NARP October 2000 Hotlines

#159 - October 6, 2000
#160 - October 13, 2000
#161 - October 20, 2000
#162 - October 27, 2000

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Senate Finance Chairman William Roth (R.-Del.) on October 3 introduced bill S.3152, which is similar to he version of the Community Renewal and New Markets Act discharged by the Finance Committee last week. S.3152 includes S.1900, the High Speed Rail Investment Act (HSRIA), which Roth and Committee Ranking Member Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D.-N.Y.) called the most important provisions in S.3152. The new bill also includes language sought by committee member Max Baucus (D.-Mont.) barring other intercity passenger rail funding from the Highway Trust Fund while this legislation is in effect.

Though S.1900 is now part of S.3152 in the Senate, it has attracted another co-sponsor this week -- Conrad Burns (R.-Mont.) -- bringing the total to 57. Additionally, there are six sponsors of S.3152 who aren't already sponsors of S.1900 (Roth; Grassley, R.-Ia.; Murkowski, R.-Alaska; Thompson, R.-Tenn.; Hatch, R.-Utah). In the House, H.R.3700 is still at 162, though we have heard of several new sponsors in the wings. See our web site for the full list.

Three key people must act to make HSRIA a reality -- (1) President Clinton (whose Treasury Department seems opposed to HSRIA though Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and White House Chief of Staff John Podesta apparently support it); (2) House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.); (3) Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R.-Miss.). Clinton and Hastert are strong supporters of the "New Markets" concept and had worked out an agreement on the House version of the bill (which does not include HSRIA).

Conferees completed their work on H.R.4475, the fiscal 2001 transportation appropriations bill, on October 3. It contains $521 million for Amtrak, continuing the pattern of recent years of providing Amtrak with only about half of what was authorized in the last Amtrak reauthorization act in 1997. The conference version of H.R.4475 was approved by both the House and Senate today and sent to the President for signature. A continuing resolution for programs falling under appropriations bills not yet enacted was to expire today; however, Congress yesterday passed a new one that is good through October 14.

Amtrak announced it is reorganizing its mail and express management in an October 2 release. The President of a Mail and Express unit, separate from the Intercity business unit, will be Lee H. Sargrad. He has spent 15 years in the rail freight industry, most recently as sales and marketing vice president for Triple Crown Services of Fort Wayne, Ind., and also has prior Conrail experience. Sargrad will undertake a 90-day review of the mail and express effort, which we hope will include impact on passenger operations. Amtrak Vice President Ed Ellis, who had been in charge of Mail and Express, is now Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Mail and Express, reporting to Sargrad.

There is still no contract between Amtrak and the State of Michigan to operate the Chicago-Toronto International on its current route. A six-month notice for the train's discontinuation expired October 2. The state is expected to notify Amtrak of its plans by October 16 (not October 10 as we reported last week.

The Kentucky Cardinal will get back its sleeping car effective with the timetable change, October 29. Amtrak also announced in a release October 5 that it is contributing $150,000 toward renovations to Union Station in downtown Louisville. Amtrak is planning an extension there from Jeffersonville, Ind., as well as an intermediate stop at Columbus, Ind. The sleeping car had been diverted away to the California Zephyr to handle greater summer demand there.

A high-speed rail ballot initiative in Florida can go forward for November 7, the state supreme court ruled October 3. The November 7 ballot will now feature an amendment to the state constitution requiring the state to begin construction within three years of a system linking the five largest urban areas. The amendment says rail, maglev, or monorail could be used, but must be capable of 120 mph. The initiative is being promoted by Lakeland businessman C. C. Dockery, who has put $1.5 million of his own money into the signature collection process. Dockery was a member of the former state High Speed Rail Commission.

Kansas City voters on November 7 will consider a light rail ballot initiative. Question 1 would provide a 0.5-cent sales tax for 20 years for the local funding match for a cross-shaped, two-line system. The initiative is being supported by a group called Citizens for Kansas City Light Rail. At the same time, the city and another group it is guiding, the Central Business Corridor Transit Plan, are working on their own ballot initiative for spring 2001, for a more modest system that could also include options for express bus or monorail instead of light rail. The latter group's plans should be released before Election Day.

