Badger Rails

Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers (WisARP)

September-October, 2012

Volume 30, Issue 5

WisDOT to Seek Waiver for Milwaukee Concourse

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is preparing to petition the Federal Railroad Administration for a waiver from tough new platform height standards related to the redesign of the Milwaukee Intermodal Station concourse (trainshed and platforms). Those new standards are linked to the FRAs implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sept. 5 that the waiver would permit the State to proceed with its planned reconstruction of the concourse. DOT sources confirmed to WisARP Sept. 5 that a consultant is in the process of preparing the filing. As for the prospect of a waiver being approved, an FRA spokesman told the Journal Sentinel, "The Americans with Disabilities Act is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. FRA cannot grant waivers to rules that would result in the denial of anyone's civil rights." WisDOT expects to know by March, 2013 whether the waiver will be approved. The Journal Sentinel mused that the request was timed to extend into a new presidential term. It is thought that a Republican president might be more likely to approve a waiver request coming from a Republican governors administration (although it was a Republican president, George H.W. Bush, who championed the ADA). If the waiver request is denied, the State will need to submit a new ADA-compliant design, which will be a challenge given the clearance variations of both passenger and freight cars that move through the station. A redesign could add millions to the total cost.

Summer Delays Show Need for Second Twin Cities Train

The summer of 2012 has proven to be one of the most challenging in recent memory for the Empire Builder and its passengers. We have been reporting the regular delays that have beset the train, and Amtrak acknowledged those problems by refusing to ticket guaranteed, same-day connections from the Builder to most trains in Chicago and to the Coast Starlight in Portland. Those restrictions were in place for the month of August. The most current end-point on time performance report available from Amtrak for the train is from June, and that shows just a 53% on time performance. Amtrak, however, has been updating the OTP number on its web page for the train, and July performance was an abysmal 13.2 percent. The three most common causes for delays in July (making up 57% of total delays) were track and signal problems (28.3% of the total), train interference (21.9 %) and passenger delays (18.3%). Continued on Page 2

Empire Builder from page 1

As if the delays havent been bad enough, travelers across Montana and North Dakota have encountered a seat shortage due to the influx of Bakken oil field workers and their families. We are hearing from our constituents that Amtrak passenger capacity for Montanans, tourists and other passengers trying to travel through eastern Montana and western North Dakota can be extremely limited. The swell of demand for travel into and out of the Bakken region must be addressed, wrote U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, both of Montana, in a July 27 letter to Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman. Reliable long-distance passenger rail service is vitally important for our constituents, especially as many residents commute from central or western Montana to jobs in the Bakken. The Empire Builder route is an essential part of spurring economic development in northern Montana communities, many of which face great distances to reach the nearest airport. Baucus and Tester noted the Empire Builder contributes an estimated $14 million annually to communities along the Hi-Line and is experiencing a dramatic rise in ridership related to Bakken energy development. They also urged Amtrak to expand passenger capacity to better accommodate veterans in remote rural areas who must travel long distances to access services at Veterans Affairs facilities. Meanwhile, a $100 million project to raise approximately 15 miles of track on the trains exGreat Northern route between Minot and Grand Forks, N.D., is being expedited. President Obama said Aug. 20 that the project, awarded $10 million in federal funds last November, would be expedited with construction starting next summer. This segment of track has been extremely prone to flood delays in the Devils Lake area. Hopefully the summer of canceled trains, freight derailments, high water, mudslides, and heatinduced track slow orders is just a bad memory now. A study continues to look into the feasibility
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of adding a second Amtrak train on the ChicagoMilwaukee-St. Paul segment. According to WisDOT, as of Sept. 5 Amtrak was still assembling cost figures for the various scenarios. The study is still on track to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.

Fall Meeting in La Crosse Oct. 27

WisARPs fall membership meeting will take place Saturday, October 27, 2012 in La Crosse at the Radisson Hotel, 200 South 2nd Street (200 Harborview Plaza). Focus of the meeting will be on the need for a second Twin Cities train. Look for a special meeting notice with more details that will be in your mailbox or inbox soon. Plan to join us!

Badger Rails is published 6 times per year by the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers, a notfor-profit Wisconsin membership association. WisARP President is John Parkyn, Stoddard, WI, (608)788-7004, email: jdp@dairynet.com Badger Rails Editor is Jim Sponholz. Please send comments or news items to: badgerrails@gmail.com Please send membership questions and address changes to: Mark Weitenbeck, 3385 S. 119th Street, West Allis, WI 53227 email: weitenbeck@sbcglobal.net Important Links: WisARP on the Web: www.wisarp.org National Association of Railroad Passengers: www.narprail.org Midwest High Speed Rail Association: http://www.midwesthsr.org/ ProRail RailMatters Twitter Site: https://twitter.com/railmatters AllAboardWisconsin Twitter Site: https://twitter.com/allaboardwis

