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The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $1.45 billion for Amtrak fiscal year 2006 funding yesterday. The subcommittee on transportation had approved $1.40 billion on July 19. Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Bond (R-MO) said he had just received a phone call from Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta “who was pleased to inform me that without a major reform package, the president’s advisers would recommend a veto ... with funding at” this level. Bond noted this again yesterday.
In a news release, NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon said, “We appreciate the supportive and bipartisan work of the committee, particularly the full committee and subcommittee chairmen and ranking members—Thad Cochran (R-MS), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Christopher Bond (R-MO) and Patty Murray (D-WA).”
However, the appropriation contains language prohibiting Amtrak from using federal monies to cover losses on food service or sleeping car operations. This appears to be a back-door effort to kill Amtrak’s national network and thus Amtrak as a whole.
The appropriation also refers to an experimental ticket surcharge of 5% on the Northeast Corridor (Boston-Washington), and 2% on the rest of the system, to cover capital investments. However, the bill also says that Amtrak “shall not impose said surcharge if it finds that such a surcharge shall have a deleterious impact on ridership and revenues.” Since Amtrak’s goal already is to set fares to maximize revenues, it seems likely that Amtrak would make such a finding.
Finally, the appropriation directs Amtrak to use train miles operated to determine the annual Northeast Corridor maintenance costs directly attributable to commuter rail agencies, and grants authority to the Secretary of Transportation to levy fees against such agencies (minus their current contributions) to cover those costs. Also, $5 million of the appropriation would be set aside to implement a “managerial cost accounting system.”
Congress adjourns for its August recess on July 29, and the full Senate is not expected to take up Amtrak funding until after it returns on September 6. At yesterday’s markup, Sen. Byrd urged the leadership to bring the remaining appropriations bills (including this one) to the floor during the first two weeks of September, and expressed concern that failure to do that might result in having them rolled into a large omnibus package.
In the meantime, NARP urges its members to contact their respective Senators and continue to urge them to support the Senate Appropriations funding level and not a penny less, reminding them that the Amtrak Board of Directors, which consists entirely of Bush Administration appointees, had requested $1.82 billion. .Many Senators will be holding town hall meetings in their states, which can be effective venues to get the message out! Go to our Action Alert for more information.
The Oregon House of Representatives recently stripped $3 million from ODOT’s $8.6 million budget to subsidize Amtrak Cascades service between Portland and Eugene. One of two round-trips would have to be eliminated if the money isn’t restored before the 2005-2007 budget is enacted. Strong federal leadership on passenger rail could avert such precarious funding situations in cash-strapped states.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) directed WisDOT to continue funding current service levels of Amtrak’s Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha today. An additional $1.5 million was required after Illinois reduced its subsidy and the Wisconsin Legislature refused to pass it as outlined in the Gov. Doyle’s proposed budget. His action today is tantamount to a veto of the Legislature’s revised budget.
Amtrak continues to return Acela Express trainsets to service. The first northbound Acela Express to Boston will run on July 23, the first southbound on July 24. More New York-Washington frequencies will be added on July 25. For more information, see Amtrak’s web site.
Notwithstanding the July 7 attacks in London, the Senate last week rejected amendments to the FY 2006 Homeland Security appropriations bill that would have increased federal funding for transit security. The bill includes $100 million, which is $50 million less than was appropriated for FY 2005. An amendment by Richard Shelby (R-AL), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and Jack Reed (D-RI) to increase security funds for passenger and freight rail and transit security to $1.16 billion won a 53-45 majority but 60 votes were needed to overcome a budgetary point of order. The Senate also rejected a Byrd amendment to provide a total of $1.66 billion for transit security and $265 million for railroad passenger and freight security, and a Judd Gregg (R-NH) to increase security funding by a modest $100 million.
New York Police stepped up their transit security program this week. On July 18, NYPD officers began patrolling Penn Station and riding Amtrak trains in and out of the city. (Amtrak Police officers have already been patrolling Northeast Corridor trains on a random basis since September 11, 2001.) Officers also began educating subway and other transit patrons how to spot a potential terrorist threat. The most significant security increase came after yesterday’s attacks in London. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg quickly announced that NYPD officers would begin random searches of subway passengers’ belongings before going through station turnstiles, effective immediately. Passengers refusing to be searched would be given the option of not entering the system. Civil liberties activists decried the procedure as overly intrusive, potentially abusive, and ineffective. Three groups sued the Boston MBTA last year after instituting its own random search policy. The plaintiffs claim that the policy does not pass muster with the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
President Bush spoke at the Port of Baltimore to address transportation security and other issues on July 20. He said, “My budget for the next year proposes a 64-percent increase in infrastructure protection grants—in other words, grants that will go specifically for infrastructure, to safeguard subway, light rail, city buses, and other critical systems. And we’re going to continue to work closely with state and local leaders to make other vital improvements in mass transit security.” These remarks were seen as an attempt to downplay comments made by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to the Associated Press last week, in which he said that transit security should be primarily financed and dealt with by local agencies. Chertoff explained, “The truth of the matter is a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people. A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people.” He added, “When you start to think about your priorities, you’re going to think about making sure you don’t have a catastrophic thing first.” These words drew widespread anger from across the political spectrum. The American Public Transportation Association pointed out that Americans ride public transportation thirty-two million times each day, sixteen times more than daily domestic airline ridership. Yet, from September 11, 2001 through May 31, 2005, aviation has received $18.1 billion for security from the federal government while public transportation has been given just $250 million.
The National Transportation Safety Board will announce its findings next week from the April 6, 2004 derailment of Amtrak’s northbound City of New Orleans in Bentonia, MS, which killed one passenger. The announcement will be made at a public Board meeting on July 26.
Amtrak will be adjusting its Silver Service schedules effective August 1. Train 91, the southbound Silver Star departs New York at 11:01 am, 1 hour later and Washington, DC at 3:05 pm, also an hour later. This restores the connection from Capitol Limited train 30 from Chicago. Train 91 arrives Miami at 5:59 pm, 1 hour 29 minutes later. Train 92, the northbound Silver Star, departs Miami at 8:50 AM, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier, and arrives Washington at 11:48 AM, 2 hours 57 minutes earlier. This restores the connection to Capitol Limited train 29 to Chicago. Train 92 arrives New York at 3:40 pm, 3 hours 22 minutes earlier. Train 97, the southbound Silver Meteor, maintains its 3:15 pm New York departure, departs Washington 5 minutes later at 7:30 pm, and arrives Miami at 6:55 pm, 40 minutes later. Train 98, the northbound Silver Meteor, departs Miami at 6:50 am, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier. It arrives Washington at 6:07 am, 3 hours 8 minutes earlier, and arrives New York at 10:20 am, 2 hours 58 minutes earlier. This restores the connection to Lake Shore Limited train 49 to Chicago. Finally, Sanford, FL (SFD), which is also served by the Sunset Limited, will be eliminated on August 1, leaving only the Auto Train station (SFA) in that community. The building was heavily damaged in last year’s hurricanes and both the City of Sanford and CSX Transportation have rebuffed Amtrak efforts to improve the station situation.
NARP’s all-new, redesigned website went live this week! It features a new look, improved navigation, an upgraded event calendar feature, and a NARP members-only section.
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