Transportation Research News, Issue 255, March-April 2008 Profile
Emmanuel S. (Bruce) Horowitz
"I look back on my early work with pride," Horowitz comments. "For the South Hills Corridor Alternatives Study; I created an economic model for benefit-cost and cost-effectiveness that included external social and financial factors, leading to a reevaluation of and recommendation against the experimental Skybus in favor of conventional light rail."
In 1977, after working as a consultant for Amtrak on the original Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, Horowitz joined Amtrak, where he provided economic and operations analysis guidance for nearly 18 years. He created quantifiable performance measures for the business planning process and identified ways to expand service and amenities at equal or lower cost when Amtrak's funding and economic performance were under increasing scrutiny:
For Horowitz, a highlight of his career was his role as principal investigator for the Chicago Hub Study-a forward-thinking document that recommended incremental frequency and speed increases for the three major short-distance rail corridor routes originating in Chicago. Through significant state funding and involvement, the recommendations are currently being implemented and are achieving the forecasted improvement in ridership and reduction in unit cost. Citing the study as an example, Horowitz advises young transportation researchers not to be impatient, "because legitimate and well-documented recommendations frequently take many years to be actualized."
Other economic studies in which Horowitz participated while at Amtrak include an evaluation of an airline code-share opera- tion of Amtrak trains from Philadelphia International Airport to Atlantic City; studies that justified substantial expansion of through-train service from New York City to Springfield, Massachusetts; and an extensive analysis of the long-term financial security risk of excessive debt financing for the acquisition of new rolling stock.
During the mid-1980s, Horowitz left Amtrak to work as an independent consultant. He developed a base of knowledge in the regulation and application of lighter-weight, non-FRA-compliant diesel multiple unit (DMU) equipment in shared-track environments. Working with CANAC-Canadian National Railway, he designed the safety case and operational plan for Ottawa, Ontario-OC Transpo's new DMU service.
In 2007, Horowitz joined TranSystems, where he is assisting the expansion of the company's rail and passenger transit capabilities by establishing a new mid-Atlantic passenger rail practice in Alexandria, Virginia. He also contributes to rail planning and alternatives analysis studies and serves as coprincipal investigator for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 8-64, Developing a Guidebook for Improved Principles, Processes, and Methods for Shared-Use Passenger-Freight Corridors.
Horowitz is active in many professional transportation, planning, and economic associations. He has served on the steering committee of the Federal Railroad Administration-Federal Tran- sit Administration-Intelligent Transportation Systems Shared- Use Working Group, which is led by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). He is a member of APTAS Intercity and High-Speed Rail committee; a past member of the High-Speed Ground Transportation Association; and a member of the Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society and the Phi Beta Kappa Society:
..In 1985, Horowitz joined the TRBIntercity Rail Passenger Systems Committee, which he later chaired. He has chaired and is an emeritus member of the Commuter Rail Transportation committee and he has served in the Public Transportation Group. Horowitz has attended TRB Annual Meetings since 1983.
A native of suburban Boston, he began his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1960s, and after a brief hiatus, he completed his education at UC Berkeley, earning a bachelor's degree in transportation economics in 1975. He has guest-lectured on passenger train economics at the University of Maryland and is an honorary faculty member of the U.S. Army Transportation School at Ft. Eustis, Virginia.
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