Title: Making the Most of MRSI
1Making the Most of MRSI
- 2006 Midwest Regional Shortline Railroad Annual
Conference - July 17, 2006
2Our perspective Anacostia has five short line
railroad affiliates operating in six states
- Chicago S. Shore
- Louisville Indiana
- New York Atlantic
- Northern Lines Ry
- Pacific Harbor Line
3Anacostia Railroads2005 Aggregate Operational
Metrics
- Route miles 530
- Carload equivalents 700,000
- Average crew starts each day 50
- Employees 320
- Locomotives 60
4Chicago South Shore South Bend Railroad (CSS)
5CSS
6Louisville Indiana Railroad (LIRC)
7LIRC
8New York Atlantic Railway (NYA)
9NYA
10Northern Lines Railway, LLC (NLR)
11NLR
12Pacific Harbor Line, Inc. (PHL)
13PHL
14Anacostia 2006 Capital Projects
- Acquisition of 16 new EPA Tier 2 locomotives
22 million (PHL) - Acquisition of 100 new freight cars for coil
steel loading 8. 5 million (CSS) - Acquire locomotive speed control devices 400k
(NYA) - Track upgrade programs 8 million plus (various)
15Use of public assistance programs
- PHL tier 2 locomotives cost sharing with
POLA,POLB, AQMD - NYA track upgrades one time grant from Port
Authority of NYNJ to improve state-owned track - LIRC track periodic 200k grants from INDOT
16Effective State Rail Assistance Programs?
- Anacostia affiliates operate in 5 states
- California no program
- Illinois rail freight loan program funded by
repayment-program underfunded in recent years - Indiana small grant program-1.2 million per
year - Minnesota MRSI
- New York Class based using state dedicated
funds. Shortlines received 15M in fiscal 05-06
17No Funding for Rail Assistance Programs
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Missouri
- Nevada
- South Carolina
- Wyoming
Draft Report of State Rail Agencies Throughout
the United States - October 2005 Virginia Dept.
of Rail and Public Transportation
18Neighboring State Programs
- North Dakota
- State Freight Rail Improvement Program
- Low Interest Loans approximately 6M available
to Class II and others in revolving loan account
- South Dakota
- Rehabilitation
- any projects that are proposed must be paid for
by the railroad company operating on the line.
The state does not have funding itself to
participate in costs of rehabilitation - SDDOT website
- Industrial Track Expansion
- State of South Dakota has participated in
helping some elevators with track expansion
through small loans from the Railroad Trust
Fund. - SDDOT website
19Other State Program Highlights
- Michigan
- Michigan Rail Loan Assistance Program (MiRLAP)
- Non-interest bearing loans with repayment up to
10 years. - Revolving fund with anticipated 1.8M available
for 2006. - Freight Preservation . Economic Development
- Grants / loans for business development or
expansion and preservation of State owned rail
(700 miles) - 3M in 2006
20Connect Oregon
- New program in Oregon replacing the Shortline
Infrastructure Program (2M biennial) and
Industrial Rail Spur Fund (8M one time) designed
to connect industry to rail - First major funding initiative targeted at
multi-modal or non-highway transportation - 100M available to non-highway transportation
only - air, rail, marine or transit - Grant / loan program grant recipients must
provide at least 20 matching funds, loan
repayments treated on a case-by-case basis - Funded by Lottery backed bonds
21Connect Oregon cont.
- State divided into 5 regions geographic
grouping of counties - 15 of funds must be allocated to each of the
regions - 75 of funds will be distributed regionally
- Projects eligible for highway funds are not
eligible for Connect Oregon
- Eligibility
- Reduces transportation costs
- Benefits or connects two or more modes
- Critical link to statewide or regional system
- How much cost can be born by applicant
- Whether it creates permanent jobs
- Ready for construction
22Connect Oregon cont.
- Project Awards for Connect Oregon will be
announced Wednesday July 19th here is a
preview - Central Oregon Pacific - new yard, Coos Bay
Drawbridge repair, Portland Western - new yard
and Hillsboro Subdivision 286 upgrade, Willamette
Valley - 286 upgrade, Port of Portland - Ramsey
Yard upgrade, City of Prineville Railroad -
reload center, Union Pacific - Hinkle Yard
upgrade, Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad -
upgrade 20 miles - Total of 39.2M directly allocated to rail, with
additional money for marine/rail projects - Partial source TEA-LU!!!
23Range of program fund uses
- Acquisition
- Basic maintenance
- Catastrophic response (eg flood)
- Upgrade (eg 286, track class change)
- New customer links
- Safety, environmental, community mitigation
- Capacity enhancement
- Customer relocation
24Public benefits of rail investment
- Job creation/retention
- Economic development
- Passenger corridor preservation
- Reduction of truck congestion
- Reduction of transportation costs
- Avoidance of other public transportation
expenditures - Safety, environmental, community impact
mitigation
25Ranking criteria
- Cost per job created/saved
- Private funds match
- Local government unit funds match
- Loan vs. grant
- Terms of loan
- In MPO plan or regional growth corridor
- Ownership of recipient
26Key issues
- Transparency
- Multi-year planning
- Tie to future land use
- Future capacity vs. ad hoc response
- Need vs. value
27Observations
- Assistance programs strongly tilt toward public
applicants - Objectives of programs vary substantially (e.g.
prop up failing rr attract new customers air
quality/passenger benefits support 286 cars,
etc) - Mid to long term capacity, congestion land use
and industrial development issues largely
unaddressed
28What can we do to Make the Most of the Minnesota
Rail Service Improvement Program?