Thursday, May 29, 2008

Taggart Transcontinental collides with the Atlantic Southern

''For those of you who've ever seen a good rail meltdown, this is what it looks like,'' [Matthew] Rose, CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., said as the crowded hall shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. ''It's literally chaos in the supply chain.''
I especially like that part about the crowd shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Meaning: Everyone knows it, no one wants to hear it, all are afraid to speak out. There’s sure been a rash of stories evidencing that Atlas is trying to Shrug. In this case, there isn’t enough good track, the interlocker isn’t functioning too well, and the rail system is breaking down. Dagny would be having a fit:

''It's not rocket science to see we have a calamity coming down the road,'' said Paul Bingham, a transportation analyst … Congestion around the country has remained chronic, even as the ailing economy has led to a 3 percent dip in
freight train traffic in the first few months of this year…
Already, delays hamper the existing rail freight network. A lone train stopped in Chicago can force other trains to stop or slow as far away as Los Angeles or Baltimore.
Other modes of transport can't take up the slack: Trucking faces its own congestion problems, a shortage of drivers and high fuel prices. Ships and barges can't reach large parts of the country. Airplanes couldn't begin to carry the millions of tons of coal, waste, chemicals, grain and cars hauled by trains. And hauling freight by rail remains far more fuel-efficient than trucking.
Nothing to add to that. It could be right off page 865 of the novel (FYI, Dagny learns of the Minnesota rail disaster… the country is headed toward starvation). Meanwhile, Kip Chalmers chimes in:

Kenneth Kremar, another Global Insight analyst, said talk of a looming crisis serves industry interests as rail companies jockey for more money from Congress. He said investment in larger, high-tech train cars and computer systems that better pace trains should help avert logjams.

''It's illogical to assume nothing will be done,'' he said. "Railroads have an inherent interest in doing something. The market will respond. There's no reason think they're headed for the abyss.''

My emphasis. You got that? Straight out of the novel: “They’ll do something…” Hank Rearden fits the last piece together.

The problem on the shared tracks has worsened in recent years as freight traffic has soared. Passenger trains move much faster than most freight trains, and in many areas there is only a single track, forcing trains to pull over onto side tracks and wait while trains coming in the other direction pass.
Let’s see… the Taggart Tunnel is just west of Denver (aka, the “Moffett Tunnel” – 6 miles long, built in the 1920’s, once the longest tunnel in the world). What happens when a passenger train stalls in that tunnel and is met from behind by an Army Freight Special? There’s a metaphor for what’s happening right now. The Abyss of government intervention will make it happen soon enough.

Someone ought to send John Galt to talk to Matthew Rose.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Rail-Congestion.html?pagewanted=print

May 29, 2008
US rail network facing congestion 'calamity'
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:20 p.m. ET

CHICAGO (AP) -- Railway executive Matthew Rose stood before fellow industry leaders, pointing to a map meant to tell the future of the U.S. rail freight network. It was drenched in red -- east to west, north to south. The blotches illustrated areas where, by 2035, traffic jams could be so severe trains would grind to a halt for days with nowhere to go.

''For those of you who've ever seen a good rail meltdown, this is what it looks like,'' Rose, CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., said as the crowded hall shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. ''It's literally chaos in the supply chain.''

While the nation's attention is focused on air travel congestion and the high cost of fuel for highway driving, a crisis is developing under the radar for another form of transportation -- the freight trains used to deliver many of the goods that keep the U.S. economy humming.

The nation's 140,000-mile network of rails devoted to carrying everything from cars to grain by freight is already groaning under the strain of congestion, with trains forced to stand aside for hours because of one-track rail lines.

And it's probably going to get worse over the next two decades, according to an analysis of government and industry projections by The Associated Press and interviews with experts on rail freight.

The damage to the U.S. economy could climb into the billions of dollars. Higher shipping costs would raise prices for everything from lumber to grain. One analyst said the rail crunch could add thousands of dollars to the price of a car.

