The Florida Mystery

ARE NEANDERTHALS PLANNING FLORIDA'S FUTURE?

Traffic counts, road money down in Palm Beach Count
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer:
"In the next few years, the road program is not going to be able to build very many roads," said County Engineer George Webb. "But at the same time, if we don't have people moving in, we're not going to be that deficient."

As the number of drivers falls, service along the existing road network has improved. Only 2 percent of county roads are performing below their designed level of service, Webb said."

RAIL! Railroad track never has to be widened. Further if Palm Beach County is at a build out state so that only 2% of the roads are performing below expectations, then one would think we would be putting our focus on Rail and Tri-Rail. Our cities, Jacksonville, Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, TALLAHASSEE, and our State Leaders, have proved to be mental Neanderthals, in a sea of transportation brilliance.

California, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, even Oklahoma, are so far ahead of us we can't find them on radar. But we beg for Billions to build HSR from the Orlando Airport to an amusement park to a freeway interchange in Tampa. This poorly planned "Rat Rail" project coupled with a failure to properly fund Tri-Rail is going to cost all of us dearly.



Florida already has Amtrak Service, though we have allowed even that to decline from 12 trains daily to 4. We stood by to build a trail on the key West Palm Beach cut-off, between Auburndale, and Wildwood, and didn't say a word when Amtrak itself was fighting budget cutters in eliminating all service to Ocala, and Gainesville. We HAVE Amtrak, logic would dictate that the national rail passenger corporation be the tool with which to reach more for less.

Somewhere there must be a reward for this reckless behavior. Perhaps another 10 lanes? All of us have heard the expression "Tax and Spend," well maybe we are getting what we've asked for, my friends, welcome to the world of "Cut and Chop."

As Our Train Takes Off and Our Airplane Accelerates Down The Track...

F - T - S

Let me coin a new phrase here, "Flying Train Syndrome," or FTS for short. By now your probably wondering just what the heck the old blogger is up to, Flying Trains indeed. I would beg your attention to a relatively new phenomena. There is a knee jerk reaction to the new funding of Amtrak and the many State and Local governments that want to get in on the action.

Reading newspaper blogs, it seems that the long silent peasantry has scummed to FTS and their mad as hell. The trouble is we have one or two whole generations who have grown to adulthood with a skeletal rail passenger system that could hardly be called a network. Certainly one train a day, or even tri-weekly, on only one out of 4 or 5 possible mainlines is a far cry from what Arlo Guthrie experienced before the hit single "Riding on the City of New Orleans." I really want us as a Transportation Rich Community and America's Logistics Center, to end the confusion over what rail is and what it can do. Hurry along as we look at some of these FTS blog comments, our plane is leaving the station.

After a positive article on Jacksonville Commuter Rail, this comment:

"YAWN, that is the easy way out of saying the proof is in the site, somewhere, just because someone told me it was true....well it must be true. Nah, don't drink the Kool-aid, look around you and see if rail works ANYWHERE in the State of Florida and if it is successful, meaning profitable."

Response:

This little sarcastic treat comes from the same gentleman that described Amtrak Trains as just one step above bus travel.

Obviously, our friend has either done very little travel aboard Greyhound, Trailways, Jefferson or other intercity Bus Companies, or hasn't been aboard a train since 1932. The gist of his argument is profit, in fact the entire gauge of success in his mind is making cash money.

This ignores a primary fact in Transportation, a space - time - and public service continuum. In terms of space a rail passenger uses about 5' square feet of space to travel anywhere on the continent. The same person driving an automobile takes up some 85' square feet of space. There could be an argument made that because of the compactness of a train with 200 passengers aboard, it would quickly leapfrog the same 200 passengers in automobiles. This line of cars on the highway would stretch for 3.21 miles. The same load of passengers on the train could be condensed to 1,000' feet, or something just short of 1/5 of a mile. As the world population expands we are growing short on space that can be endlessly covered in asphalt and concrete.

The strongest argument is that rail travel is the most efficient and fuel wise system of transport known to man with the possible sole exception being Zeppelins! So the question becomes how much fuel do we save by train travel? How many acres are still green because of train travel? More pointedly, just how much money did our State Highway System "make" last year? I haven't seen anyone arguing that our airports should be abandoned due to a lack of profit, in fact they would be quick to tell you that the airport brings a city prestige and recognition.

Sorry folks then the measure being used is not a level field at best and at worst it is a type of Mass Transit Snobbery or as someone recently put it, Mass Transit Racism. Amtrak seems the easiest target and this nonsense has flown around the country for nearly 40 years. That trains don't fly is no excuse to abandon the technology. FTS?

From a news Blog Q and A:

"Are we (Jacksonville) ready for light rail, rail, etc.?" And if the answer is no (and in general I think it is), then we'd better put it on the back burner; and if the answer is an undeniable unmistakable strong yes, then build it! We can't just build something and hope that it's a success. I can't even tell (someone help me with this), whether there is a strong, sure public/commuter demand for rail in Jacksonville (is the public ready?).

Response:

When is a City, County or State "ready" for rail? Must we reach gridlock on our highways and air before we commit any silver to the rails? In this case Jacksonville is called out by name and that makes this an interesting comment. Jacksonville is the largest city in the nation without a rail transit system, either in population, MSA or land mass. We are told we are far to spread out for rail to work, yet rail works just fine in Los Angeles. Then we are told we don't have the density for rail, yet when we checked the US Census Bureau we discovered we land right in the middle of all cities that already have rail in terms of density. So are we ready? The East Coast Corridor web site just published a study that shows: Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa, drivers waste 200 Million hours a year in traffic. So how does the unknown Giant of Jacksonville rank with the well known cities of Florida, check out our MSA Counties. Oh the humanity:

JACKSONVILLE MSA COUNTIES:

Clay Commute: 33.4 min Statewide rank: 1
Putnam Commute: 30.6 min Statewide rank: 4
Nassau Commute: 28.2 min Statewide rank: 8
St. Johns Commute: 25 min Statewide rank: 19
Duval 23.1 min 25
Flagler 22.9 min 27
Source: Census Bureau 2006 American Community Survey

I think this answers our questions quite well, I'm waiting for that train, streetcar or zeppelin, but wouldn't that be sort of like Flying Amtrak?

