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October 2004 Hotlines |
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October 2004 Hotlines |
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A fire in
the East River Tunnel near New York Penn Station on Monday caused major
delays and numerous cancellations of Amtrak, Long Island Railroad, and
New Jersey Transit services. The fire began when two electric wires
somehow touched each other, causing a short circuit, which then sparked
a fire in an electrical transformer. The fire has again drawn attention
to the need for almost $900 million in fire and life safety improvements
in both the East River and Hudson River tunnels which bracket Penn Station.
Fire crews had to descend narrow, spiraling staircases and had to deal
with a near-total lack of ventilation and thus visibility while in the
tunnel. Rail service returned to normal by Tuesday afternoon
Amtrak engineering
officials took members of the press on a tour of aging Northeast Corridor
bridges on Tuesday. The Niantic and Thames River bridges east of
New London, Ct. are in dire need of replacement. The New London
Day said, “When engineers were building the Thames River Railroad Bridge
in 1918, the Red Sox won the World Series.” The article continues
on to point out that major components of the Thames River Bridge, namely
four bolts critical to the operation of the lift span, have broken and
that replacement parts are simply no longer available. A failure
of any of the three archaic bridges on the north end would lead to an entire
shut-down of New York-Boston rail service, paralyzing the region.
John R. Stokes,
the truck driver who drove his steel beam-laden truck around lowered
crossing gates and into the path of the City of New Orleans on March 15,
1999, killing 11 passengers, will spend the next two years in jail.
He was convicted last month of willful violation of the maximum time limit
for commercial truckers and willfully violating laws requiring him to keep
an accurate logbook. In the accident investigation, it was discovered
that Stokes had only three to five hours sleep in the 38 hours prior to
the accident.
Since a final
fiscal 2005 Transportation / Treasury appropriations bill has not yet
passed the Congress, a continuing resolution (CR), which permits government
functions to continue operating, was passed on Thursday. Amtrak will
continue to be funded at its fiscal 2004 level of $1.2 billion, with continued
forgiveness of the 2002 $100 million DOT loan. Senate floor action
(followed by House-Senate conference) is possible in a lame-duck session
after the election. This CR is good through November 20.
Another CR
was necessary for TEA-21, the six year highway/transit reauthorization
bill. The third bill in the series, called TEA-LU, has yet to get
out of a House-Senate conference committee and, with the passage of an
eight month extension on Thursday, will likely not until the new Congress
is seated in January. Transit authorizations are “flat lined” from
the fiscal 2004 funding level, while highways receive a slight increase.
The House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed H.R. 5087, “The
Public Transportation Terrorism Prevention and Response Act Of 2004” on
Thursday. This bill authorizes $3.5 billion over three years for
public transportation security improvement grants. It requires a
Memorandum of Understanding between the Departments of Transportation and
Homeland Security to define and clarify roles of the agencies, security
standards, and funding priorities; requires DOT and DHS to jointly update
existing risk assessments of transit agencies and; requires DOT to develop
guidelines for a public transportation employee security training program.
In a speech
to the Richmond Friends of Rail at their annual breakfast, Virginia
Department of Rail and Public Transportation director Karen J. Rae expressed
frustration at the lack of progress in $65.7 million of state-supported
upgrades to the Richmond-Washington, D.C. rail corridor. Rae told
the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “We have some cooperation at CSX, but
I’m not sure it’s through the whole corporate structure...I am most frustrated,
as is my staff, the secretary of transportation and the governor that the
money is not in the ground yet.” If progress is not forthcoming,
Virginia DOT Secretary Whitt Clement has threatened to redirect the funds
to other projects.
The long-planned
project to replace the dilapidated Amtrak station in Sturtevant, Wisc.
got the approval of Sturtevant’s Village Board on Tuesday. Legal
issues between the Village, Amtrak, and Canadian Pacific Railway have been
resolved, and the project can move forward. Construction on the $3.2
million project will begin in the Spring.
