UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Monday, February 28, 2000

WASHINGTON: Amtrak plans to fight back against cutbacks by expanding

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amtrak, charting a course of expansion rather than cuts, aims to become financial viable by serving new passenger markets and filling a niche in the time-sensitive delivery business.

The railroad's new "network growth strategy" will be unveiled officially Tuesday, although portions were disclosed in recent days.

The plan would expand or improve service in 21 states, add 11 route segments and increase train frequency on three routes. It also would boost by 10 percent the number of station-to-station links and bring trains to the areas of 4 million potential new passengers.

"This is a very different approach to the business, a growth-oriented approach as opposed to a nickel-and-dime-yourself-to-death approach," said Amtrak President George Warrington.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, chairwoman of a Senate subcommittee overseeing Amtrak, praised the corporation's new strategy.

"It's very creative and innovative," she said. "I can't say enough about the new leadership at Amtrak. They're thinking outside the box, and that is what Amtrak needed."

Amtrak projects that the changes, when fully implemented, will generate $229 million in new annual revenue and cause a net gain of $65 million in 2003. The timing is crucial for Amtrak. Under legislation passed in 1997, it has until the end of fiscal year 2002 to wean itself from federal operating subsidies or face possible liquidation.

The railroad now operates a 22,000-mile system that serves more than 500 communities in 45 states.

The changes do not require approval by Congress. But in order to implement them, Amtrak will have to strike deals with various freight railroads whose tracks is uses.

Under the plan, Amtrak trains will begin stopping in Des Moines and Iowa City, Iowa; Rockford, Ill.; Vicksburg, Miss.; Monroe and Shreveport, La.; Lake Geneva and Janesville, Wis.; and destinations on the Atlantic Coast of Florida including Daytona Beach, Cape Canaveral and Fort Pierce.

Also, people as far north as Boston will be able to board a train and travel to Florida without having to transfer in New York. Gamblers will find more trains to take them to Shreveport's casinos. Riders can board in Michigan, sleep as their train dashes through Canada and wake up in upstate New York, on the way to New York City.

There are losers as well.

By taking a northern route through more heavily populated cities in Texas, the Sunset Limited train will no longer stop in Del Rio, Alpine and Sanderson.

Similarly, the International will stop in Ann Arbor and Dearborn, Mich., but no longer serve five other Michigan cities -- East Lansing, Durand, Flint, Lapeer and Port Huron.

Warrington said the plan reflects a hard lesson Amtrak learned in the mid-1990s: Cuts in service bring numerous complaints and fewer financial savings than expected.

"We've tried in the past to shrink, and all we've done is irritate people, reduce service and profits and ridership. And that's no way to run a railroad," said Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, chairman of Amtrak's governing board. "The board is committed to building a national railroad system, and this is a giant step forward to doing it."

Illustrative of Amtrak's new philosophy is its treatment of the Sunset Limited, a money-loser that threads its way along the southern United States from Jacksonville, Fla., to Los Angeles.

The growth strategy says that eliminating the Sunset Limited would save $8 million in costs but deprive Amtrak of $9.5 million in fares from passengers and fees from deliveries that rely on that line to connect to other routes.

Warrington said the report indicates that adjustments, not wholesale changes, are needed to strengthen Amtrak, which was created in 1971 following the demise of passenger service by major railroads.

With the exception of a luxury transcontinental route designed to link New York and Los Angeles in 60 hours, Amtrak is proposing no new long-distance routes. Rather, the plan calls for strategic extensions, shifting equipment around and paying greater attention to mail and express business.

A case in point is the Crescent, which travels between New York and New Orleans.

Plans call for the train to separate in Meridian, Miss., with one segment heading west to Fort Worth, while the other continues south to New Orleans. This would allow Amtrak to add service to Vicksburg, Miss., and to Monroe and Shreveport, La., while building opportunities for mail and express deliveries between Dallas-Fort Worth and the East Coast.

The expected payoff is an additional $7.7 million a year as of 2003.

The mail and express business is key to Amtrak's recipe for financial recovery, as is a plan to begin hauling meat, poultry, fruit and vegetables in refrigerated cars attached to intercity trains.

