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Sep 05, 2008: Hotline #569Congress reconvenes next week (Senate on September 8, House, September 9). Please urge your Senators and Representative:
Go to our Action Alert center for full details. Train travel surged over Labor Day weekend as usage of other modes declined. Amtrak recorded a 10 percent increase in passengers over the long weekend as compared to 2007. The Air Transport Association estimated a decline in air travel of 6.5 percent, while AAA estimated road travel of distances greater than 50 miles to have declined 1 percent for the weekend. China’s Ministry of Railways this week announced plans to operate the world’s fastest regularly scheduled train service when it opens the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line in 2012. Advances in technology will allow trains on the 819-mile line (the single longest HSR line ever built at once) to sustain speeds of 236 mph, 18 mph faster than current regular capabilities. Hurricane Gustav made landfall in Louisiana on Labor Day. Ahead of the storm, Amtrak, under contract to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, carried evacuated about 2,000 passengers from New Orleans to Memphis using three trains—two departed New Orleans August 30, one August 31. Evacuees stayed in shelters for the week. Amtrak took many of them back to New Orleans on a train that operated overnight last night (detouring via Hattiesburg, MS due to track washouts on the Canadian National near New Orleans); another return train will operate tonight. Amtrak is using a variety of Superliner, Viewliner, and Amfleet II cars plus 10 former Connecticut DOT commuter coaches. Eastbound Sunset Limited train 2 (which had been turning in San Antonio) originating today will run through to New Orleans, while westbound train 1 will originate in New Orleans on Monday. Southbound Crescent train 19 (which had been turning in Atlanta) originating today will also run through to New Orleans, while northbound train 20 will originate in New Orleans on Sunday. Southbound City of New Orleans train 59 resumes beginning tonight and will turn in Memphis to northbound train 58 starting tomorrow (both trains had been canceled entirely all week). Operations between Memphis and New Orleans are not expected until Monday due to aforementioned CN track damage. In anticipation of Tropical Storm Hanna, Amtrak has canceled starting today the Auto Train, Palmetto, and Silver Meteor in both directions, as well as Northeast Regional train 78 (which normally operates between Newport News and Richmond only). The same cancelations (minus train 78, a Friday-only train) are in effect tomorrow; the Carolinian and Piedmont will also be canceled entirely. Silver Star trains 91 and 92 are operating only between Miami and Winter Park—no sleeping car service. Carolinian trains 79 and 80 are operating only between Raleigh and Charlotte today. Northeast Regional trains 66, 67, 99, 194, and 195 will not operate south of Washington tomorrow. Further service adjustments are possible. Amtrak will substitute the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited with bus service due to CSX track work on September 14-17, September 21-24, and September 28-October 1. Trains 448 and 449 will be replaced with schedules 3448 and 3449. There will be no service to Boston Back Bay or Framingham on those dates. Amtrak will partner with California State Parks on October 11 and 12 to celebrate the centennial of Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, which marks the site of one of the first towns to be established by African-Americans. The park is located on Amtrak’s San Joaquin route between Wasco and Corcoran, and on October 11 and 12 all trains will stop at Allensworth (station code CNL). Northbound trains stop approximately 20 minutes after Wasco, while southbound trains stop approximately 20 minutes after Corcoran. On October 11 only, additional trains 710 and 719 will operate between Oakland and Bakersfield (with Sacramento bus connections at Stockton) to allow convenient day trips from the Bay Area and Sacramento; a special round-trip fare of $59.75 is available with promotion code X504 and includes a boxed breakfast. Special Thruway bus service will also operate from Inglewood on October 11 only; a special $39 round-trip fare from Inglewood or Los Angeles is available with promotion code X458. For more details, see the California State Parks web site. Former Amtrak executive James Larson passed away on September 2 at the age of 73. He retired in 1998 after serving as Amtrak’s Assistant Vice President, Operations. See AAPRCO’s web site for a memoriam. Continental Airlines joined four other top domestic carriers today as it announced that it would charge for the first piece of checked baggage for most domestic passengers ($15, in Continental’s case). Meanwhile, United Airlines this week dropped its plans to eliminate complimentary meals in coach for flights between Washington-Dulles and Europe and for domestic Business Class after a torrent of negative publicity. Sep 12, 2008: Hotline #570Congress reconvened this week. Please urge your Senators and Representative:
