Author: paul

Amtrak has proposed a plan to build two new tunnels under the Hudson River linking New Jersey and New York City.

The tunnel project would also include replacement and expansion of the 100-year-old Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River in New Jersey between Kearny and Secaucus.

Amtrak President Joseph Boardman proposes investing $50 million to begin preliminary engineering and design studies for what will be called the Gateway Project.

To complete the project by 2020 would require a budget of $13.5 billion. Amtrak said it will take the lead in developing funding, which could come from federal, state, regional, local and private sources.

If constructed, the two new tunnels would substantially boost Amtrak and New Jersey Transit commuter train peak-period capacity into and out of New York City.

The existing 100-year-old rail tunnels into midtown Manhattan operate at capacity during rush hour, and ridership is projected to double over the next two decades, according to transportation studies.

The project has the backing of New Jersey Democratic Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, and New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer.

“The Gateway Project is essential to the future growth and economic development of the entire Northeast region and will provide for greater capacity, connectivity and convenience for Amtrak and commuter passengers in the heart of Manhattan,” Boardman said. “It is a critical first step that we can take now to bring 220 mph Amtrak high-speed service to the Northeast Corridor.”

The new plan follows cancellation late in 2010 by New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie of a somewhat similar tunnel project. Christie, who called the project too expensive for New Jersey taxpayers, returned federal stimulus funds that were to assist with the project.

Click on the following link to read more about the project:

http://lautenberg.senate.gov/assets/Gateway.pdf

The following statement was released Jan. 7 by United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steven M. Dettelbach:

“An information has been filed charging Robert L. (Pete) McKinney, age 59, of Houston, Texas, with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery in federally funded programs. He is accused of paying cash bribes to two high-ranking officials in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).

“Corruption in organized labor will not be tolerated. Today’s filing demonstrates our commitment to prosecuting all those involved, whether they are the self-dealing union official or a licensed attorney seeking union business.

“The information charges that McKinney paid bribes to railroad union officials, including the union president, seeking to represent injured union members. McKinney was a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney, specializing in representing injured railroad workers.

“McKinney practiced at the law firm of McKinney and McKinney, LLP, located in Houston, Texas. Edward W. Rodzwicz served as national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. The BLET represents more than 55,000 members and in 2004 merged with, and is now a division of, the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

“BLET Official No. 1 [not named by the U.S. attorney] served as special representative. As special representative, BLET Official No. 1 was assigned to recruit non-union railroad workers for membership in BLET.

“BLET Official No. 1 reported directly to Rodzwicz. The BLET’s members, who are employed by common carriers by railroad, are covered by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), which provides for recovery of damages by railroad employees and their survivors. In order to facilitate the retention of qualified and experienced FELA attorneys by its injured members, the BLET maintains a list of designated attorneys who are held out to its members as competent and professional FELA attorneys.

“The members of this list are referred to as designated legal counsel. Designation status on the DLC list provides a FELA attorney with valuable access to BLET members as potential clients, and to local BLET officials as sources of information and referrals concerning accidents and workers.

“The BLET affirmatively recommends the DLC attorneys to its members for FELA-related and other business. As national president, Rodzwicz had authority over the designation status of DLC attorneys.

“The information states that from in or about June 2006, and continuing until in or about October 2009, McKinney conspired with Edward W. Rodzwicz and BLET Official No. 1 to unjustly enrich Edward W. Rodzwicz and BLET Official No. 1 by paying them cash bribes in order to be placed on the DLC list for BLET workers and to have BLET workers directed to his firm. The conspirators referred to these payments as campaign contributions in an effort to conceal the true nature of the payments.

“The information states that the conspirators accomplished this by meeting in a hotel parking lot where McKinney delivered large cash payments to BLET Official No. 1. McKinney would also have large sums of cash delivered to BLET Official No. 1 at BLET conventions. Edward W. Rodzwicz and BLET Official No. 1 would then split the cash payments, according to the information.

“Rodzwicz, formerly of Avon, Ohio, is currently in federal prison for his role in an unrelated crime. If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

“This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Justin J. Roberts and Bridget M. Brennan, following an investigation by the Cleveland offices of the U.S. Department of Labor, OIG Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri also provided assistance.

“An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

ARCADIA, Ohio — A Norfolk Southern train carrying 62 tank cars of denatured ethanol derailed here early Feb. 6, with many catching fire and creating what was described as a “huge fireball that could be seen for up to 15 miles.”

No injuries were reported to the crew or others in the derailment of 26 of the tank cars, but residents of 30 homes in the rural area, about 50 miles south of Toledo, were evacuated, according to news reports.

The Toledo Blade reported that all 26 of the derailed tank cars — each containing 33,000 gallons of denatured ethanol — caught fire. Public safety officials are permitting the fires to burn themselves out, which is expected by Tuesday. Denatured ethanol contains five percent gasoline.

The train was traveling east from Chicago to North Carolina. Norfolk Southern officials said the locomotives were not damaged.

John D. Rockefeller and partner Henry Flagler made quite a fortune during the 19th century transporting crude oil by rail from Pennsylvania to Cleveland for refining, and then shipping the refined product via rail to consuming markets.

Flagler later used his portion of the fortune to build Florida East Coast Railway.

Then came pipelines, a less expensive means of crude and refined oil transportation. Except for the Alaska Railroad — which, since 1977, has hauled jet fuel from a North Pole refinery south to the Anchorage airport — crude and refined oil moves mostly by pipeline.

Railroads now are returning to the oil transport business, creating increased train and engine worker jobs.

Because of differences in the price paid for crude oil at refineries, oil brokers are realizing a profit by moving Canadian and North Dakota crude oil to Southwest refineries not fully served by pipelines. “Flexible rail routes could allow oil cargoes to move to destinations where oil fetches a premium,” reports Reuters.

“Shippers who can move barrels from North Dakota to Louisiana by rail — a journey that costs as little as $7 a barrel — stand to capture a big arbitrage premium,” says Reuters.

EOG Resources, for example, is shipping a unit-train daily of crude oil via BNSF from North Dakota to Stroud, Okla. Other oil-by-rail movements are planned from the state, and CN is investigating moving Canadian crude south to Gulf Coast refineries not directly served by pipelines.