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RAIL Solution and other groups criticize I-81 Freight Rail Study
02/15/10
On January 14, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation issued the long-awaited Draft Final Report of the I-81 Freight Rail Study. It suffers from nearly all the shortcomings detailed in the Nov. 18 posting below, and completely ignores the comprehensive scope of work detailed in HB-1581. Below you can find comments on the Freight Rail Study by RAIL Solution and other interested parties.
RAIL Solution
Rockbridge Area Conservation Council
Shenandoah Valley Network
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation
Sierra Club of Virginia
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Virginia Organizing Project
I-81 Freight Rail Study issued. Please comment by Feb 10, 2010
02/05/10
On January 14, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation issued the long-awaited Draft Final Report of the I-81 Freight Rail Study. It suffers from nearly all the shortcomings detailed in the Nov. 18 posting below, and completely ignores the comprehensive scope of work detailed in HB-1581. Please comment to DRPT during the public response window. Click here for bullet points to guide your comments. The report can be read and downloaded from: http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/studies/files/Draft%20final%20report.pdf
Comments need to go to: drptpr@drpt.virginia.gov, or write to Public Information Office, DRPT, 600 E. Main St., Suite 2102, Richmond, VA 23219.
RAIL Solution Comments on Draft Final Report of I-81 Truck to Rail Freight Diversion Study
11/18/09
In this paper we critique the October 27, 2009 Draft Final Report entitled Feasibility Plan for Maximum Truck to Rail Diversion in Virginia's I-81 Corridor. Instead of adhering to the scope of work set out in the original enabling legislation in 2006 (HB-1581), the Study has wandered off course to become little more than a validation of Norfolk Southern's Crescent Corridor proposal. Other rail-to-truck concepts are introduced, but not studied with similar intensity. Though some have the potential to divert more trucks from I-81 than Crescent Corridor, it is the only concept found to be "feasible". The "open intermodal" concepts, that can carry all trucks, not just containers, are all found to be of "potential" or "unknown" feasibility.
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The NS Crescent Corridor - What it Does for Virginia and Where it Falls Short
10/23/09
Norfolk Southern's multi-state Crescent Corridor intermodal initiative includes Virginia. NS is asking states, including Virginia, and the federal government to contribute to the project's cost. In return, NS is promising to remove hundreds of thousands of trucks annually from the highways in participating states. The Crescent Corridor program is good, as far as it goes, and will make some much-needed railroad infrastructure improvements. But, even if truck diversion occurs as projected, the public may not secure benefits worth the investment being sought by NS. Senator Warner's office asked RAIL Solution to comment on the benefit vs. cost question, and this paper was prepared pursuant to that request. In it we show why our Steel Interstate pilot project for the I-81 Corridor would be a more worthwhile public/private partnership, and make a meaningful impact on I-81 truck volumes.
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RAIL Solution Featured Prominently in TRAINS!
10/03/09
In a cover article in the November, 2009 issue of TRAINS Magazine on the future of railroad electrification, RAIL Solution's Craig Thorpe lithograph of an electrified Steel Interstate caliber railroad in Virginia is featured on pp. 24 - 25. The painting was commissioned for RAIL Solution by Hal Cooper of Kirkland, Washington. The TRAINS article also mentions Phillip Longman's Washington Monthly article and research by Alan Drake, both of whom RAIL Solution has relied on in promulgating its vision for a National Steel Interstate System. See the TRAINS article here.
Action Needed to Support the I-81 Steel Interstate Pilot Project
6/19/09
We are mobilizing a broad campaign to urge Governor Tim Kaine to overrule his Secretary of Transportation. Secretary Pierce Homer is thwarting the will of the people of western and southwest Virginia and east Tennessee, where over 46 local governments and regional planning body resolutions calling for a Federal "Steel Interstate" rail pilot project along the I-81 corridor have been presented to members of Congress.
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Campaign for Steel Interstate Pilot Project Begun in I-81 Corridor
1/18/09
RAIL Solution has begun work to secure grassroots support for a steel interstate demonstration in the I-81 Corridor between Knoxville and Harrisburg. We are working to secure resolutions from local governments and MPOs, and endorsements from elected officials. The economic stimulus bill and the upcoming transportation act reauthorization represent an unparalleled opportunity to launch the steel interstate concept.
Rationale and Sample Resolutions and Endorsements
View Current Resolutions & Endorsements
The heavy consolidated truck flow density shown here between Knoxville, TN and Harrisburg, PA make this portion of the I-81 Corridor an ideal candidate for a pilot demonstration project for the National Steel Interstate System.
Click here for FHWA maps showing the heavy consolidated truck flow
New America Foundation Steel Interstate Article
1/15/09
Phil Longman, Senior Fellow and Research Director at New America Foundation has penned an article solidly supporting what he terms the "steel wheel interstate." In it Longman uses Virginia's I-81 Corridor as his poster child. The article appears in the January 15, 2009 issue of Washington Monthly magazine. This is the first time since RAIL Solution began promoting the steel interstate concept in 2003 that an article in favor has appeared in a respected mainstream media outlet. To read the full story, click here.
New Steel Interstate Paper
1/5/09
Hoping to influence the economic stimulus debate and the transportation act reauthorization later this year, RAIL Solution has issued a new paper examining the many advantages of the steel interstate and its relation to so many hot-button issues of the day, such as energy independence, climate change, economic competitiveness, national defense, pollution and greenhouse gases, energy conservation, health and safety, infrastructure investment, and peak oil.
Craig Thorpe Lithograph
11/15/08
At RAIL Solution's Annual Meeting today in Roanoke, VA, Hal Cooper of Cooper Consulting Company, Kirkland, WA, presented to RAIL Solution an original lithograph by Craig Thorpe depicting a steel interstate rail corridor in western Virginia.
Tenn-DOT I-81 / I-40 Comments
11/03/08
RAIL Solution has submitted its official response to Tennessee Department of Transportation on the Task 4 Technical Memorandum entitled, “Project Priorities ? A Corriddor Plan”. The initial 30-day comment period expired on November 3, but has been extended an additional month, so other interested groups and individuals are encouraged to reply.
The acknowledged purpose of this planning effort has been to identify capacity deficiencies in the I-40/I-81 Corridor and to “develop corridor-level, multi-modal solutions to address those deficiencies.” RAIL Solution is both amazed and chagrined that the recommendations finally issuing from this long-term planning process embrace $4.24 billion of highway improvements and virtually nothing for rail. This is hardly a multi-modal approach!
Click here for the TN GHG emission slides