Sensitive to the concerns of freight railroads, Warrington stressed that he is looking to complement what they do, not to compete, and to enter into partnerships to make the best use of the tracks they and Amtrak share.

---

WASHINGTON: DOT releases new hazmat emergency response guidebook

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Continuing support for President Clinton's and Vice President Gore’s commitment to transportation safety, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater recently announced the release of the 2000 Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG2000), a joint U.S.-Canada-Mexico project to aid first responders, such as fire fighters and police, when there are transportation incidents involving hazardous materials.

"This guidebook will help people take correct actions to further enhance safety at the scenes of transportation accidents involving hazardous materials," Secretary Slater said. "Safety is President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore's highest transportation priority, and our goal is to protect the public and the environment as well as the men and women who respond to these emergencies."

The guidebook was produced by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) as a joint effort with Transport Canada and the Secretariat of Communications and Transport of Mexico.

"This significant international collaboration has provided us with a more comprehensive emergency response guidebook than previous editions," said RSPA Administrator Kelley S. Coyner. "It is our goal to have ERG2000 in every emergency response vehicle to help protect first responders and the public from the potential consequences of hazardous materials incidents."

The ERG2000 provides guidance to help first responders quickly identify the specific or generic hazards of materials involved in incidents. By referencing the guidebook, emergency response personnel are able to quickly identify a hazard by the placard on the outside of the transport vehicle. It also provides first responders information to assist them in protecting themselves and the general public during the initial phases of emergency response.

RSPA is currently distributing 2 million copies of the first printing of the English version without charge to police, fire and other emergency organizations through a network of state agencies. The guidebook will also be printed in French and Spanish.

The guidebook may be purchased by writing to the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Superintendent of Documents, POB 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954, or by visiting a local GPO bookstore. The guidebook is also available from many commercial sources; a listing of known sources can be found at hazmat.dot.gov/gydebook.htm.

---

WASHINGTON: Bill would suspend diesel fuel tax

WASHINGTON -- A proposal to impose a one-year moratorium on the 24-cent federal tax on diesel fuel is gaining bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., introduced the measure on Thursday (February 24,2000), just days after meeting in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol with hundreds of independent truckers who staged a massive rally against diesel fuel prices, which have skyrocketed in the last six months.

"We've got to do something for immediate relief," said Campbell, who put himself through college in the mid-1950s by hauling steel, pipes and gasoline on semi-tractor-trailers throughout the West. "They're tethered to this (fuel-price fluctuations) like an umbilical cord."

Campbell's legislation -- "America's Transportation Recovery Act of 2000" -- would repeal the excise tax for one year or until the cost of diesel fuel falls to the price it was on Dec. 31, 1999. The price per barrel then was about $29; in recent days it has been well over $30 a barrel.

The bill has already received the support of top lawmakers in both parties -- including Senate GOP leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

---

WASHINGTON: Builders association call fuel-tax proposal job killer

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Two proposals surfaced in Washington, D.C., this week to reduce federal motor fuels excise taxes would have a devastating impact on state transportation improvement programs and could eliminate more than one million U.S. jobs, an analysis by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) shows.

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) introduced legislation Feb. 24 to repeal the 24 cents-per-gallon federal diesel motor fuels excise user fee to provide relief to truckers hit by higher fuel prices. The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) went further Feb. 23 suggesting an "across-the-board" 10 cents-per-gallon reduction in all federal highway user fees.

"Repealing or reducing federal motor fuels excises would have the perverse effect of retarding road safety and efficiency improvements that benefit truckers and the general motoring public," ARTBA President Pete Ruane said. "It would also rob the nation of air quality benefits that accrue from less congested and well-maintained highways. Both proposals are simply bad public policy."

The diesel motor fuels excise user fee generates over $8 billion per year in revenue for the Highway Trust Fund's (HTF) Highway Account. Ten cents of the federal motor fuels excise generates over $16 billion to the HTF Highway Account. This revenue is dedicated under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) to surface transportation improvements. TEA-21 passed Congress and was signed into law by President Clinton in June 1998.