From an Online Discussion:

"Anyone seen empty buses? When the buses are filled, demand is there for rail, till then, keep dreaming the dream!"

Response:

This is clearly a statement written in ignorance. Any thinking person could reason that a bus that is filled to capacity during the rush hours may be running light in off-peak hours. Even during the peak, bus passenger loadings may fill and empty at several points along the same route, thus not even this is an indicator of demand. Certainly the guy that wants profit in all things would pull out his hair if we were to buy big buses for rush hour and little buses for off-peak times. Frankly with the numbers posted on commute times, we are way behind the curve on getting rail up and running. This would then allow us to redeploy buses that must make the long traffic snarled trek from outlaying areas to the central or satellite city cores. Once this was done the buses would generally run at right angles to the most congested roads and transfer their inbound or outbound loads to strategically placed rail stations. Meanwhile new Heritage Streetcars and the Skyway, Jacksonville's tiny monorail system, completed just another 3 - 5 miles in several directions would serve as a complete distributor in the urban center.

From the Leading E-News:

"Does slower transportation really appeal to the masses? The only way for trains to get back in the mix is to get faster. It's easier to just hop in the car if it's a short trip, and it's faster to fly.Now, if you had a train that could get from here to WPB or ATL in 2 hours, THAT would shake things up and spark interest."

Response:

This is the ultimate case of Flying Train Syndrome. Airline style, point to point, non-stop jet set travel has caused the masses to ignore the booming markets of the smaller and medium size towns and cities. Today in California a trip from Fresno to Bishop is likely to be via Los Angeles. A trip from Wilmington, Deleware to Norfolk, Virginia, via New York City and likewise a trip from Jacksonville to Daytona Beach by way of Atlanta. What the train does is FLY THROUGH not over the country. If taking time to see what is in between isn't going to match your schedule so be it, but try and tell a resident of Ocala, St. Augustine, Macclenny or Palatka, that because you want to experience "fly over country," your needs are superior to theirs. Within the route of a single passenger train, there may be many micro-corridors hidden within the fabric of that single stretch of trackage. As a nation we can no longer afford the fuelish luxury of flying 500 miles to get 100 miles down the track, when this happens, it's train time. Flying Trains Indeed!

What if Amtrak Catches Jacksonville with it's Terminal Down?

Bringing back the last great station in the Southeast

In a great update from the Treasure Coast Palm, it appears that the long awaited Amtrak - Florida East Coast Route might be rolling through the city while we're still doing studies of our studies. The Terminal downtown (now called the Prime Osbourne Convention Center) sits empty except for the occasional boat, gun or home show. Just under 80,000 Square Feet of new space that could be recycled into a condensed multi-modal Terminal. The great part of this idea is that we wouldn't touch a single wall of the original Head House Station, leaving it to reopen for Passengers.

Here's the run on the progress with the FEC RY:




This scene would remain the same with either plan


Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council to request stimulus money for passenger train service

By Jim Turner,
Tuesday,
March 17, 2009

Treasure Coast leaders hope to get passenger train service back on the Florida East Coast rails with federal economic stimulus money.
The Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council intends to ask Gov. Charlie Crist and Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Kopelousos, along with the area’s Legislative and Congressional delegations, to support efforts to use about $100 million in federal relief money for Amtrak to bring passenger service back to the FEC tracks between Jacksonville and Miami.
“It’s not a new idea, but it’s still a good one,” said Mike Busha, executive director of the planning council. “We’re trying to expand people’s options for getting around without having to spend so much money or energy.”
Amtrak and the FEC were close to a deal to put the rail service through the Treasure Coast in 2002, with stations to sprout up in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. But the proposal was quashed at the time because of questions over Amtrak spending and ridership.
But as gas prices rose the past two years, the service’s budget was doubled. Earlier this year, $8 billion in stimulus money was announced for developing new high-speed rail service nationwide, and Vice President Joe Biden on Friday announced that $1.3 billion in additional stimulus money would go to the government-owned service.
Included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act announced by Biden is $10.5 million to construct a new station for the Auto Train in Sanford.
State DOT Planning and Policy Analysis Administrator David Lee said Florida officials are awaiting the federal government to provide criteria for the high-speed corridor projects.
Busha said returning passenger service to the tracks along the eastern side of the Treasure Coast would improve transportation in the region, which translates into better business opportunities and improved quality of living.
“It’s building a mobile network, very attractive, low-stress, low-energy transportation system,” he said. “It’s very attractive to investors when they see a region that has all its basis covered, not just by the private automobile.”
Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart were all once stops on the line put down by Henry Flagler in the 1890s and local leaders believe the downtown in each area could be used for new stations.
But the Treasure Coast isn’t the only area seeking money for passenger rail service.
Led by state Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, supporters of the $1.2 billion, 61-mile commuter rail project to run from DeLand in Volusia County through downtown Orlando to Poinciana in Osceola, will have a midday rally Wednesday in Tallahassee.
Amtrak’s current route north goes from Miami to West Palm Beach before branching west to Okeechobee, over to the Orlando area and then moving back east to Jacksonville, where the route mostly hugs the East Coast through New York City, stopping in Portland, Maine.
Treasure Coast passenger rail history
• 1892-94: Rail service was extended south from Daytona, running along the Indian River, by Henry Flagler.
• 1968: Passenger service was discontinued on the Florida East Coast tracks because of labor unrest.
• The plan to expand passenger rail service using the FEC rail lines was first proposed in 1994 and revived in 2000. There was talk about expanding to the Treasure Coast by 2003.
• Negotiations between Amtrak and the Florida Department of Transportation stalled in 2002 after the government said the rail company no longer could add new routes.
• 2008: Local officials asked Gov. Charlie Crist and Congressional representatives to ask Amtrak to include the Treasure Coast in a study of reintroducing passenger service on the FEC lines between West Palm Beach and Miami.

Facing the former ticket counters in the empty Head House "Convention Center".



The Front of the JTC as engineered by JTA and FDOT note that the tracks on the far left would be lowered to creek level, someone missed the story of the two previous stations that were flooded out. Almost 400,000 Cu Yd's of fill and "they" want to remove it?

So it's getting close to "put up"or "shut up" time.