The Michigan
Senate passed the 2005 Transportation Bill late Wednesday evening with
$7.2 million for the operation of the two state-supported Amtrak trains
($7.1 million for train operations and $100,000 for promotion/marketing).
The bill now goes to Governor Granholm, who will sign it. Leading
the fight against the Amtrak funding was Rep. Shirley Johnson (R-Royal
Oak), who argued that the trains were unfairly subsidized, to the detriment
of Indian Trails, a private intercity motor coach operator. Rep.
Lauren Hager (R-Port Huron) was instrumental in securing fellow legislators’
support for the train. The large ridership increases (16.2% Blue
Water and 17.9% Pere Marquette) plus the strong voice of support from rail
advocates and the general public had a major impact on this legislation
passing. Thank you to all of those who helped, especially the Michigan
Association of Railroad Passengers and Save
Our Trains Michigan.
Amtrak’s
service in Florida continues to be impacted by the damage from Hurricane
Jeanne. All Silver Service was cancelled Saturday through Tuesday.
Limited service resumed on Wednesday. The Auto Train resumed its
full route, the Palmetto operated as far south as Jacksonville, the Silver
Star operated to Sanford (bus to Winter Park and Orlando), and the Silver
Meteor was cancelled entirely on Thursday. The Sunset Limited continues
to terminate in New Orleans, due to severe damage in the Pensacola area
from Hurricane Ivan. The earliest this service will resume is October
8 (eastbound from New Orleans) and October 10 (westbound from Orlando)—and
this is subject to change.
No further
progress was made on the fiscal 2005 Transportation-Treasury appropriations
process. As reported last week, the continuing resolution for all
programs whose bills have not passed is good until November 20. This
indicates that there will be some action during the brief “lame duck” session
after the election. Again, contact your Senators and ask them to
raise the Amtrak funding level from the current $1.218 billion to at least
$1.5 billion with forgiveness of the $100 million DOT loan or $1.6 billion
if the loan repayment is required.
Last month,
Amtrak’s new Board of Directors met and revised the total down to $1.5
(with loan forgiveness) from the original $1.8 (which included loan repayment).
Thus, the reduction is only $200 million and makes the “ask” potentially
more palatable on Capital Hill.
CSX Transportation,
in a change of attitude, has informed the Virginia Department of Transportation
that they are ready to proceed with $65.7 million in VDOT-funded improvements
to the Richmond-Washington rail line. VDOT and CSX signed a construction
agreement on Wednesday. The first project is likely to be the upgrading
what is now an un-signaled third track between “XR” (Spotsylvania,
the point at which VRE’s layover yard enters the railroad) and “FD” (a
few hundred yards south of the Fredericksburg station) to passenger train
standards.
All Florida
Amtrak service has resumed, with the Sunset Limited making its
first trip east of New Orleans in over a month today. The first westbound
trip will be on Sunday. A previously-scheduled CSX track improvement
program will cause annulment of Sunset Limited service between New
Orleans and Orlando. Tuesday eastbound departures from New Orleans
and Thursday westbound departures from Orlando will not operate until December
7. No alternate transportation is being provided. The
train will operate as scheduled west of New Orleans to Los Angeles.
The long-planned
program to turn Amtrak’s former Chicago office space in Chicago Union
Station into a mixed-use, redeveloped project got a shot in the arm late
last week. Amtrak formally ended its relationship with Prime Group
Realty Trust and hired WWII LLC, another consulting firm. WWII is
expected to submit its first report on the proposed project next month.
The Brotherhood
of Maintenance of Way Employees has won a hearing next Wednesday before
the Surface Transportation Board regarding CSX’s proposed lease of nearly
200 miles of its ex-C&O lines in Virginia to a shortline railroad.
CSX wants to lease its Washington, Mountain, and most of its Piedmont Subdivisions
to Buckingham Branch Railroad. The BMWE is arguing that this is union-busting
in disguise, as CSX will retain overhead trackage rights on the line.