Ruane said any such repeals would have a severe impact on state highway improvement programs. The ARTBA analysis found California would lose the largest amount, $722 million under Sen. Campbell's bill and $1.4 billion under the NTU proposal.

Ruane said a diesel excise repeal would also eliminate 638,000 U.S. jobs that are sustained through public investment in highway construction programs- with a concurrent losses of federal and state income tax revenue and increases in unemployment-related government expenses. The 10 cents "across-the-board" cut idea would eliminate 1.3 million American jobs, ARTBA says.

Founded in 1902, ARTBA provides representation for the U.S. transportation construction industry in the Nation's Capital. The industry generates more than $160 billion per year in economic activity and provides employment for 2.2 million Americans.

---

WASHINGTON: DOT announces two new ITS field tests

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater has announced two new Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) field tests aimed at preparing America for the expected doubling of intermodal freight transportation over the first two decades of the 21st century.

"In his State of the Union message, President Clinton said that innovation will be the key to improvements in the quality of our lives and advances in the economy, and Vice President Gore has led the way in demonstrating that innovative technology can fuel economic growth and help make our communities more livable," Secretary Slater said. "Safety and productivity benefits from the use of ITS technologies in freight movement will be good for industry, and they will enhance the quality of life for all Americans who rely on the safe and efficient transport of consumer goods."

One field test, a partnership of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Illinois Department of Transportation and the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Foundation, is designed to improve operational efficiency and cargo security for freight shippers and operators.

The test, "An Integrated Cargo Information and Security System for Intermodal Distribution Channels," will use biometric smart card technologies to develop a secured, multimodal, Internet-based cargo manifest. The system will automate transfer of comprehensive cargo data from one mode of transportation to another and across jurisdictions. After successful installation and testing in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, a second airport and supply chain will be added in Newark, N.J.

This field test builds on the O'Hare Air Cargo Security Access System, which the Federal Aviation Administration, O'Hare International Airport and the ATA instituted jointly in 1997. The project uses a fingerprint smart card access system to expedite the transfer of cargo from trucks to airplanes and enhance security.

The second field test, a partnership between U.S. Department of Transportation and the Washington State Department of Transportation, will link public highway ITS technology with private port-side electronic data interchange systems. Access to traffic information will permit freight organizations to identify and bypass transportation bottlenecks, thereby reducing operating costs and congestion.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has provided $1 million for the two field tests, with 50 percent or more matching funds from the partner organizations. Both tests will last for two years.

The ITS program was reauthorized in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, signed into law by President Clinton in June 1998. ITS combines information and communication technology to actively manage surface transportation networks to improve operational efficiency and safety.

---

CALIFORNIA: MTA revives plans for rail extension, busways

LOS ANGELES -- Tantalized by the possibility that surplus state funds could help pay for Los Angeles' next round of mass transit projects, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's directors Thursday unanimously endorsed further planning for a light rail line under Boyle Heights, along with busways along Wilshire Boulevard and across the San Fernando Valley.

The decision to pursue a light rail line from Union Station underneath Boyle Heights and beyond was a major breakthrough for an agency that only two years ago halted subway extensions to the Eastside and Mid-City because of its financial difficulties.

MTA officials hope those difficulties may be alleviated by a deal between legislative leaders and Gov. Gray Davis that could bring hundreds of millions of additional transportation dollars to Los Angeles.

Throughout Thursday's meeting, county supervisors and MTA board members Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Gloria Molina pleaded with their colleagues for consensus on the recommendations being made to Sacramento and Washington on additional funding.

Molina said it was essential that the board be in "lock-step with one another" to win the money needed to build the projects, which will cost about $1.6 billion.

To Molina's chagrin, the MTA board on an 8-3 vote directed agency planners to study constructing a busway to the Eastside along the same route as the proposed light rail line.

Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, a mayoral candidate, held out the prospect of the state poised to help the MTA with funding for the Eastside, Mid-City and San Fernando Valley projects, if the agency would speak with one voice. "The tenor changed and the reason is we're coming up with the money," he said.

