NARP August 2004 Hotlines

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LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON ADDENDUM: The final fiscal 2004 Supplemental Appropriations bill approved by the Michigan House and Senate late Wednesday night (before they adjourned for the summer recess) contains very serious anti-Amtrak language.  please contact Governor Granholm if you are a Michigan resident.

Key Senators in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington have yet to sign the Senate pro-Amtrak letter. Senate staff has extended the deadline until August 11.  There’s still time to contact your Senator!  Go to our Action Alert page for more details (no longer posted when archived, 9/1/04).

Amtrak and the citizens of Western Michigan celebrated 20 years of service from the Pere Marquette on Thursday.  At the event in Holland, Mayor George Hartwell noted that the train carried 73,392 riders in fiscal 2003 (up 22%).  Amtrak representatives gave credit to WestTrain, a volunteer organization formed in the mid-1990’s when the train was threatened with discontinuance.  WestTrain’s focus is to market and promote the Pere Marquette and receives funding as part of Michigan’s annual appropriation to Amtrak to run this train and the Blue Water.

In a move that helps rail advocates, Florida’s Supreme Court ruled that materials supporting cancellation of Florida’s constitutionally-mandated high speed rail program must be re-written to more accurately describe the system’s per-household costs.  The seven-judge court overwhelmingly approved the objections of high speed rail supporters.  The per-household cost is deceptive and does not take into account the cost to Florida of relying almost completely on highways and aviation to serve a growing population (both residents and tourists), where issues of environmental sensitivity and the aging population have above-average significance.

On Wednesday, NARP’s Ross Capon wrote to Florida Secretary of Transportation Jose Abreu in this vein.  Capon noted a July 17 AP report that the rail project’s cost-per-household was developed by Consultant Brian Campbell, whose web site says his career was "heavily concentrated on the economics of commercial air transportation.”  The “group,” chaired by Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, is called Derail the Bullet Train (DEBT).  AP said Gallagher “was stuck to explain how Campbell's 30-plus years as an aviation consultant made him knowledgeable about the cost of bullet trains. ‘Well, transportation is transportation,’ Gallagher told The Association Press.”

An Associated Press wire story on Wednesday reported that $50-a-barrel oil is a real possibility, perhaps as early as December.  Leo Drollas, chief economist for the London-based Center for Global Energy Studies, said "The fundamental fact is that oil is tight." Drollas believes $40 is a more likely price in the next month or two, although if demand is strong and the weather is cold this winter prices could reach $50. Prices might leap even higher if there was a major supply disruption, analysts said.  This makes opposition to the Florida High Speed Rail Project and anti-Amtrak and anti-mass transit legislative language currently pending all the more troubling.

The Federal Aviation Administration called airlines serving O’Hare Airport to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to hammer out a plan to reduce delays at the northwest Chicago airport.  Delays have once again reached pre-9/11 length (67% on time performance) and are beginning to have far-reaching effects in North American aviation.  According to the Washington Post, “FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey said her agency would (reschedule flights) for (the airlines). ‘We will take action unilaterally if we can't come to an agreement,’ Blakey told airline representatives before the meetings began. ‘If we need to, we'll issue an order requiring the most efficient schedule that reflects our best judgment, which may not be yours.’” Officials have estimated that every minute that a passenger waits takes $30 from an airline's bottom line.

It appears that the 2nd Avenue subway in New York City, considered by many professionals to be the single most overdue mass transit project in the United States, may become a reality.  The Los Angeles Times has reported that the Metropolitan Transit Authority says that a groundbreaking could occur as early as the end of this year.  The primary function of the 16 mile line (first proposed in 1920) would be to relieve crowding on the Lexington Avenue line, which carries 1.5 million people per day (more than the whole subway system in Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Miami).

The once-threatened Northstar commuter rail project in Minneapolis, Minn., has received a much needed shot in the arm, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  On Tuesday, Governor Tim Pawlenty announced that the project will move forward, with a recent collection of $23 million in federal, county, and Metropolitan Council monies.  The project still requires approval of the state legislature.

The Downeaster did not operate (as previous scheduled) during the Democratic National Convention.  The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority took advantage of this service annulment to perform some trackwork near Kennebunk, Maine.  However, in the process of shoring up a long-sagging part of the roadbed, the foundation of a nearby bridge buckled, throwing debris to the track and threatening the bridge’s stability.  Thus, Downeaster resumed as a Boston-Wells train with substitute bus service north of there.   Full service resumed yesterday.

July was (another) bad month for Amtrak’s long-distance trains with nine trains posting on-time performance between 0% (Sunset Limited) and 25.9%, all involving Union Pacific and/or CSX tracks.  Only four long-distance routes beat 49%: City of New Orleans 66.1%, Texas Eagle 62.9%, Crescent 50% and Empire Builder (49.2%).

A CSX derailment west of Russell, Ky. forced the termination of the Cardinal at Huntington, W.Va. on Friday evening, July 30.  Passengers were bussed to Chicago, but Saturday’s eastbound Cardinal originated (Sunday) in Huntington, with Amtrak providing substitute no substitute buses between Chicago, Indianapolis and Huntington.

Coast Starlight operation was disrupted on Monday by a Union Pacific derailment at McKay, Calif. (between San Louis Obispo and Salinas).  The northbound Starlight proceeded after the derailment was cleared; the already multi-hour late southbound Starlight (delayed by a freight derailment in Oregon) was terminated at San Louis Obispo to become the next day’s northbound train.