Buckingham Branch plans to use 50% less track maintenance employees and
employ non-union workers. Amtrak, whose Cardinal uses 120
miles of the railroad—from Orange north of Charlottesville to Clifton Forge,
has also filed a statement in the case, expressing concern that the tiny
(currently 17-mile long) Buckingham Branch does not have the operational
skill required to maintain 200 miles of aging, mountainous railroad.
The STB will hold the oral argument at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October
13, 2004, in Room 760, the agency's hearing room, on the 7th Floor of the
agency's headquarters in the Mercury Building, 1925 K Street, N.W., Washington,
D.C.
The Texas
Eagle Marketing and Promotion Organization held a meeting earlier this
week in Longview, Tex. Amtrak officials said that the train has been
doing very well, especially in terms of improved on-time performance.
Amtrak also announced that, following the suggestion and initial design
work of TEMPO member Matt Fels, they would produce a Spanish language wallet
card for the Texas Eagle. If successful, the program may be
expanded to other trains.
In an effort
to assist with the recovery of the tourism industry in Florida, Amtrak
has announced a special 20% discount on all travel to Florida. To
qualify, tickets must be booked at least three days before the travel date,
and all trips must be made before October 28. The Auto Train
is included in the sale. Ask for code V671 when making reservations.
Spirit Airlines, based in Detroit, Mich., is making a similar offer.
Amtrak’s
Fall/Winter Timetable, effective November 1, includes the following
changes in addition to the service modifications mentioned in our September
3 hotline (#363):
At the annual
meeting of the Standing Committee on Rail Transportation of the American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (SCORT-AASHTO,
state DOT officials responsible for railroad policy), NARP Executive Director
Ross B. Capon gave an update on legislative progress in Washington, D.C.
and spoke of the potential for intercity passenger rail service as part
of a panel of rail industry government affairs leaders.
Paul Nowicki
of BNSF, who was on the same panel, said he was more optimistic about the
industry than ever before in his career. He noted that, in terms
of freight ton-miles, rail’s market share jumped 2% over the past two years,
roughly 1% each from trucks and barges. He said BNSF just got permission
to test Electronic Train Management System (ETMS), which will automatically
apply brakes if crew goes over speed limit or exceeds authority.
He said this system, which he dubbed “PTC lite,” could eventually become
the basis for true Positive Train Control. He also spoke about progress
in funding the big CREATE program aimed at relieving rail congestion in
Chicago. This $1.5 billion package of projects would benefit both
freight and passenger trains and was outlined in the July 2003 NARP
News.
Amtrak has
set yet another ridership record for fiscal 2004. Over 25 million riders
were carried on the nation’s passenger rail system from October 2003 through
September 2004. Leading the way were the Cardinal (23.1%), the three
Michigan Corridor services (Wolverine 12.2%, Blue Water 16.7%,
Pere Marquette 19.6%), Heartland Flyer (16.8%), Capitol
Limited (17.4%), Texas Eagle (9.5%), and Southwest Chief
(6.1%). Overall, corridors were up 4.4% and National Network (long distance)
trains were up 3.3%. These numbers, especially National Network, are even
more impressive given several long-term and high profile service disruptions
this past year, particularly the four hurricanes to strike Florida, the
Republican and Democratic conventions, and the two month long service disruption
to the Silver Service due to CSX Transportation trackwork.
The long-awaited
Amtrak Maintenance Facility in Oakland, CA was dedicated on Tuesday.
This $71 million modern facility replaces a century-old, steam era-designed
outdoor facility nearby. The centerpieces of the facility are a 50,000
square foot maintenance building and a 70,000 square foot service and inspection
(S&I) structure. The new facility will permit trains to be serviced
without breaking apart consists and will segregate passenger and freight
operations in the busy Port of Oakland. The facility will permit Amtrak
and State of California locomotives to receive heavy maintenance, wheel
work, and inspections in Oakland rather than having to deadhead them to
Los Angeles or contract the work out to Union Pacific. Mechanical reliability
of the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin locomotive fleet should improve
as well.
