[RP TownTalk] MARC Cornerstone Plan

Thu Dec 5 18:59:37 UTC 2019

Interesting article Dwight. Gets right to Jonathan's point about the issue
being that CSX is *always* trying to reduce service.

>From the article:

----

"CSX is trying to improve the speed and reliability of its freight service,
and the nighttime trains returning from the ballpark often slowed down the
already slow-moving freight and coal trains the company runs at night, Ms.
Burns said.

"In the long term," it may not be possible for freight trains and commuter
trains to share rail lines in Maryland, she said.

[snip]

A five-year service contract with CSX expired in October. and negotiations
on a new contract are continuing.

The baseball trains were not part of the contract, and Mr. Agro said CSX
recently has "taken the position that anything outside the contract, we're
not doing."

"I think parties are always looking for leverage in negotiations," he said,
though adding that CSX's action reflects "genuine concern" over conflicts
between freight and passenger service.

----

CSX doesn't care about passenger service at ALL - their freight operations
are vastly more profitable. They were granted the rights to run freight
trains on the tracks only so long as they also provided passenger service.

This is where I think it's important to remember that advocacy at both the
local AND state level is important. The state is part of the team
negotiating the agreements with CSX. I'm unsure how the Town is involved.
Hopefully someone In The Know will weigh in about that.

-Sarah

p.s. I was reporting what the conductor told me. I wonder if that was just
his take on his experiences, or if he was told that by his supervisors. I
have to confess that the article has the ring of truth to it.

***

*Sarah Wayland, Ph.D.* | www.GuidingExceptionalParents.com
<https://www.guidingexceptionalparents.com/>
Supporting students with learning differences & their families

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On Thu, Dec 5, 2019 at 12:58 PM Dwight Holmes <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
wrote:

