Apr 07, 2006: Hotline #444

Visit the NARP Action Alert Center and urge your Members of Congress to support Amtrak’s full appropriation request of $1.596 billion plus $275 million of Strategic Investment Options.

South Mississippi’s Sun Herald reported this week that “the Senate Appropriations Committee approved [on April 4] $700 million…for the state to buy the CSX Transportation railroad line through South Mississippi” (Apr. 5).  The paper quoted Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS):  “The main goal was efficiency and laying the groundwork for greater economic development opportunity.”  The money is part of a larger Iraq war supplemental that is considered a “must-pass” bill.

There has long been interest in diverting mainline freight traffic away from the shore, but it had been assumed that a new rail line would be built inland.  CSX Spokesman Gary Sease, however, is quoted saying “the better option” was to enter an agreement with another railroad company to share its line.  Translation: the reported 18 freights a day CSX runs along the coastal route will be diverted to mostly-single-track lines much further north that already are overloaded, as reflected in the Crescent’s horrible on-time performance while NS was handling traffic diverted off the CSX line while it was being rebuilt. 

CSX “spent more than $250 million in insurance money to repair the 100 miles of track between Pascagoula and New Orleans after Katrina.”  The Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission favors retention of the existing rail line for passengers and local freight; it is a federally-designated high speed rail line. 

But the state wants to rip the track out.  “Anthony Topazi, chairman of the Governor’s Commission transportation committee [and president of Mississippi Power], said he envisioned moving U.S. 90 to the rail footprint in Harrison County and creating a true scenic beach boulevard…There won’t be a new track that crosses…Mississippi” [Apr. 5 and Apr. 4].  The Sun Herald reported that the bill “does not specifically tell the state what to do with the $700 million.  Cochran’s office said the intention was to go along with Gov. Haley Barbour’s recovery plan.”

Denver transit workers have been on strike since Monday, but a new contract has been presented and will be voted on by the workers today.  RTD and the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union have been in negotiations for several months and its members voted to go on strike Monday morning.  Some service that is operated by private non-union contractors or by union employees on a different agreement continued to operate.  A federal mediator has become involved and helped craft the most recent proposal.

The Canal Street streetcar line in New Orleans will be restored on Sunday and will include the North Carrollton Avenue spur.  The RTA decided to station an employee to control the traffic signals and switches where the spur leaves the Canal Street line, since a custom-made switching device was destroyed by Katrina.  All RTA services will remain free through at least June 30.

The service modifications to Missouri service detailed in our March 17 hotline have been modified.  A full listing, including complete schedules for the St. Louis-Kansas City service can be found in the news release on Amtrak’s website.  The Spring/Summer Amtrak timetable, due out April 24, will reflect these changes.  In initial discussions, Union Paciifc wanted Amtrak to cancel two of the trains, while it continued to run its own freight trains.  Amtrak took the railroad to an arbitration panel, which ruled in Amtrak’s favor.

Riders of Metrolink’s Riverside line have been subject to numerous delays due to Union Pacific freight train congestion.  But they were hardly prepared for the notice that was put on their seats when they boarded the train on March 30.  As an early April Fools joke, an anonymous commuter wrote an official-looking notice detailing, “elaborate route modifications, with odd- and even-numbered trains winding along different Rube Goldberg-like routes that included boarding buses and reboarding other trains,” according to the Los Angeles Times.  The bottom of the notice said “Happy April Fools Day” in very small type and conductors reinforced the message as the trains arrived in Los Angeles.

Its time once again for Amtrak’s annual “Picture Our Train” contest.  Your photo could be featured on Amtrak’s 2007 wall calendar!  Go to Amtrak’s website to read full contest details and entry requirements.

The April issue of NARP News has been uploaded to the members’ section of our website.  Click on “Login” above, just below “E-mail Signup” to access the newsletter, or click “Register” if you have not yet signed up for members’ access.  Be sure to include your membership number when registering.

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Apr 14, 2006: Hotline #445

The House and Senate are on Easter recess and members will return to Washington on April 24.  Since legislators are in their home districts, many will be holding town hall meetings over the next several weeks.  Keep an eye on your local media outlets and attend these important events!  Visit the NARP Action Alert Center and urge your Members of Congress to support Amtrak’s full appropriation request of $1.596 billion plus $275 million of Strategic Investment Options.

NARP submitted a written statement for the record to the House Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, The Judiciary, District of Columbia and Independent Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives.  It can be viewed here on our website.

A bridge 10 miles north of Selma, NC was deemed structurally unsafe upon inspection by CSX Transportation on Wednesday.  All freight and passenger train operations along the Richmond-Florence mainline were suspended until repairs could be made, with service reopening early this morning.  Amtrak trains that were enroute were turned and returned to their points of origin, while the Carolinian and Palmetto operated as far as Rocky Mount, then bussed to Charlotte and Savannah.  Today’s departures of the Silver Star and Meteor are operating with extra sleepers and as many as seven coaches to help accommodate displaced passengers.

