Ohio Bill New Tool to Boost Regional Transportation Projects, Sponsors Say

Ohio Bill New Tool to Boost Regional Transportation Projects, Sponsors Say

Government, Business Potential Partners on Qualified Projects

Lawmakers Vest Final Vote with State Transportation Director

by John Michael Spinelli

June 14, 2009

COLUMBUS, OHIO: Ohio governments and businesses could form investments teams to construct and operate regionally significant intermodal systems including public transit, freight and passenger rail systems, according to testimony provide last Wednesday by two prominent Ohio senators from opposite ends of the state and political spectrum, who have teamed up to propose the formation of Transportation Innovation Authorities (TIA).

The senators, Capri Cafaro, a Democrat whose district is in northeast Ohio, close to Cleveland and Lake Erie, and Tom Niehaus, whose district is in the southwest, close to Cincinnati and the Ohio River, stood next to each other last week, when the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee convened for business.

In addition to a first hearing on the outline of TIAs (SB121), the approval of Governor's appointment including the naming by Ted Strickland earlier this year of Jolene Molitoris to be the Director of Transportation was also on the agenda. Molitoris became the first woman Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration when then-President Clinton appointed her in 1993 and the first woman to break the glass ceiling at the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) when Gov. Strickland promoted her this January to hold the reigns of and director the horsepower of the $7-plus billion agency that oversees federal and state funds.

Strickland and Molitoris are backing the re-establishment of passenger rail service, diagonally across the state from Cincinnati to Dayton to Columbus to Cleveland, they hope $400 million in one-time federal stimulus dollars will cover the estimated costs for re-starting a service that has not left or arrived in any station in nearly 42 years. Strickland said he does not want Ohio to be left behind as an island as federal plans to fund more passenger rail gathers momentum despite the few funds President Obama has made available for such uses.

Cafaro, whose dozen-member caucus elected her as its leader last November, said in written testimony that it was her hope that the bill "will enhance the efficiency of Ohio's transportation system by encouraging the investment of public and private resources in the planning and implementation of innovative transportation Projects."

Creating a new authority for a defined period of time, in a defined geographical jurisdiction, where various government subdivisions or agencies can rally around a common regional transportation project with private business would be a boon for a state whose state budget is imploding, leaving locals to look to each other instead of Columbus for help with transportation priorities and plans.

Addressing Chairman Sen. Tom Patton, a Republican from Cleveland, and committee members, Cafaro said that among the various funding sources made available to TIA by the bill, taxes imposed by the authority itself would be prohibited.

Niehaus, a term-limited Republican by 2012, said the "newness of the concept and the many questions surrounding its proposed utilization," were two reasons to yank it from the State Transportation bill agreed to in March. "TIAs offer a unique ability for the pubic and private sectors to partner on the construction and operation of conventional transportation investments, as well as on intermodal, light rail or intercity rail projects,"Niehaus said in prepared remarks.

While Molitoris was not personally in the room, the authority vested in the transportation director was. As currently proposed, the bill would give the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) authority to approve a TIA or any of its projects. Projects qualified for ODOT approval would be contingent upon local entities adopting planning and zoning guidelines with the TIA' defined geography that would "assure that land use is conducive to the purpose of the district and does not set the stage for unintended, unplanned and unprogrammed additional improvements."

Once a partnership is struck between ODOT and a TIA, the transportation fun could begin. ODOT, in return for the TIA meeting standards established in the bill, would be free to provide planning and project development funds, favorable financing and improved project scheduling to the communities of the TIA. One helpful resource would bee access to a "new generation of investment" by ODOT's State Infrastructure Bank. The OSIB could offer low interest loans for public transit, multi-modal projects and intercity rail, an extension of what it currently does for roadway and bridge projects. Niehaus said ODOT is working to identify $170 million over the next two years to expand the OSIB.

Responding to questions from Senators, Cafaro reminded them that, as the Highway Trust Fund runs dry due in part due to less gas tax being collected as people drive fewer miles as the price of gas rises, locals looking to each other is better than looking for help from Washington.

