NARP March 2002 Hotlines

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The NARP February newsletter -- which has been delayed in part by the many events of the past month -- is nearly ready, and will include a copy of an action leaflet that members may copy and distribute. NARP will also print up a quantity of the leaflets, which will be similar to the one now on our web site, but with wording changed to reflect recent events. As before, however, the main message will be the need to keep a nationwide network of passenger trains. NARP will ask members who volunteer to keep their local stations stocked with the leaflets to let the office know that.

The House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee had a hearing February 27 about funding for Amtrak in fiscal 2003. The four witnesses were Amtrak President George Warrington, Federal Railroad Administrator Allan Rutter, DOT Inspector General Ken Mead, and Amtrak Reform Council Chairman Gil Carmichael. The Subcommittee is chaired by Harold Rogers (D.-Ky.) and the Ranking Democrat is Martin Olav Sabo (Minn.).

Mead said it would be "impossible" for Amtrak to operate in 2003 with the $521 million "placeholder" funding level that the Administration has proposed (while the Administration weighs its options for passenger rail reauthorization). He said, "Amtrak has mortgaged and sold all it can, and has no further options." He stressed that while Amtrak's cash losses have not improved during the time of the operational self-sufficiency mandate, much of what is reported as "operating loss" includes non-cash items like depreciation and interest, which have increased. [Depreciation was about $476 million in fiscal 2001; the portion attributable to right-of-way property was $250 million, up a whopping $55 million (28%) from the 2000 level of $196 million. This is important because airlines and bus companies don't carry comparable items on their books.]

Mead added that the "focus on operating subsidy has detracted attention from the more critical issue, which is how much capital investment will be needed to sustain" intercity passenger rail. "The long-distance trains, which account for most of Amtrak's cash losses, actually constitute a relatively small subset of Amtrak's capital needs. The annual net operating subsidy required to continue operating Amtrak's most unprofitable long-distance trains is about 30 percent of the annual capital subsidy required to continue operating Amtrak's most profitable trains in the Northeast Corridor ... When you add up the shortfall on the long-distance trains and compare it to how much the Northeast Corridor needs [in capital]," Mead said, "they are like chump change."

"About the restructuring proposals," Mead said, "don't be fooled into thinking they will solve the problem. You need to address capital ... Any system of passenger rail -- profitable or not -- will require substantial and continuing capital funding."

Chairman Rogers said Amtrak "has not been able to control its expenses" and "did not request adequate funding." At one point, he appeared critical of the fact that Amtrak continues to need funding after 31 years' existence, but then added that he couldn't see how trains could be profitable if the freight railroads couldn't make them so -- "We deluded ourselves and used the phrase 'operational self-sufficiency' to tell ourselves that the subsidy would be short-lived."

Rogers complained that Amtrak had not cut long-distance routes since the 1997 operational self-sufficiency mandate and that some have a "high subsidy per passenger" (which NARP understands is largely a function of individual riders traveling long distances on long-distance trains). He said, "There is not a significant number of people using those trains and there probably never will be." "We need to go back to the base-closing commission concept," he said. "Any time you try to eliminate a route, all the local people come out and protest, according to some purpose of civic pride."

Rogers was critical of the Bush Administration for being late in delivering its own plans for passenger-rail authorization. "That's what we have the DOT for, to make plans," he concluded. "We need a plan. I've an idea there won't be an authorization [bill] this year. If so, we need to have more information [about the funding requests]. There will be another hearing, no later than late April."

Representative Sabo said, "I don't know how the Amtrak Reform Council, by reshuffling boxes, solves our funding dilemma ... We have to know what would happen if we simply fund at $521 million, and what the options are by increment." He went on to point out the ways other modes are subsidized as well. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D.-Mich.) said, "I knew four years ago that operational self-sufficiency would not happen," and pointed out that while there have been "critiques," it's still not known where anyone should go from here.

There will be passenger-rail hearings in the coming week before the Railroads Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (March 6), and before the Transportation Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee (March 7).