An architect involved in the recent restoration of Grand Central Terminal in New York found ceiling fixtures that disappeared in 1997 for sale on the auction web site eBay. The discovery led to a search of the vendor's home, where more missing fixtures and architectural elements were found. The vendor, who is an electrical contractor, was arraigned October 5 and is free on $2500 bail. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the terminal, estimates that the replacement value of the missing elements at $73,000. Replicas were made for the missing pieces, but the MTA will re-install as many of the recovered originals as possible.

With Congress apparently headed towards approving a tax package next week that could include the rail bond bill (High Speed Rail Investment Act), the message is simple -- Ask Democratic Senators and Representatives to tell the White House to include the rail bond bill in the tax package; ask Republican legislators to make the same request to Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Lott. Time is short, so please use electronic means (see the NARP web site). Congress has adjourned until Tuesday, October 17.

The vehicle bill for rail bonds -- S.3152, the Senate version of the Community Renewal and New Markets Act -- now has 29 co-sponsors. Of those, eight are not already among the 57 sponsors of S.1900, the High Speed Rail Investment Act. Thus, a total of 65 Senators are sponsoring the rail bond bill in one or both forms. The House version of the High Speed Rail Investment Act, H.R.3700, now has 168 co-sponsors, six more than a week ago. See our web site for a full list.

H.R.4475, the fiscal 2001 transportation appropriations bill with (only) $521 million for Amtrak capital, is on the President's desk awaiting signature.

Two new high-speed rail corridors got federal designation October 11. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater named a two-prong Northern New England Corridor (Boston-Portland-Auburn and Boston-Montreal) and a "Y"-shaped South Central Corridor (San Antonio-Austin-Dallas/Fort Worth with branches to Oklahoma City-Tulsa and to Texarkana-Little Rock).

Slater also named extensions to existing corridors -- Chicago Hub (Chicago-Toledo-Cleveland, Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati, and Indianapolis-Louisville), Gulf Coast/Southeast (Birmingham-Atlanta and Macon-Jesup), and Keystone (Harrisburg-Pittsburgh). Finally, he clarified that the 1992 designation of the California corridor was not meant to specify a particular route, but rather to link particular metropolitan areas, making the Coast Route clearly eligible. See also the DOT release or click here for more information.

This brings to ten the total corridors that have been designated. TEA-21 allows for one more. Section 1103(c) of TEA-21 makes designated routes eligible for a portion of $5.25 million in dedicated annual federal funding for grade crossing improvements "where railroad speeds of 90 mile or more per hour are occurring or can reasonably be expected to occur in the future."

The Section 1103(c) corridors also are eligible for 90% of the funding in the High Speed Rail Investment Act, should that be enacted. The Clinton Administration's position has been ambiguous. Secretary Slater told reporters on October 11, "We are working with Congressional leaders on funding the corridors ... I met with [Treasury] Secretary Summers [who has had problems with the bond bill]. I think we're going to get it." Slater appeared to catch the irony of naming new corridors while "negotiations" on the bond bill continued within the Administration, the only plausible method for serious funding of corridor improvements (vs. TEA-21's token grade crossing dollars).

In this regard, an October 12 Washington Post article said, "Congressional and Amtrak staffers are waiting for word from the White House, which so far has been silent. They agree that if the White House strongly supports the [High Speed Rail Investment Act], it will pass. If the White House remains silent, it will have a tough time passing. Failure could be embarrassing, since the administration has made high-speed rail one of its mantras, and Vice President Gore adopted it early as one of his fields of technology."

Amtrak ridership in fiscal 2000 exceeded 22.5 million. An Amtrak release of October 12 gave a lot of credit for that to the Satisfaction Guarantee program introduced in July. Ticket revenue was up 10%, to $1.103 billion. Over half the ridership (12.9 million) and revenue ($596 million) is attributable to the Northeast Corridor business unit. Cost figures, which have been of concern to the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and to the General Accounting Office, have not been released yet.

Two Union Pacific derailments have caused one trip of the Sunset Limited to be annulled altogether this week. Train 2 (departing October 10) was annulled from Los Angeles to San Antonio due to freight-train derailments near Tucson and Sanderson. The latter location involved damage to a bridge and was expected to reopen today at the earliest.