The inclusion of the word "innovation" in the new authority's title should extend to not only innovative ways of financing a shared public interest with infrastructure we are familiar with, but also to the "innovation" of the transportation technology being considered. For an advanced train technology like Tubular Rail, whose capital costs are significantly lower than traditional railroads, the news of what a TIA can do is good news. Other technologies that bring new solutions to old problems should be embraced not as red-haired outliers but as a new way of moving people and goods in new ways.

The debate over investing untold billions in roads and bridges and other conventional transportation modes, no matter how familiar we are with them, is an important one. The cost of standard infrastructure, including water, sewer and energy facilities, is at an all-time high. The cost of transportation infrastructure, from trolleys, to light rail to high-speed trains, is even more expensive, which means TIAs and the planning groups they are tied to need to look either for ways to reduce project costs or look for innovative transportation technology that is less capital intensive.

The Senate bill is the upper house's version of the House version, which Niehuas characterized as a "starting point for consideration."

John Michael Spinelli is a Certified Economic Development Financing Professional, business and travel writer and former credentialed Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is registered to lobby in Ohio and is the Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. SOA is now on Twitter at OhioNewsBureau and available for subscription to owners of Amazon's Kindle. To send a news tip or make comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

Tubular Rail, the Valley of Death and Helping a Hurt Ohio

Tubular Rail, the Valley of Death and Helping a Hurt Ohio

"Trackless Train" Company Wins State Support for Ohio Supply Chain in Bid for DOE Energy Funds

TR technology as Cool as "Making a Rock Float."

by John Michael Spinelli

June 2, 2009

COLUMBUS, OHIO: Officials from Tubular Rail, the "trackless train" company from Texas, had reason to smile last week. After eights months of seeking an audience with Gov. Ted Strickland's development staff to introduce them to the company's patented technology that reorganizes the essential elements of conventional railroads by eliminating the need for tracks or bridges, a letter of general support from Ohio was issued that signaled state officials are ready to help the company build an Ohio supply chain for both its transformational prototype and for the next generation of trains it believes will become the fourth transportation industry, after trains, cars and planes, that promises to become a new standard for America and the world.

With the understanding that "a significant portion of the components for both the demonstration and commercial system can be sourced in Ohio," StevenSchoeny, Director, Strategic Business Investment Division, affixed his name to a letter than informed company officials that "the Ohio Department of Development is prepared to work with Tubular Rail and your suppliers in Ohio to take advantage of Ohio's economic development programs to build your supply chain capacity."

The announcement Monday by General Motors that it was entering bankruptcy court where it will reinvent itself in a final turnaround effort to remain a viable auto-manufacturer in the U.S, makes the hunt for new jobs that much more compelling. Ohio has everything to gain and nothing to lose from taking an interest in the birth and development of a new industry, as Tubular Rail thinks of itself.

Combining GM's announcement yesterday that its future reorganization plans will cost Ohio another 1,000 jobs with Tuesday's announcement by NCR that it will relocate its headquarters from Dayton to Georgia, taking about 1,300 jobs with it, and adding it to the dour backdrop that more than 300,000 jobs have been lost on the watch of Gov. Ted Strickland, elected in 2006 on the campaign promise to turnaround Ohio, solidifies the expectation that the state's unemployment, now above 10 percent, will continue to tick upwards.

And now that John Kasich, a former Ohio Congressman and investment banker, has declared he will challenge Strickland in 2010 and whose campaign slogan is "A New Way, A New Day," the race is on to see which man can best restore jobs and prosperity to a once mighty industrial state bobbing in a sea of red ink.

GM's bitter-sweet news makes Ohio's rough road to recover even rougher. The Hobson's Choice now, exacerbated by an imploding economy that has triggered a range war in Columbus over how to balance the budget by the next fiscal year, which starts June 11, pits Democrats, who want to fill a current and growing budget gap with billions in one-time stimulus funds, and Senate Republicans, who are ready to wield a big ax and lop off even more state-funded programs, better syncing future state expenditures with expected shrinking revenues.

