NATIONAL NEWS
AP: Freight Train Industry to Miss Safety Deadline
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/freight-train-industry-miss-safety-deadline-23354167
Only one-fifth of its track will be equipped with mandatory safety technology to prevent the most catastrophic kinds of collisions and derailments by the deadline set by Congress, the freight railroad industry said Wednesday.
The Hill: DOT chief touts Atlanta Beltline project
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx touted a proposed multi-use transportation project in Atlanta known as the Beltline after touring part of the planned development Wednesday.
STATE NEWS
New York Times: After 2 Years, M.T.A. and Union Close In on a New Contract
More than two years after its contract expired, the union representing New York City’s subway and bus workers is involved in intense negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and appears on the cusp of reaching a new contract, union and government officials said Wednesday.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: U.S. Transportation Sec. Foxx tours Atlanta projects Wednesday
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/us-transportation-sec-foxx-to-tour-atlanta-project/nfbWT/
Amid a nationwide tour to promote transportation investment, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx met with Atlanta leaders Wednesday to visit the city’s flashiest federally funded transit projects: the Atlanta Streetcar and Atlanta Beltline.
Crain’s New York Business: Port Authority urged to offer free Wi-Fi in airports
The Port Authority and the wireless company that provides Wi-Fi to the region’s airports are under pressure from city officials to offer the service for free.
DNAinfo New York: MTA Awards More Than $625M in East Side Access Project Contracts
The MTA awarded two contracts worth $627.79 million as part of the East Side Access project bringing the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal.
The Mercury News: Philly transit riders save $12,000 a year in transportation costs, report says
A new public transportation report finds that commuters in the Philadelphia region save $12,000 a year if they use public transit.
Fresno Bee: California appeals court denies petition, clears way for high-speed rail trial
A state appeals court rejected a petition by the California High-Speed Rail Authority, potentially clearing the tracks for a trial over whether the agency's controversial and ambitious bullet-train plan can comply with state law.
New York Times: Washington Retail District’s Future Rides on Streetcars
The streetcars stopped running in 1949, replaced by buses. In the wake of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the 1968 riots devastated the commercial corridor. Only in recent years has revitalization occurred and gentrification taken hold.
POLITICO MORNING TRANSPORTATION
By Kevin Robillard | 4/17/14 5:47 AM EDT
Featuring Kathryn Wolfe
FOXX GOES RED, GOP DOESN’T FOLLOW: After spending two days on the bus with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Kathy has a takeaway: While Foxx is spending a lot of time in Red America, GOP politicians aren’t spending a lot of time with him. “Speaking to POLITICO on board the bus traveling from Dayton to Cincinnati, Foxx acknowledged that the tour is purposefully targeting heartland and red states. ‘We’re going into places where you would expect the sell to be difficult,’ Foxx said. ‘But in reality, there are projects in all parts of red states and blue states across America that folks want to get done.’ … At his stops in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, local media turned out with their cameras primed for the evening news. It’s perhaps not surprising that the constituency most noticeably absent so far has been Republican politicians.” Foxx did say he planned on speaking to Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich.
—But the traditionally Republican business constituency was there to support Foxx. UPS CEO Scott Davis told Kathy his company supports a gas tax hike. “Part of the reason for this bus tour I think is to get the public, all of us, to speak out. We’ve got to do it; we’ve got to go out and invest our time trying to educate Congress,” he said. “As you know, it’s not easy.” http://politico.pro/1hNbZfs
—Today, Foxx is set to hit Jackson, Miss. and Shreveport, La.