Amtrak service to the new Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center began February 27. The new station opened for service to local bus and TRE commuter trains on January 12, at which point track and platform work to accommodate Amtrak was not yet complete. Amtrak gives up its home of 31 years in Fort Worth, Union (a.k.a. Santa Fe) Depot, which opened in 1899, six blocks south of the new location.

The Amtrak board voted February 22 to name John Robert Smith its new chairman. Smith is a longtime board member and mayor of Meridian, Miss. He replaces Tommy Thompson as chairman, who resigned in 2000. Thompson had been governor of Wisconsin, but became President Bush's Secretary of Health and Human Services last year.

The acting board chairman after Thompson's resignation had been Michael Dukakis, former governor of Massachusetts. Dukakis remains on the board and will go back to being vice chairman of the board, as he was earlier. There still is a vacancy on the Amtrak board (Thompson's seat).

Smith said in a statement, "I believe very strongly that our country's economic competitiveness and the mobility of all Americans depends upon a vital national passenger rail system." Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R.-Miss.) said in a wire story, "I am especially pleased that a Mississippian has been elected to this very important post. He certainly has the strength and commitment to lead Amtrak through the challenges before it."

NARP Executive Director Ross Capon will address a session of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives in Orlando, Fla., on March 7. The meeting will have officials from chambers of commerce from across the country, and Capon will impress upon them the importance of a nationwide system of passenger trains, both in terms of the role long-distance trains service (and can serve better), and in terms of building support for corridor development.

The National Transportation Safety Board will meet in Washington on March 5 to issue its decision as to the cause of the derailment of Amtrak's California Zephyr at Nodaway, Ia., on March 17, 2001, according to the Des Moines Register. NTSB findings obtained by the paper indicate that a primary cause was a fault in the steel in a temporary replacement "patch" of rail, though the NTSB will consider other factors at their hearing. The track is owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe. One passenger was killed in the accident.

New York Gov. George Pataki (R.) proposes, once again, to reduce local property taxes on railroads. The railroad tax burden in New York is among the highest in the nation -- for example, CSX says that 7% of its track system is in New York, but that New York gets 31% of CSX's total tax bill. This deters railroads from making important infrastructure and capacity improvements, including those that would help passenger trains (like the years-old proposal for additional double track on the Albany-Schenectady bottleneck). Pataki's proposal is to cut the rates by 45% over seven years, with state money going to municipalities to help make up for the reduced local tax revenues.

NARP Regional membership meeting season is beginning; tomorrow Region 2 meets in Schenectady, N.Y., and Region 12 meets in Oakland, Cal. Region 1 meets in Haverhill, Mass., March 9.

Senate Commerce Chairman Ernest Hollings (D.-S.C.) on March 6 introduced a comprehensive passenger rail reauthorization bill, that would -- if enacted and if funded through the appropriations process -- restore a nationwide Amtrak to financial health, address capital backlogs on the Northeast Corridor, and allow for service growth, particularly on designated high-speed rail corridors. It would also provide for enhanced rail security needs that were identified last fall.

The bill is S.1991, the "National Defense Rail Act." It had 22 sponsors as of yesterday, including Senators Stevens (R.-Alaska, Appropriations Chairman), Snowe (R.-Me.), and Hutchison (R.-Tex.). A hearing on the bill is scheduled for March 14 in the Commerce Committee. The bill contrasts with other reauthorization bills previously introduced that generally would lead to less (or no) federal investment in rail and less rail service -- H.R.3591 in the House (lead sponsor, Mica, R.-Fla.) and S.1958 in the Senate (McCain, R.-Ariz.).

Among the categories of authorized funding in S.1991 are $1.26 billion for rail security (for 2003 only), $1.55 billion annually for high-speed rail development (2003-2008), $2.66 billion annually for Amtrak (including the Northeast Corridor and the long-distance network), and $350 million annually to provide for a $35 billion enlargement of the existing DOT passenger and freight rail loan program.

