Inter-city rail planned to run by 2012

Inter-city rail planned to run by 2012

Written by Christi Covington Friday, 26 September 2008

A passenger rail line from Leander to downtown is scheduled to open soon, but the north side of Austin is not the only community exploring alternative transportation options.

The Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District plans to carry passengers from Georgetown to San Antonio by 2011 or 2012 with a stop at Slaughter Lane and Manchaca Road, but the reality of that vision will have a lot to do with decisions during the next legislative session.

Proposed to travel 112 miles, the line would cost an estimated $613 million for construction. Of the total expense, half would come from the state and half from local entities, which would have several options for providing each share. Up to another $2.4 billion is needed to relocate the existing freight system. Although that would not be the responsibility of the district to fund, it is considered an important aspect of the commuter rail’s future.

“Rail relocation is vital, and we have got to have some government help,” said Bill Bingham, the district’s general counsel at a September board meeting.

Location, location, location

Originally, the concept was that passenger rail would run on the existing Union Pacific line that partially parallels MoPac. Bingham recently met with UP officials who expressed appreciation that the rail district wanted to offer profitable options, but also emphasized the need for its freight line and interest in moving only if a faster, shorter-mileage railroad is available.

Earlier this year, Joe Arbona, a UP spokesman, said fuel costs, busy roads and the environmental benefits of rail have made the train industry cost effective and, as a result, more valuable.

It is also inconvenient for commuter and freight trains to run on the same line because freight lines do not typically keep a schedule. That is why UP would expect the community to pay for relocation efforts.

“It’s kind of like me asking somebody if I could use a couple of rooms in your house,” Arbona said. “It’s really challenging because I’ve got my parents in that one room, so what am I supposed to do?”

State help

The legislature stepped into the process in 2005 by creating the Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund at the initiative of state Rep. Mike Krusee with Texas voters approving it as a constitutional amendment during the following November election.

When the Texas Legislature met in 2007, it did not allocate any money to the fund. That is something the board members for the rail district would like to change in the 2009 session taking place next spring.

At their September meeting, the members passed a resolution asking the legislature to allocate $200 million a year to the fund — not only for Central Texas but for other projects around the state. A campaign to get at least the top 20 cities and counties to pass similar resolutions is ongoing through October.

Local dollars

Rail relocation may be something the rail district wants and needs to happen, said ASA rail district’s senior planner Alison Schulze, but ultimately it is an effort led by the Texas Department of Transportation. If and when the rail relocation funds become available and Union Pacific agrees to move, the next step will be funding the actual passenger rail.

Austin and Travis County have each paid $49,500 in annual membership fees since 2003, when the rail district officially formed, to participate in the planning process. This funds administration costs.

However, membership entities, a regional group made up of counties and cities, would also have to help finance the cost of preparing the rail system and buying the cars, as well as handle annual operational costs, estimated to be $28 million at start-up and $40 million for full service.

ASA rail district studies say the system would get 3.2 million riders on board by 2030 — and that is a conservative guess, Schulze said.

“We don’t want anyone to think we’ve inflated those numbers,” she said.

Whether voters have to approve dollars for rail or not depends on the funding source, which could range from bond elections, general fund budgets, transportation fees, a tax-increment financing district or a regional transportation district that has taxing authority.

With a bond, residents would have to approve it, but a city council could choose to participate without voter approval by drawing from the general fund budget.

The public piece

When community leaders brought the idea of a Central Texas regional passenger train system in the mid- to late 1990s, the North American Free Trade Agreement was a large factor in the concept because it increased traffic in the region, Schulze said.

As an agreement to remove most trade barriers between the United States, Canada and Mexico, NAFTA created the need to carry more freight on both rail and highways between the countries. Initial implementation of NAFTA began in 1994, a process to be completed this year.

“Suddenly, there were all these 18-wheelers on IH 35,” Schulze said. “If you thought IH 35 was bad, it got worse.”

One of the major crossings from Mexico is the terminus of IH 35 at Laredo. That traffic travels north on the highway, passing through Austin. That is one reason why Central Texans must have other traveling options, Schulze said.

Yet some still question commuter rail’s cost-to-benefit ratio. At the end of July, TxDOT released the Central Texas Rail Relocation Study. Estimates for public benefit ranged from $506 million to $1.4 billion during a 20-year period.

Ross Milloy, the rail district’s interim executive director, noted at the September board meeting the calculations did not include the increase in property values or tax revenue. Instead it looked at elements such as safety benefits and air quality.

Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, who is on the rail district board, said he is still waiting to see numbers that show rail ridership would be high enough to warrant the millions of dollars required to begin service.

“Bottom line: How are we going to justify this expense unless we can really come up with realistic ridership numbers?” he said. “If we can’t find the cost-benefit for what something is, then I think we need to look harder.”

National policy’s impact on the local level

The North American Free Trade Agreement played an important role in the creation of the Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District, the district’s senior planner, Alison Schulze, said. An agreement to remove most trade barriers between the United States, Canada and Mexico, NAFTA’s initial implementation began in 1994. As trade has increased, so has traffic.

Reporter Eric Pulsifer contributed to this story.

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