If we keep the "Prime Osbourne Center" where it is, our Transportation Center will forever be crippled. It's the railroad and bus equal to building a new fast food restaurant at the junction of runway 4L 22 R and 9L 27 R at Chicago O'Hara International Airport.

The City of Jacksonville, has just recently started making moves to enlarge the Convention Center, and thankfully most of these ideas get it out of the surface Transportation Center of Florida. Se la vie.






The State and JTA rendering with a scattered Transportation "Center" built around a useless Convention Center. When we looked at a redesign we didn't change a single element.

Everything done up to this point is planned around that poorly located, too small to compete, albatross of a Convention Center. So the resulting drawings with their several elements have been scattered over a 5 block area of La Villa in Downtown Jacksonville. IF we follow any of these plans which build around the historic train Terminal, we are going to build America's most sprawled "center"; a place where passengers regularly drag their bags 3 blocks up the hill.

Ennis Davis, an Urban Planner, and myself sat down at the dinner table and I laid out the concept. What if we move the Convention Center and use the same design plans and elements that the City and State have already done? What if we relocated those buildings into a dense, compact Transportation Village? Ennis thought it was a pretty cool idea and went to work putting the parts together.

The new plan doesn't touch a single plot of new ground North of the Depot. It would remove about 2/3 of the new exhibition hall behind the station and recycle the remaining part into offices and Intercity Bus Station. Everything else fits neatly on the grounds between the Depot and the Freeway to the West. The only other change which is going to be required no matter what happens, is the new Lee Street viaduct will have to be re-rebuilt to obtain clearance for 8 to 12 through tracks, hopefully without removing another spade of fill dirt.




The Layout Above is the plan concieved by Robert Mann and Drawn in Rendering by Ennis Davis


Skyway, photographed from Jacksonville Terminal, it's a snap to get downtown or to the hotels.

So here comes Amtrak and the FEC Ry, the Governor, The Treasure Coast, The Gold Coast and the whole Florida delegation... Where the heck is Jacksonville? We should be a the head of this pack as we stand the gain the most from it. It's do it or lose it time.

Photos: JTA, Ennis Davis, Metro-Jacksonville.com, Robert Mann

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FLORIDA'S FATAL FLAW - NATIONAL ROAD TO HIGH SPEED DISASTER

Red Signals Shine Over High Speed Rails Magic Numbers

Well the first Transportation Stimulus Package from the joint House and Senate is in hand. In its original House of Representatives form there was a goodly sum of money for state sponsored Amtrak or other state rail passenger operations. In the second edition the sum for state operations was slashed but remained in the bill. Finally in the joint House-Senate form it was eliminated completely.

In this article I submit to you that killing funding for State sponsorship of passenger trains may lead to the complete failure of all of the High Speed Rail corridors. There was plenty of money for High Speed Rail Development in the final bill, and some of the HSR corridors may actually be built. However you build HSR, to appease politicians and connect dots on a map, it may now be doomed to a disastrous failure.

Why?

Because the United States of America continues to turn it's back on basic State and Interstate rail corridors, we may someday pay a hefty price. Your hometown, your city, your state all represent the grass roots of rail travel. Without these roots we can hardly expect HSR to be a magic bullet. It all starts with people, building a loyal rail passenger culture, then building on that culture until we graduate into the era of High Speed Rail. With typical American blind enthusiasm, we seem to have decided to skip the "passenger factor" in favor of building miles of show case railroad.

We have a national population which has grown up with a non-stop, over all obstacles, lap-top, tray table, mentality for travel. Look out the window? Why? All they see today are clouds. People don't even understand the concept of sitting back and relaxing in a lounge while the miles tick by under the floor. Why would I spend 7 hours on a train from Jacksonville to Miami? Why would I spend 8 hours on a train from Jacksonville to Atlanta? Even if High Speed Rail can cut those travel times in half, from city center to city center, it doesn't fit the rushing minds of the "jet set generation". As the old Amtrak commercial said, "America is getting into training..." We'll be sorry that Amtrak and the States didn't take this advice to heart and train up a generation on the rails.

We need to get building, but it's not what you think we need!

While I'd be first to agree that we need to get rolling on national passenger train services, I think it starts a bit closer to home. Every expert in the field says that the modern passenger train does better then air on the 350 mile (or less) segments, great observation, so where are the trains? This is the missing market and the missing funding for Amtrak, or the States. We don't have a single train running in those stage lengths from Jacksonville, (or most anywhere else). Look at the corridors around us for example:

Jacksonville-Miami (via the FEC)
Jacksonville-Miami (via the CSX)
Jacksonville-Tampa (via Orlando)
Jacksonville-Tampa (via Ocala)
Jacksonville-Ft. Myers
Jacksonville-Pensacola
Jacksonville-Birmingham
Jacksonville-Atlanta
Jacksonville-Charlotte

While a couple of these routes have long distance, inter-city passenger train service, most make do with a single train a day, while 7 out of these 9 corridors have no trains at all. How do people familiarize themselves with the comfort and convenience of regional passenger rail - if there IS no regional passenger rail. So how do I get to Charlotte? Atlanta? Macon? Montgomery? Mobile? Tallahassee? Memphis? Chattanooga? or Nashville? Provided it is the right time of day Amtrak might get you to Jacksonville. Leaving the Jacksonville Am-shack Station, one might survive the walk to a dollar store to purchase a cardboard sign and a magic marker because that's the closest thing to a ticket your going to get in Amtrak's SOUTH.

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step

Suddenly some "big idea man" from Washington D.C. walks onto the stage and we have instant High Speed rail with frequent services. These new trains jump into corridors that have been stripped of trains and buried by Amtrak funding. The question nobody is asking seems to be where will all these passengers come from? Generations of dead, sloppy or unfunded passenger service is hardly the way to teach people to abandon their automobiles. People don't know what railroad SERVICE is.