All NARP member should ask their Senators to sign onto this bill (if he or she is not already on the list). Click here to read more about provisions in the bill and for a list of sponsors.

Amtrak President George Warrington announced his resignation on March 7. He has been appointed Executive Director of New Jersey Transit by that state's governor. Warrington has been president since December 1998, after serving a year as acting president after the December 1997 departure of the previous president, Tom Downs. Warrington will stay at Amtrak until the Amtrak board designates an acting president.

Warrington presided over Amtrak in one of its most challenging periods, which was dominated by the shortsighted operational self-sufficiency mandate enacted in December 1997. During that time, Amtrak plowed virtually all efforts and resources into meeting the mandate. While Amtrak made substantial progress in meeting the narrow, legal definiation of the mandate, its costs grew faster than its revenues, in great part due to borrowing by Amtrak to make up for operating and capital funds authorized by Congress, but not appropriated. Amtrak's financial situation was exacerbated by outside factors, including the late delivery of Acela Express train sets, the 2001 recession, added security costs after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and added financing costs after the Amtrak Reform Council's action last November 9.

Warrington also presided over an Amtrak that tried to make itself more customer-friendly. These efforts included introduction of service guarantee and frequent user programs, and expanded customer service training for all Amtrak employees.

Warrington's departure comes at a delicate point in the political debate over the future of passenger rail. Warrington himself has said in recent Congressional hearings that it was the job of Congress and the Administration to set public policy, including on the general question of whether a national network should continue. Warrington is to be credited for not cutting long-distance trains in the face of budget problems, as his predecessor did.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Railroads Subcommittee held its second passenger rail hearing of the year on March 6. The theme of the hearing was the successes and failures of Amtrak and the Amtrak reform act of 1997. Chairman Jack Quinn (R.-N.Y.) said the law "established conflicted mandates" by laying down the operational self-sufficiency mandate on a public service like Amtrak. "I don't beliew we established a level of funding commitment," he said. "You can't expect Amtrak to be a vital link to other transportation modes without providing a comparable level of funding." Ranking Democrat Bob Clement (Tenn.) said, "Congress has cheated the American public from the world-class passenger-rail system it deserves."

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee had a hearing on Amtrak funding in 2003 on March 7. Chairman Patty Murray (D.-Wash.) criticized the 1997 mandate, saying, "That requirement appears only to have succeeded in pushing Amtrak into making short-term financial decisions that have undermined its long-term financial condition." She also criticized Amtrak's contingency plan to eliminate the long-distance network, in the event of inadequate funding in 2003. Murray said that if you count depreciation, "a number of" Northeast Corridor trains lose more money per passenger than other trains. Amtrak President George Warrington responded, "Depreciation is a non-cash item, and we manage on a cash basis to get through a given fiscal year ... Excluding depreciation, on a cash basis, the Northeast Corridor trains lose less money."

Murray also asked why Northeastern states weren't expected to contribute more money to the Northeast Corridor, pointing out the contributions Washington State has made to the Cascade Corridor. Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson said that the Administration's proposal would "increase reliance on states," but that a stable federal funding source would be needed to make that work. Indeed, Congress has yet to enact any framework that would allow an equitable federal-state partnership in the area of passenger-rail investment.

For the first time in Amtrak history, more people are taking the train between Washington and New York than are flying. Amtrak this week said it had 52% of the combined air-rail, endpoint-endpoint market in the last three months of 2001.

The code-sharing agreement announced by Amtrak and Continental Airlines in January begins March 9. The connecting point is the Newark Airport station, in New Jersey.

Empire Corridor service was disrupted when a barge hit the Spuyten Duyvil bridge in New York City on March 2. The bridge, which crosses the Harlem River, is part of the West Side Connection, which opened in 1991 as a way to get Amtrak trains from Albany into Penn Station. The barge was carrying retired New York subway cars, which were being shipped to a location in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Delaware, to be dumped there for use as an artificial reef. The bridge was partly open at the time of the incident, and could not be closed again for over five hours, during which time Amtrak service was diverted into Grand Central Terminal.

