May 05, 2006: Hotline #448

May 5, 2006

President Bush renewed his threat to veto an emergency supplemental spending bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but also includes $700 million intended to eliminate the CSX line along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and reroute freight traffic on the NS line.  Bush requested $92.2 billion and said he would veto anything beyond that plus $2.3 billion to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic.  House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) also has harshly criticized the funding the Senate added to the bill, which brought the bill’s total to $109 billion.

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. Oppose micromanaging by appropriators, noting that every responsibility they shift from Amtrak management to Capitol Hill also shifts responsibility for the bottom line.  Amtrak management has signed up for a tight subsidy target and should be allowed to manage it without giving specific directions on dining cars and sleeping cars.

At its meeting last week, the NARP Board of Directors passed a resolution urging Amtrak to immediately restore the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans.  The full text of the resolution (and accompanying news release) can be read here on our website.  Media coverage has included Cox News Service and the Miami Herald.

Despite high gas prices and public demand for alternatives, anti-rail forces in Georgia are pulling out all the stops to kill Atlanta-Lovejoy commuter rail.  Even though federal funds will cover most construction costs and Clayton County has agreed to pay for operating support for the service, a last-ditch amendment to the Fiscal 2007 budget was inserted prohibiting the use of any state funds for commuter rail “unless otherwise specifically appropriated.”  This move was made by House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Augusta) after many failed attempts this legislative session to kill the project.  The move was done so quietly that few legislators knew it was done and it did not come to light until after the legislature adjourned and it was too late to try to delete the language.

Rail advocates protested this, which will delay the project at least one more year.  Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers President Steve Vogel said, “The highway lobby and its supporters fought throughout the session to sabotage commuter rail, but when their attempts to work through the normal, public legislative process failed, they resorted to backroom political trickery. At a time when gasoline prices are soaring, supplies are declining, and spot shortages are being reported, Georgians deserve to know why shadowy forces in the General Assembly are so determined to deny them any alternative to driving.”

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin outlined plans for hurricane evacuations in a news conference on Wednesday.  The focus will be on evacuating the town prior to the storm; neither the Superdome nor the Convention Center will be used as “shelters of last resort.”  Mandatory evacuations will be in effect for any hurricane stronger than a category 2 and busses and Amtrak trains will be used to evacuate New Orleans residents to inland points.  Residents still housed in FEMA trailers would face a mandatory evacuation for a tropical storm.

Funding for additional rail service in Illinois has passed the state legislature and is headed to Governor Ron Blagojevich for his signature.  This would mean additional service on the Chicago-St. Louis, Chicago-Carbondale, and Chicago-Quincy routes.  No start date for these services has been set as Amtrak is still working to approve schedules with the host freight railroads and identify needed equipment.

The Association of American Railroads has presented its first Lifetime Achievement Award to Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY).  Boehlert, who plans to retire from Congress this year, has received many rail awards, including NARP’s George Falcon Golden Spike in 2004.  Wick Moorman, AAR board chairman and Norfolk Southern Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, “From his first days as a freshman congressman in 1982, he singled out the environment and railroad policy as two of his signature issues, reflecting his belief that a vibrant national railroad system holds the key to addressing many of our nation’s most vexing air quality and traffic congestion problems,”

Seattle’s King Street Station celebrates its 100th birthday this year. Several events are planned over the next two months, culminating in the July 1 startup of the fourth Seattle-Portland Cascades Service train.  The first events take place on May 10 (a panel discussion of the station’s role in the community, unveiling of new artwork by J. Craig Thorpe, and a ceremony honoring those who have worked at King Street Station since 1906).  Full event information can be found on the King Street Station Centennial website.

A ribbon cutting ceremony at the refurbished Crawfordsville, Indiana station will occur on Sunday, May 7 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (intersection of Spring and Green Streets).  This is the culmination of the project began last year by Dr. Helen Hudson’s English Class at Crawfordsville High School.  The students were presented with NARP’s Youth Rail Passenger Citizenship Award last Friday at the NARP Board of Directors meeting.  The presentation they gave on their project impressed everyone in attendance at the meeting.  You can also read the rail advocacy flyer that the class created and handed out when they made visits to Capitol Hill.

