TRA Austin political trip

by Paul Mangelsdorf
TRA President

The capitol was abuzz with people Wednesday morning - enough to fill a mall and it was obvious that we had done well in having been granted appointments as we repeatedly saw others turned away that were not on the appointment books.  The drive to Austin was tedious with heavy fog over I35 for more than a hour.   Return that PM only had a light fog but truck traffic was probably 50% higher after dark.
 
Our first meeting was with Chas Sempel in Speaker Tom Craddock's (R-Lubbock) office.  Because Chas had an unexpected conflict arise, he apologized and asked us to come back later in the day. At that time we had a good fifteen minute meeting with him.  He shared some memories of train travel as we began to talk about the South Central Corridor. As in all of the meetings we made it a point to ask for support for the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor.  Chas introduced us to Stephen Raines with whom we will be working on transportation issues. Our short meeting with Stephen revealed some areas of mutual interest: Ranger Baseball of particular note. We believe that working with Stephen will be productive. 
 
At 11:30am we met with  Milton Reister from Lt. Governor Dewhurst's office.  We provided information about the S.C.H.S.R. corridor and why we felt that a RAIL division at Tex-DOT would be beneficial.  This was primarily an educational meeting. 
 
During the 1-1:30 time frame we visited offices of the House Transportation Subcommittee members.  Most notable was the visit at Linda Harper Brown's office.  We feel that Linda could be a big help in the Corridor issue. Studies could show that the route might be better along the TRE line rather than the U.P. We will contact those committee members by mail or fax whose offices we missed. 
 
An impromptu introduction of Steve Wolens was afforded Paul as we were making the rounds,  we feel that we'll always get a fair opinion and support in his office. 
 
Our 1:30 meeting with Mike Krusee was handled by his senior staff member, Wendy Reilley .  Wendy knows first hand about traffic on I35  corridor as she was involved in an multi vehicle accident with an 18 wheeler - in which her passenger was seriously injured. We asked Wendy to convey to Representative Krusee our desire to see the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor study funded and begun during the 2004 budget year.  We'd like to be back in Austin in early-mid April and will try again to meet with Representative Krusee. 
 
At 2pm we were in Representative Tommy Merritt's (R-Longview) office.  Tommy had invited Bill Barton of the Texas Railroad Association to be present. Tommy is wanting to develop the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor between Longview and Dallas as he feels it has the greater potential and looks to extend eastward to Shreveport.   He feels that TxDOT is not interested in helping him out so he's looking to the Railroad Commission which doesn't have the necessary authority.  Bill Barton suggested that a meeting be arranged between Tommy and Michael Behrens, Executive Director, who has an interest in rail.  I mentioned that a new effort is under way to get the ridership study funded and that in addressing the corridor its important to get the BIG picture.  One of his ideas includes a new ROW adjacent the UP from Dallas to Longview to build high speed passenger/commuter track there.  
 
Our 2:45 meeting took us to Senator David Sibley's office.  He urged us to come back to Austin later in the session and meet with Senator Steve Ogden.  We discussed the South Central Corridor and will ask him again for support on that issue.   He graciously provided us a few pointers for our handouts and was pleased we hat uncovered many salient points in our efforts to date.
 
At 3:15pm we were in Representative Diane Delisi's office.  We saw Diane and John spoke to her briefly as we waited at Representative Krusee's office earlier in the afternoon.  She had not returned from her newspaper interview so we met with her aide, James Bernsen. It was a productive meeting stressing the issue of the Corridor development. 
 
Mike Barnett, an aide to Representative Larry Phillips, met with us next.  Representative Phillips is Vice Chair of the House Transportation Subcommittee. We explained to Mike that as the route of the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor is studied that it might be possible to change certain segments of the corridor depending on ridership demands.   
 
The final meeting of the day was in Speaker Craddick's office with Chas Sempel. We were indeed lucky to meet and spend a few minutes with Stephen Raines as noted above.  
 
Today Friday, February 14th, Paul spoke with Mario Medina in TxDOT's Multi Modal Division. Mario is interested in the South Central Corridor.  David Laney will be speaking with John Cikota of FRA in early March and following up with TxDot regarding the corridor study and funding. 
 
A letter from Commissioner John Johnson at Tex-DOT is most positive with regard to Rail and is now positioned in what is now the multi-Modal section 
 
Comments or questions are welcome and appreciated. This report after some further editing will be posted on the website with photos. 
 
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