Amtrak is requesting $450 million in federal operating support for fiscal year 2013, a lower amount than the $466 million appropriated by Congress for FY 2012. The ability to seek reduced federal operating funding results from ongoing efforts by Amtrak to improve its financial performance, including increased efficiency, cost controls and debt reduction as well as better service, record ridership and anticipated increases in revenue.

"Amtrak's request for less federal operating support is a strong statement on just how much this railroad has improved its management and financial health. The fact is, Amtrak now covers 85 percent of its operating costs with non-federal dollars and we will further improve on that number without cutting service," said President and CEO Joe Boardman.

Amtrak submitted this request to Congress as part of its FY 2013 Grant and Legislative Request for federal funding to support the operating and capital investment needs of Amtrak. It also contains a detailed discussion of legislative issues, including Amtrak's top five priorities for a new surface transportation bill.

The full FY 2013 request totals $2.167 billion and supports aggressive efforts by Amtrak to build the equipment, infrastructure and organization needed to ensure continued strong growth. The company is investing in projects critical for enhancing the passenger experience, essential for supporting its national network and vital for its future.

The funding request consists of four major components: $450 million for operations to support the national network of corridor, state-supported and long-distance trains; $1.435 billon for capital and infrastructure projects nationally; $212 million for debt service; and $60 million for Northeast Corridor development projects, the Gateway Program to add track, station and tunnel capacity into the heart of Manhattan and the high-capacity 220 mph next generation high-speed rail system from Washington, D.C., to Boston.

The $1.435 billion request for FY 2013 for capital and infrastructure projects is a significant increase over the $657 million appropriated by Congress for FY 2012.

Boardman stated that the increase is necessary to move beyond mere maintenance of existing equipment and infrastructure and to invest in improvements that support faster, more frequent and more reliable service in the Northeast, the Midwest and elsewhere

The requested capital funding also will fund safety and security projects as well as customer-focused programs such as improving station accessibility under requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and continuing the development of a next-generation reservation system. Funds are also required to replace an aging fleet of locomotives and passenger rail cars used for long-distance trains, state-supported routes and other corridor services.

In addition, the request for $212 million for debt service in FY 2013 is lower than the $271 million appropriated by Congress for FY 2012.

Canadian Pacific, by leveraging its north mainline infrastructure, is now shipping crude oil by rail from a new transload facility near Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada. This new facility is a key enhancement to CP's growing energy portfolio. It accommodates the initial transload and transportation needs of NuStar Energy LP, with a further planned expansion in 2012.

"Moving Canadian crude through CP's North American network is a great complement to our asset base, which includes terminals and a large and expanding fleet of 1,700 coiled and insulated rail cars," said NuStar President and CEO Curt Anastasio. "We believe that moving undiluted heavy Canadian crude by rail to coastal markets is an economically viable solution that brings added value to the end users, as well as the producers in Canada."

"This new facility and the planned expansion in 2012 represent an exciting growth opportunity for CP's energy portfolio," said CP Energy and Merchandise Vice President Tracy Robinson. "CP offers a flexible, reliable and efficient method of transporting crude oil and other energy-related products to emerging markets and we are proud to be partnering with NuStar to meet its growing transportation needs."

In addition to the new facility near Lloydminster, CP continues to transport oil from other transload facilities in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Of the 140 million tons of freight shipped annually on CP, hundreds of thousands of carloads are directly related to energy production and distribution. This includes crude oil, sulphur, fuels, diluents and materials key to the energy industry, such as pipe and frac sand.

The Wood Energy Group, Inc., a division of Banyan Rail Services Inc., hired Natalie Ann Macey as vice president sales and marketing.

Macey brings more than 10 years of sales and marketing experience in the railroad tie reclamation and disposal business to Wood Energy. Prior to joining Wood Energy, Macey was vice president of sales and shipping at Superior Railroad, a railroad tie reclamation company located in Kansas City, Mo. She also worked as vice president of sales at Tampa Crosstie in Apollo Beach, Fla., for eight years.

"Natalie is a great addition to the Wood Energy management team," said Jon Ryan, president of Wood Energy. "Her expertise will assist us in better serving our existing customers, securing new customers and streamlining our customer service function. We look forward to her contributing to the future growth of Wood Energy."

