Top50 Passenger Rail Projects for 2007 JUNE 2007 METRO MAGAZINE 21
FUNDINGGLITCHE$ Impact Top Rail Projects While some agencies are hitting funding snags, Dallas Area Rapid Transit continues to move along with more than $3 billion worth of projects in development and an 18.6 million annual rail-only ridership. Photo courtesy DART The greatest city in the world is still the top dog for this year s Top Rail Projects survey, with MTA New York City totaling $7.54 billion in project costs. The agency also recently broke ground on its Second Avenue Subway project the city s first new subway line to be built in more than 70 years which will connect the east side of Manhattan. While New Jersey Transit (No. 3) jumped up 25 slots from 2006, there was little movement up top overall, with Santa Clara Valley Transportation (No. 2) in San Jose, Calif., Seattle s Sound Transit (No.4) and the Regional Transportation District (RTD) (No. 5) in Denver rounding out the top five. However, last year s No. 4, N.C.-based Charlotte Area With a decline in projects comes a $1 billion decline in 2007 s overall project purse for a total of $59 billion. MTA New York City Transit holds on to the top spot, while Canada s Greater Vancouver Transportation and Virginia s Hampton Roads Transit make their debuts. By Alex Roman, Associate Editor Transit System (CATS), tumbled 22 slots to No. 26 this year. This year s $59 billion total project purse is a $1 billion decrease compared to both 2005 and 2006, with a couple of notable projects hitting some major roadblocks. Not exactly 50 While this survey is usually known as the Top 50 Rail Projects, completion of some projects and the cancellations of others played a large part in the inability to reach the magic number. One of the most notable project cancellations occurred in Ottawa, Ontario, where OC Transpo, which was listed at No. 24 last year, had its $653 million light rail project terminated by the City Council last December. The council cited the project s inability to meet the necessary federal funding and property acquisition conditions that were set in the project agreement. The agreement was conditional on matching contributions by both the federal and provincial governments. Another noticeable omission is N.C.- based Triangle Transit s (No. 18 in 2006) $809 million project, which was in final design but was ultimately not constructed because of its continued on pg. 25 22 METRO MAGAZINE JUNE 2007 metro-magazine.com
Top 50 Passenger Rail Projects for 2007 Total Railcars (Current) # New cars on order Cost of Projects in Millions Light Railcars Heavy Railcars Rail Riders Now (in Millions) Other Railcars Rank Agency City State Locomotives Railcars Rank 06 1 MTA New York City Transit New York NY $7,540 602 6,647 6,258 0 0 72 389 1,500 1 2 Santa Clara Valley Transportation San Jose CA $5,500 0 100 0 100 0 0 0 8.3 2 3 New Jersey Transit Newark NJ $4,500 223 946 0 93 853 164 0 69 28 4 Sound Transit Seattle WA $4,300 30 63 0 5 58 11 0 1.7 3 5 Regional Transportation District Denver CO $4,100 34 83 0 83 0 0 0 12.5 5 6 San Francisco Municipal Railway San Francisco CA $3,970 0 317 0 124 0 0 193 53 10 7 Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas TX $3,000 115 115 0 115 0 0 0 18.6 6 8 The Greater Vancouver Transportation Vancouver BC $2,700 34 248 0 210 38 6 0 77 ~ -TransLink 9 Connecticut Department of Newington CT $2,200 300 280 0 0 280 24 0 34.5 8 Transportation 10 MTA Metro-North Railroad New York NY $1,975 300 1,326 0 0 1125 58 201 74.5 11 11 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Los Angeles CA $1,538 50 225 104 121 0 0 0 63.7 13 Transportation 12 San Diego Trolley San Diego CA $1,449 0 175 0 134 29 0 12 35 26 13 Valley Metro Rail Phoenix AZ $1,400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A 14 14 Metro Transit Minneapolis/ St.Paul MN $1,220 0 27 0 27 0 0 0 9.4 36 15 Utah Transit Salt Lake City UT $1,200 8 66 0 54 12 11 0 14.8 19 16 Port Trans-Hudson Corp. Jersey City NJ $1,000 340 373 327 0 0 0 46 67 8 17 MTA Long Island Rail Road Jamaica NY $911 N/A 1,178 0 0 1,044 46 134 82 7 18 Caltrain San Carlos CA $867 0 110 0 0 110 29 0 10.1 17 19 Chicago Transit Chicago IL $821 406 1,210 1,190 0 0 4 20 195 16 20 Southeastern Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA $808 104 877 343 185 349 8 0 145 12 Transportation 21 Societe de Transport de Montreal Montreal PQ $725* 0 759 0 759 0 0 0 219* 19 22 TriMet Portland OR $600 24 109 0 105 0 0 4 33.6 23 23 Edmonton Transit Edmonton AB $536 26 37 0 37 0 0 0 14.5 25 24 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Boston MA $519* 40 1,018 408 199 410 83 0 215* 27 *Denotes 2006 numbers JUNE 2007 METRO MAGAZINE 23
Top 50 Passenger Rail Projects for 2007 Total Railcars (Current) # New cars on order Cost of Projects in Millions Light Railcars Heavy Railcars Rail Riders Now (in Millions) Other Railcars Rank Agency City State Locomotives Railcars Rank 06 25 North County Transit District Oceanside CA $484 0 40 0 12 28 9 0 1.5 31 26 Charlotte Area Transit System Charlotte NC $463 0 20 0 20 0 0 4 0.2 4 27 Calgary Transit Calgary AB $460 0 125 0 125 0 0 0 39.5 33 28 Port of Allegheny County Pittsburgh PA $435 0 83 0 83 0 0 0 7.4 30 29 Amtrak Washington DC $429 0 2,135 1,542 0 0 478 593 24.3 21 30 Southern California Regional Rail Los Angeles CA $425 107 155 0 0 155 39 0 11.5 32 31 Metropolitan Transit Houston TX $413 0 18 0 18 0 0 0 11.3 15 32 Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Atlanta GA $403 0 338 338 0 0 0 0 70 34 33 Miami-Dade Transit Miami FL $352 0 136 136 0 0 0 0 17 35 34 Hampton Roads Transit Hampton VA $232 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.1 ~ 35 Sacramento Regional Transit District Sacramento CA $231 0 76 0 76 0 0 0 14.6 38 36 Mid-Region Council of Governments/ Albuquerque NM $200 12 10 0 0 10 5 0 N/A 37 New Mexico Department of Transportation 37 Northern Indiana Chesterton IN $140 14 68 0 0 68 1 0 42 39 Transportation District 38 Alaska Railroad Corp. Anchorage AK $100 3 51 47 0 0 56 4 0.5 40 39 Capital Metropolitan Transportation Austin TX $90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A 43 40 Virginia Railway Express Alexandria VA $87 0 78 0 0 78 19 0 3.8 42 41 Trinity Railway Express Dallas/Fort Worth TX $70 4 30 0 0 17 6 13 2.4 41 42 Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Cleveland OH $69 0 113 60 48 0 1 5 8.4 47 43 Niagara Frontier Transportation Buffalo NY $40 0 27 0 27 0 0 0 5.9 45 44 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Washington DC $29 128 964 964 0 0 0 0 205 46 45 Regional Transit New Orleans LA $29 30 66 0 0 66 0 0 N/A ~ 46 Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Tampa FL $4 0 10 0 0 0 0 10 0.425 49 47 Bay Area Rapid Transit District Oakland CA $2 0 78 78 0 0 12 0 1.3 50 24 METRO MAGAZINE JUNE 2007 metro-magazine.com
Total Project Costs (2003-2007 in billions) 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 $58 2003 $65 2004 $60 $60 $59 2005 2006 2007 There is movement although slight in this year s project costs with a decrease of $1 billion compared with both 2005 and 2006. now well-publicized inability to secure full funding. Additionally, St. Louis-based Metro and Pompano Beach, Fla. s South Florida Regional Transportation completed the projects they had listed last year. Sustainable steps With many agencies taking various sustainability steps to help lessen environmental impact, going green is a hot topic in this year s survey. Denver s RTD has put in place a highly successful recycling program at its administration buildings, as well as a recycling program at all of its stations. In addition, the agency is also beginning work with its local energy provider on an audit to determine areas where energy can be conserved. To mitigate its capital projects environmental footprint, North Carolina s CATS has begun using solar lighting and rain gardens in its park-and-ride lots, and plans to use LEED Certification for the building of all future facilities. Additionally, aside from its Corona rail maintenance shop and car wash facility that was recently launched in Queens, N.Y. ( Setting a Green Standard for Rail Facilities, May 2007, Pg. 38), MTA New York City Transit has recycled up to 85% of demolition waste on certain projects and began a research project to analyze the potential use of green building materials. Also, following a successful program that saw the agency sink 1,200 retired Red Bird subway cars in offshore waters to form artificial reefs in Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Delaware and New Jersey, the agency is considering the possible sinking of an additional 2,600 cars over the next 10 years. Projects at a glance There are a couple of new projects making it to this year s list, including Virginia s Hampton Roads Transit (No. 34) and Vancouver, B.C. s Greater Vancouver Transportation (TransLink) (No. 8). Hampton s $231.5 million project includes the proposed 7.4-mile extension of Norfolk Light Rail Transit from the Eastern Virginia Medical Center through downtown Norfolk. Eleven station stops will be constructed as part of the project, with the system using a combination of an existing railroad corridor and city streets. Vancouver has a $2.7 billion project in the works, including the 12-mile, 16-station Canada Line light rail system, which is slated to open prior to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The agency is also in the design stage of its 6.3-mile Evergreen Line light rail system that is expected to open parallel with the Canada Line. Other projects of note include Austin, Texas-based Capital Metro s (No. 39) $90 million, 32-mile urban commuter rail project that will stretch from Leander to downtown Austin. The project includes nine stations with parking and circulator bus service that will work in unison with the light rail system. According to Capital Metro officials, the $3 million-per-mile system is one of the most cost-effective commuter rail projects in the country and is being funding by existing sales tax revenues and fares. Meanwhile in Oceanside, Calif., the North County Transit District s (No. 25) Sprinter light rail system is about 80% complete and moving on schedule to begin full operations by December of this year. If you know an agency with plans for the future, but was omitted from this year s survey, please let us know so that we can include it next year. Also, Top 10 Largest Rail Fleets MTA New York City Transit 6,647 Amtrak 2,135 MTA Metro-North Railroad 1,326 Chicago Transit 1,210 MTA Long Island Railroad 1,178 Massachusetts Bay Transportation 1,018 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 950 New Jersey Transit 946 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation 877 Societe de Transporte de Montreal 759 The 10 largest fleets in the listing comprise 82% of the total with 17,046 railcars, the same percentage as last year s survey. special thanks to all of the agencies for taking the time to fill out our surveys and continuing to participate in this annual feature. Railcar Fleet Mix 23% Light 13% Other 8% Heavy 56% Heavy railcars make up the lion s share of the fleet mix with 11,795 a 7% decrease compared to 2006. The total fleet mix also decreased by about 3% compared to last year s numbers. JUNE 2007 METRO MAGAZINE 25