On October 3, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued a 348-page notice of proposed rulemaking about railroad mergers. Comments are due November 17. The STB proposed to shift the burden towards railroads proposing mergers. It also requires descriptions of how affected lines will continue to fulfill existing performance agreements with Amtrak and commuter carriers.

Citing the STB's anti-merger bias, and the way Wall Street has pummeled BNSF stock despite the railroad's strong performance, BNSF Chairman Robert Krebs this week told the Washington Post that his company would scale back capital investment in favor of stock buybacks. BNSF will halt a plan to double-track parts of the Minneapolis-Seattle line that Amtrak uses; will not finish double-tracking the Amarillo transcontinental main line; will not build a needed $50 million locomotive facility in Texas; and has no plans for new locomotives beyond 50 under contract. Krebs speculated that government and Wall Street antagonism towards his well run railroad would lead to diversion of freight from rail to road.

The critically important High Speed Rail Investment Act (HSRIA) can still pass, but time is running short as Congress prepares to leave Washington.

Republican leaders are putting together a ten-year, $260-billion tax proposal. The Associated Press quoted Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R.-Miss.) - "We're going to have a tax package the President will sign. We're trying to hold it to the things that have had broad bipartisan support." Certainly, that applies to the HSRIA, but it's too soon to say if the HSRIA will be part of any final package.

The three men who can have greatest impact right now are Lott, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.), and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R.-Tex.). Tell your Members of Congress and the White House (again) that the HSRIA must be part of whatever tax bill Congress passes in the next few days. If you are represented by a Republican, urge him or her to urge Lott, Hastert, and Archer to be sure HSRIA is included.  See our web site for ways to make contact.

Last last Friday (October 13), White House officials sent a letter to Senate leaders endorsing the High Speed Rail Investment Act (S.1900, the language of which is now also in S.3152, the Senate version of the Community Renewal and New Markets Act). This is a big step forward, as open White House support is thought to be a key to final passage of the High Speed Rail Investment Act.

Amtrak President George Warrington announced October 18 at Washington Union Station that Amtrak had officially taken delivery of the first of 20 Acela Express high-speed train sets. The train also has cleared its safety certification by the Federal Railroad Administration. An official inaugural run on November 16 will feature non-stop runs from Washington to New York and from New York to Boston. Ticket sales will begin November 29, and the first revenue service will be December 11.

The first revenue service will be a 5:00 am departure from Washington, arriving Boston 11:30 am; and a 5:12 pm departure from Boston, arriving Washington at 11:43 pm.

More services will be added as more train sets are delivered -- so look for frequent Northeast Corridor timetable updates throughout the winter. Travel time for the initial service will be 2:44 hours between Washington and New York (top speed 135 mph) and 3:23 hours New York-Boston (top speed 150 mph). The second increment of additional service will feature a Washington-New York non-stop trip, taking 2:28 hours.

The key guest speakers at the October 18 event were Senate Finance Chairman Bill Roth (R.-Del.), Senate Transportation Appropriations Ranking Democrat Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), and Senate Finance Ranking Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan (N.Y.), who drove down track 19 in the cab of the new train. The event was very upbeat, with several expressions of hope about passing the High Speed Rail Investment Act by the time Congress recesses this weekend, about the beautiful train set itself, and about the step forward that the train represents for passenger service in the Northeast and -- we hope -- for corridors across the U.S.

The NARP Board of Directors is meeting in Pittsfield, Mass. Paul Weyrich, Vice Chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council (ARC), addressed the Board today, saying long-term capital funding is vital for Amtrak's success. He said the ARC will be looking at ideas on how to do that. Tomorrow, Amtrak Board Vice Chairman and former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis will address the board.

A groundbreaking ceremony at Main Street Station in Richmond was held October 17. Work will finally begin on turning the historic building into a downtown intermodal terminal that includes intercity passenger rail. The first phase involving Amtrak will be for Newport News trains that currently pass the station to also stop there.

A commuter rail demonstration train sponsored by the Utah Transit Authority ran on October 17. Local public officials were carried from the Salt Lake City Amtrak station to Ogden Union Station in a set of equipment belonging to Sounder, the new Seattle-Tacoma commuter service. The train set was on public display in Ogden yesterday and today; and will be at Salt Lake City tomorrow (10:00 am - 6:00 pm) and Monday, October 23 (12:00 noon - 8:00 pm).

