In the Midwest, Chicago has been a freight rail hub for around 150 years. In the old days, some lines brought raw materials to the city –- like cattle to the stockyards –- while others carried finished products to market. The city’s rails are still laid out that way: a couple of lines come in from the west and a couple of others from the east. Even though Chicago still handles about a third of the nation’s freight, a lot of it has to stop there -– wait there –- and shift from one railroad to another.

As a result, traffic on Chicago’s rails is even slower than traffic on its roads: A 2002 study found that freight trains pass through the city at an average of just nine miles an hour.

At the same time, the community of Barrington, IL, an outlying suburb in the Chicago area, has had freight re-routed to pass through the city. Residents are not too happy. Still, the shift in train traffic is likely to lessen the congestion of freight in the City of Chicago.

And while the City of Chicago, railroads, and federal authorities have developed a plan to ease freight train traffic, it won’t be complete for years. As a result, the freight carrier Canadian National did what it could and moved some of its trains away from the metropolitan area.

Correspondent Rick Karr reports.

The community of Barrington, IL, an outlying suburb in the Chicago area, has had freight re-routed to pass through the city. Residents are not too happy. Still, the shift in train traffic is likely to lessen the congestion of freight in the City of Chicago.

And while the City of Chicago, railroads, and federal authorities have developed a plan to ease freight train traffic, it won’t be complete for years. As a result, the freight carrier Canadian National did what it could and moved some of its trains away from the metopolitan area.

Correspondent Rick Karr reports.

Canadian National on the rails

The town where I grew up – Highland, IN – was criss-crossed by freight rail lines. A two-track right-of-way ran not more than a hundred yards from my house; the same lines ran past the high school. Another line bisects the downtown area. And one of Canadian National’s (CN) main lines cuts across the southern edge of town.

So I have a little experience with the issues Blueprint America covers in our most recent story for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. I know what it means to wait with the engine turned off while a freight train crawls by. I also know that certain communities are more likely than others to bear that burden.

Highland was pretty lucky: The neighboring town, Griffith, was the site of one of the busiest railroad junctions in the country. The downtown area of the nearby city of Hammond, where my father grew up, was frequently boxed in by trains waiting to clear a junction there. The joke was that if you’d lived in Hammond for 20 years, you’d spent a decade waiting for trains.

Hammond and Griffith, with all of their trains, were seen as less-desirable places to live; their per-capita incomes and property values were lower than Highland’s. People didn’t want to live near that many trains. So I can, in a sense, understand why people in Barrington, IL – home one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in Illinois – have been howling in protest ever since Canadian National decided to re-route a couple dozen trains a day from its mainline to a belt line that it purchased last year. As a University of Chicago study pointed out, the shift in train traffic is likely to impact wealthier communities while easing the burden on poorer towns – like Griffith, IN; South Holland, IL; and Chicago’s troubled South Side.

Canadian National has good reasons to make the change. As we reported in our last piece for the NewsHour, freight trains move through Chicago – one of the nation’s worst freight bottlenecks – at an average of nine miles an hour. And while the City of Chicago, railroads, and federal authorities have developed a plan to ease that congestion, it won’t be complete for years. So CN moved to do what it could now.

The railroad didn’t have many options. Notice that when I wrote about Highland, above, I wrote about some of the train lines in past tense. That’s because a lot about the railroads has changed in the Chicago area. The lines that ran past my house and Highland High School have been removed and turned into a rails-to-trails parkway. Dozens of other tracks have been abandoned. That’s part of a national trend: Track mileage in the U.S. peaked before the Great Depression, and has declined ever since. Railroads and communities have also invested in infrastructure to separate road and rail traffic – that’s what happened in downtown Hammond, for example. So fewer Americans today are waiting for freight trains to pass.

Of course, that’s on average. The re-routing will be tough on folks in Barrington – and the 32 other towns along the line that will see more trains. Some anti-CN activists are saying that the traffic problems are already worse than the railroad is telling federal regulators (CN says its reports to Washington are accurate). The towns want infrastructure to keep road and rail traffic out of one another’s ways – bridges over tracks, or underpasses beneath them.