RailAmerica has signed an agreement to acquire Marquette Rail LLC for $40 million, subject to final adjustments for working capital. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and Surface Transportation Board approval.

Headquartered in Ludington, Mich., Marquette operates 126 miles of track running from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Ludington and Manistee, Mich. Marquette interchanges with CSXT in Grand Rapids and serves customers primarily in the chemical, pulp & paper and non-metallics industries. Marquette hauled approximately fifteen-thousand carloads of freight during the fiscal year ended 2011.

For the next 12 months, RailAmerica anticipates Marquette will generate approximately $13 million in revenue, $4 million in operating income (excluding closing costs) and $2 million in depreciation and amortization. The company intends to finance the purchase using cash on hand and its revolving credit facility.

RailAmerica also has signed an agreement to acquire a 70-percent interest in the Wellsboro and Corning Railroad and Industrial Waste Group from Myles Group for $18 million. Members of the Myles family will retain the remaining 30-percent interest in the companies and continue in senior leadership roles. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed early in the second quarter of 2012.

The WCOR operates 38 miles of track running from Wellsboro, Pa., to Corning, N.Y., handling a variety of industrial products primarily used in the natural resources industry. RailAmerica anticipates the WCOR to experience rapid traffic growth and expand its freight and non-freight services in support of the development of the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry.

IWG performs transload, storage and other value-added services for customers in the energy and waste management industries. It operates four transloading facilities located in Wellsboro, Pa.; Corning, N.Y.; Toledo, Ohio; and Amelia, Va. RailAmerica expects IWG to continue to grow by developing transload operations in new markets and extending its services throughout RailAmerica's network.

Over the next 12 months of operations, WCOR and IWG combined are expected to generate approximately $17 million in revenue, $3.5 million in operating income (excluding closing costs) and $1.3 million in depreciation and amortization. RailAmerica intends to finance the purchase using cash on hand and its revolving credit facility. The financial results of the WCOR and IWG will be consolidated into RailAmerica's financials, and RailAmerica's net income will be reduced by the 30-percent minority interest.

The Broward County Board of County Commissioners in Florida approved a 30-year lease and operating agreement with the Florida East Coast Railway, L.L.C., to develop an Intermodal Container Transfer Facility at Port Everglades, which will allow freight to move more efficiently between south Florida and the southeast United States via rail. The facility will become operational at the beginning of 2014.



"This is a great public-private partnership that has been 15 years in the making and is expected to take less than two years to complete," said Broward County Mayor John Rodstrom, Jr. "The ICTF is a double-bonus win for Broward County because it will help increase international trade while taking trucks off the roads."



The ICTF at Port Everglades will be used to transfer international containers between ship and rail within the port instead of having trucks haul the containers to and from off-port rail terminals, currently located off Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale and in central Miami-Dade County. The FEC also plans to relocate its existing domestic intermodal service from its Andrews Avenue rail yard to the ICTF at Port Everglades.

Once completed, the ICTF is expected to reduce congestion on interstate highways and local roadways and reduce harmful air emissions by diverting an estimated 180,000 trucks by 2027.

In July 2011, Port Everglades took the first step towards developing the ICTF when the Florida Department of Transportation broke ground on the Eller Drive Overpass, which will elevate I-595/Eller Drive to allow the freight trains to access the southport area of the port at ground level. The Overpass project is expected to be completed by late-2013 at a cost of $53 million.



The lease between the county and the FEC was a prerequisite for the railway to secure a $30 million loan from the Florida State Infrastructure Bank. FDOT is expected to make a final decision later this year. The total project cost for the ICTF at Port Everglades is estimated to be $72 million, including a 42.5-acre port land contribution by Broward County valued at $19 million. The remaining costs will be covered by the FEC and FDOT grants. Combined, both the Eller Drive Overpass and the ICTF projects are estimated to create 767 construction jobs over three years. 



The City and ADID funded the balance of the project.

Axion International has received a purchase order for its first installation of ties from another Class 1 railroad. This represents the second of the nation's Class 1 rail lines that Axion is doing business with, following a multi-year contract announced earlier in 2011.

