By Gayane Aghajanyan, USCM Intern
October 13, 2008

The Senate on October 1 passed H.R. 2095, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 by a vote of 74-24. As U.S.MAYOR went to press, the President has not signed the bill into the law, but the White House has announced his intention to do so. As reported in the September 29 edition of U.S.MAYOR, the U.S. House approved the legislation on September 24.

H.R. 2095 authorizes $13 billion over five years for passenger rail – more than $2.6 billion annually for Amtrak, intercity passenger rail, and high speed rail programs, which is almost double what the U.S. is currently spending. In addition, it authorizes funding for rail corridor development, new safety controls that would help to reduce possible train crashes, and improvements to the Washington (DC) Metro system.

The rail safety section of the bill received renewed attention after the deadly crash in California on September 12 when a commuter train and a freight train hit head on. It mandates positive train control (PTC) technology on passenger and certain hazmat rail main lines by 2015 and authorizes $250 million in federal grants for PTC installation. PTC would have detected and stopped at the red signal that the commuter train’s engineer did not see.

In addition, it requires reforms of Amtrak including restructuring the Board of Directors, improved accounting and financial planning, and new standards for service reliability and on-time performance. The bill also gives authorization to the Surface Transportation Board to fine any freight railroads that delay Amtrak trains. Furthermore, Amtrak stations will be required comply with disability accessibility standards.

Another Conference of Mayors priority is the bill’s inclusion of the Clean Railroads Act of 2008, which would allow states to clean up solid waste processing facilities on rail sites that have avoided regulation through a loophole in federal law. In particular, the measure applies state standards for air pollution, water pollution and fire safety to transfer facilities handling and storing solid waste in open dumps.

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors August Action Forum on Infrastructure in New York City, Meridian (MS) Mayor John Robert Smith, Vice Chair of the Conference of Mayors Transportation Committee for Rail Issues, urged mayors to embrace a national vision for a high speed network of passenger rail services connecting the nation’s cities and their metro areas with other communities along designated corridors. “A national rail network is a new vision for America’s transportation future,” Smith said. Touting the many economic, energy and climate benefits of such a national commitment, he said, “This offers the potential for the biggest infrastructure commitment in this generation.”

Last year Amtrak had its sixth straight year of record ridership carrying over 28 million riders and earning more than $1.7 billion in ticket revenue.