The transit strike in Los Angeles that began September 19 was settled by negotiators on October 17. Union ratification soon followed, and transit service resumed October 19.

The big tax bill that includes the High Speed Rail Investment Act (HSRIA) was approved in the House on October 26 on a vote of 237-174. A conference report to the tax bill, H.R.2614 (a.k.a. the Certified Development Company Program Improvements Act), was reported to the House earlier the same day. A Senate vote on the same bill is likely Monday, October 30. President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill, for reasons unrelated to HSRIA, but it is possible that weekend negotiations will eliminate the veto threat.

Nonetheless, we need a back-up strategy in case there is a veto. There is broad agreement that a number of items in the tax bill are "must-pass" items. We need legislators -- and the White House -- to work to include HSRIA as one of the tax-bill items that would survive a veto and become part of the final package that Congress passes. (This package likely would be the Labor/Health and Human Services, or "Labor/HHS," appropriations bill, H.R.4577. There is information on contacting Congress and the White House at our web site.

Meanwhile, we understand that Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R.-Va.) has withdrawn a "poison pill" amendment to the Labor/HHS appropriations bill, which would have made it virtually impossible for Amtrak to issue any bonds next year.

President Clinton signed the fiscal 2001 transportation appropriations bill, H.R.4475, on October 23. This provides Amtrak with $521 million in capital funding in fiscal 2001 (which began this past October 1) -- about half the amount authorized in 1997 in the last Amtrak reauthorization act.

Amtrak's Intercity and Northeast Corridor timetables change effective Sunday, October 29. By far, the most sweeping changes are in the Northeast timetable, which are the most sweeping "since the introduction of Metroliner service" (according to an Amtrak bulletin). It is in effect only through December 10, the day before the first Acela Express revenue service is to begin. Other Acela Express trips will be added throughout the winter, resulting in further schedule changes.

For the first time in a Northeast timetable, the main corridor schedule is divided into separate weekday and weekend pages (similar to the Pacific Surfliner grids in the National timetable). Future timetables may use paper of different colors to highlight the different sections, but this is not done in the October 27 edition (so be careful!).

One more Boston-Washington Acela Regional train will be added per day, with another to follow in early November (but nothing northbound until an early-morning New York-Boston Acela Regional is added in early November). NortheastDirect schedules between Washington and New York are faster (especially on trains that continue on to Boston). Springfield line service is more frequent, though more trips require transfers at New Haven. The northbound Twilight Shorliner runs later, which is an improvement for the long-distance market. Also, its 9:00 pm Washington departure, combined with restoration of the northbound 8:00 pm Metroliner, means there will be memory-pattern, weekday, hourly, Washington-to-New York departures with premium accommodations from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm.

The president of VIA Rail Canada, Rod Morrison, will resign that post effective November 3. VIA's chairman, Marc LeFrancois, will act as president for the time being. Transport Minister David Collenette said that Morrison had "dedicated a great deal of time into mapping out a new direction for Canada's passenger rail network. Under his leadership, VIA has begun to identify the new equipment, facility upgrades and expanded schedules needed to revitalize this national transportation resource." Morrison addressed the NARP Board of Directors when it met in Toronto a year ago.

The day that Morrison's resignation was announced, October 20, Collenette released details of a first phase of projects to "revitalize passenger rail service in Canada." This first phase is part of the $C400 million (over five years) commitment the government made in April. VIA Rail will acquire seven new locomotives from General Motors; make $C7 million in safety upgrades on the Montreal-Ottawa route; make $C8 million in station improvements at London, Kingston, Oakville, and Oshawa; and devote $C5 million toward development of a (toilet) waste-retention system on the Quebec-Windsor corridor.

A monorail study for downtown Boston has been ordered by Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Kevin J. Sullivan, according to the October 25 Boston Globe. The study, to be done by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, calls for looking at monorail connections between North and South Station, as well as to the water shuttles. Sullivan said the monorail would not replace the long-term need for a rail link between the two stations and would be easier to build than the rail link. However, a monorail between the stations would provide a limited transit benefit, given that the Orange Line subway already provides a connection between North and Back Bay stations (the latter served by all Amtrak and most commuter trains). There is also concern that residents will not support an elevated monorail after billions are being spent to tear down an elevated highway in the same corridor.