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Jan 05, 2007: Hotline #482The 110th Congress was sworn in on Thursday. Among the many tasks facing legislators is passage of some type of measure to fund the government for the remainder of Fiscal 2007, and beginning work on the Fiscal 2008 funding bills. Regarding 2007, appropriators are negotiating programs individually, reportedly with most programs set to receive at least what they got in FY 2006. That would mean at least $1.3 billion for Amtrak, $200 million better than the $1.1 billion level in the current continuing resolution. Amtrak hopes for at least $1.4 billion. The federal transit program has a different situation. American Public Transportation Association President William Millar says a freeze at FY 2006 levels would cut transit $475 million below the FY 2007 leveled supposedly guaranteed in SAFETEA-LU. Prospects look good for revival of the Lott-Lautenberg Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (Amtrak Reauthorization). In addition, the More broadly, reach out to your legislators—especially if they are freshmen. Ask them to support a higher level of funding for Amtrak and to urge their leadership to take up an Amtrak reauthorization bill. Go to our Action Alert Center for full details. Amtrak CEO Alex Kummant has filled three positions in his new executive management team. Roy Johanson will be the Vice President, Planning and Analysis; H. Edgar Trainor will be the Chief Information Officer; and James F. McDonnell III will be the Chief Risk Officer. All three will report directly to Kummant. Full background on the three appointments can be read in the Kummant was featured in a positive article about Amtrak’s future that was published on December 23 in the New York Times. Among other things, Kummant said that “the stars may be aligning for a renaissance of rail,” and that he wants to see ridership grow by 50% in the next five to ten years. He defended Amtrak’s long distance network of trains, to quote the Times, “The cost of cross-country trains comes to about a dollar and a half per American per year, (Kummant) said, and they are irreplaceable.” Kummant also acknowledged the need for new rolling stock to supplement the existing fleet, and said that this could be done with private-public partnerships and investments. Union Pacific and the City of Sacramento have finally come to an agreement regarding the Sacramento train station. The deal calls for the City to purchase the station itself, platforms and parking lot (about 14 acres) with the remainder of the 240 acre site purchased by a private developer. The most immediate impact of the city purchase will be that free parking will be offered to daily commuters. A full renovation of the property is set to begin by the end of 2007 and will include all-new, longer platforms and refurbishment of the building. The roller-coaster ride of establishing commuter rail in Atlanta has unfortunately gone down yet another hill. While we recently reported a breakthrough in efforts to bring commuter rail to the Peachtree State, this week the Clayton County Commission withdrew its offer to provide an operating subsidy for the line, saying the state should be doing more to help. In a news release, the Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers said, “that the Atlanta-Lovejoy line would run into Fulton County, and also would serve riders from other counties. (GARP President Steve Vogel) said it also would benefit motorists on I-75, by reducing traffic. ‘The state doesn’t expect Clayton County to maintain I-75,’ Vogel said. ‘It shouldn’t expect Clayton County to shoulder the bill for the commuter trains.’” New Jersey Transit is pointing at Amtrak-caused delays to its commuter trains that use the Northeast Corridor as justification for enacting the “Northeast Corridor Action Plan.” This plan, discussed in Hotlines #478, would transfer ownership of the corridor to the Department of Transportation and set up a board of directors-type structure for corridor management and scheduling—a board on which Amtrak would have no vote. In a Letter to the Editor submitted to the Bergen County Record, NARP Executive Director Ross Capon pointed out flaws in NJT’s position, saying, “your December 31 article says NJT gets 90% on-time performance and suffers far fewer ‘preference’ delays than in previous years, and notes Amtrak’s statement that more Amtrak trains than NJT trains suffer ‘preference’ delays…Amtrak is not guilty of ‘poor upkeep of the tracks.’ The Corridor is in better shape today than at any point in the past 20 years.” Capon accused the editors of “ignore[ing] the real problem: the number of trains—primarily New Jersey Transit trains-—has grown; track capacity has not.” He also said “transferring line ownership to the U.S. Department of Transportation [would] create big risks [since U.S. DOT has] nothing in its history to inspire confidence that such a move would improve things.” The National Transportation Safety Board has placed blame for a 2005 derailment on Metra’s Rock Island Line on the train’s engineer, but also faults Metra for creating the situation of having a 10mph crossover on a 69mph railroad. In its written findings, the NTSB said, in part, that this accident “was another tragic example” of failure of United States railroads to embrace and install Positive Train Control systems that could prevent such accidents. Indeed, since the accident, Metra has let a contract for and begun to install a PTC system on the Rock Island line. The NTSB report also expresses concern about severe damage to the seats on board the train, a contributing factor in the death of two passengers in the accident. Several Amtrak trains will experience service disruptions or schedule modifications over the next several weeks due to trackwork and other infrastructure projects. In many cases, the schedule modifications are far too numerous to list here; call Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for the correct schedules.
