Feb 12, 2010: Hotline #641

Hotline #641
February 12, 2010

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is attempting to secure approval of a job-creation bill this week, slowed by a massive snowstorm and bipartisan uncertainty over the details of the $80 billion bill.

“We have to let the American people know we’re really trying hard to get something done that will create jobs immediately,” said Mr. Reid (NV) during a February 10 address on the Senate floor, citing “some good” bipartisan support of the proposal.

While the Senate proposal currently circulating contains some elements of infrastructure spending—the bill would transfer $14.7 billion in general funds to the Highway Trust Fund for roads plus $4.8 billion for transit—it falls fall short of the bill already passed by the House.

The bill instead emphasizes tax-breaks for businesses, including a payroll-tax holiday for companies that hire unemployed workers and investment tax credits for small businesses, leading some Republicans to criticize the way Democratic leaders are advertising the bill—Senator Jon Kyle (R-AZ) argued the legislation shouldn’t be labeled a jobs bill because it’s just “extending a bunch of tax policy and related items that we need to do.”

This stands in opposition to the House-passed version, a more traditional jobs bill with good measures for public transportation—including $8.4 billion for transit, $800 million for Amtrak “fleet modernization, including rehabilitation of existing and acquisition of new passenger equipment, including fuel efficient locomotives,” and—taking a page out of last year’s Recovery Act—$27.5 billion in “Highway Infrastructure Investment” funds with flexibility that lets states use the funds for railroad projects.

Reid expressed a desire to pass the bill by this week, but received push-back—even from members of his own party—who wanted to establish a broader coalition before moving forward.

“There’s no agreement on what it all is yet,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) told Politico.  “We’re working as well as we can but again a lot of senators are gone and they’re just not going to make it this week.”  One of the controversies involves how to pay for the spending portion: Democrats want to use TARP funds but Republicans oppose that.

Even President Obama, who has been pushing hard for the passage of a jobs bill since before the New Year, seemed to accept that it would take more time to work out differences.

“My hope is that both in the House and the Senate we’ll see some packages moving over the next several weeks that can provide a jump-start to hiring and start lowering the unemployment rate,” said President Obama during a February 10 press conference.

This means there’s still time for passenger train and transit advocates to take action, by contacting their Senators and demand that a job creation bill include support for transportation options.


U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) released a report this week calling for a massive increase in government investment in passenger trains, and quantified the economic benefits of high speed rail.  The report—entitled The Right Track: Building a 21st Century High-Speed Rail System for America—was announced February 9 (PDF).

While the U.S. PIRG document is complementary of President Barack Obama’s unprecedented push for high speed trains in America, they note that the $8 billion provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is just a down payment on a truly national, modern train system.

“Many of [the state’s stimulus grant] proposals have been geared not toward building the truly ‘high-speed’ passenger rail systems in the decades to come, but simply toward restoring passenger rail service to a basic level of adequacy,” states the report. 

The Right Track sets 11 recommendations for future investment in high speed trains, including: supporting private investment with strong public protections; facilitating smart growth on real-estate surrounding stations; assuring transparency; promoting domestic manufacturing; and the federal encouragement of cooperation among states.

U.S. PIRG proposes several funding mechanisms, which include the establishment of a national infrastructure bank, revenue from “cap-and-trade” CO2 reduction bill, airport fees, and the highway gas tax.


A record breaking pair of blizzards brought much of the Mid-Atlantic’s transportation network to a grinding halt this week, with some areas seeing as much as 52 inches of snow.  Amtrak, airports, and transit agencies are just now beginning to dig themselves out, while many roads remain impassible.

Air and highway traffic came to a stop as early as Friday night for much of the Mid-Atlantic, with snowfall continuing well into Saturday evening.  Amtrak canceled (and continues to cancel) many trains on and off the Northeast Corridor.  Amtrak kept a skeletal service running on the Corridor.  Also, one NARP member praised Amtrak for continuing to run Silver Star Raleigh-south and Silver Meteor Savannah-south, saying that in the past Amtrak would have just canceled the entire routes.  The Cardinal has made several trips running only between Chicago and Huntington, WV.  The Washington-Richmond segment was hard hit.  On Monday morning, two days after the first blizzard ended, the line was plagued by frozen switches, only one track open, and an 8,000-foot freight train that went into emergency at Fredericksburg with the crew walking the train in two feet of snow to look for the defect. 

On the Feb. 6 Capitol Limited heading west to Chicago, an employee disembarked to procure groceries for breakfast, and later ordered meals for all 115 passengers from a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken, but many people were still frustrated.  “Nobody can do anything about the weather, but be truthful, keep us informed.” Sheribel Rothenberg told the New York Times.  “Here we are on a train full of people, trying to get to funerals, weddings, or whatever, and they can’t get there.”

Conditions only got worse when a second storm front hit on Tuesday, dumping almost 20” of snow in some areas.  On most of its routes, of course, Amtrak depends on private railroads’ ability to keep their lines open and free of dangerous debris.  “As they clear them, more trees come down,” Robert Sullivan, a spokesman for CSX, told one reporter.  “So it’s a constant project.” 

Amtrak reported stoppages and reduced service on a number of services, including the Capitol Limited, Northeast Regional, Acela Express, Auto Train, Cardinal, Silver Star, Carolinian, Palmetto, Empire, and Keystone.  According to a release by the passenger train carrier, some services were scheduled to begin full service by today, with all services affected by the weather back in full operation by Saturday.

Local transit agencies were also hit hard by the storm, with bus and commuter train cancellations shutting down the federal government and businesses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.  The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was only able to maintain service on the underground portion of the rail network.  Even with reduced service to stations, passengers reported seeing Metro trains stalled on the tracks as late as Thursday, and Metro had a minor derailment at Farragut North this morning (three people reported minor injuries, though only one accepted medical treatment).

While Amtrak and transit service is expected to look something close to normal by Saturday, forecasters are predicting another 1” (70% chance) to 6” (15%) of snow on Monday, for Washington DC.


Amtrak, in partnership with the non-profit rail safety group Operation Lifesaver, announced today that it is launching a public awareness campaign to reduce the number of car and pedestrian fatalities at rail crossings.

“More than 880 Americans died or were injured in railroad trespassing related incidents in 2008; the number over the past decade has topped 9,000,” Operation Lifesaver spokesperson Pete Odland said.

The campaign—which will go by the name “Common Sense”—urges people to maintain their alertness and use good judgment around railroad tracks.  Amtrak and Operation Lifesaver have launched a campaign website, which includes games, interactive puzzles, and videos.

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