The major freight railroads are not interested in taking over passenger rail in this country, according to an Associated Press wire story that came out of Iowa on March 4. The story quoted Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley: "Passenger trains lose money, and we are not interested in doing that. And if the federal government subsidized the railroad and we were to run it, there would be lots of strings attached that we are very shy of getting involved with." Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Steve Forsberg said, "We have no interest in getting back into the passenger train business at this time."

Amtrak Thruway service in northern Arizona was restored effective March 4, under a partnership announced by Amtrak and Open Road Tours, Inc. Buses will connect with the Southwest Chief station of Flagstaff twice daily with Williams (Grand Canyon Railroad station), Tusayan, and the Grand Canyon. Another route will run four times a day from Flagstaff to Camp Verde and two locations in Phoenix (Metro Center Transit Station and Sky Harbor Airport). The previous Thruway operatior, Nava-Hopi Tours, ceased operation last October.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined on March 5 that the derailment of Amtrak's California Zephyr on Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks at Nodaway, Ia., March 17, 2001, was caused by a rail failure. The NTSB said contributing to that was BNSF's "lack of a comprehensive method for ensuring that replacement rail is free from internal defects." The accident killed one passenger. The NTSB is recommending that all railroads conduct ultrasonic "or other appropriate" inspections of replacement rail.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has begun a process to solicit bids for operating its commuter rail system. Amtrak has, since 1987, provided train operations and maintenance of way and vehicles for MBTA, and Amtrak's contract is up in June 2003. The next contract would be for five years and cover everything except maintenance of way on the Boston-Providence route (also used by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor trains). In 1999, MBTA awarded a contract for vehicle maintenance to a company called Bay State, which was the lowest bidder (Amtrak was the highest bidder). Though some blamed Amtrak and labor unions for blocking consummation of that contract, Bay State, in fact, could not attract enough employees to do the work, and the MBTA applied for, and got, an 11th-hour waiver from the Federal Transit Administration allowing it to retain Amtrak, in order to prevent a service shutdown.

NARP Region 1 meets tomorrow in Haverhill, Mass. On March 16, Region 4 meets in Baltimore, Md., and Region 9 meets in Fort Worth, Tex.

The Senate Commerce Committee on March 14 held a hearing on S.1991, the National Defense Rail Act, introduced March 6. This comprehensive, pro-national-system and pro-corridor bill now has 25 sponsors (three more since last week with the addition of Inouye, D.-Hawaii, Boxer, D.-Cal., Sarbanes, D.-Md.).

Statements made by Committee members and Senate witnesses underscored divisions between the Senators that will prove challenging to overcome if a good reauthorization law (or any) is to be enacted. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) sees no use for passenger trains away from the Northeast (and "maybe the West"), but thinks that federal investment in such services is permissible -- even if vast parts of the country have no service -- and that restructuring and privatization are vital.

Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.), clearly still bitter over the loss of the Pioneer, sees Amtrak as a conspiracy to shrink passenger service down to the Northeast. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) sees a national system as desirable and wants to avoid dividing support by geography, but thinks some examination should be made to see whether some services deserve support. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex) sees a national system as having paramount importance, and would support some of McCain's reforms, and said -- addressing McCain -- "as long as your purpose is to have a national system and not to kill one."

Of S.1991, Chairman Ernest Hollings (D.-S.C.), the bill's lead sponsor, said it is "an attempt to create what we did for highways in the 1950's." The bill provides the support for corridors sought by many, the support for a national network sought by those such as Hutchison, but not the privatization, restructuring, and retrenchment qualities sought by those such as McCain. It provides more oversight by having passenger rail money go through the DOT (where McCain's bill, S.1958, has a control board mechanism).

