SWRC Coalition Meeting
March 15, 2006
Minutes
Present: Haswell, Milroy, Bohannan, Garey, Collins, Caywood, Veidt, Preising, Lindley, Dorwart, and Smyth
Absent: Schwartz, Tevlin, Morse, Pearsall, Luckie, Herr-Cardillo, and Leister
Calendar: April 28, 2006 - Arizona Commuter/Regional Rail Symposium during the Arizona Transit Association Annual Meeting April 25 - 28, 2006 in Tempe, AZ
May TBD, 2006 - SWRC Coalition Core Team meeting at Goodman-Schwartz
TBD, 2006 - SWRC Coalition (Full Team) meeting.
The following items were discussed during the meeting. Action items are included below.
- Smyth introduced two new members to the Coalition
- Don Veidt - Retired Union Pacific VP
- Stantec Consulting (Dick Dorwart)
- Bohannan report that his presentation on the SWRC Coalition at the January 19, 2006 Rural Transportation Summit was well received.
- Garey reported that Amtrak is essentially status quo.
- Smyth reported that the New Mexico Rail Runner Commuter has passed the legal issues to purchase the BNSF line. With the approval to build stations, the system should open no later than June 1, 2006
- Smyth reported for Pearsall that for the “Arizona Rail Inventory and Assessment Study 2006″ ADOT will solicit bids from its on-call list of consultants in late March. The study should be completed in early 2007.
- Smyth reported for Pearsall that for the “MAG Commuter Rail Study 2006-2007″ MAG will issue an RFP by June 2006. The study should be completed in Fall 2007. Both MAG and ADOT will work together for the duration of the study. Also, SWRC Coalition and ARPA have asked to be included on the Stakeholders Committee.
- Bohannan reported that his is still working on the “Commuter White Paper” drafted by Sam Morse. (ACTION ITEM)
- Smyth reported for Pearsall that ADOT officially sent its first “dues check” to the “States for Passenger Rail Coalition” in March. ADOT now sits at the table to lobby congress for passenger rail.
- Smyth presented the program for the “Arizona Commuter/Regional Rail Symposium” to be held April 28, 2006 in Tempe, AZ. The program will consist of speakers for the freight railroads, Commuter/Regional Rail Systems in the Southwest, Arizona governments. The SWRC Coalition and ARPA will also speak at the Symposium. Both SWRC and ARPA have donated $1000.00 sponsorships to AzTA who is hosting the symposium. SWRC/ARPA will have a table display at the symposium.
Jay R. Smyth, PhD, PRP, PMP
Coordinator, SWRC Coalition