Amtrak food service employees held and informational protest and picket on Thursday at Chicago Union Station.  They are rallying against changes to dining car staffing levels which have resulted in about 100 layoffs.  Amtrak really has no choice but to make the so-called “simplified dining service” work.  While some transition pains were to be expected, we have had many positive comments about the new service.

The Virginia Railway Express is one step closer to ordering badly-needed new equipment for its Washington, DC suburban operations.  The deadline to exercise options on 50 additional bi-level railcars (on top of 11 cab cars already on order) is at the end of April and this week the City of Manassas was the final of eight jurisdictions to approve the deal.  $20 million of funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia has already been approved.  The April date is critical as the order must be placed to keep the current production line open and running, saving costs.

The Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago now features free wireless internet access.  Passengers who are in the lounge can point their wi-fi software to the SSID of Amtrak_Met.

Amtrak schedules will change on April 24.  New timetables have been printed and should be in stations soon.  There are no significant changes to train operations.  Schedules have been lengthened on the Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Empire Builder and Lake Shore Limited for summer trackwork.  Selected trips of the Zephyr this summer will detour between Denver and Salt Lake City via. Wyoming for work in and near Moffat Tunnel.  In addition a new overnight train-bus frequency has been initiated between Los Angeles and Emeryville by way of Santa Barbara.

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Apr 21, 2006: Hotline #446

Congress reconvenes next week and the Fiscal 2007 appropriations process will likely be getting underway in May.  Visit the NARP Action Alert Center and urge your Members of Congress to support Amtrak’s full appropriation request of $1.596 billion plus $275 million of Strategic Investment Options.

The plan to remove CSX’s New Orleans-Mobile route got a lot more publicity.  Today’s Mobile Press-Register reported that “local business officials warned Thursday of economic consequences for Mobile industry and the Alabama state docks if” the CSX traffic is rerouted away from the coast.  State Docks Director Jimmy Lyons said, “There are a whole lot of impacts there potentially.  I have some very significant concerns.” 

The Mobile newspaper reported, “Rail service is integral to the docks, which handles more than 100,000 freight cars per year.  In the aftermath of Katrina, freight traffic [rerouted from the CSX coastal line] was diverted through Memphis and Birmingham.  That caused bottlenecks, ultimately reducing the frequency of coal shipments to the Port of Mobile…Anthony Hatch, an independent railroad consultant and analyst in New York, said…it might make sense to re-route the railway because of its vulnerability to hurricanes, but only if new lines can handle the traffic.  ‘Rail is becoming much more central to national transportation plans, but capacity is tight.  So adding route miles [i.e., forcing shipments to move less directly] and overcrowding lines ultimately is in no one’s interest.’”

A major rerouting of traffic off the CSX line presumably would require extensive study of the impacts on the lines to which traffic would be diverted, and especially issues related to grade crossings and noise.  If any new right-of-way was involved, detailed environmental analyses could be required. 

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), long an advocate of relocating the CSX line, authored a column in the Biloxi Sun-Herald April 17 defending the use of $700 million in federal funds to “move these tracks from the middle of busy, growing communities like Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula… Always mindful that my father was killed on a narrow, two-lane road south of Laurel, I’ve supported surface transportation safety initiatives impacting our highways and rails by funding more four-lane highways for our state and supporting rail relocation plans…In the aftermath of arguably the worst natural disaster in American history, any good post-Katrina reconstruction plan should consider moving these tracks.  Given the tracks’ proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and to motor traffic and flood waters, Gulf Coast residents and leaders would be irresponsible if we didn’t consider a safer place for the railroad…Predictably a few folks in Washington don’t like this idea.  They’re not considering the many deaths along these tracks…This project’s critics wouldn’t exchange the railroad tunnels, overpasses, elevated tracks, crossing signals and other safety enhancements in their hometowns for the outdated and almost bare railroad crossings that are still too frequently found along the Gulf Coast.  I invite them to see this situation for themselves before passing judgment on the expendability of Mississippi lives.”

The project also made the front page of The Washington Post on April 18.  Reporter Jonathan Weisman wrote:  “The real impetus appears to be economic.  For more than a dozen years, Mississippi officials, development planners and tourism authorities have dreamed of the complex restructuring of Mississippi’s coastal transportation system that Lott and [Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad] Cochran [R-MS] want to set in motion.”  Although Weisman explained that “CSX would move its freight traffic to existing tracks to the north owned by rival Norfolk Southern,” the article inexplicably was accompanied by a map showing the old plan—a relocated CSX line apparently running along the Interstate just north of the downtowns the line runs through.”  The Post said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), a fiscal hawk, “is planning to challenge the funding” on the Senate floor.