SENATORS LOOK AT DELPHI: Four key senators on the Commerce Committee — Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller, ranking member John Thune, Claire McCaskill and Dean Heller — sent a letter to Delphi asking for information about the decision not to implement a fix to the faulty ignition switch on GM vehicles in 2005 and why a new part number wasn't assigned to the ignition switch following a 2006 design change. Here’s the letter: http://politico.pro/QeZCNF
—Sen. Richard Blumenthal, meanwhile, blasted GM for seeking bankruptcy protection from lawsuits related to some incidents linked to the faulty ignition lock. “GM’s recent actions in litigation demonstrate clearly its intent to use the bankruptcy process to prevent many victims and their families from obtaining relief for the harms they have suffered," Blumenthal said. "Whatever GM’s lawyers may argue, the judges in these cases should deny GM this shield. Regardless of these legal battles, the company should simply do right by these victims and establish a compensation fund that will make them whole.”
—Meanwhile, auto safety advocates Clarence Ditlow and Joan Claybrook wrote to GM CEO Mary Barra pointing out the automaker had rejected a safer ignition lock in favor of a cheaper part. “Were you briefed on these internal General Motors documents prior to your testimony before Congress?” the duo wrote. “Since they were submitted to Congress before you testified, surely your engineering staff should have told you about the shocking contents of these documents. They paint a tragic picture of the cost culture and cover up at General Motors. The conclusion we draw from examining the two different designs of the ignition switches under consideration in 2001 is that General Motors picked a smaller and cheaper ignition switch that cost consumers their lives and saved General Motors money.” http://politico.pro/1gJ20G6
DEMS PROBE GOP INTERFERENCE IN UAW ELECTION: House Education and Labor Committee ranking member George Miller and Rep. John Tierney are investigating whether Republican politicians in Tennessee violated federal law by interfering in the UAW's attempt to unionize a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. "We respectfully request information about whether any Tennessee state officials directly or indirectly conditioned, or threatened to condition, state aid to Volkswagen (VW) on the outcome of the efforts to establish a union and/or works council at the Chattanooga plant," the duo wrote to Tennesee Gov. Bill Haslam. The letter requests the state turn over communications between state officials, the company and third parties regarding state aid for a proposed plant expansion and the union drive. http://1.usa.gov/1nrof4x
GOOD MORNING; IT’S THURSDAY, APRIL 17. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports, where 490 years ago today the Italian explorer Giovanni Verrazano first sailed into New York Bay. I’m Kevin Robillard, your guest Morning Transportation host. E-mail me at krobillard@politico.com. Find me on the Twitter machines @PoliticoKevin.
“PT boat on the way to Havana…” http://youtu.be/M6UlXZxch-A
ONLY 20 PERCENT OF RAILROADS WILL MEET PTC DEADLINE: The Association of American Railroads now estimates a mere 20 percent of the nation’s freight network will be equipped with positive train control by the 2015 deadline. That’s down from a previous estimate of 40 percent. “Everyone in the industry is greatly frustrated at the inability to move forward and do what we need to do to advance PTC installation,” said Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger. “It’s been two steps forward, three steps back for months and we simply don’t have the certainty we need to move ahead and get PTC tested, fully functioning, certified and ready to go.” The AAR blames the delay on a “year-long moratorium on installing 20,000 communication antennas imposed by the” FCC. Here’s the new AAR report: http://bit.ly/1qMmIYY
DRONES ARE THE NEW CLIMATE CHANGE BILLS — Sen. Joe Manchin famously shot a copy of a climate change bill in an election ad a few years back. Borrowing a page from Manchin’s book, Montana State Sen. Matt Rosendale, who is on the NRCC’s radar, shoots down a “government drone” in an ad he released Tuesday. http://youtu.be/dOoXJI4vBns
PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT, MR. SECRETARY — Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s new memoir, “A Fighting Chance,” doesn’t include much transportation policy talk. But it does include this anecdote of her squabbling with former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: “Then they got into the back seat of an SUV that was driven by a security detail. Warren put her seatbelt on; Geithner didn’t. ‘Like a bossy third-grade teacher, I looked at him and said, ‘Put on your seat belt, Mr. Secretary,’’ Warren writes. ‘Like a naughty kid, he looked back and said, ‘I don’t have to.’’ They continued arguing the point, and Warren thinks she raised her voice. ‘He didn’t put on his seat belt all the way to the restaurant,’ she writes. On the way back, after debating the role of government in the financial markets, he did put on his seat belt.” Boston Globe: http://b.globe.com/Qep9GJ Here’s a screenshot of the full exchange: http://bit.ly/Rq6ecW
INFLUENCE THEFT: LYFT ROLLS INTO D.C. – Influencemeister Byron Tau reports: “Ride-sharing startup Lyft has hired its first lobbyists, posting work with Jochum Shore & Trossevin and TwinLogic Strategies. Lobbying records show both firms will advocate for ‘the removal of barriers and anticompetitive activities that inhibit ride sharing.’ Like Uber, the company has faced issues with municipal and regional transit authorities and taxi commissions, and on Wednesday Ohio’s Department of Insurance issued a consumer alert about coverage gaps for drivers and passengers of ride-sharing companies. Lyft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.”