Another theme -- one common to other hearings in recent weeks -- is frustration on the part of Members of Congress that the Administration has yet to tell Congress its views on passenger rail reauthorization. Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson ran through a list of ten questions that the Administration was considering, leading Chairman Hollings to respond that "The Administration asks more questions than we do. We already know how to ask questions. Why is there nothing from the Administration we can act on?" Hollings asked, "Is the Administration ready for a national system?" and Jackson responded, "We're not prepared to see the current, broken, national system continue. We have to work through the funding problems and see what we can afford. We need a national, intercity system. The question is how expensive it should be. It is important to consider the ARC recommendations." Clearly, the Administration has not yet ruled out a proposal that would call for the end of nationwide passenger rail service.

AAR President Ed Hamberger made clear that the freight railroads believe intercity passenger rail should "be provided by one entity -- Amtrak." He said Amtrak's statutory rights to freight tracks "should not be transferred or franchised."

The American Passenger Rail Coalition, which represents suppliers in the passenger rail industry, honored Sen. Joe Biden (D.-Del.) with its Rail Leadership Award on March 13, at Washington Union Station. He was saluted for his commitment to a national system, to the Northeast Corridor, and particularly for his passionate efforts to draw attention to important life-safety needs in Northeastern tunnels.

Indeed, earlier that same day, Biden took the Senate floor to express his frustration with the Senate's failure to bring S.1550 to a vote, due to one or more anonymous holds that have been placed on the bill by other Senators. That bill, the Rail Security Act of 2001, was approved by the Commerce Committee on October 17 with bipartisan support, and authorizes $1.8 billion for Amtrak security and safety measures. Biden said that due to the holds on S.1550, he had placed holds on the nominations of two Department of Transportation appointments, which he would be happy to lift at such time that S.1550 comes to a vote.

Last month, Amtrak ridership was 6.4% above the February 2001 level, and passenger-miles rose 8.6%. The Air Transport Association reported declines for domestic airline service of 12.5% and 10.3%, respectively. Amtrak's passenger revenues were up 17.0%. This was Amtrak's strongest month since the September 11 attacks, and the sixth straight month in which Amtrak percentage changes were far better than those posted by the airlines.

A sixth, daily San Joaquin train will be added March 18 by Amtrak West and Caltrans. The four existing Oakland-Bakersfield trains and one existing Sacramento-Bakersfield train will be joined by a second Sacramento-Bakersfield train. This new train will run on a schedule roughly opposite the existing Sacramento train. New northbound train 701 will leave Bakersfield at 7:15 am, and arrive Sacramento at 12:30 pm. New southbound train 704 will leave Sacramento at 4:25 pm and arrive Bakersfield at 9:43 pm. This change will also mark the beginning of service to Lodi, which is between Sacramento and Stockton, and which will be served by all Sacramento San Joaquins. Some other San Joaquins also will have minor changes -- check before traveling.

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority decided on March 8 to return to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), for the third time, over the issue of Amtrak Downeaster speeds on 77 miles of Guilford track in New Hampshire and Maine. The trains have been running there since December at a top speed of 60 mph, but Amtrak and the authority want to run at 79 mph, which would cut 15 minutes from the overall Boston-Portland schedule. Amtrak, the authority, and the Federal Railroad Administration have all maintained that 79-mph running is safe for the weight of the rail laid on the segment (115 lb. per yard), but Guilford maintains heavier rail is needed. STB-ordered tests in 2001 showed that a vital track-support measure was twice that required by the STB, according to Amtrak and the authority, but Guilford still does not accept that finding.

California State Sen. Jim Costa (D.-Fresno) has introduced a bill calling for a November 2002 ballot measure, allowing the sale of $6 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail construction in California. Costa has a long history of promoting passenger rail. The bonds would raise about half the cost of building the Los Angeles-Bay Area trunk. Much of the rest could come from the federal government, if it ever decides to help states build passenger rail projects (as it does for virtually every other mode of transportation). The bill allowing the November vote would have to be passed by two-thirds of both legislative houses. Another state senator, Tom McClintock (R.-Simi Valley), called the proposal a "boondoggle" based on "pixie dust," and said the money could be better spent building 400 additional miles of freeway lanes.

