Honkin' Mad

OSHA: BNSF Railway discouraged workers from reporting injuries

Fort Worth BNSF Railway Co. has agreed to change policies that federal officials say discouraged workers from reporting injuries or other safety problems.

 

Arlington's Victor Vandergriff steps down from NTTA board

@gdickson

12:25 a.m. update: Here's a link to an updated version of the story with more details about Vandergriff's potential interest  in the job of Arlington mayor, as it appears in the Thursday Star-Telegram edition.

Arlington businessman Victor Vandergriff announced Wednesday that he is leaving the North Texas Tollway Authority board, a position he has held since 2007.

Vandergriff was chairman of the board in 2010 and 2011, taking over from predecessor Paul Wageman of Plano, who guided the agency through tremendous growth but was sometimes criticized for aggressive management.

The decision takes effect at the end of the month, a tollway official said.

Vandergriff attempted to unify the board, but was unable to pass through sweeping changes on the tollway authority's reliance on a small number of legal, engineering and other professional firms to do virtually all of its day-to-day work. So he stepped down as chairman and was replaced by former Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr, the current chairman.

Still, Vandergriff received a standing ovation from the tollway board during a meeting Wednesday in Plano.

Vandergriff was a vocal member of the board when key projects were delivered, including the Sam Rayburn Tollway in Denton and Collin counties, and the western extension of the President George Bush Turnpike in Grand Prairie and Irving (a key route to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington).

“We cannot thank Victor enough for the countless hours he has dedicated to working on NTTA projects that increase mobility for North Texas drivers,” Barr said in a statement.

He also oversaw the conversion of the region's tollways to an all-electronic form of collection - essentially doing away with the toll booths - and the beginning of construction on the 28-mile Chisholm Trail Parkway project from Interstate 30 near downtown Fort Worth to U.s. 67 in Cleburne.

Chisholm Trail Parkway is scheduled for completion in 2014.

More recently, Vandergriff was trying to secure construction of the Texas 360 extension south of Arlington-Mansfield to U.S. 287.

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NTTA seeks to block car registration for toll scofflaws

@gdickson

Motorists who refuse to pay tolls would be unable to renew yearly car registrations in North Texas’ four largest counties, under a state law change the North Texas Tollway Authority is seeking in the current legislative session.

“What were talking about is tightening the system so people know there are consequences,” said tollway chairman Kenneth Barr, former Fort Worth mayor. Barr stressed that the tougher punishments would only be sought for car owners who had racked up 100 or more unpaid tolls, and failed to respond to at least 16 written notices.

Although roughly 92 percent of drivers on the region’s tollways pay their bills on time, scofflaws are costing the tollway authority big bucks, he said. The Plano-based agency lost $12.5 million last year in unpaid tolls – many from motorists who are still using the roads to this day.

“What we’re talking about here are people who are gaming the system,” he said.

Tollway officials are still seeking a lawmaker who might be willing to carry such a bill. March 8 is the state’s deadline for filing bills, other than local bills and those considered emergencies. The bill would affect car owners in Tarrant, Denton, Dallas and Collin counties, which are the four counties that make up the tollway authority’s territory. Johnson County will be added to the mix after the planned opening of Chisholm Trail Parkway, a 28-mile toll road from downtown Fort Worth to Cleburne, in 2014.

It’s the agency’s latest attempt to close an enforcement weakness that became glaringly apparent after the Dallas Fort Worth area’s toll roads were converted to an all-electronic system in 2010. Officials quickly found out that, without manned toll booths as a deterrent, there really isn’t much they can do to stop people from skipping out on their tolls.

The tollway authority did have some success the past six months publicizing the names of car owners with 100 or more unpaid tolls on its website. Since that list went live in July, about $1.86 million has been recovered, said communications director Kimberly Jackson. But to capture the rest of the missing money, the agency needs enforcement with more teeth, said executive director Gerry Carrigan. The idea, he said, is to protect the overwhelming majority of motorists who drive the roads legally – many of whom pay automatically through a TollTag on their windshield. “We don’t want to be punitive,” he said. “We want to keep our good customers good, and provide some punishment for the small percentage who don’t pay.”

In addition to blocking car registrations, the tollway authority also is seeking the state’s permission to create a legal process known as an administrative hearing. Officials stressed that it would not be a court, but it would resemble a courtroom proceeding in the sense that those with unpaid tolls would be given a chance to explain their tardiness and make payment or settlement arrangements. The administrative hearing would occur before the tollway authority attempted to block car registrations.

he tollway authority also is seeking power to “ban” habitual toll violators from the 850-plus miles of tollways in the Metroplex. Car owners who were banned from the roads but continued to use them would be considered trespassing, making them subject to arrest.

At least one other tolling agency in Texas, the Harris County Toll Road Authority, already has the ability to block car registrations in the Houston area.

Officials in Tarrant, Denton, Dallas and Collin counties have been unable to mutually agree on a system for blocking vehicle registrations at the local level, Barr said.

