Commuter Rail

AAI Corp. of Hunt Valley began work this week on a $71 million contract to overhaul commuter rail cars for the state of New Jersey, a major award for the company that will bring in 145 new jobs.AAI beat Amtrak and Bombardier Inc. of Canada in the competition, serving notice that AAI intends to be a player in rail car overhaul."This is a very, very large win for us," said Jack Bell, the company's senior vice president for transportation systems. "There's no question this is a major steppingstone to our stated objective of being the leader in the U.S. for the overhaul of rail passenger cars."

Cutting shop classes a reason for shortage in skilled labor forceYour article "Workers opt for a trade" (June 29) comes about 30 years too late. I knew in the 1960s that we were heading for a shortage of skilled workers.I taught machine shop in the Baltimore City schools from the 1960s into the 1980s, eighth to 12th grades and some adult classes.In the 1960s, the administration decided that students should be prepared to enter college.First, it did away with most of the industrial arts classes in the junior high schools.

Behind CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.'s $11 billion deal to acquire Conrail, the driving force has always been more freight. But as the railroads rush to boost their lucrative business, will they also be able to juggle the needs of rail commuters?It is a question that has loomed for months, with CSX and Maryland locked in contract-renewal negotiations over the state's commuter rail service, MARC. "The merger in and of itself does not have to mean that commuter rail is at a disadvantage," said David Chapin, Maryland's assistant deputy transportation secretary.

Rich and famous set sad example for illegitimacySandy Banisky's absorbing June 23 account of the startling teen pregnancy rate in a small Indiana town may be viewed as a reflection of society's changing attitude over the years regarding unwed mothers.As pre-adoptive foster parents for 18 years, we were involved witnesses to this change from stigmatization to general acceptance. When we first entered the field, infants of adolescent mothers languished in maternity wards because of the shame attached to bringing them back into the community.

When hearings begin today on last February's train crash near Silver Spring, federal investigators will not only focus on the cause of the accident that claimed 11 lives.They also want to know why some passengers could not escape the burning cars, and why U.S. transportation officials have been slow to adopt new safety standards for commuter trains."We will be asking probing questions about commuter rail safety issues that affect Washington-area commuters and millions of other Americans who use the rails to get to work and back home every day," said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

As federal investigators continue their probe into what caused a deadly commuter rail crash in Silver Spring two weeks ago, a U.S. Senate panel is to hold a hearing today in Washington on the safety of the nation's railroads.The hearing in Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building at 2:30 p.m. will bring together officials from federal oversight agencies as well as union and industry representatives."Since the beginning of 1996, there have been seven serious accidents involving our nation's freight and/or passenger railroads," said Sen. Larry Pressler, a South Dakota Republican, who will preside at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

WASHINGTON -- After protests from commuter rail operators, federal regulators have relaxed rules for train operations that were announced in the wake of last month's Amtrak-MARC collision in Silver Spring.Four days after the crash that killed 11 people, U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico F. Pena issued emergency regulations. The rules required, he said, that engineers limit speed to 30 mph after a station stop until the next signal and be prepared to stop at that signal.The Feb. 16 collision occurred as the MARC train, traveling 63 mph after leaving the Kensington station, failed to stop at the next signal and hit an Amtrak train that was beginning to shift to another track.

WASHINGTON - In the wake of the Silver Spring train crash that killed 11 people, the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that Maryland's MARC commuter cars "pose an unacceptable risk to the public" and urged immediate changes to make escape easier in an emergency.The safety agency also asked federal regulators to determine if the same "unsafe conditions" exist on other commuter rail lines across the country and to order corrective action immediately. John A. Agro Jr., who heads the Mass Transit Administration, welcomed the safety board's recommendations, saying they "are really confirmation of actions that we outlined" Feb. 21.At that time, MTA said it would make two of the three modifications recommended yesterday by the board at a cost of $6.5 million on its 110 rail cars.

WASHINGTON -- Driving was a breeze. Parking was plentiful. Sidewalks were semi-deserted a half-dozen blocks from the Million Man March site. Thousands of Washington workers, heeding warnings to avoid traffic gridlock, took the day off or found another way to work. By some estimates, up to 40 percent of federal workers stayed home or attended the march.The surprising result was an uncommonly easy commute for those who drove to work. But those who came into the city by train or subway encountered congestion, delays and frustration.

