----Original Message Follows----
From: Richard Stowe <r_stowe@ yahoo.com>
Subject: IMPORTANT!!! TSB public hearing in New Haven on Aug. 9
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 06:59:58 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Friends of the cycling, rail & environmental
communities,

I have attached a letter above because I want to be
sure that a dedicated bicycle parking area is included
on NEW Metro-North train cars and to see that future
Metro-North service becomes a reality on Shoreline
East corridor east of New Haven and Old Saybrook.

Please attend and speak out at an upcoming
Transportation Strategy Board (TSB) public hearing on
Wednesday August 9th at 7 p.m. to be held at Gateway
Community College, 60 Sargent Drive in New Haven.

Thank you,
Richard Stowe
Rail Transportation Excellence Coalition

__________________________________________________



Dear Bicycle, Commuter Rail & Environmental Advocates:

With global warming at our doorstep, global peak oil era looming,
unacceptably high numbers of motor vehicle related deaths, air quality
non-compliance in Connecticut’s most populated corridors, continued gas
price increases and vehicular congestion on our roads, it is time for us to
actively engage the State of Connecticut to seek out a new cost-effective
course in its transportation strategy and transportation investments.

We need to let elected and appointed state officials as well as Connecticut
Department of Transportation (C-DOT) officials know that simply widening a
highway or enlarging a signalized interchange is no longer a viable
transportation solution option. That includes building a 9.4-mile concrete
freeway (New Britain to Hartford) designed exclusively for buses on top of
invaluable railroad right-of-way.

Instead, we need to formulate a comprehensive statewide transportation
strategy, in which commuter rail and rail freight are primary drivers of the
state’s economy and the bicycle supplants the automobile for many short
trips. With an emphasis on safety and health to improve the quality of life
for residents, employers and visitors, this strategy includes safer
on-street cycling through bicycle-friendly road design, improvements in rail
connectivity with neighboring states and railroad corridor upgrades so that
safety, capacity and track speeds are increased.

Bicyclists must also be accorded unfettered intermodal access to the state’s
trains and buses.

I am writing to you because I want to be sure that a dedicated bicycle
parking area is included on NEW Metro-North train cars.

The State of Connecticut will soon make its largest purchase of passenger
rails cars in over 30 years—new M8s from Kawaski Rail Car Inc. - a minimum
of 210 train cars with an option purchase 170 more. Initial delivery for
the cars is set for 2009.
The Good News is these cars are designed not only to run on Metro-North’s
(MNR) New Haven Line, but also Connecticut DOT’s Shore Line East corridor.
The Bad News is that the current design for the M-8 cars does not yet
include dedicated space for parking bicycles.

The following commuter rail or state-subsidized Amtrak lines in the United
States now have dedicated bicycle parking on their train cars:
Tri-Rail (West Palm Beach to Miami FL)
Caltrain (San Jose to San Francisco CA)
Altamont Commuter Express, (Stockton to San Jose CA)
Metrolink (six-county Los Angeles CA metro region)
Coaster (San Diego County CA)
Pacific Surfliner (San Diego to San Luis Obispo)
Capitol Corridor (San Jose to Sacramento).

And in Europe, dedicated bicycle parking on trains is the rule, not the
exception.

It is now time for Connecticut’s Metro-North New Haven line to commit to
providing dedicated bicycle parking areas on its new M-8 train cars.

So I strongly urge you to attend and speak out at an upcoming Transportation
Strategy Board (TSB) public hearing on Wednesday August 9th at 7 p.m. to be
held at Gateway Community College, 60 Sargent Drive in New Haven. (This
meeting is preceded by an I-91 Transportation Investment Area meeting at
5:00pm that also seeks public comment). This meeting will also provide an
opportunity to speak in favor of quality, secured and covered bicycle
parking at train stations, and safer on-street conditions for bicycles.

