Dodging the fare on the light rail lines could become more difficult to do. Provided a key piece of state legislation comes through, Metro officials said the plan is to have new monitors in place when the new North, East and Southeast lines start ferrying passengers along the city’s rail system. “It is growing a [...]
Posts Tagged ‘North line’
FTA writes another check for light rail construction
Keep ‘em coming. The expansion of Houston Metro got another boost from the federal government with the allocation of $188 million in additional construction funding for the North and Southeast light rail lines. Congressman Gene Green, the Houston Democrat who is dean of the metropolitan area’s House delegation, said the money is part of Houston [...]
Metro signs Full Funding Grant Agreement
Full speed ahead. The head of the Federal Transit Administration on Monday signed $900 million in grant agreements to help pay for two Houston light-rail lines under construction by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The grants, the first federal funds ever provided for rail in Houston, were formally approved in a ceremony attended by the FTA [...]
Signing date for Full Funding Grant Agreement announced
From the Metro blog: On Monday, Nov. 28, METRO will be joined by federal officials, along with members of Houston’s congressional delegation, to sign the long-awaited Full Funding Grant Agreements (FFGA) for the North and Southwest light-rail lines. President & CEO George Greanias announced the signing date [Wednesday] at the Greater Houston Partnership’s luncheon. This [...]
Construction pains
I feel for the people and businesses that are being affected by Metro’s light rail construction. I wish that these large construction projects could be done without that kind of disruption, but it happens, and it sucks. What amazed me in reading this story was what some of those folks had to say about it: [...]
Metro gets more light rail funds
From the US Department of Transit: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced $1.58 billion for 27 transit projects nationwide that will improve public transportation access for millions of Americans while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and curbing air pollution. “Investing in a modern transportation network is a key part of President Obama’s strategy [...]
Bye-bye, intermodal center
In the process of writing off some bad assets in what one hopes is the last ritual cleansing of the Frank Wilson era, Metro says good-bye to something we hadn’t heard of in awhile. Metro has given up on what it calls an intermodal terminal just north of downtown at Main and Burnett streets on [...]
Metro in the President’s budget
They did all right. Houston Metro’s expansion is getting a $200 million boost in Obama’s budget request to Congress. The money for the North Corridor and the Southeast Corridor projects is $50 million more than the $150 million set aside by Obama in his last two budget proposals. The Metro project is part of a [...]
Metro restarts some light rail construction
As if to punctuate Gilbert Garcia’s op-ed, the news for Metro at the start of 2011 is good. Last month, the Federal Transit Administration sent the first $50 million of the grant money for use on the North and Southeast lines. Last week, the FTA issued pre-clearance letters Metro needed before it could proceed with [...]
Metro to try mediation with CAF
Whatever works. The Metropolitan Transit Authority plans to negotiate the cancellation of a $331 million contract with a Spanish rail car manufacturer through mediation, local transit bosses said Wednesday. That is why, despite the agency’s announced intention to cancel the contract, no action [was] proposed on [Thursday's] agenda, explained Metro President George Greanias and board [...]
Add another year to the construction schedule
Metro may have dodged a bullet with the FTA, but they’re still going to feel the effect of the federal agency’s decision in the Buy America case. The Metropolitan Transit Authority today retracted its acting president’s statement that the agency could complete construction of three rail lines by October 2013, saying a delay of up [...]
FTA gives Metro a second chance
That sound you hear is a bullet whizzing past Metro’s ear Metro violated federal laws in making a deal with a Spanish company to purchase 103 rail cars, and must re-bid the purchase in order to qualify for a $900 million grant, the nation’s top transit official said today. Peter Rogoff, the administrator of the [...]
Metro’s cash crunch
From last week, a story about how times are tough at Metro. Facing a $49 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has begun to slow construction on two light rail lines and may embrace more drastic measures in the coming months as uncertainty grows over a $800 million grant from the [...]
Another setback for DART
More bad news from Dallas. Dallas Area Rapid Transit can’t afford to build light-rail service to D/FW International Airport by 2013 as it has long said it would, the agency’s chief financial officer said Tuesday. The news comes as a sharp reversal, but CFO David Leininger said the only way the project can be built [...]
Inducing demand: Not just for misguided highway projects in the exurbs
This article about the construction of the North Line demonstrates that development follows transit projects, too. One of the biggest real estate projects in the area is the former FedEx site on Irvington. It was conceived in 2002 to address recommendations made in the city’s Northside Village Economic Revitalization Plan. The city’s plan called for [...]
