hefty infusions of capital for additions to the service and the heavy maintenance needed to keep aging infrastructure fresh and safe. Funding Metra has been a big problem in re- cent years. Tragedy struck Metra in 2010 when long time CEO Phil Pagano committed suicide by stepping in front of a Metra train. An inves- tigation revealed that Pagano had stolen considerable money from Metra. A new, squeaky clean CEO was sought and Alex Clifford was hired. In 2013 Mr. Clifford, a former California transportation executive, ran afoul of Illinois politics; apparently he did not honor the patronage demands of Illi- nois house speaker Michael Madigan. This sort of thing is commonplace in Chicago and Illinois, as well as many other places too, I am reasonably sure. Mr. Clifford got a severance package of $728,000, which some no-fun newspaper scribes see as hush money. On July 17, 2013, Clifford testified before the RTA board, which was auditing the matter. It was a pub- lic airing of unattractive material. Transit, especially rail transit, is an attractive target for political activism because such enter- prises always deal in large sums of money. It may be tough for Metra to find a new chief in a timely manner. Matters need to settle down and afford Metra management the time and freedom from politics needed to make necessary investments and run a fine service. Thanks to John C. Spychalski for the not so good news.
Remembering Otis R. Bowen Otis R. Bowen played a major role in the re- suscitation and rebuilding of the South Bend, Ind., to Chicago South Shore Line of the Northern Indiana Commuter Trans- portation District. Bowen was a small town physician from Bremen, Ind. He was elected to the Indiana General Assembly, became Speaker of the House, and in 1970, was elected Indiana governor. Known generally as Doc Bowen, he was popular with Democ- rats as well as Republicans. He was far- sighted and progressive, but many Republi- cans saw him as deeply conservative, which means the Republicans believed that if Doc Bowen was for something, it must be right. Governor Bowen was particularly strong in support of actions that were good for the state; one of these things was working to re- tain the commuter rail service of the South Shore Line when CSX wished to discontinue passenger service in the late 1970s. One of Bowen’s assistants, William Watt, took a leading role in the preservation of the South Shore Line. Yours truly was involved in a study carried out by the Institute for Urban Transportation of Indiana University; the study showed the service should be retained. We made a film to be shown on public televi- sion summarizing the results of the re- search. Governor Bowen agreed to appear in the film and give an introduction, and he told the woman producing the film that he had a warm spot in his heart for the South Shore. After military duty in World War II, he pursued additional medical study in Chicago and always took the South Shore train into the big city. Doc Bowen later went on to be Secretary of Health and Human Services in the second Reagan Administra- tion. Otis R. Bowen passed away at age 95 in April of 2013. His support at a critical time is one of the reasons you can take an electric train from South Bend to Chicago today.
Silver Spring Transportation Center I am writing this item because of a conflu- ence of events. First, I am recovering from knee surgery in a rehabilitation center here in Bloomington, and one of the staff is a very pleasant lady from Silver Spring, Md. Sec- ond, David Harris and Peter Perreault sent me information about the Silver Spring Transportation Center.
The center is supposed to help revitalize Silver Spring, once the dominant suburban city in the Washington, D.C., area. I first vis- ited the place in 1951 while making pick-ups and deliveries for a Philadelphia based fur cleaning company. At the time, downtown Silver Spring was prosperous, with a num- ber of major retailers, including the Hecht company, Woodward & Lathrop, Frank R. Jelleff, Sears, J.C. Penney, Hechingers, and many other shops and stores. As in so many places, big shopping centers and big box stores have left downtown Silver Spring in bad shape. J.C. Penney was the last to leave. Building a transportation center was ex- pected to provide a helpful shot in the arm when it was first underway in the early 1990s. The center was to house stations for Washington Metro Rail as well as MARC commuter service, and also serve as a major bus transit center. It was expected to cost $24 million. So far the incomplete center has cost (hold on to your socks) $120 million. It has been redesigned several times and some of what has been built must be torn down be- cause of defects in the design and construc- tion. Much of the facility is off limits to pas- sengers and surrounded by cyclone fence. No one is sure of how much more must be spent or how long it will take to finish.
Wind Power for Light Rail We all know that in the U.S. many levels of government are powered by wind — mostly hot air. Now we have evidence that light rail transit can be powered by wind. In the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, Metro Transit has purchased 71,000 kilowatt hours of electric- ity that is generated by wind. This is part of Xcel Energy’s Windsource program. That amount of power can operate the light rail line for about one day. Along with hybrids in the bus fleet, the wind powered move has saved more than $4 million in fuel and util- ity
costs in 2012. Thanks
Pumphrey for the good news. Flashes
The Red Line subway and the light rail serv- ices in LOS ANGELES used the honor sys- tem of fare collection from the beginning. Apparently, there was much more system than honor, so the spring of 2013 saw the end of the honor system and the installation of fare gates and all the fare collection para- phernalia familiar to most rapid transit or light rapid transit users. Thanks to Frank Bauer for the news.
SOUTH SHORE LINE/NICTD service between Michigan City and South Bend was interrupted on June 20, 2013, when a garbage truck became wedged under a rail bridge near Hudson Lake. The truck hit the bridge with such impact that it moved the bridge and the railroad track about five feet. A witness made a call and a train was stopped before it reached the bridge and de- railed. Passengers were bused from South Bend to Michigan City until bridge repairs were made. The railroad reopened between the two cities by the end of the month.
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