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Oct 06, 2006: Hotline #470October 6, 2006 Congress is on recess until after the November elections. Most legislators will be in their home districts campaigning and holding public events. Make your voice heard: urge support of the fiscal 2007 Amtrak funding level of $1.4 billion passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee, but without misguided, micromanaging language—differing versions of which are in both the Senate committee’s bill and the House-passed bill. Also, tell your Senators to press for consideration of S.1516, the Amtrak reauthorization bill, when the Senate returns in November. Go to our Action Alert Center for full details. In one of its last acts before recess, the Senate approved Mary Peters to be the new Secretary of Transportation. She suceeds Norman Y. Mineta, who resigned July 7. NARP endorsed Peters nomination; see our September 8 news release with a statement from NARP President George Chilson. NARP’s Ross Capon included Chilson’s statement in a letter of endorsement submitted to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for the record of Peters’ confirmation hearing. The State of Texas has agreed to pay half of the operating cost of Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer, in partnership with the State of Oklahoma. According to the Daily Oklahoman, “During the summer, (Oklahoma Transportation Secretary Phil) Tomlinson was told by Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, that Texas concurred with the importance of passenger rail service to both states and that he would recommend Texas participate in half of the cost.” The article also notes that the online communities in Oklahoma have invested over $6 million of their own funds in depot renovations. Amtrak and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have announced a project to install chemical detection devices in New York Penn Station. This follows a similar, sucessful installation in Grand Central Terminal. The “sniffers” have been used in many transit systems, including the New York Subway and Washington’s Metrorail. Amtrak will also install the devices in their stations in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. The eastbound Southwest Chief was evacuated at Fullerton on Monday evening after a bomb threat was phoned into Amtrak’s reservation office. Fullerton police were notified, the train was evacuated, and searched. No bomb was found and the train departed Fullerton after a two hour delay. The morning commute in New Jersey was disrupted on Wednesday when Amtrak suffered another power distribution problem along the Northeast Corridor. Two of four power lines were offline for tree-trimming along the right of way. Of the two lines remaining, one failed, which overloaded the fourth line. No passengers were stranded in tunnels, but delays were up to 90 minutes. New Jersey transporation officials are frustrated with this latest morning commute problem. “This is just not acceptable,” New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri told the Newark Star Ledger. “This is akin to us going out during the rush hour and shutting down two lanes of a highway to do routine maintenance.” This year is the eighteenth anniversary of the refurbishment of Washington Union Station. An even grander project lies on the horizon. D.C. developer John Akridge III has purchased the air rights over the terminal trackage and has completed drawings for an extensive office and retail complex at the site. Of particular interest to Amtrak passengers is the Burnham Concourse, named after Union Station architect Daniel Burnham. This new passenger concourse, which NARP has been told will be one of the first parts of the project, will be larger than Union Station’s Main Hall, and will provide new waiting space and boarding areas for Amtrak trains. An atrium will connect Union Station with H Street NE and the surrounding neighborhood, where new housing and stores have been built; upscale condominiums are under construction just north of H Street and east of the tracks on the former Children’s Museum property (and adjacent to the NARP office!). Amtrak schedules will change on October 30. Two service expansions will take place on that date. First, all-electric locomotive Keystone service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg will debut, including increaased frequencies, push-pull trains, and express service. Also on October 30, Illinois will unveil their new service: one additional train each to Carbondale and Quincy and two more trains to St. Louis. Inagural events for the new Illinois service will take place as follows: October 17, Carbondale-Chicago (morning departure from Carbondale); October 18, Chicago-St. Louis (morning departure from Chicago); and October 19, Chicago-Quincy (morning departure from Chicago). All three trains will make all scheduled stops; length varies by events scheduled at each stop. The Essential Air Service program is featured in a major New York Times story today, “Subsidies Keep Airlines Flying to Small Towns.” This is a double-edged sword for rail passenger advocates: while it details the most obvious subsidy to scheduled air service (that for smaller communities which airlines won’t serve on their own), the program’s subsidy limit is per passenger rather than per-passenger-mile. This helps reinforce the unfortunate notion that “subsidy per passenger” is a reasonable economic metric for long-distance trains. In fact, subsidy per passenger mainly measures average trip length of riders on a given route; subsidy per passenger-mile is the economic measure that closely parallels the revenue-to-cost ratio. The Southwest Chief is one of Amtrak’s top performers on a per passenger-mile basis, one of the worst on the nonsense “per passenger” measure. Remember also that the same rural senators who fight for Amtrak’s long-distance trains are also among the most vocal supporters of Essential Air Service, for which the federal government is paying $110 million this year. Finally, voter registration deadlines are approaching in many states for the November 7 