Metro responds to FTA letter about “Buy America”
As we know, Metro had received a letter from the FTA that challenged its compliance with the FTA’s “Buy America” requirement due to Metro’s agreement to buy two prototype light rail cars that would be built in Spain. Metro has now responded to that letter and produced some rather compelling evidence that their actions did [...]
Wilson resigns
He’s out. Frank J. Wilson relinquished the leadership of the Metropolitan Transit Authority on Friday, leaving Metro’s reconstituted board and an acting chief executive with the task of completing the light rail system Wilson was hired to build six years ago. Wilson, 61, signed a deal to terminate his employment as president and chief executive [...]
Was it worth it for two prototypes?
I’m really at a loss to understand how the previous Metro board could have put $900 million at risk to make it easier for their manufacturer to build two prototype light rail cars. Eight days after federal officials rejected the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s request for a waiver from federal requirements that it assemble its light [...]
More on Wilson’s departure
More evidence that Metro CEO Frank Wilson is about to be history: The Metro board has a replacement in mind. The board is expected to name George Greanias, a former city councilman and controller who co-chaired Mayor Annise Parker’s Metro transition committee, as interim chief executive, the sources said. A national search would be undertaken [...]
“Committed” to rail
Well, it’s better than not being commited. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today that his agency is continuing a review of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s light rail funding application, but he declined to say when the $900 million grant might be finalized. “We are committed to this project,” LaHood said after delivering [...]
Metro still has unresolved issues
With the FTA and its Buy American requirements. A central issue in a federal investigation of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s compliance with “Buy America” regulations remained unresolved after meetings in Washington, Metro board Chairman Gilbert Garcia said on Thursday. Plans by Metro and its Spanish rail car vendor to assemble two prototype vehicles in Spain [...]
Metro and the FTA
I didn’t see this KHOU story, in which a regular Metro critic claims that the agency deliberately gave outdated sales tax revenue information to the Federal Transit Administration in order to get $900 million in federal money for the North and Southeast lines, until I saw this Houston Politics post in which the Mayor and [...]
More on Metro’s finances
The Chron takes a closer look at Metro’s finances and the recently expressed doubts about their ability to pay for the University and Uptown lines. Mayor Annise Parker said last week that she wasn’t convinced the Metropolitan Transit Authority would have the money to build its planned Uptown and University rail lines. Parker said she [...]
More FTA funds for North and Southeast lines
From Houston Tomorrow: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) released its recommendations for the President’s FY2011 Budget, which include $75 million each for Houston’s North (pdf) andSoutheast Light Rail Lines (pdf), continuing the funding that began in the previous year. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) plans to pay for the Uptown and East Light Rail [...]
University Line takes a step forward on funding
Finally! The light rail route known as the “University Line” is close to clearing the first major hurdle for obtaining federal funding. The Federal Transit Authority notified Metro this week that the project has entered a 10-day congressional notification period. If no member of Congress objects by Dec. 10, then the FTA will give Metro [...]
Metro gets FTA final design approval for North and Southeast lines
Another step forward. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) gave METRO permission today to enter into Final Design on Houston’s North and Southeast light-rail lines. The FTA’s approval is the final prerequisite toward entering Full Funding Grant Agreements on both lines, which signals the federal government’s commitment to fund its part of the projects. The approval [...]
Metro light rail groundbreaking
Asa we know, today was groundbreaking day for Metro on the North and Southeast lines. Here’s the coverage I could find: an oddly negative story from KTRK, stories from Fox and KHOU, and a story from Texas Cable News that has something near and dear to my heart, namely numbers. Metro estimates that by 2030 [...]
Metro to break ground on North and Southeast lines
Woo hoo! The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County will be breaking ground July 13 on the next phase of the MetroRail. Metro will begin construction on the North rail corridor which will connect to the Red Line at the University of Houston-Downtown and end at the Northline Station on Fulton and Deerfield streets near [...]
More on Metro’s costs
The West U Examiner ran a similar story to the one about Metro’s costs and critics last week, in which the same questions about the cost estimates were raised by the same critic. The basic points are identical, so there’s not much to add except my congratulations to Mr. Magaziner for getting his complaints aired [...]
OK, you can use some stimulus money on rail
Whew! Federal transit officials on Tuesday reversed course and agreed to allow Metro to use nearly $30 million in economic stimulus funds for utility relocation work on the proposed North and Southeast rail lines, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee announced. Just last week, Metro was told such stimulus funds could not be used on the latest [...]
Stimulus? What stimulus?
I’m basically agnostic about the plan to convert HOV lanes to HOV-plus-toll lanes that Metro is floating. Like Christof, who was quoted in the story, I don’t think it will make that much difference in terms of actual traffic flow, though I think that Texas Transportation Institute fellow is correct to note that it will [...]