Go to our Action Alert center for full details. Staff of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) acknowledged this week that he has placed a hold on S. 294, a procedural motion that prevents the Senate from appointing its members to the conference committee to work out differences with the House version of the bill. Coburn’s position makes consideration of S. 294 a time-consuming process when floor time is running short. And it means that passenger train supporters would need 60 votes (i.e. at least nine Republicans) on a cloture vote, that is, a vote that would override Coburn’s objections. The Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility hosted a news conference at Washington Union Station on September 10 at which Senators, Representatives, and business leaders urged immediate passage of S. 294. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), John Kerry (D-MA), Tom Carper (D-DE), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) all spoke, while a news release from the Alliance also quoted Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Reps. Jim Gerlach (R-PA), Joe Sestak (D-PA), and Michael Acruri (D-NY) as affirming support for Amtrak. Kerry noted, “We are the only country in the world that has a rail system that makes it so hard to travel by rail. Smaller countries spend so much more per capita.” He went on to declare, “We have to build a first rate system, and Amtrak is the backbone of that. It’s really annoying to me that despite all these factors (price of oil, VMT’s dropping, Amtrak ridership through the roof) we still have to struggle to do the right thing to fund Amtrak.” Carper remarked, “Passing this bill won’t solve all of our problems (environmental and economic) but it sure will go a long way.” Robert Yaro, president of the New York-based Regional Plan Association led the event, also welcoming comments from former Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker (R), now President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Schweiker said, in part, “We’re on the ten yard line, and we need our Members of Congress and Senators to conference this bill and push it into the end zone before the clock runs out. The reauthorization of Amtrak funding will sustain more than just a rail system – it will protect and promote jobs and commerce.” Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant thanked the business and political officials in attendance for their support of Amtrak. Congress approved an emergency $8 billion infusion into the Highway Trust Fund this week after Transportation Secretary Mary Peters revealed on September 5 that gas tax receipts were significantly lower than expected and that U.S. DOT would be unable to make full expected payments to states for highway projects already underway. It appeared today that President Bush would sign the bill. This is a reversal of position for the Administration, which previously had threatened a veto. President Bush’s FY 2009 budget proposed transferring $3.2 billion out of the Transit Trust Fund to partially backfill the Highway shortfall, but the gap widened and most politicians found the threat of laying off highway construction workers to be unacceptable. ABC’s “Good Morning America” unveiled a special Amtrak train this week that will traverse seven states in the Northeast and Midwest next week (September 15-19), plus the District of Columbia. “GMA” hosts will seek citizens’ perspectives ahead of the upcoming election and broadcast live from the train. The train includes two Amtrak P42 locomotives, a converted non-powered F40 locomotive used as a “cabtenna” car, six Superliner cars (including a Sightseer Lounge converted to house ABC’s control room and other transmission equipment), and two Juniata Terminal private cars. For more information, see this article. To track the train’s progress, go to this web site. In anticipation of Hurricane Ike, Amtrak has suspended Sunset Limited service between El Paso and New Orleans, from Wednesday at least through today. Texas Eagle service is suspended between Fort Worth and San Antonio through September 14. The Longview-Houston-Galveston Thruway route is also suspended through September 14. The New Orleans flood gates were closed yesterday, forcing Amtrak to annul southbound City of New Orleans train 59 in McComb and southbound Crescent train 19 in Meridian. Trains will turn in those respective cities until the flood gates reopen, with no alternate service. Greyhound moved into the new Gateway Intermodal Station in St. Louis, MO on August 19. Amtrak is expected to move in sometime this month. Greyhound also moved into a redeveloped Pittsburgh station on September 9, across Liberty Avenue from the Amtrak station. Due to Union Pacific signal work, Amtrak’s Sunset Limited will bypass Ontario, CA in both directions on September 14. Passengers already ticketed to/from Ontario will be provided transportation to/from Pomona if necessary. Amtrak will adjust some Northeast Corridor schedules effective Monday, September 15. Northbound Acela Express train 2108 will be extended to Boston and renumbered as 2160. In turn, train 2162 will operate only to New York and be renumbered as 2110. Northeast Regional train 174 will depart New York at 1:30 PM, 30 minutes later than the published schedule, and operate about 30 minutes later to all stations northward to Boston. Amtrak northbound Lincoln Service train 304 derailed one set of wheels south of Joliet on September 8, during a low-speed back-up move. There were no injuries, and power remained on throughout the train. 112 passengers were carried by bus to their destinations. Passengers from trains 306 and 307 were also transferred to motorcoaches. Sep 19, 2008: Hotline #571Please urge your Senators and Representative:
There is still a push on Capitol Hill to get S. 294 passed before adjournment. If that fails, another push is possible if there is a lame-duck session after the November 4 general election. As for appropriations, it a continuing resolution seems likely which would—for the first part of the fiscal year that begins October 1—fund Amtrak at the current level. Metrolink Ventura County Line commuter train 111 collided head-on with a Union Pacific train in Chatsworth, CA on September 12 at 4:23 PM. 25 people perished, including the Metrolink engineer, and over 130 were injured, making it the deadliest passenger train accident in America since the 1993 Amtrak Sunset Limited Bayou Canot disaster in which 47 people died. Last week’s collision occurred at a net speed in excess of 80 mph, that is, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has reported that both trains were going over 40 mph. The Metrolink F59PH locomotive telescoped (was “pushed back”) into over 70% of the first coach of the three-car train. The NTSB has ruled out signal failure and is focusing on the circumstances surrounding the actions of Metrolink engineer Robert Sanchez, who apparently ran a red signal, split a switch going from a siding onto the main line, and failed to apply the brakes before the collision. The NTSB is investigating possible fatigue from Sanchez working a split shift, as well as reports that Sanchez exchanged text messages with train enthusiasts while on duty before the collision. Investigators have determined that, due to track curvature, the engineers would have seen each other’s trains only a few seconds before impact. NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker declared that the presence of collision-avoidance technology such as Positive Train Control (PTC) “would have prevented the accident.” PTC has been on the NTSB’s “most wanted” wish list of rail safety improvements since 2001. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) this week introduced S. 3943, the Rail Collision Prevention Act. The bill would require PTC on main line railroads by the end of 2014, though it does not provide funding. The Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007— H.R. 2095 – which the House passed last year, would require PTC by the end of 2018. The Association of American Railroads was quick to point out the challenges of deploying nationwide PTC. Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman said in a conference call to reporters on Monday, “We strongly support the PTC technology and are working to resolve remaining issues so it’s more affordable and more prevalent for the years to come.” The FRA has estimated the cost of nationwide PTC to be a little as $2.3 billion, although this estimate may be dated. The California Public Utilities Commission yesterday enacted a temporary statewide prohibition on personal cell phone use by train crews, filling what it characterizes as a void in other federal or state regulations. For a round-up of NARP’s statements in the media regarding rail safety in the wake of last week’s tragedy, see our blog post. Legal experts predicted that the incident may test the $200 million cap on liability damages passengers and their families may claim for any one train accident. The cap was instituted as part of the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997, and this was the deadliest train crash since then. Metrolink’s Board of Directors on Wednesday moved to allocate funds to assist the families of accident victims. In a press briefing on September 13, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) said, “I think it is very important for people to know that, even though we have had this tragedy, this way of traveling through the Metro or train, tram, all of those are the best and the safest way to travel. And if you compare this compared to the accidents that are out there on the road when you use your own car, there’s no comparison. So this is the safest way to travel but accidents do happen. And it’s a rarity and this definitely, as I have said, has been the biggest accident and the hugest one with the most loss of human lives in modern history.” The Rail Passenger Association of California (RailPAC) and the Train Riders Association of California (TRAC) issued the following joint statement: “TRAC and RailPAC members and all our associates in the rail advocacy community offer our condolences, prayers and best wishes to the injured survivors, their families and the families of the deceased. No words can describe your feelings, just know that we are thinking of you and are deeply sympathetic. TRAC and RailPAC members will continue to work for better and safer passenger rail options for California.” The collision shut down the railroad used by Metrolink and Amtrak’s Coast Starlight and Pacific Surfliners until Wednesday. Amtrak turned the Coast Starlight in Santa Barbara, providing bus service to points south, and cancelled Pacific Surfliner trains and buses north of Los Angeles, with no alternate transportation provided. Metrolink provided limited service on Monday and Tuesday, with bus service north of