The Texas Eagle is being disrupted due to track work in Texas. Southbound trains arriving Fort Worth March 15-19 are being terminated there, with bus substitution the rest of the way to San Antonio. Northbound trains normally originating at San Antonio March 16-20 instead originate at Fort Worth.

Amtrak and Metrolink officials plan to visit Omaha to discuss serious on-time performance problems along the West Coast with top Union Pacific management. Metrolink wrote to Union Pacific on March 8, criticizing the dispatching on the UP line used by Metrolink commuter trains from Los Angeles to Pomona and Riverside. This also was the subject of a March 11 Metrolink release and March 13 Los Angeles Times article. Metrolink paid UP $71 million to upgrade the line as part of their 1991 joint-use agreement, which the letter said "requires UP to schedule and dispatch its own trains in a safe and reliable manner that minimizes disruption to Metrolink passenger service." Instead, the letter cites numerous instances in which UP did not put freight trains into sidings to allow commuter trains to pass, and in which UP trains broke down in front of commuter trains. The result is many commuter trains that are 30 minutes late; some up to two hours late. Metrolink is giving UP 30 days to respond before going to arbitration. A UP spokesman in the article said UP already was taking actions to improve the situation.

The California Transportation Commission has approved more than $4 million for an Amtrak station at the Oakland Coliseum (south of Amtrak's Jack London Square station in downtown Oakland). The new station will be adjacent to BART's Coliseum station and will allow intermodal connections between Amtrak's Capitol Corridor trains, BART, AC Transit buses, and the AirBART shuttle to Oakland International Airport. It could be completed in late 2003.

NARP Region 4 meets tomorrow in Baltimore, and Region 9 meets in Fort Worth. A combined Region 5 and 6 meeting will take place March 22-24 in Louisville, and Region 8 will meet in Portland, Ore.

Theater-minded visitors to New York City may be interested in a rail-themed plan called "End of the Line," running April 23-May 5. A release from the Yankee Rep theater company said the play is "about the myriad people and stories passing through the Albany-Rensselaer train station before its demolition this summer." Amtrak will move into a new terminal in June, making the adjacent 1970's-era station redundant. The play is a collection of ten stories gleaned from dozens that were submitted by an ensemble of writers, and will run at the Raw Space Theatre, Studio L, 529 W. 42nd St., Manhattan. Tickets are $10-15; call 212/462-3064 for details or e-mail.

S.1991, the National Defense Rail Act, a comprehensive, pro-nationwide-system and pro-corridor bill, now has 29 Senate sponsors (four more than last week), with the addition of Specter (R.-Pa.), Dorgan (D.-N.Dak.), Burns (R.-Mont.), Lieberman (D.-Conn.).

This bill is the only bill currently proposed in either house that authorizes resources for running, improving, and expanding all classes of passenger rail -- long-distance, short-distance, and high-speed corridors. Commerce Chairman Ernest Hollings (D.-S.C.) hopes to report S.1991 out of that committee during April. For more, click here. Check to see if your Senator is listed as a sponsor, and if not, urge him or her to sign on.

The Democratic leadership of the Senate Budget Committee released its budget proposal for 2003 on March 20, which was approved by the Committee on March 21. It includes provision of the $1.2 billion Amtrak is seeking, though -- even if the full Senate approves this budget resolution -- that amount will still have to go through the appropriations process. Earlier in the week, fifty-one Senators sent a letter to Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D.-N.Dak.) asking for the full Amtrak amount, in order to keep nationwide service running.

House Railroads Subcommittee Chairman Jack Quinn (R.-N.Y.) told state rail officials on March 18 that he plans to introduce a House Amtrak authorization bill in early April. He said he was working with Bob Clement (D.-Tenn.) on it, and that Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R.-Alaska) had directed that any Amtrak bill must be separate from Young's H.R.2950 ("RIDE-21" bond bill). Quinn plans another hearing on passenger rail on April 11.

