National Association of Railroad Passengers: www.narprail.org

Hotline #486

February 2, 2007

Amtrak funding for Fiscal 2007 would be frozen at the Fiscal 2006 level of $1.29 billion under a House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR).  The measure was approved on Wednesday under a “closed rule,” meaning that no amendments could be offered.  It now moves onto the Senate for consideration, which, while it will pass, will be more difficult as there is no “closed rule” in the Senate.  The bill needs to be passed and signed by President Bush before February 15, when the current CR expires.  This appears likely to happen as Congressional leaders want to avoid a government shutdown.

The CR also cuts Federal Railroad Administration Research & Development program, apparently meaning a shutdown of the Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System program.  Railroads would use this to tighten up spacing and increase efficiency if Positive Train Control were deployed across the country. 

The CR gives highways got a 9% funding boost and transit 5%, as guaranteed by SAFETEA-LU.  The White House Office of Management and Budget’s lengthy “Statement of Administration Policy” on the CR attacked Amtrak as follows (mentioning no other transportation issue):  “Providing this excessive level of subsidy for Amtrak, a private corporation, undermines any incentive for the railroad to exercise fiscal discipline.  Providing the Administration’s request of $900 million would make resources available for higher priorities and would force Amtrak to make difficult but necessary business decisions.”

NARP today issued a release on the CR, noting Amtrak’s superior energy efficiency, the irony of freezing Amtrak and boosting highways just when a big new report increases concern about global warming and the U.K. boosted airline taxes (see below). 

While there is little hope of increasing Amtrak funding in the CR, the situation the railroad is in underscores the need for a reauthorization bill to provide the same guaranteed funding that highways and transit enjoy.  Contact your Senators and ask them to support S. 294.  Go to our Action Alert center for full details including a list of co-sponsors.

President Bush’s Fiscal 2008 budget will be released Monday. It will be interesting to see how he handles highway spending, given projections that the Highway Trust Fund is headed for a major deficit in Fiscal 2009.  As for Amtrak, in light of this week’s statement, it is unlikely that Bush will go above the $900 million he recommended for Amtrak last year, a level that would not be sustainable.  It contradicts the President’s goal of reducing oil consumption. 

One component of global warming that is getting more attention is pollution from airplanes.  Effective yesterday (February 1), the U.K. doubled airline departure charges.  The British Treasury told Reuters that, “the duty will save the equivalent of three quarters of a million tonnes of carbon (emissions) every year by 2011…The increase in Air Passenger Duty (tax) will better reflect the environmental costs of air travel.”

Member’s of North Carolina’s Board of Transportation on Wednesday “sharply questioned a Norfolk Southern executive, asking what the railroad is doing to ensure Amtrak trains arrive on time,” according to today’s Charlotte Observer.  From the report:  “The Carolinian is on schedule less than half the time…That’s a problem if North Carolina wants to be serious about promoting the state-sponsored train service, said board member Nancy Dunn.  ‘I don’t think anyone thinks this is anywhere close to a product we can market,’ she said.  Dunn’s transit committee has been talking about the issue for months now, and board member Thomas Betts said he hasn’t seen enough progress.  ‘I don’t see a sense of urgency by any of you all to correct this problem,’ he said to Durwood Laughinghouse, the railroad’s resident vice president for public affairs.  Laughinghouse said the company takes the issue seriously and is studying potential improvements.”

House and Senate leaders are working on rail security bills. Senate Commerce Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) introduced the Transportation Security Improvement Act (S. 184).  The legislation would authorize $1.25 billion in spending and make the Transportation Security Administration the lead agency for rail and public transportation security.  It also mandates that the DOT and TSA work together to clarify each agency’s role in security.  In the House, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) plans to introduce a bill that would, among other things, federalize rail and mass transit security and focus on tunnel safety.  Thompson feels that this is one of the most neglected parts of transportation security.

Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) held a public forum in the Quad Cities (Rock Island and Moline, IL, and Bettendorf and Davenport, IA) area of Illinois this week to drum up support for Amtrak service to Chicago.  All in attendance agreed that the service needs to happen and agreed to press forward with what needs to happen to start the service.  Amtrak has agreed to perform a study that would outline the costs of starting and operating the service and a timeline for how soon the service would begin.

More rail expansion in the Midwest: A series of hearings are being held to consider extension of Metra’s UP-North service from Kenosha to Milwaukee.  Construction would cost about $200 million and annual operating costs $11 million.  Karl Ostby, the chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority board told the Marquette Tribune, “This is pretty spectacular—the economic development and benefit from this is estimated to be as high as $7 million…It is such a positive impact for the region.”

Mixed news, however, comes out of California. On Monday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority board chose three engineering firms for preliminary engineering work on a high speed rail network in the state.  This work will set the stage for construction of a San Diego-Los Angeles-San Francisco line that would have an end-to-end travel time of 3 ½ hours.  However, later in the week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R.) proposed cutting the Authority’s budget from $14 million to $1.2 million, just enough to keep the organization going, but preventing it from doing anything meaningful.  Schwarzenegger also stated that he wants to focus on road building and scrap the proposed 2008 ballot initiative that would approve nearly $10 billion in bonding authority for high speed rail construction.  The budget still has many hurdles to overcome, including the state legislature.

The Federal Railroad Administration has given environmental review approval to a proposal by the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad to construct a new 260 mile railroad to tap into the Powder River Basin coal fields.  The ruling means that within 90 days, the FRA must approve or reject the $2.3 billion loan that DM&E has applied for to build the rail line.  The project has its supporters and opponents, chief amongst which is the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, which claims that the line runs too close to the clinic and a derailment involving hazardous materials would be disastrous to the hospital.  Supporters argue that the economic benefits of the railroad are too great and that safety enhancements can take place in Rochester to alleviate the Clinic’s concerns. 

Florida’s Tri-Rail has hired Amtrak to schedule and dispatch trains for the south Florida commuter railroad, which shares state-owned tracks with CSX freight and Amtrak.  Tri-Rail also hired Veolia Transportation Services, Inc. to operate and maintain its trains. Amtrak takes over late this year; the Veolia contract starts July 1.

Albuquerque-based Rail Runner Commuter Rail service began over a new segment today—Belen-Albuquerque.  Rides are free until April 1.  Today also saw start-up of an additional round-trip on the existing Bernalillo-Albuquerque segment.

William Kenneth McFarling, a NARP Board Member for many years, passed away last week at the age of 92.  McFarling devoted his life to working for policies that, in his words, “conserve energy, material and terrestrial space, and improve the environment by emphasizing reliance upon transportation technology using guidance intrinsically automated by rail and wheel face interaction.”  NARP Western Vice President Art Poole said McFarling “helped to recruit members for both Oregon ARP and NARP. He also edited the OreARP Bulletin for many years. Ken was a mentor to many OreARP leaders, including myself. His professional experience concerning railways added to our credibility as rail advocates when we communicated with politicians and the news media.”  A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm tomorrow (Saturday, February 3, 2007) at Portland Memorial Funeral Home (6705 SE 14th Avenue, Portland).

The Southern Rail Rapid Transit Commission in October passed a resolution aimed at starting a process to restore and improve the reliability of service between New Orleans, Mobile and Orlando.  You can read the resolution here on our website