"Global Trade, Fuel Costs Add Up To Expansion for Once-Dying Industry"

The Washington Post scores again with this summary of the boom in the RR industry:

The freight railway industry is enjoying its biggest building boom in nearly a century, a turnaround as abrupt as it is ambitious. It is largely fueled by growing global trade and rising fuel costs for 18-wheelers. In 2002, the major railroads laid off 4,700 workers; in 2006, they hired more than 5,000.

CART regularly makes claims that leave the public going "huh?".  That's because we're reading the wonky research that's recommending no new roads, higher gas taxes, increased investment in rail, and increased investment in public transit.  So here is our bibliography:

the "KTAP" issue

• Dr. Ron Crouch to speak at CART Quarterly Meeting
• World Car Free Day Rally
• Bluegrass Energy & Green Living Expo Planning
• Introducing KTAP & the Ohio River Bridges Project
• Washington State Buying Track to Get Farmer's Goods to Market
• Study: Does Transit Work?  A Conservative Reappraisal

the Earth Day issue

• Call to Action on Climate Change
• Metro Council to Consider Light Rail!!!
• Louisville Metro Planning a Pedestrian Forum
• Kentucky Planning Bicycle and Pedestrian Conference
• Getting to the Future by Rail
• FHWA to Portland: Put Cars First
• Drivecam Reduces Risky Behavior Among Teen Drivers
• Santa Barbara's Approach to Housing
• World's Largest Bus unveiled

Contents:

• Five time-sensitive announcements and calls to action
• High Speed Rail Proposed for Midwest and Beyond
• The Future of Amtrack by Vukan R. Vuchic & Norman Mineta

 Download PDF (1 big page, 500kB)

Contents:

• The most shortsighted and politically motivated decision the city has ever suffered.
• other tidbits...

Download PDF (8 pages, 600kB)

Contents:

• Midwest Regional Rail Initiative Study: Getting Transportation Back On Track
• Study: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's finds "a top-heavy bureaucracy, with no comprehensive vision and an unsustainable debt load"
• Chicago: Nature Museum Supports Rail Transit
• "TEA 21" federal transit bills "stalled and in trouble".
• KYTC Explores I-71 Corridor Improvements
• The State of Freight

Download PDF (6 pages, 400kB)

Contents:

• Light Rail and a New Transportation vision for Metro Louisville
• Overview of Highways and Transit: Leveling the Playing Field in Federal Transportation Policy from the Brookings Institution.
• TARC's New Buses Address Air and Noise Pollution
• First Major TARC Survey
• Report finds 'Fix it First': Public Transportation are Key to Job Creation
• Next Stop Clifton - Imagining Louisville's Transit system in 2525