His words echoed those of MTA Chief Executive Officer Julian Burke, who reported that substantial additional state funds from Sacramento's current budget surplus might be made available. "It's a very important opportunity for addressing the transit needs of our county," he said.

Villaraigosa and a parade of Eastside lawmakers made the case that their constituents deserved priority.

Former Congressman Esteban Torres, now a member of the California Transportation Commission, pointed out that the area's overwhelmingly Latino residents had lost out on an expanded County-USC Medical Center and on the Belmont Learning Complex. "We cannot lose on transportation," he said.

Torres, who long represented the Eastside in Washington, implored Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the most influential MTA board member, to "leave us a legacy" by pushing for the light rail line. "Please work with us," he said. "We've waited too long."

In fact, Riordan joined with the Eastside lawmakers in supporting the study of constructing a 1.7-mile-long tunnel for the light railway under Boyle Heights from 1st and Boyle streets to 1st and Lorena streets, following part of the old subway route.

"It's the only way to go," Riordan said. "There is no way you can have a dedicated bus lane or light rail [above ground there]. The streets are too narrow."

Even Supervisor and MTA board member Zev Yaroslavsky, who sponsored a 1998 county ballot measure banning the use of local transit sales tax for more subway construction, softened his stance. "What's the harm in studying it?" he asked. "I'm prepared to support a tunnel funded by someone other than local taxpayers."

The series of votes to do full environmental impact studies excluded one major area of the city. At the behest of MTA Chairwoman Burke, consideration was delayed for a month on whether to study a light rail line or an exclusive busway along the Exposition Boulevard right-of-way MTA owns.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), another candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, backed light rail and objected strongly to any consideration of a busway to the Eastside. "We have to work this out together or we'll all fall," he said.

However, the agency will examine both the light rail line and busway from Union Station through Boyle Heights below ground, returning to the surface via 3rd Street to Beverly and Atlantic boulevards.

But a steady stream of Bus Riders Union members said in English or Spanish that they "do not want rail." MTA security officers flanked Maria Guardado when she refused to stop shouting at the board after her 30 seconds to speak expired.

The hue and cry over the Eastside overshadowed discussion of the proposal to study an exclusive busway along Wilshire Boulevard from Vermont Avenue west to San Vicente Boulevard. Ultimately, such a lane could extend as far as Santa Monica, if Beverly Hills and the beach city agreed.

The thought of taking two traffic lanes from motorists on the crowded thoroughfare and devoting them to buses was strongly opposed by Mid-Wilshire business groups and a representative of Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden.

Gary Russell, executive director of the Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corp., said: "The MTA staff did not hear or care what the community said."

A Wilshire homeowners group representative backed the study, preferring it to consideration of a monorail along the boulevard.

The San Fernando Valley busway to be studied would follow the Burbank-Chandler right of way that MTA owns from the North Hollywood subway station west toward Warner Center. It was all but overlooked in the hours of discussion.

---

PENNSYLVANIA: Governor releases capital budget funds for railroads

HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania. Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker last week announced Gov. Tom Ridge's release of more than $3.2 million in capital budget funds for seven rail-freight improvement projects.

"These improvements to our shortline and regional railroads will promote economic development and create jobs," Lt. Gov. Schweiker said. "These railroads help keep the freight moving from our communities and employers to major rail-freight carriers around the nation."

The capital budget grants released by Gov. Ridge include:

* Berkman Rail Services, doing business as the Kiski Junction Railroad, will receive $1.5 million to rebuild seven miles of rail along the former Conrail bed on the eastern shore of the Allegheny River between Schenley and Logansport, Armstrong County. This will provide rail access to the proposed Rosebud Mining's underground coal mine near Logansport;

* The Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad Company of Port Clinton will receive $625,000 to improve the rail infrastructure between Millcreek Junction and Port Carbon, Schuylkill County. The project will provide rail-freight service to Yuengling Brewery's new production facility in Port Carbon. Availability of rail-freight service was essential in the selection of this site for the brewery that will create 40 new jobs. The project involves the construction of 9,600 feet of railroad track, including sidings, switches, required grade crossings, flashing lights, and gates and railroad bridge repairs;