Amtrak advertises two Florida routes and two regular Florida trains daily. TWO. Two trains to the most popular single tourist city in the World (Orlando). Two to the number one tourism state (Florida). Two to America's best city for new business (Jacksonville). Two to the most famous beaches in North America, (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach). Even so, one of those two wanders all the way into Tampa on the West Coast then recrosses the State giving the passengers that distinct "Haven't we just seen this scenery?" feeling. Those passengers would be correct, rather then splitting the train in Jacksonville for both coasts, the train just runs 50 miles over to Tampa, then the same 50 miles right back out. This, by the way means Tampa-St. Petersburg, one of the Nation's largest and fastest growing metro area's has a grand total of ONE TRAIN DAILY. The scheduling genius has the two trains running back to back only a couple of hours apart, then the station agents lock the doors until tomorrows show. "Show" is exactly what it is too, no options, two trains, a single route north or south of Jacksonville will not create demanding masses clamoring for High Speed, or any other speed of rail.

Planning for track without planning for patrons leads to a dead end.

Before we run off the High Speed Rail cliff with an empty train, wouldn't it be wise to strike out for a return of basic regional rail passenger services? How do we know a High Speed Train will pack em' in, on the East Coast of Florida, when the same territory hasn't seen a passenger train since 1968? It's important to remember not only have these potential routes not seen trains but they haven't seen passengers. We must fund State and regional rail passenger services, and build toward a goal of High Speed Rail, rather then building High Speed Rail, and building toward a goal of passengers.

Alternatives to Highway's and Airport's, service, frequency, convenience, and comfort, should happen long before the first High Speed Rail ever goes in place.

JacksonvilleTransportation Authority
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Southeastern High Speed Rail Corridors

This is What You Get Jacksonville ! Conclusion.

Yesterdays post just touched the tip of the iceberg of what it means for Jacksonville to become the railroad hub of Florida again. Today we'll add just a few more jobs that will pop-up around town as a result:

We don't need a building, and we need a new and larger convention center, wouldn't that be a win - win situation for our city? Just look at our grand old station, hub of nothing, when it could be the crown jewel of Florida Railroading once again.

Amazing the amount of fresh foods that go on board a train, this isn't your fathers 5 PM flight to Chicago, no, this could be the Dixie Flyer with a full menu and a full and well paid chef's staff.

Now multiply this by every train and crew that goes in and out of the city and it starts to add up fast.

A new cruise terminal at Mayport? Charter Buses full of happy passengers that originate at Jacksonville Union Station, move to the downtown hotels, shop in the central city, and cruise from our beaches. The only missing element is the train.


Needless to say Amtrak, SunRail, Tampa Commuter Rail, and Jacksonville Commuter Rail are going to have to have a place to put those cars that are on lay-over or not in service for a few hours. Security? Clean Industry? Car Cleaners?

When those trains come in from the North they are going to divide into two trains, each using a different route to South Florida. Trains coming in from the South will be combining into a single longer train for the trek North, no other railroad terminal in the United States is better located to lead the nation in train breakdown and makeup movements, including St. Louis, Chicago, New York, or Washington. This spells a host of new transportation jobs working 24/7 switching duties at our terminal.

How many service industries are represented in this photo? Oh and by the way this isn't plastic airplane food either. Who raises those steaks in that dining car? Florida ranchers? Why not? Is that REAL FLORIDA sea salt? Anchor Hocking China? Flowers too? Yeah, and guess which state and wholesale markets lead in THAT industry? (uh, don't look too far).

"Our Restaurants Feature Changing Views", so said the Atlantic Coast Line brochure for tourism to Jacksonville and Florida in the early 1960's. Guess what? THEY STILL DO!
Who are these guys? Private Car Owners? What the? It's one of those if you have to ask, you probably can't afford one. Having a landscaped Private Car Track with full RV Type Services located next to our station (just as in the old days) guarantees us a steady flow of executive visits and charter trains from the NFL Games to the Who's Who of American Business Enterprise.

"Oh look Mildred, there goes the Private Car "Georgia"," just imagine that it is home based here. "Guess who's coming to dinner," indeed!

Did you know it REALLY IS? Along with a number of CSX, FEC, and private business cars hidden all around town. Just imagine if we could host them, board them and cater to them from the columns of that grand old terminal.

This is what a true railroad Terminal will get you Jacksonville. Sanford knows it, Orlando wants it, Tampa is watching, and we are fiddling away without leadership. How many military campaigns were lost by generals that got comfortable thinking they had everything they needed to be invincible? Oh hell Jacksonville, we don't even have a general.

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BRT EVERYONE CAN LOVE!

FINALLY SOME COMMON SENSE

Bus Rapid Transit is on it's way, not the $26 Million Dollar a mile version either, rather a system called Light-Rail-Lite. Please understand that this whole project has been something short of a local war.

Initial route alignment had JTA building a "super-bus" freeway right along Interstate 95 (the main N-S route on the East Coast) from downtown to the Gateway Mall. At Gateway, the BRT line would meet regular city buses for the Northwest side of town. Northwest Jacksonville is by far the most transit dependent segment of the City. Yet NOBODY lives on I-95. So with all the money, concrete, steel and time involved, we were looking at one short leg of a 4 legged - BILLION DOLLAR BUS.

After thousands of articles, here and elsewhere, after explaining our need for rail as our primary trunk system, and BRT as our primary feeder, it would seem the message is finally sinking in. The system now proposed is a much less involved build. No 30 year wait to ride the buses either. Using surface streets - and better yet a main artery that is little used but connects the whole city, JTA has hit on the formula for BRT success. HOV lanes, Lem Turner Road, Shand's hospital and future commuter rail all out of the box on about the same date. Run Jacksonville RUN! Scott, Suraya, Please take a bow.

