minutes, seconded by Walter Zullig,and so approved by all present.Committee RotationIn 2009 the commuter rail committee will be undergoing its triennial rotation. This year, sevenmembers will need to rotate off the committee to satisfy TRB's requirements. The maximum\\Mabos\admin\DWilcock\TRB\AP070CommRailComm\Meetings\TRB Annual Meeting Minutes 01_12_09_.doc

Annual Meeting January 12, 2009Meeting Minutes for Committee on Commuter Rail Transportation AP070Business Meeting Page 3number of consecutive years that someone can be a member of the committee is nine. If anyoneknows of someone whom would be interested in joining our committee please contact David. Inaddition, David will be looking to open the meeting up to new forms of communication to ensurethat our membership has every reason to remain active with the committee.Committee StructureDavid noted that AP070 is represented in both the Public Transit (AP) and Rail (AR) groups. AsChair of Commuter Rail, David represents the committee at both group's board meetings.The Self-Propelled Rail Car Subcommittee has a new co-parent – Passenger Rail SystemsEquipment (AR020). This subcommittee, chaired by David Nelson, will be meeting tomorrow.Possible 2009 Annual Meeting Call for Papers and Technical SessionsA discussion took place on possible papers and technical session for the 2010 annual meeting. In2008 we received seven papers for review. The topic for this year will be “Investment StrategiesBold Ideas to Meet Big Challenges”. The sessions, topics, and comments for possiblesuggestions were as follows:• Developments in International Commuter Rail. Several possible presenters from Japanand France have approached us in the past about making presentations on this topic.• Reduction In Service To Create Operating Efficiencies• Business Case of One Person Train Operation• Non-Traditional Ways To Finance New Rail Service• Planning and Development of New Starts Workshop• Remaking Commuter Rail into Regional Rail• Market Based Parking• Revival of Non-Peak Direction Service• Issues Related to Capacity, Expansion and Contraction Related to Systems Integration• Challenges of Commuter Rail Operation• Risk Analysis of Design, Build, Operation and Management of Rail Stations / Park-&-Ride• Commuter Rail as Part of the Intermodal Solution• Evolution of Commuter Rail• Emergency Preparedness - Emergence of Twitter• Ed Tennyson mentioned that a TCRP Report is coming out next year on energy whichmight fight into our committee.David Wilcock noted that two years ago Gene Skoropowski submitted a proposal for us todevelop a Rail Capacity Manual that looked at both passenger and freight rail. Tom Hickey saidthat TRCP 100 already has a Transit Capacity Manual that deals with the movement of people,but that it might be good to update it with rail freight. The call for papers is April 15. David askedthat committee members e-mail him and Ray Tomczak if they have any other ideas for sessionsand/or paper topics.Larry Goldstein is studying the application of how to increase energy efficiency of railtransportation and how to get light rail moving up to 30 mph through an intersection. There areopenings to get on a panel that will meet twice in Washington DC, once in Irvine, CA and once inCape Cod. The panel meets over two days to develop a RFP statement. They then receive\\Mabos\admin\DWilcock\TRB\AP070CommRailComm\Meetings\TRB Annual Meeting Minutes 01_12_09_.doc