NARP has written to Amtrak Chairman John Robert Smith urging Amtrak not to implement the 180-day discontinuation notification process on the long-distance trains. NARP said that intense news coverage has accomplished the purpose originally intended for the notification process, and said that implementation of that process would worsen Amtrak's cash flow problems. If the Amtrak Board decides to go ahead with notification, it likely would take place April 2.

This week's interruption to Sunset Limited service, due to previously announced CSX track work, will be prolonged by repairs to a trestle that burned on March 18, 25 miles east of New Orleans. The train already had been annulled between New Orleans and Orlando. Repairs to the trestle probably will take until April 1.

A Norfolk Southern engineer was killed early March 21 by a passing Amtrak train, near the Claymont commuter rail station, a few miles northeast of Wilmington, Del. The engineer was apparently just climbing up into his locomotive, when a northbound Amtrak train passed and he was drawn into the passing train's suction, according to his co-worker. Amtrak said the train was going about 60 mph.

The Transportation Secretaries of Virginia and North Carolina on March 21 announced an agreement on a Washington-Charlotte high-speed rail route. Narrowed down from nine initial options, the route is Washington-Richmond-Petersburg on the current Amtrak route; then on the mostly abandoned (but preserved and more direct) ex-Seaboard line through South Hill and Henderson to Raleigh; then Raleigh-Greensboro-Charlotte on the current Amtrak route. There will also be some sort of connection to Winston-Salem. The secretaries' recommendation includes support of continued, conventional service on the current Carolinian route through Rocky Mount.

The proposed 110-mph service will cost $2.6 billion and require a federal-state partnership (where none exists today). The announcement follows a process that included 52 information workshops, 18 public hearings, and 14 small group meetings to get citizen input. More than 80% of the feedback the agencies got supported high-speed rail. The next step will be execution of a Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Major airlines have begun a process of eliminating travel agent commissions. Delta dropped them last week; Continental and American on March 18; Northwest on March 19; United on March 20; and US Airways on March 21. Airlines have cut such rates in stages since 1995, in part in order to get customers to use web sites that cost airlines less to run than paying out commissions to others. Amtrak's commissions, which were cut somewhat a couple years ago and then restored, are still in place so far. The travel industry is becoming more do-it-yourself, whether a traveler books one's own travel on a web site, or pays an extra fee to a travel agent (which agents are charging in lieu of airline commissions).

The Austrian Transport Ministry has announced a transportation infrastructure plan that would spend $15.3 billion through 2014. Of that, 63% is going to rail, 36% to highways, and 1% for inland waterways. The government "feels that the country's highway network is now well developed, while the rail network requires major improvements," according to the International Railway Journal (March issue).

That means about $803 million a year gong to rail -- in addition to whatever operating support the government already gives rail -- in a country with 8.1 million people. Austria will spend $99 on rail infrastructure annually for every person who lives in that country, where the U.S. spends about $3 on federal rail programs. Yet Austria's population density is comparable to California, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, or Pennsylvania.

A combined Region 5 and 6 meeting is taking place March 22-24 in Louisville, and Region 8 will meet March 23 in Portland, Ore. Region 3 meets March 30 in Jersey City, N.J.

Amtrak apparently plans to send some type of notification to governors and others sometime the week of April 1 about the possibility that long-distance trains could stop running October 1 if Amtrak's federal grant is not adequate. The situation is fluid, and we hope to have something more definite to report on the next hotline (if not sooner).

The new DOT director of maritime and land security, Richard Bennis, said March 25 that "passenger security [on land and water] will be dealt with with the same intensity as aviation security." He said proposals for train, bus, and cruise ship baggage screening could be announced in July. Bennis said that federal security directors will be appointed locally to oversee transportation facilities that include train stations, and that federal marshals could be stationed there. Amtrak already requires a valid photo identification to check baggage. NARP has urged Amtrak to work closely and early with Bennis, with the goal of preventing announcements of impractical measures. Any proposal to treat rail baggage like that on airlines (with X-ray machines) would be prohibitively expensive for Amtrak's 500 stations -- many in small towns -- and probably unnecessary. It also might be logistically impossible in some stations, especially those shared by commuter rail.