Amid this economic turmoil in Ohio, Tubular Rail has submitted an application to the federal Dept. of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy, which is offering up to $20 million per project for new energy ideas that are so "transformational" they will "disrupt the status quo" so much that a new industry standard will emerge.

From the DOE grant guidelines: "Often, a technology is considered transformational when it so outperforms current approaches that it causes an industry to shift its technology base to the new technology. The Nation needs transformational energy-related technologies to overcome the threats posed by climate change and energy security, arising from its reliance on traditional uses of fossil fuels and the dominant use of oil in transportation."

With their Ohio letter in hand, company officials added the Buckeye State to the list of team members located in Texas and Ohio that it hopes will catch the eye of DOE grant staff.
If Tubular Rail is passed through to the next round of the , when a full 150-page application will be completed,

"This project effectively creates a 'fourth form' of transportation, one that will have the impact today that the locomotive, Model T and Kitty Hawk had in their day," according to Robert Pulliam, inventor of TR technology and president of the company.

Pulliam, born and raised in Detroit but now residing in Houston, Texas, said the two mile prototype system will be proof-positive that a new "Green" industry addressing Green House Gas emissions, oil imports, infrastructure costs and job creation is upon us.

Tubular Rail's goal, according to Pulliam, is to build a transportation system that reduces the cost of installation and the affect of infrastructure impact, yet achieves the energy efficiencies inherent in steel railway systems.

Pulliam said the "Pecos Project" will be a full-scale operating system to test and prove all components, reconfiguring the essential functional elements of the rail-bed and train. It reverses orientation of steel rail and steel wheel by ingeniously putting the rails on the car and propulsion on the supports or O-Ring stanchions.

The stated goal of the program is to take an "immature technology that promises to make a large impact on the ARPA-E Mission areas...and develop it beyond the 'valley of death' that prevents many transformational new technologies from becoming a market reality."

As stated in its grant guidelines, DOE's goal is to provide funding such that a company like Tubular Rail, which already has preliminary engineering and patents in hand, can overcome the later phase of the "valley of death" by funding the technology (component, system, hardware, software, or other) that must be matured to the point that it can transition into industrial development and deployment.

The Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, which performed work for Tubular Rail, contrasted and compared TR technology with current convention railroad technology. "We strongly believe in the spirit of Tubular Rail and would like to see the project receive funding soon," theThayer report concluded. It added, "An improvement upon conventional technology is necessary because existing technologies for high-speed and urban transit are expensive, difficult to build through populated areas, and more environmentally unfriendly. In summary the basic advantages of Tubular are an initial investment 54 percent less than the competition,operations 450 percent more efficient than conventional technology and emits 35 percent less CO2 than other forms of transportation." Simply put,Thayer said "Tubular Rail is a viable option for the future of the rail industry".

What does all this mean for Ohio? Jobs, jobs, jobs. Ohio, by agreeing to have its name added to TR's list of potential partners, puts itself in a prime position to seize the day on the birth and development of a new transportation industry. Although TR's prototype will be built in Texas, Ohio can still be home to another Wright Brother's Kitty Hawk moment, TR's 1st commercial passenger.

With daily announcements of job losses battering the spirit of state leaders, workers, their family and friends and the communities they live in, any lift Tubular Rail can give to the Birthplace of Aviation should befacilitated no matter the cost. But helping TR out means state leaders and the citizenry at large need to re-think how they think about rail. Locomotive engines guided by tracks in the ground have been around for a long time. But the new paradigm, as invented by Mr. Pulliam, takes those relationships apart and puts them back together differently, but uses readily available technologies.

Frank Sonzala, a TR board member from San Antonio who is also a proven entrepreneur and patent holder, says the simple concept behind the company's game-changing technology is tantamount to "making a rock float." With Ohio sinking like a rock, it's letter of support is one small step for a state sinking beneath the waves of the Great Recession, but one giant step for Tubular Rail.

John Michael Spinelli is a Certified Economic Development Financing Professional, business and travel writer and former credentialed Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is registered to lobby in Ohio and is the Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com