Roy Poulsen a long time NARP director died on April 22. Dr. Poulsen was 87 and a professor at the University of Rhode Island from 1948 to 1985.  He was eulogized by NARP Director Steve Musen, “Dr. Poulsen wrote a number of short pieces whose main theme was that Petroleum was a limited quantity and that cheap gasoline was about to disappear. He also wrote that one of the best ways to conserve fuel was to invest in a modern railroad passenger system.”

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May 12, 2006: Hotline #449

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.  Also tell your legislator to oppose micromanaging language in appropriations bill and to support S. 1516.  The Action Alert Center not only provides you with a sample letter to send, but easy links to contact information.

Illinois Governor Ron Blagojevich signed the Illinois State fiscal 2007 transportation bill this week.  The bill provides $24 million for Amtrak service, which is twice the current funding level.  It also has $1.6 million for rural air service.  “In many of the communities served by Amtrak, passenger rail is the only option for public transportation,” Gov. Blagojevich said. “I’m proud that we were able to keep our commitment to maintaining passenger rail over the last three years.  And now this year, we were able to increase funding.”  Plans involve two added Chicago-St. Louis round-trips, and one each on the Quincy and Carbondale lines.  On the latter, the new services would complement existing ones, that is, there would be new morning departures to both Quincy and Carbondale, an afternoon departure from Quincy, and a morning departure from Carbondale at a much more humane hour than the City of New Orleans’ current 3:16 AM departure.  It is hoped that some of the new services can start as early as this October.

Amtrak has produced a new “Facts and Background” paper which should be available on their website next week.  Among the items included:  some market share data, information about Amtrak’s relationships with host railroads (including number of Amtrak train-miles on each of the six largest host railroads), and the number of people boarding and alighting at the 25 busiest stations.

Amtrak in 2003—on an energy consumed per passenger mile basis—was 18% more energy efficient than certificated airlines, as reported in the latest, annual Transportation Energy Data Book.  Amtrak energy intensity was 2,935 British Thermal Units per passenger-mile; certificated airlines were 3,587.  Unfortunately, the correct Amtrak number shows only in “all-Amtrak” table 9.13, while “all-modes” table 2.10 incorrectly shows the higher, “transit (light and heavy)” figure of 3,228 both for transit and for Amtrak.  NARP has asked Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which publishes the document for the Department of Energy, to make the correction.  Other figures of interest:  commuter rail 2,751; transit bus 4,160; and cars 3,549.  These numbers, of course, do not reflect external factors such as the ability of all forms of rail to encourage energy efficient real estate development.  ORNL did correct some inflated Amtrak numbers erroneously reported in the previous edition of the book, which stemmed from confusion over how to handle electric energy consumed by commuter authorities using Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.

Amtrak, the State of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans have yet to come to a formal agreement on providing the hurricane evacuation trains announced last week by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.  However, Amtrak is working closely with the city on a memorandum of understanding which will outline Amtrak’s role in future emergency situations.  While there are limits to Amtrak’s capabilities, the railroad is committed to doing whatever it can to assist the city during emergencies. 

The Commonwealth of Virginia and Norfolk Southern have agreed to a plan that would increase vertical clearances on the railroad’s Norfolk-Cincinnati mainline.  This will permit transportation of double-stack carriers and shave one day off Norfolk-Chicago trip times.  The Commonwealth will contribute $22.3 million to the project, $125.4 million was contained in SAFETEA-LU, and NS will pay the balance of the $251 million project.

House-Senate negotiations apparently have not yet begun negotiations over the emergency spending bill that includes money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but also for rerouting rail traffic (currently freight only) away from the Gulf Coast and abandoning the CSX New Orleans-Mobile line.  There remains a possibility that the bill will be completed and passed before the Memorial Day recess begins in two weeks.  The Senate ignored President Bush’s veto threat and passed the $109 billion emergency spending bill on May 4.  The House passed a $91.9 billion package on March 16.

With gas peaking at over $3 a gallon in many cities, transit ridership is increasing.  Agencies across the country are reporting heavier ridership and more first-time transit users.  The MTA in Los Angeles reported an 11% increase in Metro (subway, light rail) ridership and a 7% increase in bus ridership for the January-March period.  Parking lots are also filling up earlier in the morning and hits on MTA’s website are up 10%.