However, the commissioners courts in all four counties have passed resolutions endorsing the tollway authority’s proposed legislation, Carrigan said.

Gordon Dickson, 817-390-7796 Twitter: @gdickson

TEX Rail supporters seek special tax district for Cotton Belt

@gdickson

It's been a heck of a busy week, and I'm behind in blogging a few important items. One of them is this story I wrote for this past weekend about the effort to develop the TEX Rail Cotton Belt commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Grapevine, DFW Airport and Plano. A private developer is preparing to submit a proposal to build much of the line with nontraditional funds, which would be repaid with proceeds from transit-oriented development at train stations and other property near the line. But to do that they'll have to ask the Legislature for a special tax district.

Photo: GrapevineTXonline

Hutchison next transportation secretary?

@gdickson

Retired U.S. Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is a candidate to become the next transportation secretary, according to a blog item from The Hill.

Current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has previously said he intended to only serve one term in the Obama administration, although he has not yet announced a departure date.

Hutchison retired after a 20-year career in the Senate, where she championed several key transportation issues. Texas has long been a "donor state," sending far more of the federal motor fuels tax collected at the pumps to Washington than it got back in appropriations for transportation projects, but Hutchison wrote legislation that somewhat corrected that imbalance.

She also has been a strong supporter of passenger rail efforts, including Amtrak and the ongoing high-speed rail initiative.

It's not unusual for presidents to appoint someone from the opposite party transportation secretary, as a nod to bipartisanship.

LaHood was a Republican congressman from Illinois before he was chosen for President Obama's otherwise Democratic cabinet.

A decade ago, Democrat Norman Mineta served as transportation secretary under President George W. Bush, a Republican.

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Traffic out of Cowboys Stadium was incredibly smooth

After driving to work Monday morning through the parking lot that is Interstate 35W, I'm even more impressed with the ease in which we were able to exit Cowboys Stadium after the Cotton Bowl Friday night.

We stayed for the entire game, which ended about 11 p.m., and after a 10-minute walk to our car in Silver Lot 14, driver Alex Branch quickly exited onto Division Street, took a left (couldn't go right), made our way to Abram, headed west toward Fielder, took Fielder to Interstate 30 and then made our way to Fort Worth.

Alex dropped me off in downtown Fort Worth, where I got in my car and headed north toward Keller.

I was home shortly after midnight, in time to catch Johnny Manziel's highlights show ESPN.

Hats off to Arlington police and others who have figured out the traffic plan.

- Lee Williams

 

Stadler, handful of companies could build rail cars for Cotton Belt line

Updated Jan. 11 (original posted Jan. 4)

@gdickson

The company that already provides passenger rail cars for the A-train in Denton County and a commuter line in the Austin area is Stadler Rail Group of Switzerland - a firm that should have the inside track to providing cars for the proposed TEX Rail/Cotton Belt line. But does it? Check out this story I wrote last weekend about prospective rail car manufacturers.

North Texas transit agencies are playing a huge role in redefining federal rules regarding passenger train safety on commuter lines. Agencies such as the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Denton County Transportation Authority for years have pushed for new federal rules allowing self-propelled cars that look like light-rail cars to operate on freight lines.

In October 2011, the Federal Railroad Administration approved a set of technical criteria for manufacturers to use in building rail cars that look like light-rail vehicles but can withstand a crash on a freight line. For those who wish to read the FRA's guidelines, here's a copy for you to peruse. There's a lot of good information about energy absorption, with an emphasis on keeping the occupants of a rail car safe during a crash as the metal and plastic around them disintegrates.

On May 31, 2012, the Denton County Transportation Authority was granted a waiver to operate Stadler GTW cars on its 21-mile line from Denton to Carrollton. Stadler was the first - and remains the only - company to build a vehicle that meets the new federal criteria for operating on freight lines while still offering passengers the comforts of a streetcar or light-rail line. To read a copy of the letter announcing the waiver, click here. 

Here's how the Stadler GTW cars are built, and how they function, in Stadler's own words.

All that said, it doesn't necessarily mean that Stadler will be the vehicle provider when the Cotton Belt line is finally built. The North Central Texas Council of Governments is about to receive an unsolicited proposal by unnamed developers to build the rail line, and those developers could choose from among a handful of manufacturers who have the ability to deliver the cars.

But that unsolicited proposal will trigger a competitive process, giving Stadler or other manufacturers another chance to compete for the Cotton Belt project.

For more information about the Cotton Belt project, watch for a story in the Sunday Star-Telegram.

@gdickson

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Grapevine pulls brake on commuter rail funding idea

@gdickson

Grapevine officials say they're not ready to support the Cotton Belt funding initiative for a proposed commuter rail line, until more information about the project is disclosed.

I-35E expansion begins this year in Dallas, Denton

Motorists should prepare for work zone-related delays along the I-35E corridor in Dallas, Carrollton and Denton ... but by 2016 the road should be much better equipped to handle Metroplex traffic.