Railway Track & Structures - March 2009 - (Page 16)

NRCChairman’s Column Rail infrastructure investment in stimulus legislation and upcoming NRC auction more details, contact the NRC office. • Freight and passenger rail projects are eligible to compete with highway, transit and port projects for the $1.5b discretionary grants program managed by the U.S. Department of Transportation for capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure that will have a “significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area or a region.” This is a new DOT program. • Freight and passenger rail projects are also eligible to compete with highway and port projects for the $27.5b in highway formula spending that will be managed by state DOTs and local MPOs. This new flexibility for states to spend “highway” money on rail projects is a significant victory. • Transit agencies (both rail and bus systems) will receive $8.4b in funding, including $750m specifically for the fixed guideway modernization program and $750m specifically for the New Starts program. • Amtrak will receive $850m for capital investment and $450m for security programs. Department of Homeland Security will separately administer a $150m fund for rail transit security. • The High Speed Rail and Intercity Passenger Rail programs get a massive combined infusion of $8b. Guidelines will be developed over the next few months and the DOT secretary and the FRA will be the key entities distributing the funding. Applicants can be a state, a group of states, an Interstate Compact, a public agency with responsibility for providing highspeed rail service or intercity passenger rail service or Amtrak. This line item was arguably the single most surprising and dramatic funding increase in the entire stimulus bill – the emerging story in D.C. is that high-speed rail development is a personal priority of President Obama and that his administration will continue to aggressively fund these programs. To keep up the lobbying momentum for railroads, the NRC teamed up with the ASLRRA, AAR, RSI, RTA, RSSI and REMSA to organize our annual Railroad Day on Capitol Hill on February 26. More than 400 railroaders, contractors and suppliers participated in more than 200 separate Congressional meetings, aggressively promoting tax credit programs to encourage freight rail infrastructure investment and arguing against increased economic regulation of private railroads. The next major NRC event is the Annual NRC Railroad Contracting Equipment Auction, April 9, in Arcola, Ill., at the J.E.R. Overhaul facility. Blackmon Auctions is the auctioneer. Equipment that will be available (that we know of so far) for purchase in the auction includes air compressors, ballast cribbers, ballast regulators, clip applicators and removers, cranes, hi-rail Gradalls, rail heaters, rail saws, a rotary scarifier, Pettibone speed swings, spike drivers and pullers, Mark II and III Tampers, tie handlers, tie removers/ inserters and a hi-rail truck. Anybody is welcome to attend the auction to bid on equipment. Also, all contractors, suppliers and railroads are invited to sell and/or donate their equipment. For equipment consigned to sell, one percent of the buyer’s premium and a two-percent seller’s fee go to fund the NRC Safety, Training and Education Program, and the seller keeps the rest. For donated equipment, 100 percent of the proceeds go to the NRC Safety, Training and Education Program. For more information or to sell equipment at the auction, contact the NRC office. The auction will be Thursday, April 9, from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 2:00 p.m., at the J.E.R. Overhaul facility at 107 N. US Route 45, Arcola, Ill. There is a discounted hotel room block available at the Comfort Suites, 1408 Broadway Avenue East, Mattoon, Ill. Call 217-235-6745 and ask for the NRC Auction rate. Also, there is a happy hour/social event the night before the auction on Wednesday, April 8, from 5:00 p.m. to close at Cody’s Road House, 1320 Broadway Avenue East, Mattoon, Ill. We hope to see you all there. As always, I conclude by asking you to keep the men and women in uniform, as well as their families, in your hearts and prayers. www.rtands.com NRC members throughout the country and our government affairs staff at Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell in Washington, D.C., focused much of their time and effort over the past few months on the economic stimulus legislation. As President Obama’s administration and the House and Senate were developing their priorities, we collectively sent thousands of e-mails, made phone calls and organized personal visits in home districts and Capitol Hill offices attempting to influence those priorities. Along with aggressive lobbying efforts by other rail and transportation organizations such as the AAR, ASLRRA and APTA, the NRC advocated aggressive investment into an assortment of programs that would encourage rail infrastructure investment. While not every detail of the legislation came out exactly as we advocated, overall we are extremely pleased with the result. The legislation will result in billions of dollars of investment in highspeed and intercity passenger rail, rail transit and potentially freight rail. On behalf of the entire NRC, I’d like to thank all of you who sent e-mails and made phone calls to Congress on this issue over the past two months. We firmly believe that you made a difference. Below is a very brief summary of the rail-related programs in the legislation. For 16 Railway Track & Structures March 2009 http://www.nrcma.org http://www.nrcma.org http://www.nrcma.org http://www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - March 2009

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