Still more Tuesday morning rail news:
TRAINS: David Lassen
News report says Oregon’s WES commuter rail now costs $108 per passenger to operate
Portland, Ore.,-area commuter rail operation Westside Express Service, with already low ridership hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, now costs nearly $108 per passenger to operate — more than 10 times the figures for transit agency TriMet’s light rail or bus service, according to an investigation by KGW-TV. The 14.7-mile line between Beaverton and Wilsonville, Ore., which opened in 2009, was forecast to be carrying 3,000 to 4,000 daily passengers by 2020, but TriMet statistics show ridership peaked at 1,544 daily riders in fiscal 2014, and slipped to an average of 626 in fiscal 2020, which included the first portion of the pandemic. As of December 2020, the system was averaging just 290 daily boardings, a decrease of 75.8% over the same month a year earlier. A TriMet spokeswoman says “the ridership potential has not lived up to expectations” and says “destination-type employers haven’t matured in the corridor as quickly as had been projected.”
Transit group APTA calls for $39.3 billion in additional federal aid
The American Public Transportation Association is seeking $39.3 billion in additional federal aid for public transportation, saying an independent analysis conducted for the agency shows transit agencies are facing a shortfall of that amount through 2023. APTA says 65% of transit agencies were forced to make service cuts in 2020, and 40% are considering cuts in 2021 to address budget gaps. “The pandemic represents an existential threat to public transit jobs, businesses, and service,” APTA CEO Paul P. Skoutelas said in a press release. “Our request for $39.3 billion is necessary to avoid catastrophic decisions that will hurt our riders, our communities, and the nation.” The report by EBP US Inc. is available here. Reuters reports that the APTA request is part of more than $112 billion in requests for aid by various sectors of the transportation industry. That figure includes Amtrak’s request for $1.5 billion in additional relief [see “Analysis: Amtrak CEO Flynn sets company priorities for legislation,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 27, 2021].
Ontario city’s ruling clears path for donation of electric locomotive to museum
An Ontario city has determined it has no legal obligation to continue to display a locomotive it received as a donation, setting the stage for the engine — said to be the last electric locomotive to operate in Canada — to be given to a museum. Cornwall (Ont.) Newswatch reports the locomotive was donated to the city by the Cornwall Street Railway, Light & Power Co. in 1977 and has been on display since, but is deteriorating, last having been painted in 2006. The Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario is interested in receiving the locomotive, which it would restore cosmetically. It will cost about $50,000 to move the locomotive from Cornwall to the museum site in Smiths Falls, Ont., about 80 miles away.