The $700 million is part of an emergency spending bill that will be on the floor next week, with the Senate committee’s bill “already more than $14 billion larger than the version the House passed in March.”  The bill totals $106.5 billion, of which $72.4 billion is for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Michigan’s two state-supported trains, the Pere Marquette and the Blue Water, will continue operation through September 30, the end of the fiscal year, under a deal announced yesterday by Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) and Republican Legislative leaders.  The supplemental bill provides funds for several state highway projects (matching funds for federal dollars) and $1 million to cover the trains’ operation.  The original budget passed late last year conditioned the last million dollars on Amtrak moving a maintenance facility into Michigan.  The legislature backed off this stance because the issue achieved high visibility and a continuing surge in ridership.  The supplemental bill also permits localities to put referendums in front of voters to approve new taxes to match federal transit dollars—particularly important for the proposed Detroit-Ann Arbor project.

Albany, Oregon dedicated its newly refurbished depot on Tuesday. The project restored the station from a dilapidated state to a “real showplace for Albany,” according to Guy Mayes, the city engineer of Albany.  Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) was instrumental in obtaining the $9.4 million in federal funds for the project.  Albany Mayor Chuck McLaran presented DeFazio with a key to the city as a token of appreciation.

Ridership on the Downeaster (Boston-Portland, ME) is hitting all-time highs, thanks to all-time high gas prices.  Ridership for the second quarter of fiscal 2006—traditionally a slow period for the train—is up 35% over the same time period last year.  The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority told the Associated Press that it attributes the increased ridership, “to the high price of gas, shortened trips to Boston and the Downeaster becoming recognized as a dependable way to travel. It rates near the top of Amtrak trains for on-time service.”

Speaking of surging gasoline prices—and train ridership—the price of light, sweet crude oil (for June) hit a new record today, peaking at $75.35 a barrel before settling at $75.17.  AP noted, however, that, “accounting for inflation, prices are still about 20% below the records reached about 25 years ago.”

NARP Assistant Director David Johnson took part in a panel discussion at the 30th annual TransAction Conference in New Jersey on April 11 of the Northeast Corridor’s future along with Martin Robbins of the Voorhees Transportation Center and former DOT Under Secretary of Transportation Emil Frankel.  While Johnson and Robbins focused as requested on the panel topic, Frankel—who now works for PB Consultants—sounded like he still worked for DOT.  He took a swipe at Amtrak’s long distance train network.  He played the “geography card,” asking his New Jersey audience to consider the “wonders” that could be done for “the infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor” if funds now used to support long-distance trains could be diverted to the Northeast.  He waved around a Washington Post editorial published after Gunn’s firing which was critical of the long distance trains.

He ridiculed on-time performance problems of Amtrak’s Florida trains, but supporting eliminating them rather than fixing the rail capacity problem.  When NARP Director Al Papp, in the audience, brought up the need for more investment in rail capacity, Frankel acknowledged that the capacity problem is a real issue. 

Record heavy rains in the Pacific Northwest continue and another mudslide occurred this week between Seattle and Everett, resulting in cancellation of Cascades service and requiring the Empire Builder to originate in Everett.

Amtrak’s Spring/Summer timetable takes effect on Monday. As discussed last week, there are no major changes in the new timetable.  Three new Thruway buses are being inaugurated in the west: an overnight Santa Barbara-San Francisco bus (previously discussed) and an extension of Sacramento-Redding service to Medford, Oregon; and a new connection to the Southwest Chief at Riverside from Hemet, Sun City, Perris, and Moreno Valley.

An interactive Amtrak route map is now online at Amtrak’s website.  You can zoom and pan across the country and choose a routing to be “drawn” on the screen.  Directions for using the site are located at the link provided above.

The NARP Board of Directors meets next Thursday-Saturday (April 27-29) here in Washington, D.C.  NARP will also hold its Annual Congressional Reception on Thursday evening.  The Golden Spike Award will be presented to Senators Trent Lott (R-MS), Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), Congressman Steve LaTourette (R-OH), and Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL).  In addition, the Dr. Gary Burch Memorial Safety Award will be presented to Lanny Wilson, M.D. of Hillsdale, Illinois.

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Apr 28, 2006: Hotline #447

Amtrak’s 35th birthday is on Monday.   Celebrations are planned in cities across the Amtrak system, including all the stations in Iowa and Meridian, MS.  This is a great opportunity to write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper supporting National passenger rail service.
Your Members of Congress need to hear that message as well.  Visit the NARP Action Alert Center and urge your Members of Congress to support Amtrak’s full appropriation request of $1.596 billion plus $275 million of Strategic Investment Options.

