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The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act died on the Senate floor today. Trouble started on Wednesday after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) forced the Senate Clerk to read the 500-page bill aloud, which took about eight hours, as retaliation for Democratic inaction on judicial nominees. A Democratic motion for cloture failed today, 48-36, twelve votes short of the 60 necessary to end Republican filibuster. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) was apparently prepared to offer an Amtrak amendment to the bill.
H.R. 6003, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, is expected on the House floor next week. This must be approved by the House Rules Committee.
Currently, there are 41 cosponsors on the bill. Ideally, the bill needs 218 or more co-sponsors (more than half of the chamber). Contact your House of Representatives member and ask him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 6003! For more information, see our Action Alert center.
North Carolina DOT will start a third Amtrak frequency between Raleigh and Charlotte, Gov. Mike Easley (D) announced on Wednesday. The new midday round-trip will supplement the state-supported Carolinian and Piedmont, and is funded for three years through a $3 million annual federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant. Service will begin in six to twelve months, pending refurbishment of equipment. “Ridership is increasing significantly along this route and adding a midday train run will meet the growing demand and provide needed services to North Carolina travelers who are looking for economical alternatives to driving,” Easley said. “As fuel prices continue to climb, more and more people are turning to rail as their choice for transportation.” Ridership on NC-supported trains has increased by over 22 percent during October 2007 to April 2008 versus the same period in the previous year.
Amtrak informed the Missouri DOT this week that it will cost $400,000 above the recently approved $8 million state operating subsidy for Amtrak to operated state-supported services for the next year. Last year’s support level was $7.4 million; the jump has been attributed to rising fuel and labor costs. A blog post on the Kansas City Star web site had this to say: “Brian Weiler, who oversees Amtrak service at MoDOT, said theoretically Amtrak would have enough money to get through next June 15, two weeks before the fiscal year ends. He said some service could be curtailed, but added “we don’t envision having to do that at this time.” Amtrak officials, meanwhile, are hopeful that a supplemental appropriation from the legislature combined with increased ridership (that should be easy given that the route is about to set a seven-year low and a possible fare increase might make up the shortfall. Keep in mind Amtrak has been patient with the service. Last year, the railroad ate a $200,000 revenue shortfall even as its top officials were complaining that it was hard to sustain such an unreliable service. Through April, only 67 percent of Amtrak trains were running on time.”
Amtrak this week unveiled the upgraded amenities on the relaunched Coast Starlight route between Los Angeles and Seattle. According to a news release, “The new features and amenities include at seat meal options for Coach passengers and new arcade rooms equipped with arcade-style video games and board games. Sleeping Car passengers will experience a refurbished Parlour Car with enhanced services such as alternative dining, daily wine tasting with regional wines, a specialty coffee bar and a newly redesigned theater with 50-inch plasma HD monitors. The redesigned theater features family and classic movies three times a day. Parlour Car menu items include regional cuisine such as Pacific Bay scallops and Santa Maria beef short-ribs. Complimentary library and board games are also available in the Car.” According to an Amtrak brochure, sleeper passengers will “also receive a Welcome Gift of sparkling wine or cider and fresh fruit, and a Personal Amenities Kit that includes shampoo, soaps and lotions.” Additionally, Amtrak is collaborating with TRAXX Restaurant at Los Angeles Union Station to test a pilot program that provides a departure lounge for sleeper passengers on northbound train 14. The relaunched service officially starts Tuesday, June 10, when Amtrak will host a send-off party with refreshments for passengers departing Seattle on train 11.
Amtrak plans to detour the Coast Starlight on Sunday, June 22 in both directions between Los Angeles and Sacramento via Tehachapi Pass and the San Joaquin route (with no intermediate station stops) due to the need for Union Pacific to repair a bridge near Santa Barbara. Train 14 is expected to arrive Sacramento at 9 PM and hold for its normal departure, while train 11 should arrive Los Angeles early as well. Passengers to or from Van Nuys, Simi Valley, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Salinas, San Jose, Oakland, Emeryville, Martinez, and Davis may avail themselves of the various state corridor trains and buses. The last Amtrak train to traverse Tehachapi Pass was when the southbound Coast Starlight detoured on October 23, 2005; before that, 1974.
Due to the same bridge work, most Pacific Surfliner service will not operate north of Santa Barbara on June 22. Connecting motorcoaches will serve stops between Goleta and San Luis Obispo, except Lompoc-Surf and Guadalupe (an additional stop will be added at Santa Maria).