Chatsworth. Normal Amtrak and Metrolink service resumed on Wednesday. NARP sent letters to the presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) on September 12, urging both candidates to champion increased federal investment in passenger trains and requesting elaborations on how their passenger rail policies. See the text of the letter as well as our news release. New York Gov. David Paterson (D) has placed conditions upon the State of New York financing the stalled Moynihan-Penn Station project at the James A. Farley Post Office, across 8th Avenue from the current Penn Station. In an address to the New York Building Congress on September 12, Gov. Paterson called for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to take over the project, ensuring coordination with the Access to the Region’s Core (Trans-Hudson tunnel) project that PANYNJ is already undertaking with New Jersey Transit. He also seeks to ensure that Moynihan Station is developed in conjunction with new tracks and platforms to add capacity for all Penn Station operators, including Amtrak. The National Park Service may encourage Grand Canyon Railway service to expand in a bid to lower vehicle traffic around the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Two additional trips, including an evening departure from the South Rim for Williams, could be added. Public comments must be received by October 4; see the NPS web site for more info. ABC’s “Good Morning America” whistle-stop Amtrak train concluded its seven-state tour yesterday, arriving at Washington Union Station to the cheers of Amtrak employees. On Tuesday “GMA” featured 12 year-old train enthusiast and philanthropist Jon Thomas Robertson of Rome, NY. Robertson, who founded the Make a Difference Day Express to raise funds for needy children to experience train travel on the Arcade and Attica Railroad, eventually discovered that the trains were not accessible for all disabled persons, including many of the children he sought to help. “GMA” arranged for the cast of Robertson’s favorite show, “Extreme Makeover,” to surprise Robertson with the news that they would give Arcade and Attica railcars an “extreme makeover” to make them accessible for disabled passengers. Amtrak will debut expanded long-distance Dining car menus on October 1. The menus will include rotating specials for all three meal periods, route-specific dinner specials, and more variety in each item category. Effective today, Amtrak has replaced the Dining car on the Capitol Limited with the Cross-Country Café (Diner-Lounge) due to a shortage of traditional Superliner Diners. However, the Capitol will retain both the full Diner menu and a staffed Sightseer Lounge car. Amtrak has upgraded the original Cross-Country Café (Diner-Lounge) prototype car, Superliner 37000, to bring it up to standards of the rest of the fleet. It now also features additional storage, more advanced combination convection-microwave ovens, and other features designed to make employees’ jobs easier. Other Diner-Lounges will receive similar modifications in the future. Amtrak has installed recycling receptacles on one Acela Express trainset, the only Amtrak train outside of California corridors and the Downeasters that currently handles recycling. Amtrak may expand the program in the future. Amtrak will revamp the USA Rail Pass program effective September 28, two days before sales for the North American Rail Pass and Florida Rail Pass end (the California Rail Pass will continue). The new USA Rail Pass will have no geographic restrictions. Instead, passengers will be able to purchase one of three tiers allowing a certain number of segments over a certain number of days. Watch Amtrak’s USA Rail Pass page for more details. Additional service has been added on the Amtrak Thruway route between San Jose and Santa Cruz, CA, which is operated by the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District. There is an additional weekday northbound trip, two additional weekday southbound trips, and three additional weekend round-trips. However, weekend service to Scotts Valley has been reduced. For more information, see schedules on the SCMTD web site. The Amtrak Capitol Corridor Great America Shuttle will be discontinued effective September 29 due to low ridership. Passengers may still take similar shuttle service from the Santa Clara-Great America, CA station offered by Altamont Commuter Express. The Amtrak Thruway stop at San Francisco Moscone Center stop (SFM) is temporarily closed through September 27 due to a convention. Passengers are being directed to the San Francisco Shopping Center stop (SFS). Amtrak northbound Palmetto train 90 will detour between Dillon and Selma due to CSX trackwork, missing the stop in Fayetteville on the following dates: October 6-9, 13-16, 20-23, 27-30, and November 3-6. Passengers to/from Fayetteville will be carried by bus. Train 90 will incur some delay as a result of the detour. Points transfers between Amtrak Guest Rewards and Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles will be discontinued effective October 31. Midwest Miles members can still redeem their miles for Amtrak awards through that program. Hurricane Ike severely disrupted Amtrak service over the weekend after dropping substantial rainfall from Texas to the Midwest. The Capitol Limited, Lake Shore Limited, and Southwest Chief were all cancelled on September 14 in both directions. The Texas Eagle was cancelled on Monday and operated only Chicago-St. Louis on Tuesday. The City of New Orleans terminated in McComb instead of New Orleans through Tuesday. The Sunset Limited terminated in San Antonio instead of New Orleans through yesterday. Several Chicago hub corridor trains were cancelled on September 14 and 15. Hurricane Ike also devastated Galveston, TX, with numerous fatalities and catastrophic damage. Amtrak’s Thruway motorcoach to Galveston has not resumed service. A Los Angeles Metro Rail Blue Line light-rail train collided with a Metro bus in Downtown LA this morning. The train derailed but remained upright. 