Michigan will join the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact if a bill approved by the Michigan Senate is signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm (D).  Michigan would join with Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Nebraska in the compact that was initially created to help foster development of high-speed rail options. The Compact works to improve and promote rail travel options in the Midwest.

Carnival Cruise Lines is about to resume service to New Orleans and has re-partnered with Amtrak to provide railfare discounts for travelers.  Passengers may combine their voyage on the Fantasy with travel at a 25% discount to and from the ship aboard Amtrak’s City of New Orleans, Crescent and Sunset Limited services.

Dan Monaghan, a long-time rail advocate from Dallas, Texas died April 5.  His obituary in the Dallas Morning News said, in part, “A railroad man’s son, Dan developed a lifelong interest in trains and acquired an encyclopedic knowledge of railroad history, economics and operations. He…served twice on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors representing Garland.”  In a message to NARP Board Members, NARP Executive Director Ross Capon said, “He had his differences with NARP, but no one could doubt his commitment to a national passenger rail network, as well as to the Dallas light rail system, and the energy he poured into both over the years.” 

A memorial service and celebration will be held on June 3 in the “Pullman Room” on the second floor of Dallas Union Terminal.  Doors will open at 2:00 pm; the event begins at 3:00pm.  Other events are planned as well; .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for more information.

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May 19, 2006: Hotline #450

The Fiscal 2007 appropriations process is likely to get underway next week with the markup (approval) of the Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, The Judiciary, District of Columbia funding bill by the House Appropriations subcommittee of the same name.  Now is the time to contact your House member and urge him or her, especially if they are on the subcommittee, to support Amtrak’s full appropriation request of $1.596 billion plus $275 million of Strategic Investment Options.  Also tell your legislator to oppose micromanaging language in appropriations bill.  Given the timely nature of this action, phone calls only are needed; therefore we have activated our toll-free Call Congress Now line.  Full details—including a sample message—are at the Action Alert Center.

President Bush has nominated R. Hunter Biden and Donna R. McLean to the Amtrak Board of Directors.  Hunter Biden is a founding partner of Oldaker, Biden & Belair, a Washington, D.C. law firm and is the son of Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), who is a very strong supporter of Amtrak service.  NARP Executive Director Ross Capon told BNA that it would be good for Amtrak once again to have board with members from both political parties, and that, “as a son of a senator who has put more miles on Amtrak than other senators, I think he’d have first-hand experience with riding the (train).”  McLean, now a consultant, was the chief financial officer at the Department of Transportation from 2001 to 2004 and previously held positions in the Federal Aviation Administration and House Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee.  BNA also reported, “Capon said McLean has been described by a Democratic colleague during her tenure with the aviation subcommittee as a ‘professional, not hard-edged or ideological, a nice person.’”

Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta unveiled a plan this week to deal with congestion in America’s transportation network.  Mineta said, “congestion kills time, wastes fuel and costs money. Congestion is not a fact of life. We need a new approach and we need it now.” According to a DOT release, “(Mineta) noted that America loses an estimated $200 billion a year due to freight bottlenecks and delayed deliveries. The Secretary added that consumers lose 3.7 billion hours and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel sitting in traffic jams and that airline delays waste $9.4 billion a year.” 

Unfortunately, and obviously oblivious to the world energy situation, Mineta’s remedy appears to be building more road and airport capacity.  This comes even though a large portion of the congestion problems he is trying to solve result from our imbalanced transportation characterized by over-reliance on highways and aviation.  In a news release release, Colin Peppard of Friends of the Earth said, ““It is clear from the numbers that the consumer demand for transit is growing.  Transportation planners are working to respond to the demand by building out transit and improving rail travel in this country.  Yet all the president can offer is more asphalt.””

Comprehensive transportation security legislation has a better outlook in the Senate, thanks to new legislations. The Maritime, Rail, and Public Transportation Security Act of 2006 (S. 2791) was introduced by Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Paul Sarbanes (D-MD).  According to a news release on Sarbanes’ website, the bill, “combines the port, cargo, and rail security provisions of the Commerce Committee’s S. 1052, the Transportation Security Improvement Act, with the Banking Committee’s Public Transportation Terrorism Prevention Act, S. 2032. The introduction of this joint committee measure has elevated the prospect that Congress will tackle transportation security comprehensively for the first time since the enactment in…2002.”