The NARP staff wishes you and yours a Happy New Year!
Jan 12, 2007: Hotline #483January 12, 2007
Minority ranking members have been named for the subcommittees of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The ranking member of the Railroads Subcommittee is Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), son of former Rep. (and full committee chairman) Bud Shuster. The Department of Homeland Security is distributing $445 million to “help protect ports, subways, rails and other infrastructure from possible terrorist attacks, ” DHS head Michael Chertoff announced this week. About half of those funds will go to public transportation interests; $8.3 million is for Amtrak. Commuter agencies and cities are also receiving funding: a sampling includes New York City and northern New Jersey ($61 M), Washington, D.C./Baltimore area ($18.5 M), Boston ($15.3 M), and San Francisco Bay area ($13.8 M). The American Public Transportation Association released a study showing that if the average family with two vehicles eliminated one of their cars and commuted to work by bus instead, the family would save up to $6,200 a year. This savings takes into account the need to pay bus fare. APTA President Bill Millar pointed out that the savings are higher than the $5,700 average household cost of food for one year. New Jersey Transit Executive Director George Warrington is leaving the agency effective at the end of March. No reason was given for his departure other than the fact that the decision was his and that he is leaving “to pursue other opportunities.” Warrington has been at the helm of New Jersey Transit since 2002, when he left a four year presidency of Amtrak. BNSF Railway is the first railroad to receive approval from the Federal Railroad Administration to install a satellite-based Positive Train Control system on its locomotives. The approval covers planned installations by BNSF on 37 route segments in 17 states. The system will monitor train performance and apply the brakes when an engineer does not comply with any type of restrictive signal. The National Transportation Safety Board and safety advocates have long called for the installation of Positive Train Control to avoid what are otherwise preventable accidents. Two trackworkers were killed as a result of a collision between an MBTA (Boston) commuter train and a track maintenance machine. The accident occurred on the railroad’s Lowell line near Woburn. Track maintenance had been taking place all during the day and two trains prior to the one involved in the accident had been switched to a parallel track. An investigation is underway to determine why this train was not switched. However, the union representing the trackworkers, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, is pointing the finger at Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, the private company that took over operation of MBTA commuter trains from Amtrak in 2003. BMWE officials state that four track workers have died since MBCR took over, while only one track worker died in the last seven years of Amtrak operation. A clarification on the item in last week’s hotline about the City of Sacramento’s purchase of the train station and adjoining property. We did not make clear that the purchase has indeed occurred: the City and private real estate interests took possession of the land from Union Pacific on December 29. The City’s first action was to remove the unpopular private parking lot operator and take over operation of the lot. Initially, parking is free, but a modest city-administered parking fee will likely be added in the future. On January 4, 2007 Amtrak began a 30 day test pilot of the DigEplayer aboard the Capitol Limited. The DigEplayer, created by Railway Media, is a handheld digital entertainment device, pre-loaded with movies and a host of other videos. During this test period, the portable video unit can be rented in the lounge car aboard the Capitol Limited for a cost of $19.95, and an additional $5 for an audio splitter which allows two people to watch and listen simultaneously. Personnel from Railway Media will be aboard the Capitol Limited to address any questions and concerns. The DigEplayer is currently also available at the following stations: Lorton (Auto Train), Sanford (Auto Train), Chicago, Portland (Oregon), Seattle, Emeryville, and Los Angeles. Amtrak