13 people received minor injuries. The bus was out of service at the time. Blue Line service was disrupted today. MBTA train 614 from Needham derailed two of its six cars outside of Boston South Station yesterday afternoon. There were no injuries. Six tracks were initially fouled, and three evening MBTA trains were cancelled. Alaska Airlines will join the fray of domestic airline contraction, announcing on September 12 that it will slash 850-1,000 jobs, or 9-10 percent of its workforce, this fall. It will also reduce capacity by 8 percent and total departures by 15 percent. United Airlines also doubled its fee for most domestic economy passengers checking a second bag to $50. Sep 26, 2008: Hotline #572On Wednesday, the House passed by voice vote H.R. 2095 (technically passed as House Resolution 1492), the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 which includes (as “Division B”) the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008. It incorporates both House and Senate provisions from S. 294. Yesterday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) placed a hold on the bill, preventing an up-or-down vote in the Senate without cloture. Convinced that the bill has more than the needed 60 votes to override Coburn, senators are trying to persuade Coburn to drop his hold to spare everyone the extra time it would take to go through the cloture process. Please urge your senators (particularly Republicans) to talk to Coburn about this. Cloture can only be filed for two bills at a time, and two such motions are pending. After one of them is dealt with, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may file a motion for cloture if Coburn has not released his hold. It appears likely that the Senate will reconvene on Wednesday after Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) so there may still be time to jump through the cloture hoop. It is believed now that President Bush will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Coburn, incidentally, was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article posted yesterday afternoon saying “Amtrak loses $2 billion a year subsidizing food.” That is a wild overstatement. Amtrak’s total federal operating grant is only $475 million this year, down from $490 million in FY 06 and 07. (See today’s blog entry.) H.R. 2095 requires installation of Positive Train Control by December 31, 2015, by all Class I railroads and intercity passenger and commuter railroads on all main-line track where passenger trains operate and where toxic-by-inhalation hazardous materials are transported. The bill authorizes $250 million to assist with the process. It directs the National Transportation Safety Board to create a Rail Passenger Disaster Family Assistance program modeled after a similar aviation disaster program. NARP on Tuesday issued a news release that “called upon Congress and the Bush Administration, regulators, and the railroad industry to move ahead as quickly as possible with implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC).” Other safety provisions in the bill relate to Hours of Service reform, locomotive cab safety, minimum standards for training railroad workers, certification of conductors and study of certification for certain other crafts, and various provisions relating to track, grade crossing and bridge safety. It authorizes $13.06 billion over five years for Amtrak and passenger rail programs, includes the State Capital Grant program, and expands the provision for private bidding to build high-speed rail to potentially apply to any corridor in the country. It preserves route study provisions from both the House (requiring Amtrak within nine months to submit a plan for restoring service between New Orleans and Florida) and the Senate (compelling Amtrak to study the feasibility of reinstating the North Coast Hiawatha and Pioneer routes). Amtrak would also have to study increasing frequencies between Princeton Junction, NJ and Philadelphia, and between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, as well as increasing service and/or reducing commuter ticket prices at Cornwells Heights, PA, and reinstating the Capitol Limited stop at Rockwood, PA. Finally, H.R. 2095 authorizes $1.5 billion for ten years of capital funds for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. For more information, see the House T&I news release, a bill summary (.pdf), and the full bill text (.pdf). The Senate, and possibly the House, will be in session this weekend and potentially next week to work on a continuing resolution to fund the government past the end of Fiscal 2008 (which ends September 30) with a continuing resolution, potentially pass a bill dealing with ailing financial markets, and pass other pending bills such as H.R. 2095. A second economic stimulus package failed in the Senate this morning by falling short of the 60 votes needed for cloture. Had it passed, Amtrak would have received $350 million for capital projects and a slice of $10.8 billion for general infrastructure. Transit, which also would have qualified for infrastructure funds, would have received $2 billion in addition. The House is still expected to take up its own stimulus bill this week. It would include $500 million in capital for Amtrak and $3.6 billion for transit. Please urge your Senators and Representative:
Go to our Action Alert center for full details. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) held a special “briefing” of the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday to probe issues related to the September 12 Metrolink-Union Pacific collision in Chatsworth, CA. Witnesses included Kitty Higgins, Board Member, National Transportation Safety Board; Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman (see his oral statement and written statement, both .pdf); Ron Roberts, Chairman of the Board of Metrolink (oral statement); and Dennis Duffy, Executive VP of Operations, Union Pacific (oral statement, .pdf). Boardman acknowledged, “Positive train control would have prevented this collision.” Roberts disclosed that Metrolink may add a second engineer to its locomotive cabs. Sen. Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) chided the rail industry for not moving fast enough on PTC. Higgins noted, “[T]he technology exists. Where there’s a will there’s a way.” U.S. DOT’s Office of the Inspector General released a report on the “Root Causes of Amtrak Train Delays.” According to the audit summary, the report found four top root causes: “(1) host railroad dispatching practices, some of which result in preference violations; (2) track maintenance practices and the resulting speed restrictions; (3) insufficient track capacity; and (4) external factors beyond the host railroads’ control. We also identified host railroad dispatching practices that violate Amtrak’s preference rights. However, disagreements between Amtrak and the host railroads, both on how to measure delays and how to define Amtrak’s right to preference in the use of rail infrastructure, make measuring violations of preference and allocating the exact causes of delay difficult.” The report recommended to the FRA: “(1) legislative changes to clarify Amtrak’s preference rights and enhanced enforcement of those rights; (2) increased involvement and oversight by the FRA to facilitate cooperative planning between Amtrak and the host railroads to reduce delays and improve Amtrak’s OTP; (3) expanded funding for rail capacity projects.” Amtrak seized on this report in a news release to highlight the role of freight railroads in Amtrak’s on-time performance. The release also cited the letter from Illinois Congressional members (see next item). 20 of the 21 members of Illinois’ Congressional delegation signed a letter to the CEOs of BNSF, Canadian National, and Union Pacific requesting their assistance in improving the on-time performance of Amtrak trains in the state. The letter cited the need for ensuring expeditious dispatching of Amtrak and increased capital investments, and requested a plan to increase the OTP of all Illinois Amtrak services to at least 85 percent. Union Pacific recently rejected a $43 million grant from California to improve its Sacramento-Reno line over Donner Pass, currently used by Amtrak’s California Zehpyr. UP objected to state requirements that its contribution to half the project cost be tied to access for additional passenger trains. The City of Seattle began restoration of King Street Station this week. The city purchased the station for $10 from BNSF earlier this year, which allowed construction to finally proceed. Roof replacement currently underway will conclude by March 2009. Amtrak travelers and commuters in the Northeast were greeted by increased security presence in a joint law enforcement exercise at stations on Tuesday morning. Amtrak Office of Security Strategy and Special Operations, Amtrak Police, the Transportation Security Administration, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the drill, which was unprecedented in scope and spanned 150 stations across 13 states and DC. Amtrak will once again operated its last remaining dome car (10031) on the Adirondack route between New York and Montreal this fall. The former Great Northern car will run from October 2 to November 11. Because there is only one dome car and the Adirondack requires two trainsets, it will run every other day in each direction. Amtrak Thruway and other intercity bus service in Medford, OR will be consolidated at the refurbished Rogue Valley Transit Center (Amtrak station code MFR), effective October 1. Greyhound is closing its station (Amtrak station code MFG, to be discontinued) to move to the Center. Amtrak crews discovered a deceased passenger on southbound Coast Starlight train 11 in Oakland on Wednesday. The man, who was identified as an Oregon resident in his 60s, apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his sleeping compartment. The train was delayed about 3 1/2 hours. |
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