> which reminds me of another selling point (your mileage may vary!) for the
> MARC: you can eat and drink, including alcoholic beverages, on the train!!
>
> (re baseball trains, there's this article which has a slightly different
> take on it, talks about ongoing CSX-MARC tensions, with no mention of drunk
> fan-passengers.)
> https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1996-03-28-1996088011-story.html
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 5, 2019 at 12:43 PM Sarah Wayland <sarah.wayland at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I used to ride the train every day to commute up to the Baltimore Medical
>> Center. I loved that train ride!
>>
>> I remember asking the conductor why they didn't run trains for the
>> Orioles games, and he said that they used to, but some people would get
>> *really* drunk at the games and the rides home were a nightmare for those
>> who weren't drunk. Eventually they couldn't find conductors willing to work
>> the games, and so CSX canceled the service.
>>
>> -Sarah
>>
>> ***
>>
>> *Sarah Wayland, Ph.D.* | www.GuidingExceptionalParents.com
>> <https://www.guidingexceptionalparents.com/>
>> Supporting students with learning differences & their families
>>
>> Raising a child with challenges? Sometimes you have to First, Put On Your
>> Own Oxygen Mask:
>> https://www.guidingexceptionalparents.com/event/winter-2020-first-put-on-your-own-oxygen-mask/
>> Class starts Monday January 13th.
>>
>> Next Book Club is Wed January 15th! Join author Carol Stock Kranowitz
>> live and in-person as we discuss her international best-selling book, The
>> Out-of-Sync Child:
>> https://www.guidingexceptionalparents.com/maryland-book-clubs/
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 5, 2019 at 8:54 AM Gmail <jennifer.matis at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I would use it all the time in the summer to get to Orioles games, but
>>> the schedule makes it impossible.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Dec 5, 2019, at 12:26 AM, Spiro Dimakas <spiro.dimakas11 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Average Daily ridership is pegged at 44 people. Get a survey together
>>> of those residents who use MARC/Metro and find out what station they use
>>> and for those that don’t use Riverdale why they don’t use it (Frequency,
>>> Parking, Cost, etc)
>>>
>>> I would hate to see them cut frequency because the ridership is that low.
>>>
>>> Spiro
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Dec 4, 2019, at 10:33 PM, Jonathan W. Ebbeler <
>>> jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Just my two cents but several years back MTA was planning on scaling
>>> back service altogether at the RP station.  It took dragging transit
>>> officials before Council and reading them the riot act to get them to back
>>> off.  If you push off advocacy to state representatives you have already
>>> tacitly acquiesced the point. If local voices don’t demand something, there
>>> is no reason for the state to advocate for the town.
>>>
>>> A great example of this is the bridge over the tracks to RP Station.
>>> This was completely a local effort. One of our former state representatives
>>> chaired the state Public Works Committee at the time but state money did
>>> not fund its construction.  Regardless of support or lack thereof for the
>>> bridge construction, because it was driven by local voices it became a
>>> reality.
>>>
>>> Service, including continued service, will always depends on ridership
>>> metrics. Unfortunately many RP residents end up buttressing the CP
>>> ridership statistics due to the better, more frequent service at that
>>> station.  Dwight is right - it’s the easiest way to commute into DC.
>>>
>>> On Dec 4, 2019, at 9:57 PM, Caitlin Harwood <caitlinharwood at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>  I have actually reached out to our councilman Aaron Faulx about this.
>>> He said it has to go to the State level and be brought up at a meeting in
>>> which state reps are present. Hoping that happens soon. My low bar
>>> suggestion is to have the 2 trains that currently pass through RP but don’t
>>> stop actually stop there. (There’s one around 8:30 am and one around 5:30
>>> pm coming back from DC.)
>>> I’m personally willing to take signatures from town members in support
>>> of it, but until it gets on the docket at the state level, there would be
>>> no platform to show such signatures.
>>>
>>> Caitlin
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Dec 4, 2019, at 5:46 PM, Dwight Holmes <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Get more of your friends, colleagues and neighbors to board the train at
>>> RP!  Give 'em all the selling points: Inexpensive vis-a-vis Metro (even
>>> moreso if you have federal commuting benefits through your employer), free
>>> parking!, 10 minutes to Union Station!)
>>> It's a numbers game.  While ridership has increased at our station, it's
>>> increased up and down the line and we are still one of the low-ridership
>>> stations.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Dec 4, 2019 at 5:39 PM Lucy Aguirre <a.lucille.a at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Is there anything we residents can do to increase weekday service at
>>>> the RP station?
>>>>
>>>> Thank you,
>>>> Lucy
>>>> Queensbury Rd
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Dec 4, 2019 at 5:06 PM Dwight Holmes <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks, Jonathan.  As the blogger says, doesn't seem to be anything
>>>>> new in there. I believe O'Malley laid out similar goals when he first
>>>>> became governor.  On our Camden line, one afternoon train from Union
>>>>> Station was added (lv 3:30) but of course it doesn't stop at Riverdale Park
>>>>> Town Center station.
>>>>> (Meanwhile of course they also haven't kept up with promised annual
>>>>> fare cost-of-living fare increases and it is still, by far, the Best Deal
>>>>> in Town!)
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Dec 4, 2019 at 3:24 PM Jonathan W. Ebbeler <
>>>>> jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> All
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In case anyone is interested, and since this impacts the community as
>>>>>> a whole, MARC has released their new Cornerstone Plan.  It includes some
>>>>>> ambitious goals like adding a third track, expanded weekday service and
>>>>>> limited weekend service.  You can find a copy of it here:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://s3.amazonaws.com/mta-website-staging/mta-website-staging/files/Transit%20Projects/Cornerstone/MCP_MARC.pdf
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There is a good blog about it here (in case you want to skip reading
>>>>>> 68 pages) 😊 :
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://ggwash.org/view/74948/is-marc-train-rail-new-cornerstone-plan-a-step-backwards
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> JWE
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>>>>>>
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>
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