MOW Spending: Transit Rail Infrastructure Investments

Transcription

1 2018 MOW Spending: Transit Rail Infrastructure Investments Bigger budgets and bigger workloads emerge in the 17th annual Progressive Railroading MOW Spending Report. By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview PAGE Survey Methodology... 3 Executive Summary... 4 Transit Agencies PAGE U.S., NATIONWIDE Amtrak... 5 ARIZONA Valley Metro... 6 BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA TransLink/SkyTrain... 6 CALIFORNIA Bay Area Rapid Transit... 7 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority... 7 Metrolink... 7 MTS Rail/San Diego Trolley Inc... 8 San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency...9 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority... 9 COLORADO Regional Transportation District of Denver GEORGIA Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority ILLINOIS Chicago Transit Authority Metra INDIANA Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District NEW MEXICO Rio Metro Regional Transit District-New Mexico Rail Runner Express NEW YORK MTA Long Island Railroad...14 MTA Metro-North Railroad Port Authority Transit Corp OREGON Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon PENNSYLVANIA Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority TEXAS Dallas Area Rapid Transit Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (MetroRail)...17 Trinity Railway Express WASHINGTON Sound Transit MOW Spending - Transit Rail Infrastructure Investments

3 OVERVIEW SURVEY METHODOLOGY During the first quarter of 2018, Progressive Railroading gathered information on railroad spending on maintenance-of-way (MOW) work and other infrastructure improvements. The more than 600 transit agencies, Class Is and short-line railroads in the U.S. are historically reticent to share what they spend and where, but the ones who do are proud of the operational improvements such investments provide. We asked about rail, tie, bridge and facility projects, and some broke down their budgeted spending by state or region. All data is selfreported or gathered from public sources. Results came in, primarily via , from 24 transit agencies, all seven Class Is and 36 short-line railroads and holding companies, for 67 total responses to this 17th annual survey. Results are published in the April 2018 edition of Progressive Railroading magazine. Results from past reports can be found online at www. progressiverailroading.com. Photos in this report courtesy of Amtrak, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, MTA Long Island Rail Road, Regional Transportation District of Denver, Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority MOW Spending - Transit Rail Infrastructure Investments

4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Transit Agencies Report Bigger Budgets, Ongoing Challenges During the first quarter of 2018, Progressive Railroading gathered information on railroad spending on maintenance-of-way (MOW) work and other infrastructure improvements, including rail, tie, bridge and facility projects. While U.S. transit agencies, Class Is and short-line railroads are historically reticent to share what they spend and where, the ones who do are proud of the operational improvements such investments provide. Class Is typically allocate 11 percent or more of their annual revenue for MOW work each year. Small freight railroads commit even more about 25 percent to 33 percent making the short-line industry one of the nation s most capital-intensive ones. Passenger railroads, however, don t have nearly the capital on hand to budget as much for infrastructure improvements, even though their state-of-good-repair needs are mounting due to aging and/or highly-used systems. The 2018 MOW Spending Report reflects these infrastructure investment realities. Slightly more than half of all survey respondents have budgeted more for MOW than they did last year, with the highest percentage of gainers among freight railroads. Of the 23 passenger railroads that provided comparison figures for this report, about half plan to dole out more MOW dollars this year compared to last: 12 have budgeted more, eight less and two plan to spend the same amount as in For comparison, three of the seven Class Is increased their MOW budgets, while four plan to spend about the same amount. Of the 30 regionals and short lines that provided budget figures for both years, 19 have allocated more, eight have set aside less and three plan to spend the same amount. Three transit agencies have greatly boosted MOW spending for 2018, mostly so each can take on large projects this year: The Regional Transportation District of Denver s budget has nearly tripled to $399 million. Port Authority Transit Corp. s budget has more than doubled to $39 million. The budget at the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County has shot up 130 percent to $52.8 million With heftier workloads on tap, a number of roads will continue to grapple with what long have been top MOW challenges: having enough track time and qualified personnel to get everything done. It s becoming increasingly difficult to schedule work windows sometimes amid competing track-user interests and maintain service performance, several railroads stated in their surveys. Some roads also are finding it more onerous to outsource MOW work. There is a relatively small pool of qualified contractors willing to perform work on transit systems where track access is not only minimal, but also uncertain at times, wrote Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority officials in their survey MOW Spending - Transit Rail Infrastructure Investments

5 INTERCITY RAIL 2018 MOW PLANS ARROW KEY: No 2018 MOW Budget Change 2018 MOW Budget Increase 2018 MOW Budget Decrease NATIONWIDE Amtrak MOW CAPITAL BUDGET: $889 million 2017 MOW CAPITAL BUDGET: $964.6 million REASON FOR DECREASE: Excluding the Gateway and ADA programs, the overall engineering capital budget has been reduced as a result of the New Jersey high-speed rail and New Haven, Conn.-to-Springfield, Mass., double-track projects winding down. RAIL: Replace, rehab or install 80.8 rail miles of rail in fiscal-year Significant rail/track projects: Track laying system for concrete ties, rail replacement and track undercutting, and the Westside Connection tunnel, track and new yard work. TIES: Install 110,612 concrete and 26,302 wood ties in FY2018. Switches/turnouts/interlockings: Continue work at Hanson Interlocking in Maryland and replace turnouts at various interlockings between Washington, D.C., and New York City. BRIDGE WORK: Major FY2018 project is the Spuyten Duyvil bridge upgrade in New York City. STATIONS/FACILITIES: Major station projects in FY2018 not including the ADA program are the Paoli, Penn., station and 30th Street facade projects MOW Spending - Transit Rail Infrastructure Investments