Some municipalities – like Griffith, right next to my home town – negotiated settlements with CN, usually for less than 10 percent of the cost of new infrastructure (The rest will be paid by taxpayers). Two municipalities – Lynwood and Aurora, both in Illinois – got something better: Regulators at the Surface Transportation Board (STB) ordered CN to pay the bulk of the cost of new bridges or underpasses. As we report, CN has gone to court to overturn those orders, arguing that railroads traditionally pay no more than 10 percent of infrastructure costs because new “grade separations” primarily benefit highway users – so highway users (i.e. taxpayers) should bear the brunt of the cost.

Then there are municipalities like Barrington, which got neither a negotiated settlement nor a federal order. Members of the STB thought that was a raw deal: One thought the Board should have set a higher bar when considering CN’s request, while another urged the board to pay more attention to community concerns. Nonetheless, board members couldn’t find consensus – the board’s mandate, after all, is primarily to ensure that railroads remain competitive – and didn’t order CN to pay for more infrastructure.

Some members of Congress want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. House Transportation and Infrastructure committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) sponsored a bill last year to force the STB to pay closer attention to community needs (Rep. Pete Visclosky [D-IN], who represents my home town, was a co-sponsor). The bill failed in committee, but Oberstar’s staff says he’s likely to introduce it again this year – even though it’ll be too late to prevent a similar change in rail routing from affecting his own district.

PBS stations are producing radio and television segments, hosting discussions between policy makers and their communities, and offering further content online, all as a part of Blueprint America.

In partnership with Blueprint America, ten public television stations across the country concentrate on the state of their local infrastructure.

PBS stations are producing radio and television segments, hosting discussions between policy makers and their communities, and offering further content online, all as a part of Blueprint America. /wnet/blueprintamerica/files/2009/05/200×100blueprint_america.jpg ]]> http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/partner-stations/overview/578/feed/ 1 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/partner-stations/blueprint-nebraska/580/ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/reports/partner-stations/blueprint-nebraska/580/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 16:30:50 +0000 tom mcnamara http://www.pbs.org/wnet/blueprintamerica/?p=580 Nebraska Educational Television (NET) - The U.S. economy is suffering. Americans are losing jobs, homes and their health care coverage. To ease the economic crisis, millions of dollars will soon flow into Nebraska as part of the biggest budget package ever approved by the federal government. What does this mean to a state such as Nebraska that is already battling budget woes? And, who decides where the money goes?

As representatives from transportation, schools and local government line up for their share of the more than one billion dollars earmarked for the state, NET Television examines these questions in “Blueprint Nebraska.”

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is the largest effort of its kind in history. Available money will spread from Washington, D.C., throughout the nation to rebuild roads, fund education and increase interest in renewable energy. For the next several months, federal agencies will provide the money and guidelines on how the stimulus funds are to be spent. More than 50 state programs ranging from infrastructure projects to money for schools and Medicaid will receive a portion of the money.

In Nebraska, Gov. Dave Heineman is working closely with the state legislature to distribute funds with the hope of lessening the impact of the slow economy. On Capitol Hill, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has been instrumental in shaping the stimulus package through his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Heineman and Nelson join NET Television producer Perry Stoner in the NET studios to discuss their views of the stimulus package and how Nebraska might most effectively put the money to use. Comments and questions from Nebraska citizens and local government officials are included in the 30-minute program.

NET Radio also produced stories related to Nebraska’s share of the federal stimulus money. Coverage  includes reports on projects in Lincoln and Omaha to repair and upgrade storm and sewer water systems, as well as stories about how the federal money can be used to improve water quality in communities in greater Nebraska.