Here's the news:

JACKSONVILLE DAILY RECORD

11/11/2008
by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer

A vision for the future of Downtown transit including city buses feeding trolley routes to reduce congestion on city streets has moved another step closer to reality.
The Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) and Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) are planning improvements to the local public system and Phase One of the Jacksonville Rapid Transit System has received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. JTA will soon be requesting bids for the design of the improvements.
“It’s an important first step to get this rapid transit system started,” said Scott Clem, director of strategic planning for JTA. “It’s also a step toward having a multi-modal transportation system in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida.”
The JTA plans to have the final design for Phase One by the end of 2009 and complete construction by the end of 2010.
“Our goal is to have this phase and the Jacksonville Regional Transit Center (JRTC) opened at the same time,” said Clem.
The JRTC is planned to be built across the street from the Osborn Center on the north side of the exisitng Skyway terminal. The center will include Greyhound and JTA bus terminals, Skyway access and an Amtrak terminal.
The $15.5 million Phase One project will include dedicated bus lanes along Broad and Jefferson streets, installation of transit signal priority equipment on bus routes and real-time bus schedule information supplied through GPS systems.
Transit signal priority systems utilize equipment on buses and traffic signals that will detect when a bus is at a stop near a traffic signal and, if the light is green, will prolong the green light to allow the bus to get through the intersection. The GPS equipment will provide transit customers with arrival and departure times for buses at each stop.
Phase One moved into the design phase after receiving approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after the project underwent an environmental assessment, which is required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Factors analyzed during the assessment include social, economic, environmental and transportation issues.
Each analyzed factor was then further broken down. The social and economic factors considered included neighborhood/community impacts, cultural resources, economic impacts, environmental justice and property impacts. Environmental factors included air quality, noise and vibration, hazardous material sites, water resources, parks and historical sites.
Traffic, parking, transit operations and ridership and construction impacts were the transportation factors analyzed.
After all factors were reviewed, a finding of no significant impact was submitted to the EPA, reviewed and approved.
Just like the trolleys rolling through Downtown, the Jacksonville Rapid Transit System is moving right along and the next phase of the project is underway.
As the design phase on the Downtown project begins, a public hearing will be held to discuss the North Corridor project. An environmental assessment is being conducted by JTA to determine the type of transportation improvements needed north of Downtown.
The 10.5-mile corridor stretches from Downtown along Boulevard Street to Gateway Mall and continues north along Norwood Avenue/Lem Turner Road, ending south of Armsdale Road near I-295.
The first public meeting to discuss the project was held Monday. Another public meeting will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 at Florida Community College at Jacksonville North Campus in the room C-126 auditorium. The public meetings have helped JTA find out what the public thinks about the planned improvements.
“We’ve had a mixed response to the rapid transit system project,” said Suraya Teeple, JTA transportation planning manager. “Some people are concerned that some of the connections won’t be made, but this is the first phase, so right now we are working on educating the public on what they can expect from the new system.”

Transit

THEY'RE AT IT AGAIN IN HIGHWAY LAND

"The Dirty Little Coward That Shot Mr. Howard, Laid Poor Jessie James In His Grave"

Okay, this isn't about Jessie James, but it might as well be. In this case "Jessie" is the Robin Hood of Oklahoma City (as he once was) and those cowards? The same back shooters that have been lurking in the saloon slime and road tar since 1930. This is a long story, but I'm going to post it so all can see the dangers to our own Union Terminal here in Jacksonville. I want you to see how the highway lobby thinks and works in conjunction with State DOT's. OPEN YOUR EYES JACKSONVILLE, this is our fight too.

"A beautiful, centralized, multi-modal transportation hub, just South of Downtown OKC, got in the way, go figure?"

Looks like a dandy place to splat down a 10 lane freeway doesn't it?

THE FIGHT TO SAVE OKC UNION STATION MOVES AHEAD: BALANCED TRANSPORT PROPONENTS WIN STUNNING VICTORY BEFORE THE FEDERAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

Board rules railroad company falsified Crosstown Expressway documents Wednesday, June 18, 2008 OKLAHOMA GAZETTE By Ben Fenwick