Annual Meeting January 12, 2009Meeting Minutes for Committee on Commuter Rail Transportation AP070Business Meeting Page 4proposals and in six to nine months there is an interim report to review and comment on. It is alsopossible to have teleconferences instead of attending all meetings in person.H-39 – Methodology For Evaluating Economic Development Impacts Of TransitInvestmentsPeter Bilton of the Rutgers University Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC) is the projectmanager of this study effort to inform the FTA New Starts and Small Starts process. DanChapman of the VTC is the lead investigator and Steer Davis Gleave is also involved in thisstudy. Peter handed out some survey material for the work that was commencing and asked forvolunteers of which many members of the committee expressed an interest in taking part in thissurvey.Midyear MeetingWe typically have our mid-year meeting to coincide with the APTA rail conference and this yearit’s being offered in Chicago from June 14 to 17. David Nelson asked if it were possible to haveour meeting on a Sunday instead of the usual Saturday. Paul O’Brien noted that Sunday wouldbe unlikely given that APTA typically schedules trips and committee meetings on Sunday’s.David will see if it’s possible to get a Sunday morning time slot to have our mid-year meeting atthe APTA rail conference, but likely it will be on a Saturday.Newsletter UpdateJack Boorse (PB Americas) and John Hugunin (AECOM) team together to develop the joint lightrail / commuter rail newsletter. John Wilkins (retired NJ Transit) noted that when doing a story it’simportant to get the property owners permission to publish it and make sure that TRB has time toreview it. David thought the newsletter was a great way to improve communication.John would like to set up a webpage / blog separate from TRB. This would consist of a list ofnames, but no contact info and advocacy. John wants to find ways to shorten the newsletter andsuggested a talk with Peter Shaw. David Nelson suggested that perhaps a newsletter was notthe best way to proceed and suggested a blog (shared repository). The problem all agreed wasthat it could be a full time job to have one person control the blog and its contents. Tom Hickeysuggested we set up a place for folks to post things. Ruby Siegel (Systra) and John agreed to findout more about getting a blog up and running.David also noted that he will make an attempt to send out monthly e-mail updates and he mayask for committee members for their assistance in this effort. A third tool would be to get themeeting minutes completed earlier.Planned 2008 Rail Caucus in PhiladelphiaTom Hickey talked about a rail caucus in Philadelphia that is being planned over a two day periodin November 2009 (possibly around the Veterans Day weekend). Further details about theschedule of events will be forthcoming and forwarded to all the various rail committees at TRB.Such an event would include one workday and a Saturday. Paul O’Brien has received a lot ofpositive feedback from the Northwestern event held last year, especially about its low cost.AP070 (1) – Self-Powered Railcar SubcommitteeDavid Nelson reported that at last years mid-year meeting there was not a whole lot to report onthat was new. This year the SPRC is sponsoring a session at TRB. At the end of 2008 theColorado Railcar Company had went out of business. They made a good run at trying to buildDMU’s domestically, but were unable to close out enough deals to keep themselves afloat. TCRPReport 39 is still a work in progress, but should be finished in the next several months as it iscurrently undergoing review by the panel.\\Mabos\admin\DWilcock\TRB\AP070CommRailComm\Meetings\TRB Annual Meeting Minutes 01_12_09_.doc

Annual Meeting January 12, 2009Meeting Minutes for Committee on Commuter Rail Transportation AP070Business Meeting Page 5AP065 (3) – Shared Use Corridor and Equipment SubcommitteeTom Hickey discussed the purpose of the committee as it deals with all modes of passenger railtransit with positive train control being a hot topic of late. Ray Tomczak offered up that thecommittee should try to reach over to the freight side of the aisle to fully round out the rail modes.Tom welcomed the idea of bringing folks from AR over into this subcommittee. Bob Dorer offeredthat it is important to ensure that regulations do not get in the way of implement positive traincontrol systems.Due to his new job responsibilities, Tom Hickey will no longer be able to chair this subcommittee.Mark Walbrun was recommended by Tom to chair the subcommittee. The Commuter RailCommittee concurred with the recommendation.Rail Capacity SubcommitteJohn Grey spoke briefly about the formation of a new subcommittee within the Rail (AR) Groupfor the purpose of studying rail capacity issues. The newly formed subcommittee will have itsinaugural meeting tomorrow morning. John can be reached at jgrey@aar.org to discuss this inmore detail.Old BusinessNoneROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONDavid Wilcock spoke about several different services that are being considered by MBTA such asMA to Manchester and Nashua, MA to New Hampshire and to Providence, Rhode Island, as wellas west from Boston to Fitchburg. There needs to be a constitutional change in some cases toallow service to cross over from one state to another.Shore Line East is going to take all single sided stations and design them to allow for platformson both sides. Rhode Island is interested in having service run from New London to Providence.When the new M-80s arrive they will be tri-mode EMUs. Study is progressing on having dieseltrains run from New Haven and Hartford CT to Springfield, MA. This could provide up to 30 trainsa day and be in operation by 2011.John Wilkins spoke of the Metro North station that is going to open up at Yankee Stadium in thespring. NJ Transit is expanding rail service to Andover with possible service one day on out toScranton PA. The Raritan Valley Line was under study to possibly have service extended toPhillipsburg, NJ and Allentown, PA. The West Trenton Line Study considered operating athrough service with SEPTA. The Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex Rail Project is considering lowercost options such as BRT. The Northern Branch study is progressing which would be northwardextension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service and they are studying whether it will be dieselor electric light rail. NJ Transit will be opening up their spur service to the Meadowlands in thesummer of 2009.Ed Tennyson spoke of new cars that were ordered by SEPTA which is having record ridership. Anew fare system is trying to be introduced by SEPTA. Studies to be aware of include: Restorationof Rail Service to Quakertown, Rail service to Phonexville. Reading/Main Line electrification inMontgomery County and diesel service to Pottstown are under consideration.Christine Hoeffner (VRE) spoke about an ongoing AA for an extension of the Manassas Line NWto Gainsville, 3 rd track along the Fredricksburg Line, second platform program from DC toFredricksburg and operations and maintenance contract being out for bid.\\Mabos\admin\DWilcock\TRB\AP070CommRailComm\Meetings\TRB Annual Meeting Minutes 01_12_09_.doc