''It's not rocket science to see we have a calamity coming down the road,'' said Paul Bingham, a transportation analyst at research firm Global Insight.
Congestion around the country has remained chronic, even as the ailing economy has led to a 3 percent dip in freight train traffic in the first few months of this year compared with last year. And a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce report warns demand for freight trains is expected to double over the next 25 years.

The problem is that there's no room.

''Even if the estimates are half wrong, we can't put even 25 percent more freight in the system right now without serious implications,'' said Randy Mullett, an analyst for the nonprofit Transportation Research Board.
Already, delays hamper the existing rail freight network. A lone train stopped in Chicago can force other trains to stop or slow as far away as Los Angeles or Baltimore.

''It's a ripple effect,'' said Scott Haas, a vice president for United Parcel Service, which uses 3,000 freight cars every day, more than any other U.S. business. ''Everything in my system backs up.''

Atlanta-based UPS hasn't determined the total cost of freight route congestion, but says that just five minutes of daily delays for each of its drivers amounts to $100 million in company losses a year.

Other modes of transport can't take up the slack: Trucking faces its own congestion problems, a shortage of drivers and high fuel prices. Ships and barges can't reach large parts of the country. Airplanes couldn't begin to carry the millions of tons of coal, waste, chemicals, grain and cars hauled by trains. And hauling freight by rail remains far more fuel-efficient than trucking.

Many politicians are joining rail executives in sounding the alarm.
''The amount of money we're investing nationally is pathetic,'' Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said during a recent congressional hearing on congested freight routes. ''We're heading toward fourth-world infrastructure.''
Others suggest the railroads are being alarmist.

Kenneth Kremar, another Global Insight analyst, said talk of a looming crisis serves industry interests as rail companies jockey for more money from Congress. He said investment in larger, high-tech train cars and computer systems that better pace trains should help avert logjams.
''It's illogical to assume nothing will be done,'' he said. ''Railroads have an inherent interest in doing something. The market will respond. There's no reason think they're headed for the abyss.''

Amtrak, which shares the rails with freight trains, is also feeling the pinch. Its long-distance trains were on time just 42 percent of the time last year, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general.

The problem on the shared tracks has worsened in recent years as freight traffic has soared. Passenger trains move much faster than most freight trains, and in many areas there is only a single track, forcing trains to pull over onto side tracks and wait while trains coming in the other direction pass.

A solution won't come cheap.

The Chamber says expanding capacity on the more than 150-year-old U.S. rail system would cost $148 billion over 30 years. Private rail companies would have to pay most of it, with federal and state tax dollars covering much of the rest.

Any solution will have to include Chicago, which handles about 40 percent of all U.S. rail freight on 180,000 trains a year.

Expanding capacity here will cost $1.5 billion over six years, a coalition of officials and rail executives estimates. David Burns, an independent railroad engineering consultant based in the Chicago area, put the cost closer to $4 billion.

Bottlenecks crop up in other parts of the country, too.

Long stretches of busy Union Pacific Corp. lines in Southern California and the Southwest, vital routes for agricultural goods and Asian trading, have just a single track.

And Baltimore's long but low Howard Street rail tunnel, connecting mid-Atlantic states to the Midwest, has just one track and can't accommodate freight-train cars used elsewhere that carry twice the load, with one container stacked on top of another.

But the big choke point is Chicago, where it can take up to two days for trains to wind through the city.

Nearly all the major routes of the weblike rail freight system comes through one or more of the nearly 80 rail yards here. It's why a single delayed train here can force those thousands of miles away to stop or slow down.

The problem is that the Chicago hub was designed in the mid-1800s, when the area was a comparative backwater of 30,000 people. Now, 10 million residents sprawl into formerly rural areas where trains once rolled along unencumbered.

The 500 freight trains moving through Chicago each day also have to share tracks with -- and yield to, according to protocol -- 700 daily commuter trains. In contrast, commuter trains in New York City don't share lines with freight.