Charles Clarke, a C-DOT official who oversees the rail car design process,
says DOT officials discussed providing bicycle parking on train cars, as a
multi-modal enhancement, but Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
requirements already result in new cars with fewer seats. DOT’s reasoning
for NOT providing the dedicated space for bicycle parking, was that it
maximizes the number of seats per train car.

The logical counterargument is to purchase more train cars, which include an
area for bicycle parking. That way the state attains an equivalent number
of seats and dedicated space on the cars for bicycle parking, and more train
cars will ultimately allow for more frequent train service.

Bicycle commuting is a “win-win” scenario—it’s good for individuals and for
our state. Bicycling does not contribute to motor vehicular congestion or
air and noise pollution. Its attendant health benefits cannot be denied, and
commuters who bike to work are more productive.

Dedicated bicycle parking on trains allows for bicyclists to commute to work
without a car to locations too far to feasibly bicycle commute to and
bicycle on both ends of the train trip.

SHORELINE EAST CORRIDOR:

In the 1990’s Amtrak went through a Federal consistency review process to
gain approval for its $1.7 billion Northeast Corridor electrification from
New Haven to Boston. As a result Amtrak and the Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) Boating Division signed an agreement in 1996, which limited
the number of trains traveling east of Old Saybrook to 34 trains per day.
In 2003, an enforcement action was taken against Amtrak for exceeding that
limit. As a result of that action, Amtrak agreed to reduce Shoreline East
service to New London, but was granted permission to operate 38 trains per
day east of Old Saybrook. In 2004, that number was increased to 39. A rule
of thumb measure for an economically viable electrified corridor requires
operating a minimum of 90 trains per day

The limit on train service is based on a coastal access provision in the
Connecticut Coastal Management Act of 1980. When trains cross the five
movable railroad bridges, which span the Connecticut River, Niantic River,
Shaw’s Cove, Thames River and Mystic Harbor, boating use is impeded between
Long Island Sound and the rivers or harbors north of the drawbridges.

With drawbridges Metro-North’s new M-8 cars are confined to running its
service only as far as Old Saybrook.

By replacing drawbridges with high-level bridges Metro-North’s new M-8 cars
can operate frequent service from Grand Central Terminal to New London and
Providence - optimizing the electrification investment on the Northeast
Corridor. With high-level bridges, boaters will have unimpeded access
between the rivers and the Long Island Sound. Tri-Rail recently
double-tracked its corridor and replaced a drawbridge with a $70 million
high-level bridge over the New River in Fort Lauderdale FL. In the 1990’s a
drawbridge in Bridgeport was replaced with a high-level bridge. Interstate
95 has high-level bridges why shouldn’t the Shoreline East corridor? Why
widen I-95 when you can significantly upgrade the Shoreline East corridor by
building high-level bridges and carry people and goods much more efficiently
by train?

Amtrak has already started construction on a lift bridge over the Thames
River. The replacement of the Niantic River Bridge is in its final design,
but has no funding. We must change Amtrak’s current course of action so that
drawbridges are replaced with high-level bridges. Otherwise, train service
will be severely constrained on the Shoreline East corridor east of Old
Saybrook for the remainder of the century.

There are many other transportation issues of concern I would love to share
with you, but I am confining this letter to time sensitive issues. If you
have questions or seek additional information please contact me at (203)
594-9097.

If you are unable to attend the TSB public hearing in New Haven on Wednesday
August 9th, but you wish to submit written comments, address the letter to
the Chairman of the TSB – Kevin J. Kelleher and e-mail
robert.hammersley@... (TSB-DOT), governor.rell@...,
trains@... (Jim Cameron, Chairman, Connecticut Rail Commuter
Council) , your congressman and Senator Dodd or Senator Lieberman, state
senator & state representative and please copy me at the e-mail address
below.

Finally, if you or your organization would like to join the Rail
Transportation Excellence Coalition, please e-mail me at r_stowe@....
Feel free to forward this letter to other bicycle clubs and environmental
organizations.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Richard M. Stowe
Rail Transportation Excellence Coalition