Congress
passed the “Jumpstart Our Business Strength Act” (HR 4520) on Monday.
The major impetus behind the bill was to repeal export subsidies ruled
illegal by the World Trade Organization, thereby ending European sanctions
on American manufacturers, businesses and farmers. However, like many bills
in Washington in an election year, many non-germane items were added to
the bill. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) attempted to add tax credits for
passenger rail infrastructure investment, but was unsuccessful. Tax credits
for shortline railroad investment and a repeal of the federal 4.3 cent
railroad fuel tax were included in the bill. Amtrak’s savings under the
repeal of the tax are estimated to be $2.7 million per year after the repeal
is fully phased in July 1, 2007.
The Surface
Transportation Board heard arguments from the Brotherhood of Maintenance
of Way Employees (BMWE) and CSX on Wednesday regarding the proposed lease
of 200 miles of track in Virginia to the Buckingham Branch Railroad. The
BMWE is arguing that the transaction is a union-busting tactic by CSX and
an attempt to skirt millions of dollars in deferred maintenance on the
line. The financial numbers bear scrutiny: Buckingham Branch will pay CSX
$140 thousand a year to lease the line, while CSX will then turn around
and pay Buckingham Branch $2 million per year to run empty grain and coal
trains on the route. The BMWE argues that the net CSX payment of $1.8 million
a year is cheaper than the amount of deferred maintenance on the line.
In addition, Buckingham Branch proposes to maintain the aging infrastructure
with eight non-union workers versus 14 BMWE workers.
An elite
group of powerful business interests are paying heavily into “Stop
the Bullet Train” political action committees (PAC’s) in Florida. The Orlando
Business Journal reports that, “businesses and individuals have poured
more than $3.3 million into DeRail the Bullet Train and Floridians for
Responsible Spending, according to records from the Florida Department
of State's division of elections.” Perhaps the most ironic contributor
is The Villages, a senior-oriented community—the very citizens who need
a mobility choice.
New Jersey
Transit is teaming up with Fannie Mae mortgage services to encourage
people to buy homes near mass transit. The innovative program serves to
negate the stereotype that living near a railroad track or bus route is
a “nuisance.” Perhaps most interesting is that the program makes qualifying
for a mortgage easier because lenders will count as income some of the
money saved by commuting via mass transit.
Amtrak hosted
a successful trip on the Texas Eagle
this past weekend—reviving an old tradition of traveling by train to the
annual Oklahoma-Texas football game. This year’s trip carried about fifty
people and, to quote the Austin American-Statesman, “the view was great,
somebody else drove and, thanks to a fair amount of spirits flowing in
various cars, a general sense of bonhomie settled in by just north of Temple.”
This morning, 65 Iowa State fans stepped off the California Zephyr
in Denver to see their football team play tomorrow.
The new Amtrak
timetable, as discussed in last week’s hotline, should be available
in stations in the next few days. All major changes in this timetable were
discussed last week. In addition to its routing changes, times for the
Silver Service are undergoing heavy modification. Many of these
changes are good—such as the earlier operation of the Silver Star,
which gives much better times to Raleigh, N.C. and Columbia, S.C. NARP
has expressed its concern to Amtrak regarding the connection-breaking 2:15pm
departure of the Silver Meteor from New York. Amtrak has said that
this is a temporary measure to allow for a double-tracking window in the
West Palm Beach-Miami Tri-Rail corridor and they hope to move the train
to a slot later than 3:00 pm in the April timetable.
The NARP
Board of Directors is meeting today and tomorrow in Denver, Colorado.
Today, Amtrak’s Chief of Service Delivery, Kevin Scott, spoke to the board
and outlined, among many things, plans to improve on board employee supervision
and a new method of training dining car chefs.