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Nebraska Public Radio: Stimulus includes millions for new roads (5/8/09)

The state of Nebraska is receiving $158 million in funding for state highway upgrades through the federal government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill. Funding for “ready-to-go” projects is being passed out on a monthly basis by the Governor’s office. As part of NET Radio’s “Blueprint Nebraska” series this week, reporter Jim Kent explains what the stimulus money will mean for several roads projects in the Nebraska Panhandle.
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Nebraska Public Radio: ARRA Funds Digging New Wells in Alliance (5/12/09)

Out of 1.3 billion dollars coming to Nebraska from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 471 million dollars will go toward infrastructure. In the Panhandle, the city of Alliance is receiving nearly 6 million dollars for new wells and transmission lines for its water system. It’s one of dozens of similar projects across the state that are necessary to meet EPA water quality requirements. Grant Gerlock speaks with Alliance City Manager, Pamela Caskie, on Morning Edition.
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Nebraska Public Radio: Energy funds pay for retro-fitting homes, buildings (5/12/09)

Nebraska’s stimulus money set aside for energy will pay for everything from improving the efficiency of old buildings, to testing out new ways of generating renewable energy. In the third installment of our “Blueprint Nebraska” series, Sarah McCammon reports on how those dollars will be spent.
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Nebraska Public Radio: Federal stimulus money funds urban Nebraska wastewater projects (5/14/09)

Lincoln and Omaha together are getting 25-million dollars in federal stimulus money for water and wastewater projects. As Clay Masters reports in this latest installment of “Blueprint Nebraska” Lincoln had projects ready-to-go while Omaha is using the money to help fix a problem.
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Nebraska Public Radio: Omaha’s sewer problems backing up in basements (5/15/09)

Omaha is getting some help from the federal stimulus package to complete repairs on its aging sewer system that are mandated under federal law. Even so, the stimulus funding won’t begin to cover the project’s total cost of over a billion dollars. But whatever the total cost comes to, some city residents can’t wait to get it started. As Robyn Wisch reports in our next installment of “Blueprint Nebraska”, some Omaha residents have been seeing remnants of that aging sewer system backing up in their basements for years.
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Nebraska Educational Television is a partner station of Blueprint America

/wnet/blueprintamerica/files/2009/05/200×100blueprint-cornhuskers.jpg Blueprint Nebraska on Nebraska Educational Television – as a part of Blueprint America – speaks to Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman and Sen. Ben Nelson discuss the federal stimulus package and how the state might use its share. Also, radio reports on the state of Nebraska’s infrastructure. ]]>

Regarding our recent piece on freight rail, a viewer commented:

“[Karr] neglected to mention that in Western Europe
most trains are electric, which accelerate more quickly, and don’t
use oil.”

The viewer is right about the basics — electrified trains are powerful, and depending on the source of electricity, can lead to less pollution.

Surprisingly, it was a U.S. railroad that proved the viability of electrified freight rail. Its story says a lot about the way we’ve approached big infrastructure projects over the years.

Late in the 19th Century, The Milwaukee Road found itself in an unenviable position: Five other railroads had already traversed the continent. The remaining available routes connecting the Plains to the West Coast across the Rockies were… less than ideal. The route that was most logical for the Milwaukee Road included a steep climb through the Rocky Mountains near Yellowstone Park, and its locomotives would have to operate in brutal winter cold – extremely difficult conditions for the steam locomotives of the day.

But the Milwaukee Road also found itself in a position to take advantage of new technology. Its five transcontinental competitors thought of trains as the old-fashioned way — the way in which engineers
had been thinking about them since the days of George and Robert Stephenson in Britain. In other words, trains had to haul their own power supply with them, carrying the coal (or wood or oil) that provided the energy, as well as a way to turn that energy into motion.

The alternative was to use the fuel to generate power in one location and transmit that power to the train, which would then only have to turn the power into motion. The Stephensons’ rival, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, tried to make that work, but his pneumatic system was a very inefficient forerunner to electricity and his line abandoned central power generation after just a year.

By the late 19th Century, electrical traction had advanced enough to make this all possible. So the Milwaukee Road dammed waterways near its tracks and installed hydroelectric turbines to generate electricity. It mined copper in the Rockies, and built overhead wires from that copper to carry power to its electric locomotives. What’s more, the railroad helped to pioneer a system in which trains generate energy as they apply their brakes while descending from the mountains –- power that could be pumped back into the overhead wires to help other trains climb the mountains.