officials are also optimistic that they will be able to expand this program in the near future. Several changes to the Amtrak Guest Reward program took effect January 1. Members may now redeem rewards at Hyatt Hotels, Budget Rent A Car, Pottery Barn, Nordstrom, and The Gap. In addition, members may redeem rewards for meals at the Brinker family of restaurants (Chili’s, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina and Maggiano’s Little Italy). At the same time, redemptions for Marriott and Ritz Hotels and TGI Fridays restaurants were removed from the program. A complete listing of all point earning and redemption partners is available on the Amtrak Guest Rewards Website. Amtrak continues to offer its very popular “Campus Visit Program”. A prospective college student buys a full fare ticket and then may bring a parent or guardian along for free. Virginia Union University in Richmond, VA, which draws heavily from northeast cities, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that they are, “very excited about it in our admissions office and will work it into our recruiting tools…This would be a great link for potential students.” More information on the program is available on the Campus Visit website. Jan 19, 2007: Hotline #484S. 1516 is now S. 294! Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Trent Lott (R-MS) introduced their Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act on Tuesday. The pair held a news conference at Union Station and were introduced by Amtrak CEO Alex Kummant. “We have a chance to get Amtrak back on track…The future of Amtrak is looking bright…Congress is ready to pass a bill to revitalize Amtrak…I chair the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine. This bill is my top priority,” said Lautenberg. Lott echoed his feelings, joking about the change in party leadership in Congress, “this bill used to be Lott-Lautenberg. Now, it’s Lautenberg-Lott. We never miss a step…There are some things in Washington that are truly bipartisan, including transportation…There are limits to how many lanes we can build, how many planes we can fly.” The following Senators are original cosponsors of the bill. If your Senator is on this list, please thank them; if they are not, urge them to co-sponsor it. Go to our Action Alert Center for full details: Lott, Lautenberg, Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Ted Stevens (R-AK), Tom Carper (D-DE), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Joseph Biden (D-DE), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), John Kerry (D-MA), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD). During Lautenberg and Lott’s press conference, Amtrak CEO Alex Kummant made positive statements about Amtrak’s long distance train network. While saying that the trains need to be operated in a fiscally sound manner, Kummant told reporters that he had no intention of dismantling long distance trains. Kummant said, “I would say look at corridor conversion—where can you take a long-distance train and break that into multiple state corridors where it makes sense? We want to approach that carefully but meaningfully.” NARP long has argued, and the data clearly show, that breaking up existing overnight routes would be counterproductive because a huge proportion of existing revenue would be lost, and because the big investments needed to replace that traffic with short distance traffic generally is not in sight Also this week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held its organizational meeting. Prior to that, Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) held a press conference with the Committee’s Subcommittee chairs. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) will chair the Railroads Subcommittee and is very excited to hold this post. “Amtrak reauthorization is very important to the entire country; we are going to get this country moving again and rail is the way to do it,” Brown exclaimed to which Oberstar replied, “I love that enthusiasm!” As reported last week, Rep. Steve LaTourette has been shifted to be Ranking Member on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee with Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) tapped to be Ranking for the Railroads Subcommittee. During the organizational session, subcommittee assignments were announced and LaTourette will serve on