With less than two months to go, the committee for the 2024 Commuter Rail Summit met this week to advance the planning that will make for a memorable experience in Boston October 14 – 16.

The Summit begins in South Station Monday evening, October 14, with a champagne toast (courtesy of Icomera) followed by an unforgettable excursion and dinner experience on the Cape Cod Railway (sponsored by Hatch and Tracsis).

Programming kicks off Tuesday morning with an official welcome from the MBTA and a full day of panels and fireside chats. Wrapping up the day, with the generous support of Keolis Commuter Services, Tuesday’s cocktail reception and awards dinner promises to be an elegant and inspiring evening as the industry celebrates this year’s Champions of Commuter Rail.

Wednesday will see a half day of programming followed by a choice of two (optional) technical tours, and Thursday is reserved for golf. The “Golf for a Cause” team of Tom Austin (Railhead) and Gary Wagner (Amsted Rail) will ensure that everyone has a rewarding day on the golf course October 17 while supporting student registrations at the Summit.

Program moderators and session coordinators continue refining the Summit program, with updates on sessions and speakers posted regularly to the Summit webpage. Tour details, as well, are being refined to maximize attendees’ exposure to all that the MBTA has to offer.

Ryan Coholan, Mike Muller, Mike Rooks, Paula Fallon and the entire team at MBTA are enthusiastic hosts, and are joined on the planning committee by Keolis Commuter Services’ Sheri Warrington and Alana Westwater. Together, they are excited to share with the industry the innovations that they are delivering for Boston.

Early-bird rates will expire and registration will open to non-members on September 3.

If you missed the Federal Railroad Administration’s Program Delivery Workshop last month, the FRA has posted its materials online.

The Program Delivery Workshop was billed as an event to allow FRA to foster workforce development and collaboration, continue to build a learning culture within today’s rail industry, and support FRA’s Office of Railroad Development's (RRD) mission of “Partnering to Advance Effective Rail Investments.”

IT’S NOT JUST THE HEAT:
WHAT HAPPENED TO DERAIL TRAVEL THIS SUMMER

Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner asserts, “It can’t be only the heat.” But speculation continues as to why travelers on the Northeast Corridor have been plagued this summer with widespread delays, cancellations, and air conditioning outages. A combination excessive heat, aging infrastructure, years of neglect, and problematic spending priorities have created a perfect storm.

The recipient of historic levels of federal funding under the Biden administration, Amtrak-owned infrastructure does not yet reflect the improvements promised in their pleas to federal benefactors. And in the absence of results, spending on anything other than long-neglected infrastructure has made Amtrak a lightning rod for criticism. Included among these expenses is a property in Wilmington, DE, that Amtrak purchased during the pandemic for above market value; the office building remains under-utilized and mostly empty, according to reports. Amtrak has recently spent several hundreds of millions of dollars acquiring Washington Union Station. And while executive salaries and bonus structure have seen many headlines, Amtrak’s headcount for executives, official and staff assistants is also jaw-dropping: the number has doubled from the 2019, pre-pandemic total.

With Amtrak under scrutiny from New Jersey’s congressional delegation, in late June New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy convened a meeting between Amtrak and New Jersey Transit leaders. Amtrak has questioned if its tracks and New Jersey Transit’s trains are compatible. Meanwhile, NJT officials point to two sets of numbers for performance metrics — a set that officials say include Amtrak-related delays and a set without. By removing the incidents that New Jersey blames on Amtrak, NJT performance looks good — even when trains on the busy route were late or canceled.

In a recent interview, New Jersey Transit CEO Kevin Corbett said the problems seen this summer may be the result of “death from 1,000 cuts” because of aging infrastructure at both New Jersey Transit and Amtrak. Corbett noted that Governor Murphy’s predecessor, Governor Chris Christie, largely neglected mass transit over two terms in office and killed a project to build new infrastructure between New Jersey and New York.

For his part Gardner laments that there have been decades of underfunding at the federal level, and is quoted as saying that “the way to solve many of the [problems] Amtrak faces, including with long-distance equipment, is with adequate, ongoing and assured federal funding for intercity passenger rail service.”

There’s no disputing that Amtrak has been historically underfunded. But so have the nation’s commuter rails, which move hundreds of millions more passengers each year.

Forty-four months into the Biden Administration, Amtrak has received the largest dedicated investment since it was created 50 years ago and has not addressed the recurring failures that impact both Amtrak riders and daily commuters as well.

Commuter railroads do not benefit from dedicated investments that Amtrak enjoys, and are excluded from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Initiative (CRISI) funding, another program that Amtrak can draw from. Railroads like New Jersey Transit rely on Amtrak to put funding awards to use on projects that show immediate benefit to both railroads’ passengers.

“The question is, why hasn’t Amtrak upgraded and why isn’t it using modern technology?” - Michael Bezilla, a historical researcher at Pennsylvania State University, author of a book on the electrification of trains on the Northeast Corridor, via NYT

In a report covering their work together from July through early August, Amtrak and New Jersey Transit said they have “increased examination, inspection, maintenance, and improvement activities” along the Northeast Corridor, but have not been able to find a systemic problem with either the catenaries or the pantographs, though there have been some pieces of the latter breaking, perhaps because of high heat.

Bloomberg published a story in July that blamed “old (variable tension) catenary and supporting components,” and said that the Connect NEC 2037 Plan issued late last year by the Northeast Corridor Commission envisions replacing the (electric) catenary between Washington and New York, but not until 2037.

What is the solution?

White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson says they are working with DOT and Amtrak to see that the billions in funding the administration has delivered to Amtrak gets prioritized to improve performance and reduce delays for the passengers who depend on the Northeast Corridor. Secretary Buttigieg has gotten involved, and New Jersey’s congressional delegation, too, is urging the two railroads to work together and for Amtrak to address the root causes by spending the billions of dollars in federal money at its disposal from the infrastructure law.

But while there is $6 billion for Amtrak to maintain a “state of good repair” and over $20 billion for other infrastructure projects, coming to agreement on prioritizing where that funding gets spent is crucial to eliminating the disruptions to passengers on the Northeast Corridor.

• ‘Train Lovers’ Organize to Support Harris and Walz in Presidential Bid (Bloomberg)

• VRE to add weekend service for the first time (WUSA9)

• Why Amtrak’s System Keeps Breaking Down: It’s 100 Years Old (NY Times)

• 2 California commuter railroads implement zero-emission trains (SmartCitiesDIVE)

• Don’t expect Metrolink to go electric any time soon, officials say (KTLA5)

• MA: Low-income T riders to get break on fares (MassTransit)

• California’s New Electric Train Makes for a Shockingly Better Trip (Fast Company)

• Is the US finally getting all-aboard with electric trains? (MSN News)

• Regulators order UP, Metra to mediation (Trains)

• STB’s Passenger Rail Advisory Committee sets first meeting (Trains)