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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14376.
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TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2010 www.TRB.org N A T I O N A L C O O P E R A T I V E H I G H W A Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M NCHRP REPORT 657 Subscriber Categories Planning and Forecasting • Public Transportation • Railroads Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors Alan J. Bing Eric W. Beshers Megan Chavez ICF INTERNATIONAL Fairfax, VA David P. Simpson DAVID SIMPSON CONSULTANTS, LLC St. Paul, MN Emmanuel S. “Bruce” Horowitz ESH CONSULT Alexandria, VA Walter E. Zullig, Jr. Ossining, NY Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 657 Project 08-64 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 978-0-309-15470-3 Library of Congress Control Number 2010927496 © 2010 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report.

CRP STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 657 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs Lori L. Sundstrom, Senior Program Officer Megan A. Chamberlain, Senior Program Assistant Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Natalie Barnes, Editor NCHRP PROJECT 08-64 PANEL Field of Transportation Planning—Area of Forecasting Randall E. Wade, HNTB Corporation, Madison, WI (Chair) John D. Bell, New York State DOT, Albany, NY D. C. Agrawal, DC Agrawal Consulting, LLC, Princeton, NJ Clem Bomar, California DOT, Sacramento, CA H. Craig Lewis, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP, Philadelphia, PA Rodney P. Massman, Missouri DOT, Jefferson City, MO Thomas Mulligan, Union Pacific Railroad, Omaha, NE Anthony D. Perl, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC Paul E. Vilter, AMTRAK, Philadelphia, PA Karen McClure, FRA Liaison Venkat Pindiprolu, FTA Liaison Edward L. Strocko, FHWA Liaison Karen E. White, FHWA Liaison Elaine King, TRB Liaison AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research reported herein was performed under NCHRP Project 8-64 by ICF International. ICF International is the contractor for this study, with assistance from TranSystems Corporation and Walter E. Zullig Jr., Esq. Dr. Alan J. Bing, Technical Specialist at ICF International, is the Project Director and co-Principal Inves- tigator. The other authors of this report are David P. Simpson, Senior Transportation Planner, independent consultant for TranSystems and co-Principal Investigator; Emmanuel S. “Bruce” Horowitz, independent consultant for TranSystems; Eric W. Beshers, Senior Transport Economist, independent consultant for ICF International; Walter E. Zullig Jr., an independent transportation attorney; and Megan Chavez, Analyst at ICF International. The work was done under the general supervision of Dr. Bing and Mr. Simpson. C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S

This Guidebook will aid states in developing public–private partnerships with private freight railroads to permit operation of passenger services over shared-use rail corridors. The Guidebook should encourage the broad acceptance of improved principles, processes, and methods to support agreements on access, allocation of operation and maintenance costs, capacity allocation, operational issues, future responsibilities for infrastructure improvements, and other fundamental issues that will affect the ultimate success of shared- use passenger and freight agreements between public and private railroad stakeholders. The United States is experiencing increasing congestion on the nation’s highways, as well as capacity constraints on the national rail system. Higher gasoline prices and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions are increasing public demand for energy-efficient trans- portation alternatives. Faced with these challenges and increased emphasis on multi-modal planning under federal transportation statutes (i.e., ISTEA, TEA-21, and SAFETEA-LU), state interest in intercity passenger and commuter rail development has grown significantly in recent years. Thirteen states support Amtrak service and thirty-eight states have developed or partici- pated in developing plans for enhanced intercity passenger rail service. A growing number of commuter rail systems operate on lines of various ownership configurations (e.g., freight railroad, county, city, state, and transit authorities). AASHTO’s report Intercity Passenger Rail Transportation (January 2003) documents $17 billion in state-defined infrastructure and equipment needs over 6 years and another $43 billion in needs over the next 2 decades. Eighty percent of these needs involve investments in privately owned freight corridors. Sev- eral states have well-established rail passenger programs through which capital and operat- ing funds are provided to ensure intercity, commuter, and transit services. Other states are beginning to implement rail passenger service plans and projects. Most of these rail services will operate on freight corridors. The concept of passenger and freight operations co-existing in shared-use corridors is central to further development of state-supported passenger rail service in the United States. All current Amtrak service is on shared-use corridors. Virtually all plans for enhanced passenger rail service, both intercity and commuter rail, developed by states are based on the shared-use corridor concept. Recent federal legislation—including the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, the Capital Assistance to States–Intercity Passenger Rail Service provided for in the 2008 Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, and the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008—is providing significant new federal funding for passenger rail service, prompting a number of states to expand or initiate service. This new funding is coming at a time when there is no broadly accepted methodology for conducting the long, F O R E W O R D By Lori L. Sundstrom Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

costly, and often mutually frustrating negotiating process with freight railroads in an equi- table manner that ensures (1) that the public interest is served and (2) that private freight railroads have a reasonable incentive for entering into such agreements. The lack of such a methodology can increase the likelihood of significant delay or can even jeopardize project implementation. Under NCHRP Project 08-64, “A Guidebook on Improved Principles, Processes, and Methods for Shared-Use Passenger and Freight Rail Corridors,” ICF International was asked to develop a guidebook that would assist states in understanding the variables, chal- lenges, and opportunities associated with starting or expanding passenger rail service on track owned by a freight railroad in a shared-use corridor. To meet the project objectives, the research team examined extant literature; reviewed current negotiation practices used by public and private rail entities; described factors that contribute to successful agreements; and prepared case studies that demonstrate the application of effective principles, processes, and methods. This Guidebook should be of immediate use to state rail programs as they determine how best to approach this highly complex situation.