On Saturday, a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe freight derailed 34 miles north of Fargo (between Fargo and Grand Forks).  The Empire Builder detoured for one day on the direct route between Fargo and Minot.  Missed stops at Rugby, Devils Lake, and Grand Forks were protected by busses.

The NARP office has received several updates to our “Events” listing that we keep on our website. Click here to read about several upcoming events that have been added this week.

There are now 46 names on the Senate’s pro-Amtrak letter, with Johnson and Daschle (both D-SD) the most recent. The letter will remain open for more signatures at least through Tuesday or so. Click here for a list, alphabetized by state, of senators that have signed. (no longer posted when archived, 9/1/04)

Hurricane Charley threatens to be the biggest storm to hit the Tampa area since at least 1921. The storm, described at 1:24 PM today as a Category 4 with 145 mph winds at the core, is projected to travel up the Eastern seaboard leaving 4-8 inches of rain. This is easily enough to overwhelm CSX’s signal system, but the National Hurricane Center says this rain also could cause “life-threatening flash floods.” Go to www.amtrak.com for service updates. Amtrak has cancelled these trains scheduled to originate Friday (in both directions) Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Palmetto, Auto Train. In addition, new reservations are not being accepted for Saturday and Sunday departures of these trains, although as of 1:30 PM only the Saturday Auto Train departures had been cancelled. Monday departures are filling fast as people reaccommodate. So far, Crescent, Carolinian and Piedmont have not been affected.

July saw the highest monthly ridership in the history of the Pacific Surfliner route, up 8% from a year ago, to 229,300. Growth was not confined to shorter trips as the Los Angeles-San Diego city-pair was up 18%. Cascades (Pacific Northwest) and Capitol Corridor both set July ridership record-—for the latter, the fourth straight record month. The San Joaquin corridor was hurt by on-time performance of only 28.5%, partly due to the levee break in June. Nonetheless, San Joaquin monthly ticket revenue exceeded $2 million for the first time.

Short-distance routes in the middle of the country posted these strong, July ridership gains from a year ago: Chicago-Grand Rapids +24%, Chicago-Port Huron, MI +37%, Oklahoma City-Fort Worth +21%, Chicago-Milwaukee +11%, Chicago-Champaign Illini +10%. In the East, the Raleigh-Charlotte Piedmont was up 41%, and New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian up 12%.

July ridership on long-distance trains ranged from increases of 9% (New York-Pittsburgh Chicago Three Rivers and Washington-Chicago Capitol Limited) and 8% (New York-West Virginia-Chicago Cardinal) to a predictable negative 13% on the never-on-time Sunset Limited. Only two other routes had losses greater than 2.6%--Coast Starlight and California Zephyr, both also with serious on-time performance problems.

A Michigan state senator, Shirley Johnson (R-Royal Oak), ignoring strong ridership on both state-supported routes, slipped an anti-Amtrak provision into the supplemental appropriations bill. She had no support for this, and conferees say it was never brought up in conference. Nonetheless, Section 805 says “in situations where there is a duplicate service, either both the public and private carriers shall receive the same level of operating assistance or neither one shall receive operating assistance.”

This is aimed at forcing Michigan to pay bus companies an amount equal to the $7.1 million Amtrak is getting (highly unlikely), or drop the payments to Amtrak and kill the trains. Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) could solve the problem by line-item vetoing Section 805. If she doesn’t, it could fall to the courts to determine whether the bus and train routes are “duplicate,” since Greyhound along the Pere Marquette route and Indian Trails along the Blue Water have slightly different stops.

Gov. Granholm apparently is aware of the problem, but Rep. Jerry Kooiman (R-Grand Rapids) muddied the waters, saying “I don’t think the effect of the legislation is nearly as grave as they are suggesting.” So the governor could use more calls from Michiganders urging a veto of Section 805. Her number is 517-373-3400.

US Airways cutbacks were the subject of a major New York Times story today. The story makes a between-the-lines case that aging Americans need rail service. Reporting the decline of service to the Ithaca (NY) airport (one of 20 losing direct service to Pittsburgh in November), the story notes more and more Americans are abandoning airports like Ithaca’s and driving to airports with discount air service. But Alfred A. Kahn, the architect of deregulation, is 86 years old and “stopped driving after a serious accident two years ago.” He takes a limo to the Syracuse airport but other Americans might prefer modern rail service.

The August 10 Wall Street Journal (Personal section) carried a Dan Machalaba story on late Amtrak trains, “Taking the Slow Train: Amtrak Delays Rise Sharply; Freight Traffic Jams Rails, Throwing Off Schedules; 35 Hours Late to El Paso.”

The letters section of the same paper included three responding to Machalaba’s big July 22 story on Union Pacific’s meltdown, all critical of UP. H.M. Irvin III of Berkeley, California, doubted UP could achieve its hiring goals and wrote: “At a recent group hiring session in Oakland, Union Pacific representatives cautioned applicants about the rigors of the work: long hours, hazardous work, low pay for new hires, extended time away from home, inability to plan one’s schedule while awaiting calls for service at all hours, day or night. It’s discouraging that the railroad industry, including its collective bargaining units, hasn’t figured out a way to make these important jobs livable. I have 20 years in management as part of this industry and have never been so pessimistic about its prospects.”

Union Pacific reported August 6 that it received a preliminary notice of deficiency from the Internal Revenue Service as a result of an examination of 1995-1998 federal income tax returns. At issue: deductions claimed in connection with some donations of property. UP said it would vigorously defend its position.