The death of a 39-year-old woman who was struck by a train at a Laurel commuter rail station Tuesday has raised concerns over the safety of pedestrian walkways across railroad tracks in Maryland and elsewhere around the country.Workers posted signs at the Laurel Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) station Thursday afternoon urging pedestrians to be cautious. The signs, identical to ones used at light rail stations, read: "Look Both Ways Before Crossing," and "Danger! Cross Tracks Only at Crosswalks."

The deaths of nine people in the crash involving two Washington Metro subway trains Monday evening was, as more than one person on the scene described it, a horror. It seems all the more so because such an event is so uncommon on commuter rail systems, particularly compared to the automobile-related carnage that takes place on our nation's highways each day. While it will take some time for investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the exact cause of this tragedy, myriad troubling questions have already arisen.

Make maglev part of rail expansion Ted Venetoulis is, pardon the pun, right on track with his suggestion that the corridor from Washington to Boston should be linked by a maglev system ("Maglev opportunity," Commentary, March 20). In fact, our entire national rail network needs to be upgraded and expanded, along with all commuter rail networks and local mass transit (subway and light rail) systems. This is critical to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and, more important, bringing an end to global warming.

As gasoline prices climb toward $4 a gallon, more commuters in Maryland are leaving their cars and trucks at home and hopping a bus or train to work. The Maryland Transit Administration will seek approval next week to expand service on its long-distance bus lines to accommodate a surge of new riders. The so-called "commuter" buses ferry workers to Washington from places as far-flung as Hagerstown, Kent Island and Ellicott City. The action comes at a time when ridership on almost all forms of transit - including subway, city bus and commuter rail - is up in Maryland and across the nation.

Beginning today, all rush-hour riders at the MARC commuter rail station in Dorsey will have to walk through a 20-foot-long box to be scanned for explosives, part of a test of a mobile screening device that eventually could be deployed nationwide. Harried commuters will have to remove their coats, but not their shoes, during the pilot program that will run through April 28. The federal Transportation Security Administration, wary of promising there won't be lines, is urging commuters who take morning trains to arrive at the station 10 minutes earlier than they normally would.

Maryland and other northeastern states could face "significant" new costs for the use of Amtrak's tracks by MARC and other commuter rail lines, according to state Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan. The likely increases are a result of a provision written into last year's federal transportation appropriations bill that seeks to shift some of the financial burden of renovating Amtrak infrastructure from the federal government to the states. Flanagan, who was in Washington yesterday to discuss the issue, said the exact formula for the payments is being negotiated.

Maryland commuter rail chief Phillip D. Bissett quit his state post yesterday after learning that his campaign for Anne Arundel County executive violated a federal law restricting political activities by government employees who handle federal funds. Bissett, 48, a former delegate who narrowly lost the 2002 county executive race, announced at an Annapolis news conference that he would continue running for county executive. He said he was quitting his state job because of a May 3 opinion from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

LAST WEEK'S tragic rail crash in Southern California raises some troubling safety questions, and operators of commuter rail systems ought to take notice. That includes Maryland's own state-managed MARC commuter rail operation. The California crash, which killed 11 people and injured 180 others, was caused by one distraught motorist who left his SUV parked on the track. Collisions between trains and cars don't usually have such catastrophic effects (at least not for the trains). But the Metrolink train that hit the SUV (and subsequently hit and derailed a second train)

Focusing development around rail and bus stops could help revitalize blighted neighborhoods in Baltimore while also easing the region's traffic congestion, said a report released yesterday. But state and local officials need to do more to overcome obstacles that have slowed such transit-oriented development, according to the report by the MaryPIRG Foundation. "These stations have tremendous potential for development, but it depends on coordination between state and city agencies," MaryPIRG's Chris Fick said during a news conference held at a MARC commuter stop in West Baltimore.

Sometimes it takes a little jolt to change old habits. For nearly a decade, Randall Keyser drove downtown to work every weekday from his home in Columbia, and back again in the evening. Then, about three weeks ago, as gasoline prices neared $2 a gallon, the 53-year-old associate professor decided he had had enough - enough of hassling with traffic, and enough of enriching the oil industry. These mornings, Keyser walks about 1 1/2 miles from his home to the Harper's Choice Village Center.

Track owners limit expansion of MARC trains G. Scott McNeal's column "MARC is off the mark" (Opinion * Commentary, Aug. 18) was a well-reasoned argument for expanding the MARC commuter rail service. Unfortunately, there are realities Mr. McNeal might be unaware of. Mr. McNeal uses New Jersey Transit's extensive commuter rail system as an example for MARC to emulate. But while MARC and N.J. Transit both offer commuter rail services, the comparison essentially ends there. In addition to owning its own rolling stock (locomotives and cars)