1 Chapter 1 Introduction, Background, and Purpose 1 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Background and Present Situation 2 1.2.1 Historical Background 4 1.2.2 The Present Situation 5 1.3 Scope, Purpose, and Content 5 1.3.1 Scope 6 1.3.2 Purpose 7 1.3.3 Content 9 Chapter 2 Getting Started and Negotiations 9 2.1 Introduction 9 2.1.1 Content of Section 10 2.1.2 Passenger Rail Development Timeline 11 2.2 Planning and Preparation 11 2.2.1 Introduction 11 2.2.2 Understanding the Railroad Industry 12 2.2.3 Vision for the Service and Long-Term Planning 12 2.2.4 Role of Long-Term Planning 13 2.2.5 Is the Proposed Service Amtrak Intercity or Commuter? 16 2.2.6 Educating Public Officials 18 2.3 Initial Discussions with the Host Railroad 18 2.3.1 Introduction 20 2.3.2 The Feasibility Study 22 2.4 Substantive Negotiations 23 2.4.1 Defining What the Passenger Agency Needs 25 2.4.2 The Access Agreement and Infrastructure Improvements 28 2.4.3 Capital and Operations and Maintenance Costs 29 2.5 The Liability Issue 29 2.5.1 The National Liability Situation and Amtrak 30 2.5.2 Non-Amtrak Passenger Rail Service Operators and Agencies 33 Chapter 3 Analysis and Modeling 33 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Operations Simulation and Capacity Modeling 33 3.2.1 Simulation and Modeling Overview 36 3.2.2 Choice and Availability of Models 37 3.2.3 Using Simulation and Modeling in Rail Corridor Planning and Negotiations 40 3.3 Capital Investment Planning, Costing, and Cost Sharing 40 3.3.1 Right-of-Way Access or Acquisition 41 3.3.2 Estimating Capital Costs C O N T E N T S

42 3.3.3 Sharing Infrastructure Capital Costs 43 3.3.4 Rolling Stock Capital Costs 44 3.3.5 Signaling and Train Control Capital Costs 45 3.4 Operations and Maintenance Costs and Cost Sharing 45 3.4.1 Overview 46 3.4.2 Railroad Operations and Maintenance Cost Categories 48 3.4.3 Cost-Sharing and Allocation Approaches 49 3.4.4 Operations and Maintenance Cost Analysis 50 3.4.5 Application to Intercity and Commuter Operations 52 Chapter 4 Content of Shared-Use Access and Operating Agreements 52 4.1 Introduction 53 4.2 Types of Agreements Needed to Implement Passenger Rail Service 56 4.2.1 Introduction to Amtrak Intercity Service 56 4.2.2 Introduction to Commuter Service 57 4.3 Amtrak Intercity Service 57 4.3.1 Introduction 58 4.3.2 Inputs to and Preparations for Finalizing the Agreements 60 4.3.3 Agreements between Amtrak and the Freight Railroad 61 4.3.4 An Agreement between the Passenger Rail Agency and Amtrak 62 4.3.5 Agreement between the Passenger Rail Agency and the Host Railroad(s) 64 4.4 Commuter Service (Non-Amtrak Intercity) 64 4.4.1 Basic Structure of a Commuter Rail Service on Shared Track 65 4.4.2 Inputs to and Preparations for Finalizing Commuter Rail Operating Agreements 67 4.4.3 Access Alternatives 69 4.4.4 Agreement with the Host Freight Railroad 70 4.4.5 Operations and Maintenance Services Agreements 72 4.5 Managing Change in Agreements 72 4.5.1 Major Revision to Provide for a Substantial Increment in Capacity and/or Service Performance 72 4.5.2 Minor Agreement Revisions to Provide a Limited Service Addition or Performance Improvement 73 4.5.3 Day-to-Day Service Variations 73 4.5.4 Managing Change with a Passenger Railroad Host and Freight Tenant 74 Chapter 5 Ongoing Management of Shared-Use Operations 74 5.1 Introduction 75 5.2 Setting the Framework and General Points for Ongoing Service Management 75 5.2.1 PRIIA Requirements and FRA, STB and Amtrak Actions on Intercity Passenger Service Quality 76 5.2.2 Performance Monitoring, and Service Quality 76 5.2.3 Agreement Revisions and Updates 77 5.3 Specific Approaches to Managing Amtrak Intercity Services 79 5.4 Specific Approaches to Managing Commuter Services 80 5.5 Case Studies in Service Management

83 Bibliography 83 Acts of Congress 84 Government Accountability Office (GAO) Reports 84 Federal Government Regulations and Industry Technical Standards 85 Capacity and Cost Analysis 86 Passenger Rail Projects and Project Planning 86 Other Shared-Use Issues, Including Liability and Safety 87 Miscellaneous 89 Acronyms A-1 Appendix A The U.S. Railroad Industry B-1 Appendix B U.S. Railroad Legal and Institutional Arrangements C-1 Appendix C Railroad Safety Regulations D-1 Appendix D Case Studies of Passenger Rail Service Developments and Processes

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 657: Guidebook for Implementing Passenger Rail Service on Shared Passenger and Freight Corridors is designed to aid states in developing public–private partnerships with private freight railroads to permit operation of passenger services over shared-use rail corridors.

The guidebook explores improved principles, processes, and methods to support agreements on access, allocation of operation and maintenance costs, capacity allocation, operational issues, future responsibilities for infrastructure improvements, and other fundamental issues.

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