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which produces the annual Transportation Energy Data Book for the Department of Energy, corrected the Amtrak energy consumption figure in “cross-modal” table 2.10 in their new Data Book (hard-copy and on-line pdf versions of Edition 25, covering the year 2003). Thus, this summary table now clearly shows that Amtrak consumed 18% less energy per passenger-mile than certificated airlines, and 17% less energy than automobiles. In other words, Amtrak was 18% more energy efficient than planes, 17% than autos.

Energy consumption in British Thermal Units per passenger-mile: certificated route aviation 3,587; cars 3,549; Amtrak 2,935, Commuter rail 2,751; Transit (light & heavy) 3,228; Transit (buses) 4,160. These figures of course do not reflect transit’s ability to foster pedestrian-friendly, energy-efficient real estate development. Our thanks to ORNL’s Stacy Davis for responding so promptly to our correction request.

A footnote to this table qualifies the airline figure thus: “These energy intensities may be inflated because all energy use is attributed to passengers—cargo energy use is not taken into account.” We have told ORNL that this wording also should apply to Amtrak’s energy consumption. The information is available on ORNL’s website, see page 12 of Data Book chapter 2 (See Chapter 9 for detailed historical data for non-highway modes; Amtrak is at table 9.13 on page 14).

Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) told the South Mississippi Sun-Herald that he thinks it is “doubtful” that the $28.9 billion in additional Katrina spending in the Iraq War-Katrina Supplemental Bill (H.R.  4939) will survive the House-Senate conference committee.  This includes the controversial $700 million to abandon the New Orleans-Mobile CSX rail line.  Regarding the conference, Cochrane said, “that if the president doesn’t ask for it, then they’re not going to approve it.” 

Argentinia has announced plans to construct a 310 km high speed line from Buenos Aires north to Rosario.  The government is seeking bids to construct the line, which will one day be extended west to Cordoba.  Speeds will reach 300 km/hr and will slash travel times between the two cities. No cost estimates were given.

The State of Minnesota and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway have reached an agreement on trackage rights for the Northstar commuter rail service.  BNSF will make infrastructure improvements to the Minneapolis-Big Lake route (40 miles).  Construction should begin next year with service beginning in 2009. 

The Amtrak Fact Sheet mentioned on last week’s hotline is now available on Amtrak’s website.

Metrolink is replacing a bridge at San Juan Capitstrano this weekend.  All Pacific Surfliner service will be affected.  There will be a bus bridge in place between Irvine and San Diego; call Amtrak or check the Amtrak website for specific train-bus times.

The California Zephyr will again detour between Denver and Salt Lake City on certain days this summer due to trackwork on the train’s regular route.  The east and westbound Zephyrs originating in either Chicago or Emeryville on July 9-12, July 16-19, July 23-26, July 30-August 2, and August 6-7, will detour through Wyoming on July 10-13, July 17-20, July 24-27, July 31-August 3, and August 7-8.  The only substitute busses to be provided will link Denver, Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction (no other stations; no buses west of Grand Junction).

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May 26, 2006: Hotline #451

Late Thursday evening, the House Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over Amtrak approved a fiscal 2007 funding level of $900 million.  The next step is consideration of the legislation by the full Appropriations Committee.  That is likely to take place either the first or second full week in June.  In the subcommittee markup, Ranking Member John Olver (D-MA) stated “That is a shutdown number.”  In response, Chairman Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI) said, “Obviously, we’re going to have to look for an increase in funding down the way.”

Our Action Alert Center has been updated with relevant information, including what the next steps are.  Be sure to look out for Town Hall meetings or even campaign events or debates that Members of Congress will hold this week during the Memorial Day Recess.  Please attend and voice your support for passenger rail!

A massive power outage brought all electric-powered trains to a stop yesterday on the Washington-New York segment of the Northeast Corridor.  The first problem began around 7:55 a.m. and power was fully interrupted just after 8:05 a.m. and was fully restored by 11:00 a.m. (power to some segments, including the Washington Union Station area, was restored as early as 9:30 a.m.).  The exact cause has not yet been determined, but it is known that the outage quickly spread system-wide as designed—in “fail safe” mode (that is, subsequent substations shut down to prevent damage from overheating).  A contributing factor may have been that one substation, near Metuchen, NJ, was off line due to routine, scheduled maintenance.  Signals and switches continued to be powered, and diesels were used to rescue some stranded passengers.