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)
—Metro’s CFO and the director of the Silver Line project at the MWAA are both resigning. WaPo: http://wapo.st/1j0Pij1
—Passenger rail advocates are worrying a possible FRA mandate to have two crew members. Next City: http://bit.ly/1eLoR5w
—Southwest Airlines plans to keep the size of its fleet frozen through 2015. Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/1eAIxbV
—An MBTA bus inspector was arrested on drug and prostitution charges while on duty. Boston Globe: http://b.globe.com/1jLOSQL
—BuzzFeed goes long on the state of the cruise industry: http://bzfd.it/1hL3wZ6
—”Why high oil prices are actually good for airlines.” AP: http://bit.ly/1jLOmlT
—Motherboard has FOIA’d every drone mission the FBI admits to flying: http://bit.ly/1h4ZZQp
—New York’s MTA has hired the NJ Transit rail chief who was ousted following Hurricane Sandy flooding. The Bergen Record: http://bit.ly/QpohyC
—L.A. transportation officials are dropping plans for a second entrance to a downtown subway station because the Tribune company may develop the property. L.A. Times: http://lat.ms/1j3xJyP
-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the best leads in the underwater search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will be gone in about a week. Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1m8H2nT
THE DAY AHEAD: All day — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx continues his bus tour with stops in Shreveport, La. and Jackson, Miss.
8 a.m. — The Coast Guard holds a meeting on “task statement 80 concerning crew training requirements onboard vessels subject to the International Code of Safety for ships using gases or low flash-point fuels.” The Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies. 692 Maritime Blvd., Room A129, Linthicum Heights, Md.
8:30 a.m. — The FAA “holds a meeting of the Research, Engineering And Development Advisory Committee to provide guidance for FAA's research and development investments in the areas of air traffic services, airports, aircraft safety, human factors and environment and energy.” The FAA, 10th Floor, Round Room, 800 Independence Ave. SW.
THE COUNTDOWN: MAP-21 expires and DOT funding runs out in 167 days. FAA policy is up in 532 days. The mid-term elections are in 201 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 936 days.
CABOOSE – Today’s Darwin Awards nominee is a young man who tried to take a selfie while standing next to a speeding train. The conductor ended up kicking him in the head. http://youtu.be/Dy8Yt-P614w
Stories from POLITICO Pro
Foxx takes the wheel in grass-roots push for infrastructure fix
Foxx takes the wheel in grass-roots push for infrastructure fix back
By Kathryn A. Wolfe | 4/16/14 5:50 PM EDT
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has hit the road this week to try to drum up support for a new transportation bill, mostly targeting red states where federal spending can be a political dirty word.
By the end of his eight-state bus tour, Foxx will have back-slapped and speechified his way through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, exhorting voters to persuade their lawmakers to support infrastructure spending.
It’s part of an all-out grass-roots campaign by the administration to ramp up pressure on Congress to figure out a solution to the Highway Trust Fund’s looming insolvency before the walls come crashing down sometime in August.
The message he’s been delivering to red-state constituents so far has been twofold: to highlight the good things that federal transportation spending has brought to their communities by building bridges and rehabilitating highways and to warn about the costs of inaction of letting infrastructure fall apart because of the lack of federal funding.
