From the Detroit Free Press

From AnnArbor.com

University of Michigan graduate student Jon Bolenbaugh says he uses the Amtrak station in Ann Arbor about twice a month and prefers train travel over driving or flying.

“I’ve taken a lot of train rides actually,” he said, waiting to catch the train to Chicago on Friday afternoon on his way to see his girlfriend for the weekend.

“It’s cheaper in terms of the gas right now and also flying is a pain,” Bolenbaugh said. “I used to fly two or three years ago until they changed the policies and now it’s like you have to get basically groped to fly. It takes more time to actually get to the airport, fly and get out of the airport than it does just to drive there or take the train.”

Ann Arbor officials are welcoming news that train ridership is up throughout Michigan and say they remain hopeful high-speed rail improvements are on the way.

“Train ridership in Michigan has been going up steadily for quite a while now and this was quite a jump in the recent figures,” said Mayor John Hieftje, referring to the new Amtrak passenger counts. “I agree with those who are attributing it to the rise in gas prices.”

Amtrak saw significant growth on all three of its passenger service routes in Michigan in the first six months of the 2010-11 fiscal year, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

The Wolverine line that runs from Pontiac through Detroit to Chicago — with its busiest stop along the way in Ann Arbor — saw a 16.3 percent increase with 243,185 passengers from October through March. Ticket revenues went up 21 percent to $9 million.

The Pere Marquette line that runs from Grand Rapids to Chicago saw ridership increase by 6.7 percent with 48,787 passengers. Ticket revenues went up 11.7 percent to $1.5 million.

The Blue Water line that runs from Port Huron to Chicago saw ridership jump 26.2 percent with 85,823 passengers, one of the biggest increases in the nation. Ticket revenues went up 23.9 percent to $2.6 million.

Amtrak operates its Blue Water and Pere Marquette services under a contract with MDOT, but it does not receive any direct state support for the Wolverine.

Michigan is one of 15 states that provide state-supported service.

MDOT officials said it seems clear more passengers are choosing train travel for convenience and value, especially as gas prices soar. They point out the growing number of train travelers means fewer cars on congested state highways.

“I think more and more people are thinking about trains who may have not thought it was possible before, seeing it as an alternative,” Hieftje said. “It’s certainly a good alternative to going to the airport, waiting around, and going through security and everything. All of these things seem to be working together to put more people in seats on trains.”

After dropping off around 2001, ridership on all three Amtrak routes in Michigan has grown significantly over the last decade and continues to grow. The Detroit-to-Chicago corridor saw ridership plummet from 418,491 to 295,268 from 1997 to 2001, but passenger counts had ticked back up to 479,782 by last year — about a 62 percent increase over nine years.

Along the Detroit-to-Chicago corridor, a total of 69,084 people boarded Amtrak trains in Ann Arbor last year; 44,392 boarded in Kalamazoo, 40,510 in Dearborn, 33,125 in Detroit, 19,332 in Battle Creek, 16,768 in Royal Oak, 13,894 in Jackson and 10,906 in Birmingham.

“It is true that Ann Arbor continues to be the busiest stop,” Hieftje said. “People here really get it and we’re just very hopeful that the high-speed rail project will go forward, and of course that enables us to keep working with our neighbors on the commuter rail project as well.”

Federal officials announced last fall that Michigan would receive $150 million for high-speed rail improvements along the Dearborn-to-Kalamazoo portion of the tracks between Detroit and Chicago, but the state Legislature still hasn’t taken action to secure the funds. Gov. Rick Snyder also hasn’t made up his mind about putting up matching state dollars.

But Hieftje remains hopeful something will happen and that Ann Arbor, which has a new train station planned near the University of Michigan Hospital along Fuller Road, will reap the benefits. The same improvements needed to make high-speed rail happen will help move forward the planned Ann Arbor-to-Detroit commuter rail service.

“As we understand it, Michigan’s high-speed rail funds are still in place, and so the state Legislature still is working on a match for that,” Hieftje said. “I know myself and the mayors of Dearborn and Ypsilanti, we’re all very hopeful that that project is going to move along and it’ll be good for all of our cities.”

Source: http://www.annarbor.com/news/train-ridership-on-the-rise-ann-arbor-remains-busiest-amtrak-stop-between-detroit-and-chicago/#

From Trains Magazine

OKEMOS, Mich. — Eugene L. Huddleston, the author of several books on Chesapeake & Ohio steam locomotives and two TRAINS features, died Friday, April 22, 2011. He was 80 years old.