All in all, it was a brilliant scheme. Despite its late start, the Milwaukee remained competitive. More importantly – at least from the perspective of this story – it inspired awe and attracted engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world who examined its design and engineering, then rushed home to implement its lessons on other lines.

What happened later wasn’t pretty. Competition from trucks and other railroads put pressure on the Milwaukee Road. In the late 60s, several of its competitors merged, which put even more pressure on
the line. By the early 70s, the railroad had deferred maintenance on the line to the point where it was difficult to compete at all. Finally, in 1973, its board of directors went against the advice of consultants and voted to replace the electric locomotives with diesel units. It also voted to pull down the overhead wires – an
attractive proposition, given that a copper shortage suggested that the line could sell the wires for $10 million as scrap.

It didn’t help. Oil prices soared, which made the diesel option much more expensive. Copper prices fell, which meant the Milwaukee Road generated only $5 million. By 1977, the railroad had filed for bankruptcy and abandoned its tracks from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast.

The Milwaukee Road proved that electrified freight railroads were practical and efficient – as long as management was willing to keep up maintenance on the generators and distribution wires. While European railroads adopted the technology, it’s not the path that other U.S. railroads chose. And even though some freight-rail advocates –- like our viewer and Washington Monthly journalist Phillip Longman –- think electrification would be a good idea today, industry officials disagree. First off, the investment would be huge –- hundreds of billions of dollars nationally. Second, one of the ways in which freight rail has maintained its profitability has been by stacking freight ever higher –- double-decker intermodal cars and triple-decker car carriers. Long story short, it’d be very difficult to build and maintain overhead wires that could accommodate today’s tall trains.

In the Midwest, Chicago has been a freight rail hub for around 150 years. In the old days, some lines brought raw materials to the city –- like cattle to the stockyards –- while others carried finished products to market. The city’s rails are still laid out that way — a couple of lines come in from the west and a couple of others from the east. Even though Chicago still handles about a third of the nation’s freight, a lot of it has to stop there –- wait there –- and shift from one railroad to another.

As a result, traffic on Chicago’s rails is even slower than traffic on its roads — A 2002 study found that freight trains pass through the city at an average of just nine miles an hour.

A sign advertising Pabst Blue Ribbon beer lights up the surrounding freight cars parked in Chicago’s South Water Street freight terminal. || United States Library of Congress – 1943

There is no agency in Washington, D.C. responsible for untangling, modernizing, or maintaining the nation’s freight rail system –- or for paying for those improvements. Federal support for improving freight has to come through the back door –- tacked on to other transportation projects.

The Obama Administration’s plan for the expansion of high-speed passenger rail in several key corridors – including Chicago and the Midwest – is likely to improve the speed of freight as both kinds of trains share the same tracks in much of the country.

Correspondent Rick Karr reports.

The Takeaway, on Public Radio, talks with Rick Karr, correspondent for Blueprint America, about his report on the nation’s ailing freight-rail system airing on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Rick Karr [pictured right]

– Apologies to Bob Dylan for the blog post headlines —

We focused on freight rail issues in Chicago in our story for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. But it isn’t the only place in the country where the network’s clogged and its infrastructure’s aging. Journalist Phillip Longman did a great overview of the benefits of — and problems with — freight rail earlier this year for Washington Monthly.

The plan to improve freight rail infrastructure in Chicago is called CREATE — for Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency. But, it isn’t the first freight rail improvement program in the nation to receive Federal aid — the pioneer was actually California’s Alameda Corridor which eased congestion around the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The corridor now has its own intergovernmental transportation authority.

There’s a new coalition in Washington called OneRail which is pushing for investment in both passenger and freight rail infrastructure. Members include trade groups for large and small railroads — and the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental lobby. Another green group — the Environmental Defense Fund — is also pushing for more freight rail investment, especially around New York City.

With regard to Chicago, planning group Chicago Metropolis 2020 has also done a lot of work on freight issues. So have some folks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.