Proposed solutions include building new overpasses to keep trains moving at track intersections. Elsewhere, single-line tracks could be expanded to double or triple. And some advocates want to restore tracks that fell out of use in the 20th century.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX announced plans this month to spend $300 million on upgrades to allow trains with double-stacked freight cars to run from the East Coast to the Midwest.

That would mean raising clearance on bridges and tunnels on lines through the Appalachian Mountains. CSX would like the federal and state governments to kick in $400 million more.

While the move would help congestion, it's not a cure-all. Double-stacked cars can't carry heavy, densely packed commodities, like coal, wheat and liquid chemicals, because of weight limits on tracks and because the heavy loads would make the trains dangerously unstable.

Expanding capacity to route trains around clogged cities may not sit well with suburban and exurban towns.

And then there's Amtrak. It already operates on tracks owned by the big railroads, which will be increasingly reluctant to make concessions to passenger trains.

But Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said it was only right that Amtrak also benefit from capacity upgrades. The service was formed in 1970 when Congress agreed to let railroads unload passenger service they said was dragging them down. In exchange, the railroads were required to give Amtrak priority on their tracks.

It may be impossible to keep both sides happy.

''There are areas, especially where there's just a single track, where Amtrak takes as much as 30 percent out of the capacity of freight rail. That's huge when you're in a capacity crunch,'' said Mullett, the analyst. ''There will be hard public policy decisions, and that would include Amtrak.''

^------

On the Net:
Federal Railroad Administration: http://www.fra.dot.gov/
Surface Transportation Board: http://www.stb.dot.gov/
Transportation Research Board: http://www.trb.org/
Association of American Railroads: http://www.aar.org/
Chicago congestion plan: http://www.createprogram.org/

Space Aliens Come to Denver

Al Gore is visiting?

No, seriously. Aliens are coming to town.
“A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to
the news media Friday in Denver “
Denver has a history of this stuff I learned recently. On a lark, I bought a book “Mysteries and Miracles of Colorado”. I was interested in the tales of lost treasures, but it has stories of bizarre murders in the old West, and, as I soon learned, stories of alien encounters. Didn’t realize it when I bought it, but half the book was infested with stories of the damn things. All landing here in Colorado. Where’s my bug killer?

Though not soon destined for the Library of Congress, there’s many exciting tales in this book, including the mysterious flying objects dissecting horses, or the haunted ranch protected by horse eating aliens, or the Bizarre Death of Snippy the Horse. In Colorado, it seems, horses are high on the list of alien interests, and somewhere along the way, about the 60’s, the U.S. Air Force had enough of this nonsense, and contracted the University of Colorado in Boulder (where else) to investigate the little gray guys… The author of my book, of course, is convinced the investigation was all a whitewash. Well, it’s certainly sounds like those academics in Boulder were milking the Feds.

But I digress. The legend goes on – and local Jeff Peckman
“…is pushing a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver to prepare the city for close encounters of the alien kind, said the video is authentic and convinced him that aliens exist.”
Yes. He probably videotaped a Boulder City Council Meeting.

Anyway, the Video is Coming to Town. Be prepared. Life as we know it is about to end.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/28/purported-ufo-video-be-shown-friday/?printer=1/

Purported UFO video to be shown Friday

by Daniel J. Chacon
May 28, 2008
Rocky Mountain News

A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.

Jeff Peckman, who is pushing a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver to prepare the city for close encounters of the alien kind, said the video is authentic and convinced him that aliens exist.

"As impressive as it is, it's still one tiny portion in the context of a vast amount of peripheral evidence," he said Wednesday. "It's really the final visual confirmation of what you already know to be true having seen all the other evidence."

When Peckman went before city officials this month to discuss his proposed ET initiative, he promised to show the video.

Peckman said the general public will have to wait to see it because it's being included in a documentary by Stan Romanek.

"No one will be allowed to film the segment with the extraterrestrial because there is an agreement in place limiting that kind of exposure during negotiations for the documentary," he said.

But people won't have to wait too long to see it for themselves.

"There is an open, public meeting in about a month in Colorado Springs," Peckman said. "We'll hope to do one in Denver at some point, and then in a few months, there will be the documentary that anybody can have, and it'll have the footage."