Amtrak will add Business Class to the New York-Miami Silver Palm, effective April 1. The service will feature a 59-seat Amfleet II car with at-seat audio and video entertainment, free soft drinks, newspapers, blankets, and priority boarding. This is similar to the service offered on the New York-Charlotte Carolinian. Business Class is a welcome amenity on long-distance trains, particularly those with long daytime segments, but Amtrak is also considering removal of sleeping-car service from the Silver Palm as early as the April 29 timetable change. Amtrak seems eager to save money by eliminating the Palm's dining car, and doesn't want to run the usually sold-out Palm sleeper without the diner -- but Amtrak already runs diner-less sleepers on the Three Rivers, Twilight Shoreliner, and Kentucky Cardinal. NARP has urged Amtrak to keep the sleeper and make the Palm a test case for delivering entrees more economically.

Also April 1, Amtrak is ending checked baggage at Cincinnati, as part of the ongoing station staffing reductions. Ticketing will continue. Amtrak eliminated station weekend station staffing at St. Albans, Essex Junction, and White River Junction, Vt., but weekday baggage service will be offered (unlike what has happened at other stations). There is no change in bicycle carriage.

Soon after the next timetable change, the Kentucky Cardinal will run with low-level equipment, including a Viewliner sleeper.

Amtrak has added a "Select" membership category to its Guest Rewards frequent-user program. Guest Rewards members eligible for the new category must accrue at least 5,000 Guest Rewards points on Amtrak travel during a calendar year. They will get a new Guest Rewards identification cards, which they can use to get seating upgrades (where available); one-day passes to ClubAcela (former Metropolitan Lounges) in Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston; access to a special, toll-free number for priority service when making reservations; and the ability to earn 25% more bonus points on Amtrak trips.

Denver RTD will open its Central Platte Valley light rail spur April 5. This will create a new route originating in Littleton (south terminus of the existing route), running to a new junction at West Auraria, and proceeding 1.8 miles to the Broncos stadium, Pepsi Center area, Six Flags Elitch Gardens, and Union Station.

Harrisburg took a step closer to getting a rail station at its airport March 26, when the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority voted unanimously to undertake a $221.7-million expansion project. Included in that is a $9 million Amtrak station on the Keystone line, very near the airport, with a moving sidewalk system to connect the station to the new airport terminal. Completion date for the entire project is summer 2004. The Harrisburg airport is about nine miles southeast of downtown Harrisburg (location of that city's Amtrak station).

A 25-day rail journey by a group of college students is described at the "All Aboard! The American Railroad Odyssey" web site. Seven students and (for part of the trip) one professor from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., went coast-to-coast and into Canada in January. Their web site is filled with information about the trip and the students' impressions -- in words, photos, and sound clips -- of train travel, other travelers, and the places they visited. The students hope the site will inspire other students to travel by rail. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal said the web site is "a must-read for anyone considering rail travel."

A series of television programs called "Best of California" premieres this weekend, sponsored in part by Amtrak, Caltrans, and the Capitol Corridor. Each program will feature three segments promoting travel destinations in California, and in five of the 12 programs, travel to the destinations by train will be highlighted. The stations airing the program (all in California) are KCRA-NBC, Sacramento (Sat., 7:00 pm); KICU-Ind., Bay Area (Sun., 6:30 pm); KSEE-NBC, Fresno (Sat., 7:00 pm); KCAL-Ind., Los Angeles (Sat., 7:30 pm); KFMB-CBS, San Diego (Sat., 3:30 pm).

NARP Region 3 meets tomorrow in Jersey City, N.J. On April 6, Region 10 meets in Omaha and Region 7 meets in Champaign, Ill.