* The Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad Company of Port Clinton will receive $450,000 to rehabilitate 93 miles of track from Mehoopany, north of Tunkhannock, Wyoming County, south to Lehighton, just north of Jim Thorpe in Carbon County. The line handles 100,000 rail cars annually from CP Railroad. The Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad generates 6,000 cars a year over the line. The infrastructure improvements are necessary to help ensure the safe operation of trains and lessen the possibility of derailments;

* The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad Company of York will receive $248,100 for improvements at its Poorhouse Yard in Spring Garden Township, York County. The rail yard is approximately 60 years old, and is the Maryland and Pennsylvania's interchange with CSX Transportation, exchanging about 8,000 carloads annually. The project includes switch, rail and tie replacement, and surfacing of the entire yard;

* The Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad of Verona will receive $222,800 to construct a track connection and interchange with the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway at Everson, Upper Tyrone Township, Fayette County;

* Mott's Inc. of Aspers, Menallen Township, Adams County, will receive $165,650 to install a rail-tanker unloading system and tank farm for corn syrup and apple juice concentrate; and

* The Redevelopment Authority of Luzerne County of West Pittston will receive $64,800 to rehabilitate nearly 3,000 feet of rail near Wilkes-Barre. The Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway Company operates on the line.

Pennsylvania leads the nation with 70 operating railroads. With 5,600 miles of track, the state ranks fifth in the nation in total track mileage.

---

NEW YORK: Lawmaker sees new hope for NYC rail service

ALBANY -- Somewhere, 23 miles of railroad right of way in Pennsylvania is missing its rails. And that gives state Sen. Thomas W. Libous cause for hope for passenger rail service from Binghamton to New York.

"I have filled the governor's ear on passenger rail service," Libous told members of the Press & Sun-Bulletin's editorial board Wednesday. And sometime this spring, the results of a $500,000, nine-month study of rail service will be compiled and released.

"If it's going to happen, it's going to happen now," Libous said. He said operations could start in about two years.

Passenger rail service in Binghamton ceased 30 years ago when the Erie-Lackawanna Railway Co. made its last stop. But the breakup and sale of much of Conrail's operations in New York makes way for some changes. CSX Transportation now owns much of the old Conrail northern routes, and Norfolk Southern owns the southern routes, including those through the Southern Tier.

Libous is not only confident the study will support passenger service, he's already planning the next step: "We'll have to obtain some funding."

Beyond passenger service, Libous said sending trains through Port Jervis and eventually to Penn Station would give manufacturers another way of getting their products to market. "Binghamton will become a hub for freight," he said, and eventually service could be extended to Syracuse.

Some transportation officials backed a rail line south to Scranton, Pa., then east to New York, because the trip would be an hour shorter than the four-hour trek through the Catskills. But Libous said the missing 23 miles of track would require federal intervention to install, and he doesn't see that happening for years, if ever.

If passenger service is going to succeed, Libous said, it will require daily use. "We're going to need this community to get together," he said. "I don't want a weekend train."

---

CALIFORNIA: Measure would add rail service to Silicon Valley

SACRAMENTO -- First, Gov. Gray Davis stepped up to the plate. Then Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Now state Sen. Jackie Speier is taking a swing at -- what else -- the Bay Area's transit congestion.

Speier is preparing to introduce a $217 million "little bullet" train bill designed to improve commuter rail service along two key corridors into Silicon Valley.

Plan One: Create a high-speed Caltrain rail line between San Francisco and San Jose by installing extra tracks at three key points along the existing train right of way.

Speier says the reconfiguration -- which would allow express trains to get around the regular trains -- could cut the 1 1/2-hour commute by 45 minutes and eliminate 30,000 car trips a day on the Peninsula.

Plan Two: Rehabilitate an old rail bridge near the Dumbarton Bridge and bring the Altamont commuter rail -- which runs from Stockton to San Jose -- across the bay and down the Peninsula.

Speier is just the latest politician to catch on to the Bay Area traffic crisis.