On Aug. 30, 2005, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad signed an agreement with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation that ODOT, at taxpayer’s expense, would haul lumber in trucks for the Mid-States Wholesale Lumber Co., 101 S.E. Fourth. The estimated cost was $22,800.
“FALSE” MEANING “PREMATURE SPECULATION”
The reason? BNSF was to abandon nearly three miles of track so that ODOT could build the new Crosstown Expressway, also known as the Interstate 40 Relocation Project, through a section of that rail line — and, incidentally, wipe out the rail yard for Oklahoma City’s Union Station.
However, when BNSF officials filed for permission with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, they told a different story. The paperwork the company filed to give the track to ODOT claimed it had not been used for the previous two years — about 23 days after the railroad agreed to let trucks instead of trains haul the lumber.
When metro-area activists opposed to the Crosstown project presented the discrepancy to the board, the board ruled that BNSF falsified its application and threw out the paperwork.
“This means that its certification in September 2005 was false or misleading. As a result, we will reopen the January 2007 decision and reject BNSF’s notice of exemption as void,” the board ruled this month.
State transportation officials said the ruling might stop some construction on the Crosstown — for now.
“We are still pretty confident they will work it out,” said ODOT spokeswoman Brenda Perry. “We are not directly involved, but it affects us.”
A spokesman for BNSF refused an interview, instead issuing a statement prepared by the company.
“The ‘false or misleading information’ referenced in the STB decision dated June 3, 2008, was the result of a technicality that resulted in BNSF retaining and using less than 100 feet (the length of about one rail car) at the eastern end of this trackage near Shields Boulevard to serve a large shipper located nearby,” the release said.
Opponents to the Crosstown have a different view: The BNSF decision is proof that Oklahomans are being misled about the whole project, including its cost, its purpose and its would-be benefits for the city. With gas projected at $5 a gallon and beyond, does Oklahoma City need another highway, or a citywide commuter rail?
“Are they going to build a 10-lane highway across a rail line that is part of the national rail system and has jurisdiction?” asked Norman attorney Micheal Salem, who is working on the case. “Should ODOT continue to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to build a highway for which they have no authority, over the land that they’ve chosen already? Can they build a highway over an existing railroad without the authority of the federal government to do that?”
“FALSE” MEANING
For Common Cause community activist Edwin Kessler, a retired meteorologist who filed the protest, the very first action of the Crosstown Expressway was a deliberate attempt to mislead Oklahomans.
“There have been some lines cut and there is a controversy about that indicated in the STB ruling,” Kessler said. “It means they are not authorized to abandon the line, and if they want to abandon it, they will have to reapply.”
To others on the opposition, Kessler’s work — which includes photographing BNSF’s actions on-site, developing the legal angles and other behind-the-scenes actions — the victory before the STB is a stunning upset.
“He accomplished a most significant task,” said Washington, D.C., attorney Fritz Kahn, who represented Common Cause to the board. “To get the STB to reopen a proceeding almost never happens. Moreover, to get the STB to rule against one of the Class I railroads as it did in ruling against Burlington Northern is something quite extraordinary.”
In its ruling, the board noted Kessler’s work as instrumental to the outcome of the case, and gave a scathing rebuke to BNSF, saying the company appeared to obfuscate the truth about the rail usage and the Crosstown construction.
“BNSF’s own evidence shows that it operated over a portion of the line during the (two)-year period prior to Sept. 23, 2005, confirming Mr. Kessler’s allegation that BNSF’s certification in its notice (that no local traffic had moved over the line for at least (two) years prior to the filing date) was false or misleading,” the board stated in its ruling. “Furthermore, despite multiple opportunities, BNSF has failed to provide an adequate explanation for the 2005 letters, in which BNSF seems to indicate that it provided rail service to Mid-States via the line within the (two)-year period prior to Sept. 23, 2005.”
Because of the misleading information, the board stated, it is reopening the proceedings. BNSF will have to reapply. This filing will be more involved, with proceedings on why removing the rail line is in the public’s interest.
“First of all, one of the questions that will have to be answered in additional proceedings, is what will be the purpose of rail use in Oklahoma City — that will be part of the ‘public interest, convenience and necessity’ that will be decided in a new abandonment proceeding,” Salem said.
Kahn agreed that BNSF’s task is likely to be widened considerably.
“The environmental-assessment report will be much more complex than BNSF had to file with this notice,” Kahn said. “The environment process will give citizens who are not shippers but have an interest in that line an opportunity to come in and testify. Before they file either a petition or an application, they have to consult with the specified Oklahoma and federal agencies to get their reaction on the environmental and historic effects on the proposed abandonment.”
‘PREMATURE’ SPECULATION
Among those watching it closely will be Tom Elmore, executive director of North American Transportation Institute, whose work against the Crosstown and for light-rail contributed to the recent decision. Former Oklahoma City U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook shepherded funding for the Crosstown project through Congress in 2004. The federal funding favored many of Istook’s political donors, who received contracts for the highway. Istook, however, did the opposite for political donors in Utah, Elmore said, earmarking funding for a light-rail and commuter rail system that serves an Air Force logistics base considered to be a competitor to Tinker Air Force Base.
“Istook provided the startup funding for commuter trains between Provo and Ogden linked to Hill Air Force Base,” Elmore said. “They will soon have 60 commuter trains a day between those communities in full operation. It is such a high-tech corridor that the trains don’t even have to whistle at crossings — the crossings have their own whistles. Hill is now the only air logistics center in the nation with oil-crisis-proof workforce mobility.”
But not Oklahoma, he said.
“The same guy, while he was funding that, was funding the Crosstown so Union Station would be destroyed — and don’t ever believe that he had anything other than that in mind,” Elmore said.
Istook did not return calls for comment.
Union Station — its rail yard slated for destruction because it lies in the path of the proposed Crosstown — was once the center of a massive commuter rail system in Oklahoma City that provided passenger service to Tinker, Norman, Edmond, Bethany and other surrounding communities. The easements and even lines for these still exist, but Elmore said the rail hub at Union Station will be wiped out by the Crosstown if it is allowed to proceed. However, ODOT’s Perry said a single rail line will be brought into Union Station should commuters wish to use it as a rail stop.
But now, Elmore said, there is a chance to reverse the destruction of the Union Station rail yard. Elmore said the ruling concerning the rail line has an effect similar to that of the movement to save the Walnut Avenue Bridge. That bridge, from Deep Deuce to Bricktown, was slated for destruction until civic activists opposed it in hearings at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Now, the bridge is considered a vital link between new, upscale loft apartments and Bricktown’s establishments.
“Remember the Walnut Bridge? We didn’t fight it before the council, we didn’t fight it before the planning commission — we took it to the Corporation Commission because that’s where the fight was,” Elmore said. “Well, same thing here. We quit arguing with them, we took it to the STB, because that’s where the fight was, and that is where the fight’s been won.”
As for BNSF, the company’s release states that it intends to continue seeking to destroy the rail line in question so the Crosstown can go through.
“BNSF will be following up with the Surface Transportation Board to ensure the highway project’s objectives are met,” the company wrote. “BNSF emphasizes that service to area shippers has been and will continue to be uninterrupted by this or any subsequent trackage removal activity associated with the I-40 relocation project.”
John Bowman, ODOT Crosstown development engineer, said the ruling affects little work so far.
“There isn’t any work that is ongoing at the moment that is really predicated on that hearing,” Bowman said. “We have a number of projects ongoing and we are working with those contractors. … We are working at the east end, and the west end and those projects are out of the way.”
Might there be a way to bypass the rail yard, or perhaps bridge it, so the rail hub for Union Station is still usable? Bowman said ODOT will wait and see if it has to.
“I think it would be premature to speculate on that at this point in time until we see what the ruling will be,” he said. —Ben Fenwick
From Tulsa city council, 2008/06/27

Doctors of Transportology in Jacksonville?

An adaptation of a 1948 story by L. Beebe

Every now and then this blog ventures into a discussion of some phase of the transportation business because (a) he is a transit dependent child and has lived in nothing but shebangs, bus benches , and hobo jungles, of one degree of stateliness or another for the past quarter century; (b) because almost everyone likes to read about streetcars, buses and trains; and (c) it is probably the most fascinating single business in the world from the inside, and transportation men probably know more about human beings by the time they are junior hostlers and dispatchers than the most learned psychologists in Vienna when they are at the top of the professoring business. Everything happens in transportation, and now and then a play- wright or a novelist who recognizes them as an unrestricted hunting ground and one with no season makes a fortune out of his discovery.

There isn't, however, much that one can write about transportation that makes the State and Municipal Agency's happy unless it is unmitigated goose-grease and undiscriminating flattery. An individual passenger manager can abide reading that his own conveyance is the quintessence of lux, is patronized solely by the old nobility, or in the case of rail, that its food service make Voisin in Paris look like a hamburger joint. But remark that anyone Else's passenger system is comparable to this degree of elegance, and he is sore as a leading lady whose name has been spelled wrong in the reviews of her opening. A few months ago I remarked that I , as I am now, in favor of mandatory jail sentences by Federal statute for transit managers who charge from a dollar up, or indeed anything extra, for a single transfer, restroom, coffee or extra bag, and since that time this blogger has spent most of his time in foxholes avoiding angry missionaries from the State and City who want to sell him on the proposition that charging for restrooms or coffee or transfers or baggage, a preposterous and tactless larceny on the face of it, is practically something to be listed as an improvement in the service.