An instructor at the Colorado Film School in Denver scrutinized the video "very carefully" and determined it was authentic, Peckman said.

Peckman, 54, said the video was among the reasons he was "compelled" to launch the proposed ballot initiative, which has generated news as far as South Africa.

"It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said earlier this month.

In a statement, Peckman said "other related credible evidence" proving aliens exist will be shown at Friday's news conference, too.

In 2003, Peckman authored an off-beat ballot initiative that would have required the city to implement stress-reduction techniques. The "Safety Through Peace" initiative failed, but garnered 32 percent of the vote.

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Pyramid people take over Sante Fe

Actually, I think pyramid people (you know, Shirley MacLaine types) took over Santa Fe a long time ago, but here's proof:
... electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"electro-sensitive people"?

I'll give them electrosensitive. I believe there is a high-voltage therapy to cure mental disorders such as this.

http://kob.com/article/stories/S451152.shtml?cat=517
Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings
Updated at: 05/21/2008 09:57:41 AM

A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones.

"I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said.

Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city attorney is now checking to see if putting up Wi-Fi could be considered discrimination.

But City Councilor Ron Trujillo says the areas are already saturated with wireless Internet.

"It's not 1692, it's 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology, it's not going away," Trujillo said.

The city attorney hopes to have a legal recommendation by the end of the month.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Way of The Future...

Something like this was in Atlas Shrugged, wasn't it?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_fe_st/odd_mule_farming;_ylt=AkHy9.55UrLmwE4pnVGgKqSs0NUE
High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules

MCMINNVILLE, Tenn. - High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. T.R. Raymond bought Dolly and Molly at the Dixon mule sale last year. Son Danny Raymond trained them and also modified the tractor rake so the mules could pull it.

T.R. Raymond says the mules are slower than a petroleum-powered tractor, but there are benefits.

"This fuel's so high, you can't afford it," he said. "We can feed these mules cheaper than we can buy fuel. That's the truth."

And Danny Raymond says he just likes using the mules around the farm.
"We've been using them quite a bit," he said.

Brother Robert Raymond added, "It's the way of the future."

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Land of Oz

Actually, Oz is a lot more connected to reality than Boulder, Colorado is.
The [City] Council decided after midnight Wednesday to postpone voting on an
ordinance that would require trash collectors operating within the city to
include up to 32 gallons of bi-weekly compost material pickup. The delay was
designed so city staffers can think more about what effect the program would
have on bears and other area wildlife.
Yes, let those stuffy staffers stew on it. Elsewhere in the story below, they said this would be a "voluntary" program, but give them time.

Seriously, give them time. It won't stay voluntary.
Mayor Shaun McGrath ...and others said language requiring “tight-fitting
lids” on all trash, recyclable and compost containers was too vague and
potentially impossible to enforce — and a proposed $1,000 fine for attracting
bears or other wildlife to outdoor bins might be unfair.
“I don’t know what a container is that doesn’t attract wildlife,” City Attorney Jerry Gordon said.
“How would I prosecute people for not having it?”
I'm sure the enviro-gestapo that run Boulder can find a way. (Hyperbola? My recollection is that the wanna-be cops they have driving around in green cars to enforce environmental regulations actually carry guns.)
Will find a way. It's what they do.
Councilman Matt Appelbaum said requiring all residents to have a special
bear-proof container could be one of the solutions to Gordon’s question.
“It probably is what makes sense,” he said.
See? Told you so.
Appelbaum noted, however, that he’s aware of the potentially enormous cost of that measure.
Aware, and absolutely doesn't give a flying ... Wallenda.
Bear-proof bins typically cost about $200 and require extra labor from
collection companies to open and dump into trucks. ...Councilman Ken Wilson
estimated the total cost to outfit every trash container in the city with
special bear-proof bins at $2 million.
Imagine being required to spend your time to convert all your throwaway food into compost, pay the garbage collection company EXTRA to pick it up, AND be required to pay for a bear-proof compost bin to boot. In the city limits. And then be fined $1000 for each incident in which a bear decides to visit your compost bin. Can you imagine all the bears that will want to wander around the neighborhood from where the aroma of all this compost is emanating? (No, I'm not talking about the City Council chambers.) Can you imagine LIVING in the neighborhood from which all the aroma of all this compost is emanating. MMM-boy. Get's my appetite juices flowing. Some good eatin', Granny.

