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Featured Projects
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CITY OF HANFORD, CALIFORNIA QUIET ZONE STUDY: 2007-2008
The City of Hanford, California asked RLBA to determine the feasibility of establishing a Quiet Zone involving thirteen grade crossings of the BNSF main line, in accordance with the Federal Railroad Administration Final Rule. The feasibility study included an inspection of the Hanford grade crossings, led by RLBA, including officials from the California Department of Transportation, California Public Utilities Commission, Federal Railroad Administration, BNSF and the City of Hanford. The study identified safety improvements, utilized the Federal Railroad Administration’s Risk Index Calculator, recommended an implementation plan, included a discussion of funding opportunities and described the coordination required among federal, state, railroad and local officials.
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REVIEW OF COMMUTER RAIL FEASIBILITY BUSINESS PLAN, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN: 2008
The Washtenaw and Livingston Line Coalition (WALLY) retained RLBA to perform an objective evaluation of potential commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Howell Michigan, utilizing the Great Lakes Central Railroad (GLCR). Key tasks included evaluating ridership, operating and capital costs, Connecting bus service, parking needs, transit oriented development and other metrics to assess the feasibility of service implementation. RLBA reviewed the business plan of the commuter rail operations as it had been prepared by the WALLY Coalition. A unique factor in this prospective commuter rail operation is that nearly 85% of the expected ridership would come from the University of Michigan and that the university would subsidize the tickets for those riders. Commuter equipment and ADA compliance were also important aspects of the study, since the equipment is already owned by the GLCR making inspection of commuter rail equipment consists of vital importance.
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CAPITAL METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY TEN-YEAR STRATEGIC FREIGHT RAIL PLAN: 2008 (ongoing)
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CMTA), Austin, TX (Capital Metro) engaged RLBA as part of a team to develop a Ten-Year Strategic Freight Rail Plan as it gears up to host its new start commuter rail service between Leander and Downtown Austin. CMTA currently owns 154.1 miles of active right-of-way on which railroad freight service is provided through a contract operator. As part of this project RLBA is conducting customer interviews to develop volume forecasts and satisfaction measures. RLBA is also benchmarking freight rates to propose tariff rate adjustment alternatives. RLBA is developing a volume flow analysis to support drafting of a capital plan. Finally, RLBA is analyzing alternative business models regarding how CMTA might outsource freight operations after its current contract with Veolia expires. Alternative business structures such as leasing the line, franchising the freight operations, establishing an independent operating subsidiary or trust and contracting separately for passenger operations, freight operations and infrastructure maintenance are all options being evaluated against CMTA objectives of preserving control over commuter rail operations and preserving owned right-of-way to facilitate passenger rail expansion.
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