As part of this new order, Axion will also be pre-plating the ties so they're ready for immediate installation. The ties are being installed in new track in a very humid, wet environment where Axion's ECOTRAX perform well, as they are impervious to the outdoor weather elements.

"This is a significant step for Axion in that we're expanding our relationships and sales into another of the nation's largest rail lines," stated Axion CEO and President Steve Silverman.

BNSF plans a 2012 capital commitment program of approximately $3.9 billion, a $400 million increase over its 2011 capital spend of $3.5 billion.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unveiled the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act. The initiative is a five-year, $260 billion infrastructure bill that reforms transportation programs and promotes increased domestic energy production to create American jobs.

"This bill will put Americans back to work rebuilding our roads and bridges and developing new sources of low cost energy," Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) said. "This legislation may be the most important jobs measure to pass Congress this year.

"The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act is the largest transportation reform bill since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1956," Mica continued. "This is a five-year bill that reforms our federal transportation programs, cuts the red tape and bureaucracy that delays projects across the country, gives states more flexibility to determine their most critical infrastructure needs, provides states with the long-term stability to undertake major improvements and encourages private sector participation in helping to finance transportation projects."

The committee is scheduled to begin consideration of the transportation reauthorization portion of the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 2, 2012. Legislative text will be available at www.transportation.house.gov.

The bill aims to streamline the project delivery process, reduce regulatory burdens and promote accountability and responsibility while maintaining the highest commitment to rail safety.

According to the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, the bill will do this by providing more flexible loan terms to the Rail Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loans, increasing access to the RRIF program and creating a faster and more predictable application process.

States would be given more decision making power and the deadline for implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) would be chanced to Dec. 31, 2020.

The bill would place limits on Amtrak's use of federal funds to focus it on providing better service and cut operating subsidies by 25 percent in FY 2012 and 2013.
Additionally, it would require Amtrak's food and beverage services to be competitively bid.

The bill is said to eliminate congestion grants set aside in the Intercity Passenger Rail grants program and would terminate the Capital Grants program for Class 2 and Class 3 railroads, authorized at $50 million per year.

The bill also revises federal transit policies and programs and would encourage public-private partnerships when building new rail transit systems. The proposal also focuses available funding on formula programs that provide stable and predictable funding to states and local transit agencies, which would increase the percentage of available formula funds for transit programs that benefit suburban and rural areas and programs that support transit services for the elderly, disabled and transit-dependent.

The changes would consolidate and simplify human service transportation programs from three separate programs to one and would streamline the New Starts and Small Starts competitive grant program.

The Association of American Railroads said the bill designed to fix the nation's crumbling transportation infrastructure will actually accelerate road and bridge damage and trigger an increase in taxpayer subsidies to the trucking industry, allowing for 20 percent heavier trucks and triple trailers.

"Americans don't want 97,000 pound trucks or huge multi-trailers up to 120 feet long on our nation's highways," said AAR President and CEO Ed Hamberger. "Nor is it fair that even more of the public's tax dollars will be used to pay for the road and bridge damage inflicted by massive trucks."

Hamberger pointed out that today's heavy trucks only pay a fraction of the costs they inflict on taxpayers. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that taxpayers currently subsidize nearly $2 billion of large truck damage. The most common truck on the road, an 80,000-pound five-axle single, pays just 80 percent of the maintenance costs it inflicts on roads, while a 97,000-pound six-axle single truck would pay only 50 percent of the damage it causes.

In addition, the AAR says state and local governments are paying even more to repair damage caused by heavy trucks every year and this amount would grow exponentially if truck sizes increase. According to the Department of Transportation, the additional cost of repairing bridge damage caused by raising truck weights to 97,000 pounds could be as much as $65 billion.

"States, cities and taxpayers are already fiscally strapped and it makes no sense to burden them with paying for wear and tear inflicted by massive trucks," Hamberger said. "Rather than increasing the taxpayer burden, this bill should ensure that all modes of transportation pay their fair share."

Hamberger noted that the freight railroad industry pays for the maintenance and upkeep of the country's rail system with private capital.

In addition, academic studies show that raising truck weights to 97,000 pounds from 80,000 could actually result in eight million additional truckloads on America's highways.

"It's not too hard to imagine what would happen to our roads if that is allowed to happen," Hamberger said.