The U.S. Rail Capacity Crunch was explored at length before a House Railroads Subcommittee hearing on April 26. Key witnesses were Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman, Wisconsin DOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi (who also chairs States for Passenger Rail Coalition), BNSF Chairman/President/CEO Matthew Rose, APTA President William Millar, MIT Senior Research Associate and Lecturer Carl Martland, and UPS Vice President—Transportation Burt Wallace. The full written statements of all 11 witnesses and Chairman Steve LaTourette’s (R-OH) opening statement are on the Subcommittee’s website.

Busalacchi said “75-80% of my [state transportation] budget is spent on highways. I don’t think we need to do that any more.”

Throughout the hearing, monitors in the room showed a map clearly indicating multiple-track mainlines. It was a revelation to many that so much of the U.S. rail network is single-track, including virtually everything outside of Chicago-to-the-Northeast except for most of the BNSF 1,800-mile Chicago-Los Angeles mainline (where Rose testified single-track mileage will be down to 50 by the end of this year) and Soo Line Chicago-Twin Cities and much of the UP Chicago-Bay Area line. LaTourette said it’s “a little bit like having an Interstate highway that goes one way at a time.”

Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA) said, “We don’t have the capacity on our freeways to load up more containers on trucks. If we can’t put that freight on rail, we’ll just overload the highways. We don’t have enough trucks to do that. At some point the government has to be part of the solution.” UPS’s Wallace testified that velocity has increased for trucking, air freight and maritime, but has slowed on the railroads. He said, “The railroad transit in time picture puts at risk our nation’s worldwide competitiveness. This is underscored by the fact that a month ago UPS initiated a new ‘fast lane’ service for truck transportation, between key city pairs throughout the country, to meet the demand for time sensitive shipments that had previously been sent over the rails.”

Freight shippers offered testimony showing that facilities served by a single railroad paid higher rates than those with railroad choices. But BNSF and Association of American Railroad witnesses argued that, while a government trust fund to address public needs such as passenger rail would be acceptable, a trust fund to address rail freight issues would not. The freight railroads feel that a trust fund based on a tax on rail freight tariffs is a case of “taking money from us to give it back to us.” BNSF’s Rose said, “Who will be the master planner of where that [rail freight trust fund] money goes? We fear it would lead to non-market-based investments.”

The rail freight industry is proposing a 25% investment tax credit to encourage railroad infrastructure investment. Under questioning, AAR President Ed Hamberger said the Bush Administration has the proposal “under consideration, they have not made a decision yet” as to whether to support the tax credit proposal. Asked about Amtrak’s on-time performance problems, AAR’s Hamberger referred to a meeting with Amtrak earlier this week in which the major freight railroads “reaffirmed they are abiding by the law [which gives Amtrak trains priority]. We’re trying to improve operating procedures.”

Gas prices continue to rise; oil reached as much as $78 a barrel this week.  The Washington Post yesterday had an excellent lead editorial entitled “Phony War on Gas” (regarding what the federal response should be).  Several newspaper articles this week have documented sharp increases in transit ridership.  One great quote in the Associated Press jumped out, “‘Look at the gas prices,’ (Dale) Birdsong said at Union Station in Los Angeles. ‘I just got a new bike. I’m thinking of riding it to the train station instead of driving my car there,’ she said.”

On the local level, the State of Wisconsin earlier this year suspended automatic increases of the gas tax. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) said that this puts the State in jeopardy of losing federal matching dollars for highway projects—as much as $1.8 billion—and avoids the real issue of paying for highway projects (the common premise in Washington being that the federal highway trust fund may be bankrupt as early as 2008).  The effort was spearheaded by talk show hosts and bloggers in the Milwaukee area; Petri told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it was “unfortunate that state lawmakers ended automatic gas tax indexing to keep a couple of talk show guys happy.”

All Aboard Ohio held its second annual Legislative Summit on Wednesday.  Attendees heard from gubernatorial candidates and then attended meetings with their state legislators that were arranged by All Aboard Ohio staff.  The main focus of the event was to spur support for the Ohio Hub Plan.

The NARP Board of Directors is meeting in Washington, D.C. Last night, at the Association’s Annual Congressional Reception, Senator Trent Lott and Robert Byrd and Representatives Steve LaTourette and Corrine Brown were honored with the Association’s Golden Spike Award.  NARP and the Burch family also honored Dr. Lanny F. Wilson of Hinsdale, Illinois with the Dr. Gary Burch Memorial Safety Award.  Read the news releases issued on this occasion and also the program for the evening’s reception. 

Today, the Board welcomed Amtrak’s Acting CEO David Hughes as its lunch speaker and elected a new slate of officers, At-Large Directors and Executive Committee members for the 2006-2008 term.  Tomorrow, the Board will hear a presentation from Crawfordsville, Indiana high school students who refurbished their train station and Tom Hall, Amtrak Senior Director of Commissaries and Contract Food and Beverage Service.

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