the Railroads Subcommittee as a member. In a presentation Wednesday to a public session of the National Surface Transportation Policy & Revenue Study Commission, JayEtta Hecker, the Government Accountability Office’s Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues, trotted out all the predictable anti-Amtrak and anti-overnight-train clichés. She professed not to know what is in S. 294 even though Senators Lott and Lautenberg have made clear that the bill tracks old S.1516 quite closely. Her attack on the national network makes one wonder if she has ever ridden an overnight train. It included this: “Long-distance service is very imperfect, with expensive food cars and making stops in the dead of night.” She made a big deal out of the fact that Amtrak’s market-share compared with airlines is tiny in markets like New York-Chicago and Washington-Chicago. She argued that “passenger rail expansion cannot come at the expense of freight railroads,” a strange proposition indeed, given the fact that it is well-established that railroads can set tough infrastructure requirements for new service. As for state partnerships, she said 80/20 money “doesn’t work for highways and won’t work for rail.” Yet, like most Amtrak critics, she protested, “GAO is not anti-Amtrak or anti-passenger rail,” a statement that is questionable at best. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has signed an executive order instructing the State Department of Transportation to revise a 1998 study about commuter rail between Phoenix and Tucson. The order requires that the first phase—a basic update—be completed within 90 days. Full updates of cost and financing options are due in September. ExpressTrak has been formally liquidated by a bankruptcy court in Detroit. The company hauled perishable (refrigerated) items in boxcars on the back of Amtrak trains. The program initially grew out of Amtrak’s Express Initiative of the late 1990’s and early 21st century, but Amtrak lost money on the deal. The company was also caught up in a 2005 controversy about language in the Fiscal 2006 Amtrak appropriation requiring the railroad to haul a great deal more carloads; the provision was eventually removed from the bill. ExpressTrak’s owner has hopes to rejuvenate the business, but Amtrak has stated that they have no interest in returning to freight-hauling. The students of Dr. Helen Hudson’s English Class at Crawfordsville High School have been given another award. The Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society has awarded the students their Monon Golden Spike Award. The Award acknowledges the work that the students have done to clean up the depot and promote Amtrak. Crawfordsville and its local Amtrak station are along the original Monon Railroad line. Unfortunately, the station that was the center of the student’s efforts was vandalized on Halloween. Dr. Hudson and her students have vowed to press on and are sponsoring “C’Ville Rides The Train Day” April 28. Amtrak’s Hiawatha service had another record year in Fiscal 2006. Over 588,000 passengers rode the service, up 8.2% from 2005. In fact, the service is facing a capacity shortage; each trainset will need to have another car added soon to alleviate standing room-only conditions. Not only is the Hiawatha well patronized, its on-time performance consistently scores in the top two or three in the Amtrak system. Amtrak and Bank of America have agreed to discontinue the existing Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card program. Existing cardholders will continue to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points on their Amtrak Guest Reward credit card from Bank of America for all purchases that are posted prior to the closing date of the May 2007 Bank of America statement. Any points earned through the credit card will remain in the cardholder’s Amtrak Guest Rewards account, governed by the rules affecting any other program points. Current Bank of America cardholders with questions about their credit card account or benefits should contact Bank of America, not Amtrak Guest Rewards. No new Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card applications are being taken at this time; Amtrak Guest Rewards will be offering a new credit card. Beginning in April, 2007, check the program’s website or call 1-800-307-5000 for the latest information on the card.