Feinstein has already called for a study into a new bay crossing, and just last week Gov. Gray Davis weighed in with a $35 million pledge for the purchase of a BART right of way between Union City and San Jose -- a line that could be operated as a commuter rail in the short term.

As for the chances of Speier's effort, well, she's just begun talking to her fellow legislators about it and has called the governor's office to schedule an appointment.

The gov's office tells us Davis is pretty well booked up the next couple of weeks, but he's certainly all ears for any ideas to improve traffic.

"The ultimate question is: Do you get the bang for the buck?" says Davis spokesman Mike Bustamante.

For her part, Speier thinks she and the governor should be on the same page: "I was looking for a fast, relatively inexpensive remedy to get cars off the highway. And if we want to keep this (Silicon Valley) economic engine running and generating revenue for the state, then we have to...address it expeditiously."

---

NEBRASKA: UP plans intermodal terminal near Chicago

OMAHA -- Union Pacific Railroad will build a $192 million intermodal rail-truck terminal near Maple Park, Ill., west of downtown Chicago.

The 425-acre facility, near Interstate 88, will be built in several phases, as business dictates, the company said. When completed, it will handle more than 500,000 intermodal units annually.

said Dick Davidson, UP's chairman and chief executive, said the terminal "will serve the growing international intermodal market, providing improved service reliability to our customers between the West Coast and Chicago."

In Phase 1, Union Pacific will build three tracks totaling 24,700 feet, with the capacity to handle 81 double-stack railcars at a time. The terminal also will have two 10,000-foot tracks for arriving and departing trains, five tracks totaling 47,200 feet with a capacity to hold 152 double-stack cars, and a paved area with 4,925 parking spaces for trailers and containers awaiting pickup or delivery.

A computer system will coordinate inbound and outbound truck traffic and movement of railcars, trucks and trailers or containers in the facility.

UP said that innovative technology will enable trucks to move into and out of the facility in 15 to 20 minutes, compared with the national intermodal terminal average of 45 minutes.

---

CONNECTICUT: Sam Schreiber, transit authority, dies at 91

STAMFORD -- Samuel Schreiber, an urban traffic engineer who became a major force in the conversion of the old trolley lines to modern bus systems in New York, Yonkers and other cities across the country, has died in Stamford, Conn., after a long illness. He was 91.

"He was a pioneer," said Arthur Bernacchia, an owner of Liberty Lines, the transit company that bought out Schreiber's interest in the Yonkers Transit Corp. in the early 1970s. There were others who operated bus systems, but Mr. Schreiber "was the first to have them properly financed, equipped, managed and maintained," he said. "Most people look back while he looked ahead."

Mr. Schreiber's breakthrough, Bernacchia explained, was his recognition in the late 1940s that mass transportation was at the threshold of a revolution. Electric trolleys had become overly expensive not just because of the high cost of tracks, power lines and electrical generating plants, but as fixed-route vehicles that couldn't adjust with the growth of a city as cheaply as buses.

In 1948, Mr. Schreiber, already a nationally known authority on mass transit, was appointed general manager of the Third Avenue Transit Corp., which was bankrupt and carried 1.8 million riders a day in Manhattan, the Bronx and lower Westchester. Schreiber successfully converted the trolley company into a profitable bus system.

In 1952, he and other investors founded the Yonkers Railroad Co. to take over and convert the Third Avenue Transit branch in Yonkers into a bus operation. He ran the company, later known as the Yonkers Transit Corp., until 1972, when it was consolidated with other bus operations in lower Westchester County.

Samuel Sol Schreiber was born in Butler, Pa., on May 23, 1908, and grew up in Pasadena and Cleveland. He was trained as a civil engineer at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.

Between 1938 and 1943, he was in charge of the trolley system in Cleveland. He then moved to New York, where he was a consulting engineer at Gilman & Co. There, he developed the financial model used to convert trolley systems into bus systems in many U.S. cities.

Schreiber is survived by his wife, Phyllis; two sons, James of Greenwich, Conn., and Dale of Rye, N.Y.; 12 grandchildren; and 2 great-grandchildren.