Huddleston grew up in Russell, Ky., near a major C&O terminal. Though he moved north to attend college, the books he went on to author covered the railroads in the region near where he grew up. His works included at least nine titles, primarily on C&O, Norfolk & Western, and the steam locomotives that powered them.

His TRAINS features included “Toward Settling the USRA controversy” [March 1991] and “Doctoring the Scales: The Case of the Overweight Alleghenies” [December 1998].

He worked as a professor of American Thought & Language at Michigan State University, retiring in 1992.

Read his obituary: http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Eugene-Huddleston&lc=7224&pid=150483008&mid=4646035&locale=en-US

From the Flint Journal

Dennis Jefferson noticed something on his Amtrak trip from Charleston, Miss., to Flint this week: There’s a lot less elbow room and a lot more people on the train than there were just six months ago.

Fueled by higher gas prices and what state transportation officials say is greater awareness, the number of Amtrak riders has exploded on the Blue Water route that runs from Port Huron to Chicago and stops daily in Flint.

The increase in passenger traffic on the route during the last six months — 26.2 percent — is among the highest in the nation, and gains at the Flint station — 34.7 percent — are even higher during that same period.

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/04/faster_than_a_speeding_train_n.html

From Crain’s Detroit Business

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s administration has crafted a plan to divert some of the city’s annual federal capital transportation grant funding to back bonds that will pay for Detroit’s share of a $500 million light-rail system on Woodward Avenue.

The deal, which has federal approval, allows the cash-strapped city to arrange required local-match funding without actually using local money.

The plan is to issue up to $125 million in Capital Grant Receipts Revenue Bonds to reach the 40 percent local funding match threshold required to trigger federal payment of the remainder of the rail project.

The 40 percent will be composed of the proceeds from the bond sale, a $25 million federal grant awarded last year and $100 million assembled by the private sector and foundations. The 60 percent would be specially designated federal transportation grant funding.

The city has worked out an agreement with the Federal Transit Administration that allows the Detroit Department of Transportation to use about 30 percent of the $26 million to $28 million it gets annually from the FTA’s Section 5307 grants to be used instead for debt service payments on the bonds. The grants normally are for capital purchases such as buses.

DDOT has other funding in place for capital purchases, so earmarking some of the 5307 program money for the rail bonds won’t interfere with other needs, said Norm White, the city’s CFO and lead on the rail project.

The city won’t know how much the debt service payments will be until the bonds are sold, but the estimate now is $9 million to $10 million annually. White said they could be 15-year or 20-year bonds.

Federal backing of the bonds is expected to make them more attractive.

“Once we get into the market, we’ll understand the interest,” White said. “It’s very minimal risk, so we assume we’ll get a lower rate.”

The federal government allows municipalities to use some federal funding as local match money for transportation projects.

“In order to pay for a project like this, it requires a 20 percent local pure match. The remaining 20 percent can be other funding except New Starts funding,” he said. “Any other federal sources can be used for that 20 percent.”

New Starts is the FTA’s funding program aimed at new surface transportation projects, such as commuter and light rail, and is expected to be the primary source of federal funding for the non-local match.

New Starts funding requires a 20-year plan from the city that outlines not only how it will fund the rail line but how it will ensure that the system’s costs don’t cannibalize funding for other parts of the local transportation department.

It’s unclear how much the Woodward line’s operational costs will be or how they will be funded. White said he intends to discuss operational funding with the city council.

The bond sale is on the City Council’s agenda for 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The sale requires council approval, but it’s not clear when a formal vote will happen.

Because the city doesn’t have the financial capacity to pay for the rail project, backers have been seeking alternative financing methods.

“Our strategy was not to place a burden on the city at all,” White said.

To that end, the project last year became a joint effort by the city and the private investor consortium M1 Rail, which has assembled $100 million in cash and tax credits for the project. A deal worked out last year in Congress allows DDOT to use the private money as local match funding.

The line is a 9.3-mile loop that will run from Hart Plaza to Eight Mile Road. Construction could begin this year or early 2012, and the line would be completely operational by 2016.

“We could have a groundbreaking this year, but more of the ceremonial type,” said Matt Cullen, M1 Rail’s CEO, with serious construction beginning once weather allows early next year.
A federally required Final Environmental Impact Statement is expected by the end of the month, and preliminary engineering and design will begin after that.

FTA staff has been working in Detroit on the rail project to expedite the environmental study process, White said.

Source: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110403/SUB01/304039988/rail-plan-use-fed-funds-to-get-fed-funds-bond-sale-to-help-raise#