California’s Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Metrolink on Tuesday regarding push-pull passenger train operations and the notion that FRA regulations preempt local rulemaking on safety issues. The topic arose from litigation following the January 26, 2005 derailments in Glendale in which 11 people were killed and 180 injured after Juan Manuel Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks. Alvarez is currently on trial for 11 counts of murder. Litigation against Metrolink will continue due to the fact that plaintiffs allege negligence by Metrolink.
Citing the above tragedy, Union Pacific sent a letter to the California High-Speed Rail Authority last month declining to sell parts of its rights-of-way to CAHSRA for high-speed trains to operate alongside UP trains. CAHSRA Executive Director Mehdi Morshed called the letter a non-issue and said, “We have known all along that the railroads are not very likely to want to share their rights of way with people.” Notably, the 2005 incident was due to an external factor that would not exist with the full grade separation that a high-speed rail system would have.
A new station in Leavenworth, WA for Amtrak’s Empire Builder has been pushed back until next year, according to the Wenatchee World, with an estimated opening of September, 2009. The new timeline is attributed to design changes, coupled with increased train traffic through the area due to detours onto the BNSF line after the January landslide in Frazier, OR on the UP.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has vowed Congressional hearings on the rights of photographers in Washington Union Station. Following a string of reported incidents in which private security guards under contract to Jones Lang LaSalle (which manages the historic and mall portions of the station) supposedly threatened photographers who were not using tripods or any hazardous equipment, local news outlet FOX 5 investigated. Their report includes an incident in which, while Cliff Black, Amtrak’s Chief of Corporate Communications, tells the reporter that photography is absolutely allowed in the Amtrak portion of the station, a LaSalle-contracted security guard tells the news crew to stop filming. In a subsequent interview with FOX 5, Holmes Norton said, “I’m astounded that Union Station would be declared private property, when we [Congress] issued the lease… The Supreme Court precedents are as clear as water on this. The fact that we lease it – and we’re pleased that it’s useable now – does not mean that the United States has given up its rights to this public space, nor does it mean that the citizens of the United States or the media… can be, in any way, kept from photographing the beautiful, historic renovation of Union Station.” Union Station is the most visited destination in Washington, DC. While LaSalle manages a portion of the property, it is owned by U.S. DOT and was renovated at taxpayer expense.
Southbound Texas Eagle train 21 terminated in Fort Worth on Monday following a UP freight derailment north of San Antonio, and turned as northbound train 22 that day. Passengers were bussed between the two cities and stations along the route.
Chicago Transit Authority suffered another derailment this week, this time on the Red Line. On Tuesday around 2 AM, a four-car train with 14 passengers derailed just short of the 95th Street terminus. One passenger sustained minor injuries.
Announcements of major cutbacks in the airline industry continued this week. United Airlines will ground 100 of its planes (including all 94 of its Boeing 737s and 6 of its 747s – a fifth of its fleet), slash up to 1,100 jobs, cut up to 18 percent of domestic capacity by 2009, and eliminate its all-coach “Ted” sub-brand.
The 56 Airbus 320s that were dedicated to Ted service will be converted to a traditional two-class configuration and re-deployed to give United greater operational flexibility. This brings to an end experiments by traditional hub-and-spoke carriers to operate leisure service mimicking that of low-cost carriers. Other forays included Continental’s Continental Lite (1993-1995), US Airways’ MetroJet (1998-2001), Air Canada’s Tango and Zip (2001-2004), and Delta’s Delta Express (1996-2003) and Song (2003-2006). United itself had operated Shuttle by United from 1994 to 2001 to compete with Southwest Airlines along the West Coast. In all of the above cases, carriers were not able to duplicate the lower cost structures of their competitors.
Continental Airlines also announced this week that it will eliminate 3,000 jobs, reduce capacity in the fourth quarter by 11 percent, and ground 67 aircraft by 2009. Continental Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said that “the airline industry is in a crisis. Its business model doesn’t work with the current price of fuel and the existing level of capacity in the marketplace.” Kellner and President Jeffery Smisek will forgo salary and bonuses for the rest of the year.
UK-based all-Business Class airline Silverjet abruptly ended operations and effectively went out of business last Friday, affecting about 10,000 passengers. France-based L’Avion is the last remaining airline with all premium class seats. Similar startup airlines Maxjet and Eos folded in recent months.
American Trucking Associations President Mike Card, in May 6 testimony before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, supported 12 actions aimed at lowering fuel prices, including “set a national maximum speed limit of 65 mph” and “require speed limiters set for 68 mph or lower on all new trucks.”
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