general elections. Don’t forget to exercise your most important civic duty! You can register to vote on NARP’s home page; click on the “Register to Vote” icon. Oct 13, 2006: Hotline #471October 13, 2006 Congress is on recess until after the November elections. Most legislators will be in their home districts campaigning and holding public events. Make your voice heard: urge support of the fiscal 2007 Amtrak funding level of $1.4 billion passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee, but without misguided, micromanaging language—differing versions of which are in both the Senate committee’s bill and the House-passed bill. Also, tell your Senators to press for consideration of S.1516, the Amtrak reauthorization bill, when the Senate returns in November. Go to our Action Alert Center for full details. Congress approved H.R. 4954, the port security bill, after conferees had stripped out $1.15 billion for various rail and transit security enhancements. This money had been added by the Senate at the behest of John McCain (R-AZ; story in Hotline #467, September 15), enjoyed bipartisan support, and were removed over Democratic objections. The Connecticut Post editorialized, “It’s mind-boggling that Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate could cavalierly bypass placing any funding for mass transit protection…despite recent history that demonstrates that mass transit targets are favored by terrorists—the Madrid rail bombings in 2004, the London subway and bus terror in 2005, and this year’s series of bombings on rail lines in India…They found room in the conference committee bill, however, for non-germane provisions placing limits on Internet gambling that is designed to help a Senate Republican senator who’s in a tough battle for re-election in Arizona. For shame.” Two trains collided in northeastern France on Wednesday, killing 6 and injuring hundreds. The passenger train collided head-on with a freight train in the town of Zoufftgen near the France-Luxembourg border. A cause of the accident has not been determined. However SNCF officials have said that both trains were on the same track because one track was out of service for maintenance and that the freight train did have a green signal to proceed. The project to convert the Farley Post Office building in New York City into a “new” Penn Station has hit another snag. New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) has said that he will oppose the plan because, “it would benefit only non-New Yorkers.” New Jersey Transit would be the anchor tenant of the facility, but it would also provide access to LIRR and Amtrak trains. Silver prefers renovating and expanding the current Penn Station, once Madison Square Garden is relocated. New York Governor George Pataki countered that the plan is a solid one, that the relocation of MSG is not a done deal, and the State’s option to purchase the building from the federal government expires at the end of the year. Amtrak and the State of Illinois will operate special “preview” trains next week for the new service frequencies on each state-supported route. Schedules and fares for the expanded services to Quincy and Carbondale have been announced and loaded into Amtrak’s computer system; St. Louis service should be within the next few days. The new trains’ names will tie in closely to the routes they serve: the new train to Carbondale will be called the Saluki (in honor of the mascot of Southern Illinois University) and the new Quincy train will be named after Galesburg, IL native Carl Sandberg. NARP Assistant Director David Johnson and Midwest High Speed Rail Association Executive Director Rick Harnish will be riding all three trains. The preview trains will stop at all stations along each route and operate fairly closely to the schedule of existing service (some stops may be longer than others to permit speeches). NARP members are encouraged to attend! The schedule is as follows (only selected times listed; these are train departure times, arrive early for full events):
The NARP Board of Directors will meet next Friday and Saturday in Austin, Texas. The featured speaker at the meeting with be Amtrak Board Chairman David Laney. The October-November issue of NARP News was uploaded to the members’ section of our website earlier this week. 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.
Oct 20, 2006: Hotline #472October 20, 2006 With elections rapidly approaching, many House and Senate members are in their home districts. Urge support of the fiscal 2007 Amtrak funding level of $1.4 billion passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee, but without misguided, micromanaging language—differing versions of which are in both the Senate committee’s bill and the House-passed bill. Also, tell your Senators to press for consideration of S.1516, the Amtrak reauthorization bill, when the Senate returns in November. Go to our Action Alert Center for full details. Amtrak and the State of Illinois celebrated the launch of increased rail service this week with V.I.P. inaugural specials on the three routes involved. The service, to begin on October 30, will add one daily round trip to the Quincy and Carbondale routes and two St. Louis round trips. There were many celebrations along the routes this week and photos of the events will be posted here on the NARP website next week:
Oct 27, 2006: Hotline #473October 27, 2006 Amtrak’s new Illinois trains will run after all. Canadian National Railroad had informed Amtrak that they would not permit one of the two new Chicago-St. Louis trains to begin as scheduled on October 30 and that all the new trains may only be able to operate for a year. Just one week after inaugural events along the Saluki and Lincoln Service route, CN informed Amtrak and the State of Illinois that the agreement signed last July for the increased frequencies was approved by someone in the company without sufficient authority to make such agreements. CN backed down in the face of harsh responses from the Illinois Congressional delegation and from Amtrak. Amtrak called CN’s action a “unilateral move to violate its existing agreement” and vowed to exhaust all legal options to begin the trains on October 30. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) said in a letter to CN, “CN’s actions are an affront to Amtrak, the State of Illinois, and the millions of rail passengers across Illinois.” The Department of Transportation and Amtrak Inspector General Offices released a joint report claiming that Amtrak’s legal department does not have sufficient oversight on outside legal counsel that it retains. The report was requested by Reps. Don Young (R-AK) and John Mica (R-FL). According to the Associated Press, “The report found that Amtrak didn’t review law firms’ bills, didn’t request budgets and didn’t scrutinize bills. The railroad also hired expensive big-city law firms without requiring them to compete for its business.” In response, Amtrak chairman David Laney said in a letter to Rep. Mica, “Amtrak actually reduced annual legal fees by 26% or $8 million since 2003, and in the past five years, working with outside law firms, Amtrak’s Law Department recovered $79 million in cash from legal settlements.” Mica did concede that some practices at Amtrak have changed since the report was first drafted. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a news conference Wednesday at which the report was unveiled and Mica spoke—yet again referring to Amtrak as a “Soviet-style operation.” One figure not mentioned at Wednesday’s news conference but included in a BNA report is that Amtrak spends $100 million a year on settlements. In a related development, a federal jury in Philadelphia yesterday awarded $24.2 million to 22-year-old men two, at the age of 17, climbed suffered burns when near (but not touching) the overhead catenary after climbing to the top of a Norfolk Southern freight car at Lancaster, PA. The boys’ attorney said, “Both Amtrak and Norfolk Southern knew a lethal danger existed but failed to post any warning signs…The general public was left unprotected. It’s a fact that boys are going to climb things, and this was a high-traffic area…” If appeals fail, the jury found, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern split liability on a 70%/30% basis. Dr. Helen Hudson’s 11th and 12th grade English Class at Crawfordsville High School is the recipient of Amtrak’s Champions of the Rails honor this year. The group was honored at a luncheon in Washington on October 18th, 2006, where Amtrak President’s Awards also went to many Amtrak employees. NARP Board member Ken Briers attended to represent NARP and provides the following report: “Amtrak’s new President and CEO, Alex Kummant, hosted a lunch for recipients of the 2006 President’s Service and Safety Awards. Three of the Crawfordsville High students involved in the project were in attendance, Natalie Davis, Paul Utterback, and Mathew Kelsey, as well as their advisor, Dr. Helen Hudson. They were accompanied by Dr. Kathleen Steele, the Superintendent of the Crawfordsville Community Schools. The Champion of the Rails award was given first, and the recipients were warmly received. They were invited on stage, given a trophy and small Champion of the Rails pins for each participant, and posed for pictures with President Kummant. The students had just enough time to gather their bags and head back to Union Station for a departure on the Capitol Limited. “The students set out to refurbish the local Amtrak waiting shelter by cleaning, painting and landscaping it. Since then, they have continued to monitor and maintain its condition. The students went on to develop an interest in the political process, and an appreciation for the challenge that Amtrak faces, to survive and grow. They have become effective advocates, studying lobbying techniques and raising funds for their trip to Washington. For their efforts, the students were awarded the Indiana High Speed Rail Association’s Golden Spike award and the NARP Youth Rail Passenger Citizenship Award. They gave a presentation to the NARP at their spring Board meeting, and received a standing ovation. Their efforts have continued, and a new generation of passenger train advocates has been recruited!” Metro-North Commuter Railroad has achieved a first: a majority of their riders are no longer suburb-to-New York City commuters. In 2005, 49.4% of the railroad’s riders were traveling from suburbs to the city on traditional “rush hour” services. However, the remainder of the railroad’s passengers were reverse commute and suburb-to-suburb riders. According to Progressive Railroading, “More riders are using Metro-North to travel from New York City to suburban employment centers and between stations not including NYC’s Grand Central Terminal, and for non-work-related trips.” See also the report in the October 17 New York Times, page A19. A major accident occurred late last week just outside of Pittsburgh when several tanker cars carrying ethanol derailed, fell off a bridge, and exploded. The town of New Brighton was partially evacuated out of fear of further explosions. The Capitol Limited had to detour for several days, with multi-hour delays. The National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating the accident. There is an increasing realization that the current model of funding transportation is broken—by all accounts, the highway trust fund may be bankrupt as early as 2009. While raising the gas tax is seen by many as the only option, it is of course the proverbial political “third rail” in that no one wants to say it for fear of being voted out of office. However, an article this week in the North Adams (MA) Transcript is telling: in Massachusetts, the only liquid taxed less per gallon than gas (21 cents) is beer (11 cents). Both wine (55 cents) and liquor ($4.05) are taxed considerably higher. Amtrak Guest Rewards has a new program for businesses. Once enrolled, every trip employees take on Amtrak can earn points toward free travel awards for the business (in addition to the points they earn for themselves as members of Amtrak Guest Rewards). An employer can sign up or get more information at the Amtrak Guest Rewards For Business website. |
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