Speaking to POLITICO on board the bus traveling from Dayton to Cincinnati, Foxx acknowledged that the tour is purposefully targeting heartland and red states.
“We’re going into places where you would expect the sell to be difficult,” Foxx said. “But in reality, there are projects in all parts of red states and blue states across America that folks want to get done.”
Foxx’s itinerary calls for daily stops usually involving at least two or three public events in addition to private events with local elected officials and business leaders.
At his stops in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, local media turned out with their cameras primed for the evening news. It’s perhaps not surprising that the constituency most noticeably absent so far has been Republican politicians.
In Ohio, the state DOT commissioner appeared with him at his first stop, as did mayors and some local Democratic members of Congress. And in Kentucky, the same sorts of figures joined Foxx for press conferences — plus the Democratic governor of the state. Tennessee saw much the same.
When asked whether he expected any Republicans to stand with him at a podium this week, Foxx said only that he had invited officials from both sides of the aisle — governors, members of Congress and local officials.
“As we continue making our way south, we’re going to continue reaching out,” Foxx said. “I’ll be talking to many of them,” including Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich, he said. “Whether I see any of them or not is sort of up to the schedule that we have as well as theirs.”
Despite the one-sided turnout, the level of interest from at least one core Republican constituency — the business sector — has been strong so far in every state, including in Louisville, Kentucky, where Foxx stopped for an off-the-record tour of UPS WorldPort, the package delivery giant’s air hub and enormous sorting facility.
UPS CEO Scott Davis told POLITICO after the tour that he had spoken with Foxx about the thorniest issue confronting lawmakers: what to do about funding.
Davis said that UPS — like other business interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — supports a gas tax hike, particularly since it hasn’t been raised in decades.
“I think that gas taxes should probably be increased; key is that funds go to infrastructure,” he said.
But he also acknowledged that’s a tough sell and that finding a way to keep the program funded is exactly why Foxx’s bus trip is necessary.
“Part of the reason for this bus tour I think is to get the public, all of us, to speak out. We’ve got to do it; we’ve got to go out and invest our time trying to educate Congress,” Davis said. “As you know, it’s not easy.”
And as much as he would like a four- or five-year solution, he said he’s bracing instead for a summer when the best lawmakers can agree on is another one-year fix.
“We have to make some longer-term decisions. Companies have to do that; government has to do that. It’s not easy, but we have to do it,” Davis said.
Later that day in Nashville, Foxx appeared with two local businessmen at a 50-year-old bridge that had to be closed three times in a year because chunks of concrete were falling from its span. They echoed the same concerns as UPS.
Dave Wright, owner of a construction company and a former chairman of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, said its impossible to understate the damage for deeply red Tennessee if the Highway Trust Fund spending lapsed, particularly for the 32,000 people employed by the construction industry there.
He said 62 percent of every dollar that Tennessee’s DOT spends comes from federal money.
“It’s pretty obvious how devastating it’ll be to those 32,000 employees if come August the bill is not reauthorized,” Wright said. “I would encourage and ask every one of you to take a few moments and to reflect upon the transportation dollars that you spend at the gas pump and remember that there’s such a thing as good government spending.”
Dave Manning, president of trucking companies TCW and Tennessee Express, said the trucking industry also supports a gas tax increase, indexed to inflation.
“The trucking industry fully supports this funding approach and is ready willing and able to pay our share of the increased costs,” Manning said.
But it remains to be seen whether voters — and their Republican lawmakers in Congress — will actually hear that message from Foxx’s eight-state tour loudly enough to enable Washington to overcome its deadlock and pass a multiyear transportation bill by the end of August.
But Foxx isn’t giving up hope.
“I think as much difficulty as the country’s had coalescing around a single strategy for infrastructure investment, on a bipartisan basis there’s support for figuring it out,” Foxx said. “It’s just that we’ve got to get a big national nudge to get to ‘yes,’ and we’ve got to do it in a hurry.”back