Congress
is on recess until November 16. Now is the time to ask candidates
and incumbents about passenger rail in forums, town hall meetings, or one-on-one
discussions—and to tell them your views! Emphasize the need for a
$1.5 billion appropriation for Amtrak in fiscal 2005, especially amongst
Senators and Senatorial candidates.
Legislative
activity after the November 2 election likely will depend on whether
the Senate or White House changes hands. If either John Kerry wins
the White House or the Democrats re-take the Senate (or both), expect a
brief lame duck session, with more continuing resolutions. If the
Republicans remain in charge, a longer lame duck session is possible.
There might even be a final resolution of Transportation/Treasury funding
for FY 2005, although this is not certain because this bill is considered
one of the tougher ones to resolve.
Senator Joseph
Biden (D-DE) released a report today about the state of railroad security
in America. Biden was spurred by the passage earlier this month of
the Rail Security Act of 2004 in the Senate, and by lack of encouragement
from the White House for House action. "Over the past three years,
I have become increasingly frustrated with President's Bush's failure to
focus on increasing rail security. Security experts have warned us time
and time again that terrorists bent on creating high body counts have directly
targeted our rail systems. Despite these ominous warnings, the President
has failed to provide critical leadership and has failed to sufficiently
invest in rail security efforts. I hope he will act before it's too late,"
said Biden.
Smart Growth
America and the National Association of Realtors have released their
2004 American Community Survey. Among the findings of the survey
of 1,130 adults, “Americans favor smart growth communities with shorter
commute times, sidewalks, and places to walk more than sprawling communities,”
“The length of their commute to work holds a dominant place in Americans’
decisions about where to live,” and “Americans want government and business
to be investing in existing communities before putting resources into newer
communities farther out from cities and older suburbs.” Specifically,
when asked about solutions to traffic congestion, 50% of survey participants
said transit was the solution, 31% wanted to change land development procedures,
but – most importantly – only 18% said “build more roads.” These
results come on top of an Associate Press poll last summer which also supported
transit and smart-growth efforts.
The New England
Journal of Medicine has published a study linking increased levels
of vehicle-generated soot and increased heart attacks. In the past,
many have argued that the stress from traffic congestion causes many heart
problems. However, the new study indicates that while stress does
not help, it is not the main culprit. "It certainly supports what
many of us have suspected, that air pollution is not good for the heart,"
said Dr. Roger S. Blumenthal, director of preventive cardiology at the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Although at this point the research
is not definite, medical experts believe that the arteries feeding heart
muscle suddenly constrict in reaction to an unexpected dose of air pollution.
For those with existing, underlying, and/or chronic conditions, this may
cause fatty plaques to break off and form clots that can interrupt blood
flow. A report on this study made the front page of the October 21
Baltimore Sun.
The Lake
Shore Limited suffered a fire in its Dormitory car (employee accommodations)
early Tuesday morning near Toledo, Ohio. After smelling smoke, employees
pulled the emergency brake, brining the train to a stop. All employees
were evacuated and neither crew nor passengers suffered physical injuries,
although some employees were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
In addition
to all-reserved Northeast Corridor service for Thanksgiving weekend
(reported in past hotlines), effective November 1, Amtrak will institute
an all-reserved policy on weekend Regional service along the entire
route between Boston and Newport News, Va. Keystone and Clocker
services will continue to be unreserved. This policy change is being
initiated to reduce crowding and more evenly space passengers out amongst
the many trains per day in the corridor. Smart Passes (multi-ride
tickets) will continue to be accepted on most weekend trains. Those trains
not accepting Smart Passes after Nov. 1 are trains: #156, #192, #87 and
#135 on Sundays and #152 on Saturdays.
Amtrak is
scheduled on November 1 to strictly enforce its baggage policy, discussed
in our October 8 hotline. Today, NARP Executive
Director Ross B. Capon expressed the Association’s concerns regarding this
strict enforcement effort to Amtrak in a letter to President David Gunn.
