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National Association of Railroad Passengers: www.narprail.org
Hotline #436A Harris poll released February 8 found that, “as personal travel and freight transportation grows in the future, the American public would like to see an increasing proportion of that traffic going by rail…The modes of transportation which the largest number of adults would like to see ‘have an increasing share of passenger transportation’ are: commuter trains (44%), long-distance trains (35%), local bus service (23%), and airlines (23%).” The comparable percentage for “long-distance travel by car” was just 10%, long-distance bus service 6%. Freight rail received strong support in the survey: “Freight railroads (63%) come far ahead of all other modes that adults would like to see have an increasing share of freight transportation. They are followed by: Air freight (35%), and Trucks (24%).” 47% of respondents were primarily concerted about safety, while 44% were concerned about energy efficiency and 29% by cost. Survey participants also want to see federal government involvement to continue, “When it comes to the transportation system ‘in the nation as a whole,’ two-thirds (68%) of adults believe this should be a responsibility of the federal government.” President Bush has requested $900 million in federal funding for Amtrak in fiscal 2007. The proposal calls for $500 million for operating and debt service and $400 million for “Efficiency Grants” (which is presumably operating costs). This is a shutdown budget. Moreover, the budget narrative is laced with attacks on long-distance trains, including this at page 222: “The Administration believes Amtrak, working with DOT, could achieve needed savings by moving aggressively in a number of areas, including phasing out costly overnight trains and restructuring its train schedules to emphasize regular short trips.” Page 221 highlights a December 3 Washington Post editorial that claims long-distance routes “make little sense today but that have entrenched political support in Congress.” Also on this page is an attack on “the disproportionately high cost of running sleeper cars on long-distance trains,” and a condescending reference to “Amtrak’s 15 long-distance trains that travel along World War II-era routes.” There is also a reference to a “several billion dollar backlog of capital projects” on the Northeast Corridor, and the statement that, “because Amtrak has not made the highly populated corridors its top priority, operating performance has suffered.” This is nonsense. The Northeast Corridor gets the lion’s share of Amtrak’s capital funding; a dramatic improvement program in the Corridor has been underway for over three years. That quotation is followed by a non-sequitur—citation of a decline in systemwide (not corridor) on-time performance. In addition, the Office of Management and Budget has begun a new website, “ExpectMore.Gov” in which it rates government programs based on performance. Amtrak is rated as “Not Performing/Ineffective.”
NARP has begun “Fact Check 2006” (to follow up on our very successful Fact Check series from last year). The first entries respond to several statements in the budget narrative and the ExpectMore site. Its located in the
Amtrak released a statement from Acting CEO David Hughes which said, in part, “While the growth in our operating deficit has been halted and ridership continues strongly, we must seize the opportunity presented by the growing demand for passenger rail service around the country and make improvements to our customer service. If we can do this, and do our jobs well, we will have made the best case for continued public support for Amtrak. This is the first step in a nine-month process. Last year, Congress voted and the President signed an appropriation for Amtrak of $1.3 billion for FY06. This year, we again look forward to working with Congress and the Administration as we make the case for federal support.” The full budget, released on Monday, is one of the tightest in recent memory, with draconian cuts to education, agriculture, Medicare, and Medicaid, among other programs. Some observers also see it as the most unworkable, especially since this is an election year. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, told Bloomberg news, “If you look at history, every time you have a choice between policy initiatives and the budget, the budget lost.” The same article also pointed out that a vast majority of Bush’s budget cuts and outright program eliminations—including Amtrak—has been rebuffed by Congress. The fact that the budget cuts or eliminates so many programs means that Amtrak supporters on Capitol Hill will be unusually busy defending other programs. Rail advocates should be mindful of that—and contact their House and Senate members to encourage full funding of Amtrak’s fiscal 2007 funding needs. Go to our Action Alert page for full details. Transit would take a $100 million hit in the President’s budget. SAFETEA-LU guaranteed a funding level of $8.97 billion for fiscal 2007. According to the American Public Transportation Association, “funding transit below the authorized and guaranteed level means that needed improvements to the transit infrastructure will occur at a slower rate, thus prolonging what the President correctly described in his State of the Union Address as America’s addiction to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” A new report that points to increased pollution from trains is misleading, according to the American Association of Railroads. The report, “Danger in Motion: It’s Time to Clean up Trains and Boats,” was published jointly by the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials. The report claims that “locomotive and marine diesel engines today are legally permitted to emit pollutants at much higher rates than trucks, buses or non-road diesel engines. A typical train, for example - even one that meets new railroad emissions standards - will emit as much particle pollution over its life as nearly 500 trucks.” AAR argues that the report, “failed to include EPA data which show that locomotives contribute less than 2% of fine particulate matter pollution, while industrial plants, agriculture, utility plants, and other stationary sources produce a whopping 72%” The Transportation Security Administration conducted a transit screening pilot project on PATH trains between New York and New Jersey this week. The program, which tested airline-style baggage x-ray machines and metal detectors, is intended as a pilot project, much like the three-phase TSA project last year with Amtrak. Larry Orluskie, a DHS spokesman, told the Washington Post, “What they are expecting out of this project is to collect information on customer wait times and impact on operations…The idea is to not hinder people.” Amtrak and the Long Island Railroad have come to an agreement in principle that would permit LIRR trains to tunnel under Amtrak’s Sunnyside Yard into Grand Central Station. LIRR President James Demony and Acting Amtrak CEO David Hughes announced the agreement this week. A funding source for the $7 billion project has yet to be identified. Super Bowl XL put the spotlight on Detroit this past weekend as (with all apologies and sympathies to our friends at WashARP and NARP members in Washington State), the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks 21-10. Of particular note in several media articles was Detroit’s almost total lack of transit infrastructure. The Detroit News said, “Detroit’s lack of comprehensive mass transit was shown throughout Super Bowl week in the overfilled People Mover and shuttle buses ferrying people between the city and suburbs…Larry Alexander, president of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, said mass transit is critical to luring more big-name events to the region.” Studies have commenced on a variety of transit options for Metro Detroit, including Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail and a link between downtown and Metro Airport. More mudslides continue to hamper rail service in the Pacific Northwest. Full Cascades service was expected to be restored this evening, with cancellations most of the week between Seattle and Portland. Trains began running between Seattle and Vancouver, BC again on Monday. An equipment shortage suddenly developed a week ago after Amtrak inspected cars in its Sunnyside Yard. The southbound Silver Meteor today was cancelled today for the fifth straight day. An expanded Silver Star is running (today with five coaches, and three Viewliner sleepers plus Heritage dorm), but “no alternate transportation” is provided to passengers along the Charleston route of the Silver Meteor (where the Palmetto currently is not running Monday-Thursday due to CSX track work). NARP has protested the train cancellations and apparent inadequate attention to alternate transportation needs. Travelers to Santa Barbara, CA can take advantage of a new program called the “Car Free Experience.” The program includes two-for-one bus or Amtrak coupons to the city, discounts at hotels and restaurants, and special pricing for tours, trolley rides, whale watching and other activities. Full information is available on the program’s website. |