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The 110th Congress will convene for its second session the week after next; the House convenes on January 15, while the Senate returns January 22. S. 294, the bipartisan Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which passed the Senate by a wide margin in October, has been sent to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. S. 294 reauthorizes Amtrak for six years and creates new passenger rail matching grants for states. Please urge your Representative to push for the swift introduction of a House version of S. 294. Go to our Action Alert Center for full details.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) appointed Rep. Roger Wicker (R) to replace Trent Lott as U.S. Senator effective January 1. Lott announced his resignation earlier in 2007; Lott was instrumental in the creation and Senate passage of S. 294, and rallying Republican support for passenger trains. During 2007, Rep. Wicker voted “pro-rail” on seven out of eight votes in the House.
One small purchase of oil at the record price $100 a barrel took occurred on Wednesday, January 2, for the first time, prompting a front-page article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal which said “steep gasoline prices also threaten America’s long love affair with the automobile, while putting strains on many lower-income people outside big cities, who must spend an increasing share of their budgets just on fuel to get to work.” Of course, what some call a “love affair” is a forced marriage in which public officials and developers create auto-dependent environments where providing the transit choice is impossible or nearly so.
Jackson, MI’s historic 1873 train station will be restored thanks to a $300,000 state grant the Michigan DOT awarded Amtrak yesterday. Amtrak will begin preliminary engineering work; up to $12 million will ultimately be needed to fully transform the station into an intermodal terminal for both Amtrak and the Jackson Transportation Authority.
South Florida’s Tri-Rail Commuter Rail reached record ridership in 2007, carrying 3.5 million passengers. This marked a 10.2 percent increase over 2006, which was the first year Tri-Rail ridership topped 3 million. Ridership has increased 31 percent since Tri-Rail completed its second mainline track project in March, 2006.
A massive Arctic storm bore down on California today, causing the cancellation of Amtrak Thruway buses east and north of Sacramento. There is also the possibility that California Zephyr trains will be unable to conquer Donner Pass this weekend due to blizzard conditions, though Union Pacific vowed to use its resources to keep the line clear as best as possible. Torrential rains and heavy winds may affect passenger and freight trains on other lines.
Tens of thousands of Amtrak and New Jersey Transit passengers were delayed yesterday morning after Northeast Corridor catenary wire fell outside Newark, fouling two out of four tracks. 16 NJT trains alone were cancelled and 43 were delayed. Woes for area commuters were compounded when PATH dealt with two third-rail electrical system fires near Hoboken later in the morning, as well as an intoxicated passenger falling onto the tracks. Extreme cold in the region has led to other sporadic delays on area commuter rail systems that rely on overheard catenary power.
A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in Bolivar, PA, hitting a train on an adjacent track. Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian train 43 was affected; it is not known if passengers were bussed.
The Clark County Historical Association of Arkadelphia, AR is establishing a museum in the town’s train station that is served by the Texas Eagle. The group has agreed to have the City of Arkadelphia open and operate a passenger waiting room in. Currently, Arkadelphia passengers do not have a secure, indoor place to wait for the train.
Washington Union Station was briefly evacuated on New Year’s Day after a grease fire erupted at a fast food stand in the basement food court, sending thick smoke into the air. Three Amtrak trains were delayed as a result of the incident; damage was minimal.
Ric Williamson, chair of the Texas Transportation Commission, passed away on Sunday of an apparent heart attack; he was 55. Williamson was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry (R) to the TTC in 2000 and was named chair in 2004, working to push Gov. Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor plan.
Presidential Emergency Board 242 sent its recommendations on the Amtrak labor disputes to the White House on December 30. As of this writing, the report (including executive summary) apparently is available only at this site, hosted by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes. Presumably, it will soon be added at the National Mediation Board web site, where there is a complete list of previous PEBs and links to PEBs 236-241 (involving United Air Lines, SEPTA, and Metro-North Commuter Railroad).
PEB 242 rejected Amtrak’s claim that it could not afford retroactive pay, and ordered back pay of $12,848 per employee, defining as eligible those employees who were on the payroll as of December 1, 2007, to be paid 40% this year and 60% in Fiscal 2009. This implies a relatively small cost increase for Fiscal 2007 compared with Amtrak’s proposed $4,500 signing bonus, but a steep $7,700 per employee in Fiscal 2009, which Amtrak had not planned.
For wages other than retroactive pay, the PEB adopted the union recommendation, but without honoring the union request to reinstate the “’Harris COLA,’ which provides for a small annual wage adjustment after the amendable date of the contract until a deal is reached.” As for the date when the new contracts become amendable, the PEB agreed with the unions’ recommendation of December 31, 2009, “in keeping with the Freight pattern.” (Amtrak had proposed September 30, 2010, to coincide with its and the federal government’s fiscal year.)
The PEB recommended no changes in work rules, noting that none of the changes Amtrak sought “were made in the Freight agreements.”
On Health and Welfare, the PEB recommended benefit changes parallel to what was incorporated in the freight railroad agreements in 2000, except that the PEB included “minor modifications, proposed by Amtrak.”
The PEB recommendations contrast with the negotiating principles outlined by former Amtrak CEO David Gunn in 2003 and subequently embraced by present CEO Alex Kummant (as in his June 12, 2007, House Railroads Subcommittee testimony): match freight railroad deals on pay; no back pay; health insurance cost containment; workplace flexibility (that is, work rule changes) that do not cause lay-offs.
PEB 242’s executive summary stated, in part, “The Board finds that Congress should be informed of the ‘true cost’ of Amtrak service; and leave it to Congress to determine whether to provide the necessary funding.”
Amtrak gave this statement to reporters who inquired: “Amtrak is carefully reviewing the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) regarding the issues brought before the PEB by Amtrak and nine unions representing a portion of Amtrak’s employees. Amtrak’s concern has always been the railroad’s ability to make pay increases retroactive and to achieve efficiencies through work rule reform, and we’ll be looking closely at the recommendations particularly as they relate to these issues. Amtrak will have further comment on the PEB recommendations later.”
A White House statement said, in part, “On December 30, 2007, the President received the report and recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board… The President appreciates the Board’s diligent work in this matter. The President urges the parties to continue to work in good faith to resolve their dispute, taking into account the Emergency Board’s recommendations.”
It is not clear at this point what will happen next. The parties are free to exercise “self-help” (strike) on January 30, but before then either the parties can come to voluntary agreement or Congress can legislate a settlement.
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