It is also not yet known if the age of the infrastructure, long a hot-button issue, contributed to this incident.  Before yesterday’s incident, delays along the Northeast Corridor had been falling dramatically, resulting in vastly improved on-time performance for all users (Amtrak and commuter authorities).  The scenario that occurred yesterday appears to be much like the massive summer 2003 blackout that began with a single problem at one power substation and quickly cascaded to something much more serious.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report this week entitled, “Commuter Rail Issues Should be Considered in Debate Over Amtrak.”  The main points of this report have been well known for years: an Amtrak shutdown would create major problems for commuter railroads using Amtrak tracks, just as a strike against BNSF or any other major railroad hosting commuter rail would harm services using its tracks.  This was also exhibited in the early 1970’s with suburban Chicago services over the Rock Island Railroad, which went bankrupt and shut down. 

Congress, however, has clearly shown that it will work to prevent an Amtrak shutdown. Witness, for example, scathing comments about the unknown costs of an Amtrak bankruptcy by Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee with Amtrak jurisdiction, during a May 12, 2005 hearing, ““I do not believe that bankruptcy will solve our Nation’s problems with Amtrak.  Amtrak is too complex, the costs potentially too great and the result too uncertain to trust bankruptcy as the solution. I am not sure anyone understands the
true costs of bankruptcy or who will pay for them.”

The State of California continues to make major investmentsin rail transportation, sadly, without a federal match for those funds.  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R.) signed SB 1266 on May 16.  This provides $19.9 billion in general obligation bonds for transportation projects.  Of those funds, about $400 million is specifically earmarked for intercity rail capital, with $125 million of that intended for additional intercity rolling stock.  There are also “flex” funds that can be used for intercity rail (as well as transit and commuter rail projects).  The measure requires voter approval in November, but is considered to be very popular and likely to pass.

It is still unclear as of press time today whether or not the $700 million to abandon CSX’s New Orleans-Mobile rail line will survive the House-Senate conference committee for H.R. 4939, the Iraq-Katrina emergency supplemental funding bill.  Mixed signals were received during the week: at one point, Senator Thad Cochrane’s (R-MS) office said the funding was deleted, but then in an article in Wednesday’s Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Cochrane indicated that he had still not given up on the funds.  According to the Clarion-Ledger, “To meet the $94.5 billion cap and still have money for some Senate priorities, negotiators are considering shifting some of the bill’s $71 billion in war costs to hurricane-related purposes.”  Some Democrats, including Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) complained about being shut out of the conference process.

Two Democratic members of the House of Representatives are criticizing the Department of Homeland Security for not issuing Congressionally-mandated reports on transportation security.  Nearly 118 reports are overdue to one extent or another—some as long ago as 2003.  the reports cover security issues for all modes of travel, including rail, and border security.  The Washington Post printed an excerpt of a letter signed by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), “The American people deserve more from the Department of Homeland Security than missed deadlines, especially when our nation’s security is at risk.”  DHS officials dismissed the claims, stating that the department has issued hundreds of reports on time and that Secretary Michael Chertoff has testified before congress 19 times this year.

The Capitol Limited was rear-ended by a slow-moving Allegheny Railroad freight train (operating on Norfolk Southern tracks) at the Pittsburgh Amtrak station on Thursday.  The freight train was traveling at about 10 mph when it hit the rear-most of three Express Trak box cars on the Amtrak train.  Three minor injuries to passengers were reported; none to the crew.  Passengers were bussed to Washington and the equipment deadheaded later after a thorough safety inspection.

Trackwork will require temporary changes in Downeaster schedules June 19 to July 28.  During that time, Monday-Friday only, Train 681 will operate 25 minutes earlier (departing Boston North Station at 9:20 a.m. instead of 9:45 a.m.).  Train 681 will operate on its normal schedule on Saturdays and Sundays.

The deadline for Amtrak’s annual “Picture Our Train” contest is June 9, 2006.  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 May issue of NARP News was uploaded to the members’ section of our website yesterday.  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.

NARP wishes you a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. Please consider taking part in the National Moment of Remembrance at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day.  Wherever you are, take a moment to pause and reflect on those who died in the service of our country.  The White House Commission of Remembrance chose 3:00 p.m. because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday.  For more information on the Moment of Remembrance, visit their website.

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