Jan 26, 2007: Hotline #485The House of Representatives next week will consider a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund all government programs for the remainder of Fiscal 2007. The proposal is to provide Fiscal 2006 funding levels to most programs, with specific increases where possible. If approved at face value, Amtrak would receive approximately $1.29 billion. House leaders hope to move the bill quickly by preventing members from offering amendments, but the Senate cannot do this, increasing the possibility that the bill may stall in that chamber. A number of Senators, including Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Trent Lott (R-MS) sent a letter to Senate Appropriations leaders pushing for a $1.4 billion funding level. Contact your Senate and House members and tell them the same thing: Amtrak needs $1.4 billion for Fiscal 2007, which the Senate Appropriations Committee had approved. Go to our Action Alert Center for full details. President Bush delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. In it, he called for increased energy efficiency and a 20% reduction in consumption of oil by 2017. However, he never mentioned increased use of passenger rail or mass transit as a possible solution. Likewise, DOT Secretary Mary Peters, the speaker at the January 24 address Transportation Research Board Chairman’s Luncheon, mentioned rail not at all and “expanded commuter transit” only once. Moreover, the Washington Post reported on January 24 that “Administration officials said that the goal is 20% below projected annual gasoline usage, not off today’s levels…Using projections means that carbon dioxide emissions from transportation fuels will drop only slightly from today’s levels…” Former United States Senator George Smathers (D-FL) passed awayon Saturday. Smathers was a leading advocate of deregulation of the rail industry and one of the architects of the 1958 Surface Transportation Act. In a prepared statement, AAR President and Chief Executive Officer Edward Hamberger said, “George Smathers was transportation visionary, and many of the public policies he advocated are responsible for the dramatic increases in safety, efficiency and productivity of our nation’s freight railroads.” The Federal Transit Administration has approved the draft environmental impact statement for a second rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City. The proposed project would double capacity under the Hudson River from two to four tracks and also build a new commuter rail-only facility next to Penn Station to relieve crowding in that facility. The $7 billion project could see construction begin in 2009 and completed by 2015. Another component of increasing capacity between New Jersey and New York City is the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River. The two-track bridge is almost 100 years old and near the end of its useful service life. A public hearing hosted by the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak, and New Jersey Transit was held this week in Newark regarding a plan to replace the structure. Over 500 Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains use the span each day, which is a major choke point. Besides adding capacity, planners want to increase the height of the bridge to lower the number of openings required for marine traffic. Lawyers for CSX Transportation, the Federal Government and the District of Columbia were back in court this week regarding hazardous shipments by rail. The District City Council passed a law two years ago banning rail cars with hazardous material from passing through the city, fearing a terrorist attack given the close proximity of the rail route to Capitol Hill and other government buildings. CSX challenged the ban, claiming that the city had no legal authority to impose the ban and that it would open the floodgates for other cities to pass similar laws. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has not indicated when he will rule on the case. The State of Illinois is withdrawing from an experimental program to install a Positive Train Control system on the Chicago-St. Louis route. The project began in 2000 and was intended to permit 110 mph operation but was fraught with technical problems. Illinois is committed to the purchase of proven, “off the shelf” PTC technology, such as the system currently in use on Amtrak’s Michigan Line, to permit higher-speed service. The New Orleans Saints played the Chicago Bears in last week’s NFC football championship game. While the Saints did lose, many fans made the trip from New Orleans to Chicago. Amtrak received a great deal of positive press coverage, and the railroad added capacity to the City of New Orleans to handle more passengers. Melissa Hudson, a passenger on the train, told the Chicago Sun Times, “It was a nice experience, it was a good way to see the country, and it was comfortable.” Two major trackwork projects this weekend will disrupt Pacific Surfliner service. All 500-series trains are cancelled with no substitute bus service. 700-series trains will operate from either San Luis Obispo or Goleta through Los Angeles to Anaheim. At Anaheim, passengers will board busses to continue to points south to San Diego. Coast Starlight passengers who are continuing south of Los Angeles will be bussed to their final destination. NARP is accepting nominations for the 2007 Dr. Gary Burch Memorial Safety Awards. The Burch Family has funded and presented the award to honor the railroad employee judged to have done the most to improve the safety of railroad passengers. Those eligible to win the award include all employees of railroads and agencies which operate or contract for the operation of intercity passenger or commuter trains (not local mass transit) or whose tracks are used by such trains. As before, nominations are accepted from railroads, transit authorities, and unions, but also we are accepting nominations from individuals. For more information or to nominate someone, please contact the NARP office. Nominations must be received at the NARP office by Monday, March 12, 2007. |
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