From: George Haikalis <geohaikalis@juno.com>

X-AOL-IP: 64.136.30.71

Dear friends of regional rail:

The next monthly meeting of the Regional Rail Working Group sponsored by

the Empire State Passengers Association/Committee for Better Transit/NJ

Association of Rail Passengers/Institute for Rational Urban Mobility will

be:

Wednesday, December 17, 2003 6-8pm

Conference Room, NYPD Downtown Center

104 Washington Street (just north of Rector Street)

Lower Manhattan.

The purpose of the working group is to develop and advance plans for

converting the region's commuter rail lines into a regional rail system,

with fast, frequent service and affordable, integrated fares. The Penn

Station Metro-Hub plan sets the stage for doing this. Subsequent steps

are access to Lower Manhattan and the Penn Station-Grand Central link.

The group also considers changes to rapid transit and light rail transit

that are "regional" in scale.

Regional Rail issues are discussed on the website: www.auto-free.org

Two key issues will be discussed at this meeting -- the PATH/Lex

connection and Access to the Region's Core ARC (including

"through-running" at Penn Station, restoring the Rockaway Cut-off and

"streamlining" LIRR access to GCT).

We need to reach a consensus on these rapidly-developing projects and

devise a strategy to move forward.

Agenda for the December 17, 2003 meeting

1. PATH/Lex Connection - draft of Final Report

2. Near term and longer term options for Access to the Region's Core

(ARC)

    - Penn Station Metro-Hub plan

    - Rockaway cut-off/Kennedy Airport Access

    - new Trans-Hudson Rail tunnel to Penn Station

    - stepwise extension of new tunnel to Grand Central

    - streamlining LIRR access to Grand Central

3. regional rail to Lower Manhattan

4. regional rail freight issues

5. intercity rail passenger issues

6. organizational issues -- ESPA/NJ-ARP/IRUM/CBT

Save the dates for future meetings (third Wednesday of each month):

January 21, 2004, February 18, 2004 and March 17, 2004

If you cannot make the next meeting please send us you comments!

Don't miss the presentation by Councilmember John C. Liu

who chairs the City Council's Transportation Committee

at the next Auto-Free New York Meeting, Tuesday, December 16, 2003, 6-8pm

meeting location: also 104 Washington St.

Note -- this effort continues to require substantial resources -- both

human and financial.

Join ESPA or NJ-ARP and also make a year-end contribution to IRUM!

Mail check made out to IRUM to the address shown below or bring them to

the meeting.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays.

geo

George Haikalis

Manhattan Coordinator

Empire State Passengers Association (ESPA)

President, Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc.

One Washington Square Village, Apt. 5D

New York, NY 10012 phone: 212-475-3394 fax:212-475-5051

geohaikalis@juno.com     www.auto-free.org     www.vision42.org