Ins and Outs of Amtraks New eTicketing Policies

Reprinted from the September, 2012 NARP News ETicketing offers substantial benefits both for best to tell Amtrak your change-of-plans in traveler convenience and to help Amtrak reduce advance. costs. But it does introduce new issues and Q: What if I find that my reservation has been questions. What follows is a breakdown of those canceled against my wishes, for whatever policies from the National Association of Railroad reason? Passengers. A: Talk with an Amtrak agent, who will restore the reservation. Q: What if I make a multi-train trip on one reservation and I skip one of the segments? Q: Can I avoid the cancellation problem by Suppose Im ticketed from Eugene to Chicago and a booking consecutive segments as separate friend offers me a ride to Portland with the result reservations? that I dont ride the Cascades? A: Yes, but Amtrak discourages booking A: Amtrak always recommends that you contact consecutive segments as separate reservations. them right away if your plans change. In general, if This may result in a higher fare than if the itinerary you fail to show on one reserved segment of your had been booked as one reservation. Also, this trip, that and all subsequent segments on that places responsibility for managing connecting reservation will be canceled unless you contact itineraries in the customers hands rather than Amtrak in advance. In this case, Amtrak can easily Amtraks. Customers may not leave enough time to adjust the reservation to make sure your space is make their connection. Also, if there is a schedule protected if you choose not to (or are unable to) change or a late arriving train, Amtrak will not make a train in your itinerary. know about the connecting segment and the There are more ways to contact Amtrak. You can customer will have to make sure their connection still speak with an Amtrak agent. But now you can can still be met, or move the connection themselves. make changes on Amtrak.com, the Amtrak Mobile Q: What if I change a subsequent segment after Application or at a Quik-Trak kioskeven after printing my eTicket, and I do not have a your trip has started. smartphone, access to a QuikTrak machine, or time to see an Amtrak ticket agent? Q: Will my reservation be canceled if Im on the A: There is no need to print out a new eTicket if train but the crew fails to collect my ticket? A: If your ticket is not scanned, it is best to you are boarding at a station without gate control. When the reservation is changed in the Amtrak search out the conductor to have that done. However, Amtrak will not let a conductor push the reservation system, the modified itinerary is sent to sweep button (indicating ticket collection from a the conductors iPhone and the conductor will be particular point is completed) if: aware of the change. (a) an unusually small number of tickets are At stations with gate control (Washington Union collected, and/or Station, New York Penn, Chicago, Philadelphia, (b) only one conductor is logged in, indicating that etc.), you will need to print out a new eTicket or be there is only one conductor working the train and able to display the revised eTicket on your Smart there is a higher probability of tickets not being Phone. This lets the gate usher confirm that you are collected. boarding the correct train. The gate areas at these In these situations, incidentally, the system may stations can be very congested and it is easy for a infer that you traveled when you did not. If you customer to board the wrong train. Amtrak gate learn that to be the case, tell Amtrak so they will ushers provide some protection against this. adjust your record appropriately. But, again, it is Continued on Page 4

E-Tickets from page 3

Q: What if I board a train before the station shown in my reservation? A: It is always best to tell Amtrak in advance about any itinerary changes. In this case, there may not be seats and the fare may change. See in the answer to the first question the many ways that you now can change your itinerary, including after you begin your trip. Q: Are cancellation fees and baggage policies changing as well? A: Yes, a summary of all the changes is contained in the September, 2012 NARP News, available online to NARP members at: http://www.narprail.org/ Briefly, passengers can now check up to 4 bags, the first two free and the third and fourth costing $20 each. Carry-on baggage policies are unchanged. Related to the e-Ticketing policies (above), if a passenger no-shows on a segment of a trip (say a coach ride to a sleeper connection), the entire amount of the fare will be forfeited and there will be no refund. This is part of Amtraks policy to crack down on sleeping car no-shows. When cancelling a sleeping car reservation, if done 15 days or less before departure (up from seven days), the fare can only be converted to a non-refundable eVoucher good for one year toward future travel. If done earlier, you can choose a cash refund less a 10% fee. If not cancelled before scheduled departure (no-show), the full amount paid is forfeited. For unreserved coach seating (such as on the Hiawatha), there is now a 10 percent service fee on refunds for unused tickets. More information on e-Ticketing is available at:
http://www.amtrak.com/eticketing-your-ride-is-just-a-barcode-away

Exterior of an Oregon Custom Class Talgo car featuring leather 2 and 1 seating. Milwaukee, Sept. 6, 2012
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All 4 Talgo Trainsets to be Tested at Pueblo Track

As of September 6, the four sets of equipment that Talgo assembled for the States of Oregon and Wisconsin at the Century City assembly plant in Milwaukee were being prepared for movement to the Transportation Technology Centers 48-mile test track at Pueblo, CO. Movement will take place over the Wisconsin & Southern and BNSF railroads sometime in mid to late September. Each set will be moved separately. Once at Pueblo, the new Series 8 trainsets will be put through a battery of tests. The first set to arrive, dubbed "Oregon 2," will undergo "type testing," required to validate the actual design of the brand new Series 8 technology. Oregon 1 will follow, as will both Wisconsin trainsets, and they will individually go through "series testing" as individual members of the Series 8 class. All testing is expected to be completed by January, 2013. The 13-car Oregon sets differ from the 14-car Wisconsin sets in that they include a diner with tables, located next to the Bistro car; two Custom Class cars with 2-and-1 leather seating; and a full baggage car (Wisconsins car includes seating as well as space for bicycles). When Oregon takes possession of the cars, which was supposed to take place earlier this summer, the equipment will enter service on the Cascades run. The future of the Wisconsin cars following testing is unknown at this time. The assembly plant has enough room to store both 14-car sets indoors indefinitely, or the equipment could be sold to another state and moved directly from Pueblo. Talgo employment at the plant has dropped, from a high of about 125, to only 4 or 5 workers now. Those remaining jobs will disappear after testing is completed.

Serving area of the Bistro car on an Oregon Talgo trainset.

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Milwaukee, Sept. 6, 2012

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September-October, 2012