Pish and nonsense. Transit companies have gotten away with so much murder during the past few years of easy money and immigration to cities that in many cases they have come to regard the passenger or commuter as a boob or zany, who is no better than a victim type and fit only for insult and pillage. The time may be at hand when they will think differently. Certainly any reasonable intelligence hopes so.



Probably the trouble with all too many Transportation Companies or Agencies is that they are managed and staffed by young men. It should be perfectly obvious that no man is fit for an executive position in any transit operation, let alone one which requires his coming in actual contact with the passengers, until he is fifty. By that time he has possibly acquired sense and probably manners. It may have been a crazy baboon with a credit manager's intelligence or it may have been a recent graduate from the UNF College of Transportation and Logistics, but it was certainly no Transportation Manager of mature judgment or wide experience who dreamed up such an insult to his passengers as charging them for our Skyway, or transfers or baggage. It is conceivable that some Agencies, crazed beyond the ordinary with rapacity, would like to charge extra for the reclining seats and run a separate account for the use of the restrooms (if any) and fuel, but these aren't generally considered reasonable by the standard American Transportation code of ethics, although they may be at any time.



The art of running a deluxe transportation service has almost disappeared in the United States, and it is because government ownership, knowing that no outrage against decency is beyond the capacity of an ambitious young man anxious to get ahead, turned their properties and especially their front desks over to the juveniles. These shiftless, undressed, and uncourtly little juniors, to whom a named passenger train with its French menu is a mystery and who do not even own, let alone wear, proper morning clothes, have taken over responsible positions once held by experts and veterans in whose generation of manners and graciousness no carrier could dream of a manager's job at a Railroad Street bus garage until he had served behind stairs for at least forty years in the more distinguished trains of Jacksonville's old Seaboard, Atlantic Coast Line, Florida East Coast, Southern, Trailways or Greyhound lines. When he could speak six languages flawlessly, could identify a hundred different Rhine wines by reference only to the aroma of the cork, and knew every traveling person of consequence in the United States and England by sight and that instanter, he was entrusted with a probationary job as a night assistant passenger conductor. Nowadays the graduate of a school of transportation management considers himself a failure if he isn't resident managing director the week he has learned that streetcars and potato chip trucks aren't the same vehicles. The manager of one of Florida's highest ranking transit properties, while he may be an excellent purchasing agent or even a personnel manager, is still in his early thirties, and it is the opinion of most of the ridership in his august property that he should be put away out of sight for another twenty-five years.

HAVE CORRINE BROWN AND FDOT BYPASSED JACKSONVILLE ON AMTRAK?

One of the Last of the old school streamliners was the City of Miami, a often full train left out of the Amtrak System between Miami-Jax-Birmingham-Memphis-Chicago/St. Louis. Here we see her pulling away from us at speed on a cold Jacksonville morning. Symbolic? I hope not.

I Want To Know Where Jacksonville Terminal Station Fits Into This Plan!

By LINDSAY PETERSON
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - As passengers settle into the wide, reclining seats, the train pulls out of Union Station at the edge of downtown Tampa. After rolling through Ybor City, the silver locomotive picks up speed, whizzing past Brandon subdivisions and Plant City farms until it rolls into Lakeland 40 minutes later. The next stop is Kissimmee, 16 miles from Disney World, then downtown Orlando.

This isn't someone's vision of the kind of rail service they'd like to see. It happens every day on the Silver Star, an Amtrak train that stops in a dozen cities across Florida. There's one problem: You might not get back home the same day you leave, because Amtrak runs so few trains to these cities. But state and federal lawmakers want to change that. They're working with Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation to create a service that commuters can use.

The discussion began last month, when the state's plan to create a commuter rail system in Orlando stumbled in the Legislature. Lawmakers began looking for other ways to bring more passenger rail service to the state - especially after supporters of the Orlando plan said that its failure would doom efforts to bring commuter rail to Tampa.

Weeks earlier, Amtrak officials had visited Florida to talk about its efforts to run more trains on its established routes. Amtrak probably can't take the place of the multiple-stop system planned for Orlando, but it could add trains to its routes connecting Tampa, Lakeland, and several cities in the Orlando area and South Florida. It uses the same tracks that officials had planned to use for the Orlando system and would share several stations along the way.

Several lawmakers and state Department of Transportation officials met with Amtrak representatives in Tallahassee this month. Amtrak Vice President Anne Witt told the group that the agency had no interest in running commuter trains, but it could link several cities' commuter and light rail systems.

"It's all very preliminary," said state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, "but I think people got very excited thinking about what's possible."

With gas topping $4 per gallon, people are ready to give up their cars, said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, who recently voted with the majority in the House to reauthorize Amtrak for the first time since 1997. The measure included $2.5 billion for improvements to its intercity routes across the country.

"I see a great potential for Amtrak to take off in Florida," she said.
Already, dozens of people take the Silver Star out of Tampa every day - retirees, college students, families traveling to Orlando, Miami and other cities along the train's East Coast route to Boston.

Michael Durham, 22, of Altamonte Springs, rode the train from Orlando to Tampa on Wednesday to meet his family vacationing in Indian Rocks Beach. The train was running three hours late because of work on the tracks north of Orlando. "Other than that, it wasn't bad. It was cheap," he said. A round trip between Orlando and Tampa costs $18. If there were more trains, "I'd probably use it to come over here to see my friend on the weekend. It'd be great for that."

The Cost Of Expansion
About 22,000 commuters leave Polk County every day to work in the Tampa or Orlando areas, according to the Central Florida Development Council, a group that promotes business in Polk County. About 7,000 travel from the Tampa area into Polk.

As things are now, they wouldn't all be able to take the train. "The trick is, how do you get from the train station to where you want to go?" marketing manager Jim DeGennaro said.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and others with the new Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority are working on that part of the problem in Tampa, mapping out a light-rail system linking downtown with the West Shore area, Tampa International Airport and the University of South Florida.

