Keller Pirate

Andy is into Mixed Martial Arts?  Congratulations on the new gig Andy!

We got takeout Easter dinner from Michael’s on West 7th.  It was well priced with generous portions and delicious!  We dropped off 2 dinners at the sister in laws house and they loved it too.

A little off topic but related.  Saturday and Sunday nights CBS Evening News is being broadcast from Fort Worth.  I assume this is to give the folks in Washington and New York a break.  Rename will appreciate that when Doug Dunbar finished the broadcast last night he wished everyone a good night from Fort Worth Dallas.

What would you do with the people diverted to military bases after you cleared them?  Put them in buses to the nearest commercial airport for their connecting flights?  Their baggage too? I don’t remember the exact number, but 10-12 airports were the only ones designated to receive flights from Europe so they would have the resources to handle the crowds.

Good point!  I wonder if the railroad will need a new bridge over the proposed channel?

 

Thinking about my question yesterday, it seems if White Settlement bridge will be done this summer it really would make no sense to tear anything down.  The flood control portion may be on life support but it isn’t dead.  There is still a chance.  Even if it never happens the development can take place and the bridges can become tourist attractions.  Can you imagine 50 years from now folks will come to see the bridges and wonder “what were they thinking?”  They could be as big as the River Walk in San Antonio.

I actually know someone who wants the construction on the bridges to stop right now, as they are, and provide an even bigger embarrassment to the city.  He also lives here.  If you have come to a few of the forum meetings, you might have met him.

Doesn’t seem like a good idea, but it did make me wonder how much it would cost to demolish the bridges now?  Would it be less than the 19-20 million needed to finish them?  Could you demolish them and put things back the way they were in less time than it will take to finish them?

Yesterday I went back to the start of this topic and reread the posts from 2004-07.  It is almost unbelievable how little has been accomplished.  I don’t think any of the early commenters back then could have imagined were we are at in 2020.  There was also a post back in the day wondering what Kay Granger had done for Fort Worth, similar to some I’ve seen recently.  She is still soldiering along.

I have long been opposed to tax abatements, but I really wonder what business Mercedes Benz is conducting that generates sales tax?  I assume they are processing and making loans.  I don't recall paying sales tax on loans.  I'm also not sure what the have that they pay a use tax on.  Maybe someone can enlighten me.  It's possible they might be looking to avoid taxes on construction and furnished office equipment.  I don't understand how they get a refund on sales or use taxes on jobs.  

 

The debate over buiding at Alliance or downtown seems silly to me.  Hillwood bought up property in far North Fort Worth 25 or more years ago and have given the city a leg up over Dallas in warehousing and inland port operations.  Of course they are going to want to develope the property they have owned for years.  It is up to the people that own the property downtown to develop their property and offer a product that will attract business to downtown.

Not really.  Amtrak didn't refute anything.  In todays statement from Amtrak the last paragraph says, "For those very limited routes where a host may not achieve an alternative schedule (for PTC) by years end, Amtrak will suspend service and may seek alternative modes of service until such routes come into compliance."

 

The list I posted yesterday were Amtrak routes that are exempt from PTC requirements.  The host railroads will not install PTC just to satisfy Amtrak's desire to have PTC everywhere they run.  The freight railroads would be very happy to see Amtrak take their marbles and go away.

 

The folks in the railfan community are convinced the president of Amtrak is using PTC as an excuse to eliminate some of the long distance trains so that Amtrak can focus on well patronized corridor operations only.

 

With the Texas Eagle operating on the TRE route and no PTC before 12/31/20 this might flip the Eagle back to the UP.  if it continues to run.  The section listed in the report yesterday, 

• Texas Eagle: 110 miles of UP’s Desoto subdivision south of St. Louis, Mo. is apparently another section of rail not required to have PTC.  From what others have said it is lightly used.  There is a parallel line that UP uses for most of their freight traffic that is PTC mandated and some think Amtrak will insist on moving the Eagle to that line to avoid the non-mandated route.  No one knows what will happen, but it seems silly to move off a low traffic railroad and onto a heavily trafficked one where you can expect delays.

The list I posted was for segments of track that have been excepted by the FRA as not needing PTC.  Amtrak is shooting themselves in the foot if they follow through with this policy.  The railroads are not going to install PTC where it is not required just because Amtrak wants it.  The section on the BNSF from Trinidad, Colorado to Lamy, NM is owned by BNSF but only hosts two trains a day, both Amtrak's.  If Amtrak decides they want PTC and won't operate without it BNSF can abandon the line and tear it up.

 

The freight railroads have done a good job creating PTC and finding manufacturers, the delay has been caused by the government.  Congress passed the law but the FRA had to write the regulations and they still haven't completed that task. Then the FCC only had one person to process radio tower applications for the 25,000 towers that needed to be constructed.

 

The local government commuter railroads running passenger trains are the ones that are really behind schedule.  PTC was an unfunded mandate.  The freight railroads funded it out of profits, the commuters mostly haven't been able to come up with the extra money and will be needing extensions until 12/31/20.  The FRA has now started making grants to these operators because the public will not be happy if they lose their ride to work at the end of the year.

Amtrak just leaked that they will no longer operate passenger trains over tracks that don't have PTC after December 31, 2018.  They provided a list of trains and locations.  Didn't see the TRE tracks mentioned, not sure if the Texas Eagle will make it to Texas anymore.

 

Here is their list,

 

The policy means the Amtrak Board would insist the following trains on FRA-exempted routes be discontinued:

• Southwest Chief: between La Junta, Colo., and Dailies, N.M., and through Topeka, Kan.
• Cardinal: over the Buckingham Branch Railroad between Orange and Clifton Forge, Va.
• California Zephyr: 152 miles of UP’s Green River subdivision west of Grand Junction, Colo.
• Texas Eagle: 110 miles of UP’s Desoto subdivision south of St. Louis, Mo.
• Downeaster: north of Haverhill, Mass., to Brunswick, Maine., on Pan Am Railways
• Vermonter: north of Springfield, Mass., on the New England Central
• Ethan Allen: on Vermont Railway east of Whitehall, N.Y.
• City of New Orleans: a total of 18 miles on Canadian National around Memphis, Tenn., and New Orleans

 

While they didn't call it park and ride, the article I read in the S-T said the Grapevine Station would have a 552 space parking garage.  They also said it would not be available for long term airport parking, which makes sense.  They also touted Grapevine Station will be only and 8 minute ride from DFW.  Might show their marketing hand. 

Also, Dallas is 385 square miles while Fort Worth is 349 square miles.

However, Dallas has 45 square miles of water and Fort Worth only has 7 square miles of water, so Fort Worth has a slight edge in land area.

Looks like some kind of hazardous materials symbol.

How are you supposed to get rid of those skid marks if you don’t replace the concrete. Shiny white runways should lower the temps at the airport.