Well, they ain't bears, but close enough.

FYI, there ain't no $200 "bear proof bin". You've got to make it out of some reasonably thick steel. Probably at least 1/8 inch. Anything made of wood or plastic the bears will tear apart. (I've talked to people who have dealt with this problem -- even 3/4 plywood doesn't stop them.) If they can make a bear-proof for under $500, I'd be real surprised.

Give me munchkins and the Wicked Witch of the West any day, compared to the Bold Idiots that habitate this town.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/may/08/council-delays-compost-program/?partner=yahoo_headlines
Boulder delays compost program over bear concerns
Members worried about attracting bears, expense of bear-proof bins
By Heath Urie (Contact)Thursday, May 8, 2008

Requiring costly bear-proof trash containers or allowing only vegetable matter to sit in residential compost bins are options that need to be considered before a proposed citywide curbside composting program would be viable, some Boulder City Council members say.

The council decided after midnight Wednesday to postpone voting on an ordinance that would require trash collectors operating within the city to include up to 32 gallons of bi-weekly compost material pickup. The delay was designed so city staffers can think more about what effect the program would have on bears and other area wildlife.

Private trash-hauling companies had been preparing for the program, and some planned to begin offering the compost pickup service — and an optional bi-weekly trash pickup service — beginning in late June.
Instead, the city’s largest trash collector, Western Disposal, will hold off on changes to its service routes until the council comes to a decision.

Mayor Shaun McGrath asked the council to delay the vote because of concerns that some of the language in the proposed ordinance was unclear.
Specifically, McGrath and others said language requiring “tight-fitting lids” on all trash, recyclable and compost containers was too vague and potentially impossible to enforce — and a proposed $1,000 fine for attracting bears or other wildlife to outdoor bins might be unfair.

“I don’t know what a container is that doesn’t attract wildlife,” City Attorney Jerry Gordon said. “How would I prosecute people for not having it?”

Councilman Matt Appelbaum said requiring all residents to have a special bear-proof container could be one of the solutions to Gordon’s question.
“It probably is what makes sense,” he said.

Appelbaum noted, however, that he’s aware of the potentially enormous cost of that measure. Bear-proof bins typically cost about $200 and require extra labor from collection companies to open and dump into trucks.
“It costs a lot of money to do it right,” he said. “I’d like to know what people think about it.”
Councilman Ken Wilson estimated the total cost to outfit every trash container in the city with special bear-proof bins at $2 million.
“That’s a big tax,” Wilson said. “We really ought to consider what we’re doing here before we push this off on the whole city.

John Koehler, a district wildlife officer for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said the plan as originally written would probably cause problems for Boulder’s growing bear population.

“We certainly have a sizable bear issue in Boulder,” Koehler said. “The concern from the division is that the compost program, specifically the inclusion of food, was going to be a problem.”

Koehler said 16 Boulder bears have been either killed or relocated by state wildlife officers in the past five years.

“That doesn’t take into account all the bear calls we respond to where we try very hard not to put hands on a bear,” he said.

Another potential solution, suggested by Western Disposal president Gary Horton and endorsed by Koehler, would be to temporarily allow only yard waste and vegetable matter — and not meat or dairy — to sit in compost bins in an effort to keep animals away.

The suggestion garnered support among the council.

“I think that would be pretty simple for people to integrate,” Councilwoman Angelique Espinoza said. “This is food that is already sitting on the curb” in trash bins.

The council directed its staff to return “as soon as possible” with alternative proposals for curbside composting.

The council has two more regular meetings scheduled, on May 20 and June 3, before it begins a monthlong summer break.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.