"I'm very optimistic," said Dockery, who helped organize last week's meeting with Amtrak.

But expanding Amtrak service in Florida won't be easy. It means negotiating agreements with the company that owns most of the state's freight rail lines, CSX Transportation. The Jacksonville-based freight company has said it doesn't want more passenger trains on that line between Tampa and Orlando, not without financial help from the government to expand the line's capacity.

The state took a different approach in its effort to bring commuter rail to the Orlando area. About two years ago, it began negotiations with CSX to buy 61 miles of track between DeLand and Poinciana. The deal ended up with a $649 million price tag, which included the cost of helping CSX expand a parallel set of tracks into a hub it plans to build in Winter Haven.

Several state lawmakers questioned why it cost so much to buy just 61 miles of railroad tracks. Dockery also worried about the additional freight trains that would come through Lakeland on their way to and from the Winter Haven hub.

What finally killed the deal in the Legislature, at least for this year, was a CSX demand that the state take liability for any accident involving a passenger train, even an accident caused by a CSX freight train on the tracks.

As lawmakers who favored the deal began working to revive it for next year, Dockery and state Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, began talking to Amtrak.

The Amtrak Alternative
It's not the first time state officials turned to Amtrak as an alternative. In 2000, the DOT put together an intercity rail plan using Amtrak instead of a high-priced proposal for statewide high-speed rail.

The high-speed system would have connected Tampa and Orlando first, using the state-owned right-of-way along Interstate 4. Promoted by Dockery's husband, C.C. "Doc" Dockery, the effort ultimately failed in a statewide referendum.

The state's 2000 Amtrak plan also named the Tampa-Orlando route as one of the busiest, projecting that by 2010, more than 16 million people per year would travel the 90 miles between the two cities. It estimated that more than 15 million per year would travel the 230 miles between Orlando and Miami.

"I don't know why we abandoned that plan," Paula Dockery said. DOT spokesman Dick Kane said the plan had not been abandoned but that Amtrak doesn't typically operate commuter systems like the one Florida envisions in the Orlando area. Amtrak "will definitely be part of the study parameters" as the state develops its intercity rail plan, Kane said.The advantage of working through Amtrak is that federal law gives it the right to use existing freight lines, as long as its use doesn't interfere with freight train traffic.

It might not be as expensive as buying the lines, but increasing the number of Amtrak trains connecting Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville will still cost money, Dockery said. It may require building a set of tracks next to the existing ones, which could cost tens of millions of dollars.

A possible source of money emerged this month when Congress reauthorized Amtrak. "We'll need to fight for the money through the appropriations bill," Castor said. "But we have people who believe in rail in the appropriations committee."

The bill also includes money to study the restoration of the Sunset Limited, which used to run through Florida to New Orleans but was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina.

A Liability Study
Castor said that if the bill gets final approval, Florida will have a good shot at a grant because one of its House members from Jacksonville, Corrine Brown, a Democrat, is head of the Transportation Committee's subcommittee on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials.

Brown wants to see more Amtrak service in Florida, she said, but her first choice of routes is the one between Miami and Orlando because of tourist travel between the two places. Also, she said, Florida stands a better chance of getting federal money if it gets commuter rail going in Orlando.

"The state needs to show its commitment," Brown said.

Castor is trying to help solve the liability hang-up, she said. She and three other House members have asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to study the liability agreements of all passenger rail agreements between government agencies and freight rail companies. One of the three is U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Another state, Massachusetts, is in a battle with CSX over its demand for liability protection in a track purchase deal similar to Florida's. Amtrak has given CSX liability protection in several of its contracts with the freight carrier and has had to pay millions to resolve liability cases.

The request asks the GAO to review court cases involving the type of liability agreement CSX wants and what the agreements cost states and other rail agencies, such as Amtrak.

It also asks that the review be completed by Dec. 9, before Florida's next legislative session.

Union Station is it Transportation Center or Social Darwinism?

A REAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER OR SOCIAL DARWINISM IN JACKSONVILLE

Belgian Railways are hard at work with passenger expansion programs. One has to wonder how a tiny country-state in the European Union can do such things and mighty Uncle Sam and his lovely daughter Florida can't. Miami, Tampa and Orlando are also working on true one-stop centers for Transportation. Ocala's is up and running, and Miami's will share airport-rail-metro-bus all in one place, amazing foresight. We keep talking about Jacksonville Transportation Center, yet our plans are scattering it all over LaVilla. Thus it will not be a "Center" in the classic sense, more like a Transportation Neighborhood. In a still somewhat parochial city like Jacksonville, the bait or carrot, seems to be "Amtrak". We'll move Amtrak back to the old station, and send all of the JTA buses (the stick) and Monorail down there to get those unfortunate passengers out. Meanwhile, Greyhound, (the big-dog stick) will bite and send it's coaches out of downtown. Thus in one swoop, we move Amtrak from a horrible location to a better position, offer escape, and get the "smelly bus patrons" out of our path. Is this Transit Planning or "social engineering?" We wiped out a prosperous African-American business district and very historic neighborhood for this. Now we have a "moonscape" on the West side of downtown and nothing to show for it. Could it be we WANT to scatter these various passengers and NOT bring them into a true center? Could it be this won't be where right meets left, rich sits with poor, and lions and lambs all converge in peace? Why would a City with millions of ground passengers annually, want to run those dollars away from either the City Core businesses, The grand old Union Station, (which contains acres of space for malls and shops) or a centralized tourism generator? Suspect - YOU BET! Watch this Darwinism carefully to see if the powers that be keep the useless "Convention Center" in place until the rail and bus stations are up and running. Just long enough to FORCE us to scatter out the masses of "undesirables", then suddenly the whole convention show will leap out for the downtown or the stadium district. Watch this closely, as our hypocrisy seems to know no end. Apocalyptic planning on a grand scale. Someone prove me wrong please! I would hate for these foriegn guests label us the City that is Minorität frei. It would appear that the Belgians don't have these problems. Perhaps, they just like everybody to come together, smile on their brother and love one another right now..." Antwerpen Central (pictured) and the North-South Junction projects are part of the Brussels-Amsterdam improvement program.