NARP asked that any enforcement focus specifically on real issues like
employee injuries and passenger safety, rather than the sledgehammer approach
the Association fears is contemplated.
Be sure
to vote on November 2!
More to the
point for rail travel, take any opportunity while your legislators
are back home to remind them that there is unfinished business regarding
FY 2005 appropriations for Amtrak, and a need to finish that business correctly,
that is, to fully fund the Amtrak board’s revised $1.5 billion grant request.
The Transportation
Security Administration has directed Amtrak to begin random checks
of passengers’ identification on board trains. According to an Amtrak
advisory, “Beginning in November, adult passengers (18 and older) will
be randomly asked to produce valid photo identification by conductors on
board all trains. The random identification checks will be based on a passenger’s
ticket number and will be conducted on approximately 10 percent of all
passengers. If the name of the passenger on the ticket and the passenger’s
identification do not match and a reasonable explanation is not provided,
conductors will be required to alert Amtrak Police for further investigation”
The State
of New York has secured two anchor tenants for the long-proposed conversion
of the Farley Post Office Building into a new Pennsylvania Station.
From a major New York Times story published October 28: “Both
New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road have told state officials
that they want to have tracks and space at the station, replacing Amtrak
as the anchor tenant…The Farley building, which stretches from Eighth Avenue
west to Ninth Avenue, also seems to be playing a role in the city’s plans
to redevelop the far West Side of Manhattan and build a highly contested
football stadium for the Jets.”
Amtrak backed out of the project last month,
citing excessive costs. Included in the proposed design is the footprint
for a new Madison Square Garden (the current building is one of the oldest
arenas in the NBA and NHL) at the railroad west end of the building, retail,
and space for NJT and LIRR. The latter tenant is curious—access to
tracks 16-23, used exclusively by the LIRR, is currently impossible from
the Farley Building and subway access will be far less ideal. If
the proposed sports arena is built and Madison Square Garden is torn down,
it may give Amtrak an opportunity to build its own, improved Penn Station
facility on the current footprint.
Today’s New
York Times reports that the New York state auditor has issued a report
condemning MTA for planning to raise fares and cut service while making
little progress on cutting costs that do not affect service.
Sacramento
Regional Transit and the Federal government have come to an agreement
regarding construction of a branch of Sacramento’s light rail system to
the Amtrak station. The line, which will traverse H Street, passes
directly by the Federal Building. The government raised concerns
about security, especially in light of the March Madrid train bombings.
The agreement will call for a single track (as opposed to double track)
line past the building and onto the Amtrak station. The construction
timetable calls for completion in October 2005.
A third daily
frequency from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo will
begin on November 17. Train 799 will leave Los Angles at
7:30am and arrive in San Luis Obispo at 12:45pm. The return trip
will depart San Luis Obispo at 1:20pm and arrive in Los Angles at 7:10pm.
Due to equipment shortages, the new train will utilize Amfleet and Horizon
equipment (as opposed to Pacific Surfliner cars). The train
will have a bus connection at San Luis Obispo to/from the San Francisco
area, thus roughly duplicating the schedule of the former “Coast Daylight”
train. Bus connections will also operate from Santa Ana and Fullerton to Los Angeles.
Amtrak's
popular Rockettes Christmas Pageant packages were affected by the bankruptcy
of Private Label Travel, doing business as Amtrak Vacations. However,
Yankee Holidays is now handling Radio City Christmas Spectacular bookings,
including those previously made with Amtrak Vacations. Call Yankee
Holidays at 877-579-9217 to inquire about bookings already made or to make
a new booking. Train and show tickets will be mailed to people already
fully paid about two weeks before the travel/show date.
Amtrak’s
new timetable takes effect on Monday, November 1. Also, Saturday
night (October 30) is the end of Daylight savings time. At 2:00 a.m.,
Amtrak trains will “gain” an hour (that is, time will revert to 1:00 a.m.).
Thus, at the next station, trains will hold if necessary until they are
on-time and will not depart early.
This week,
passenger rail lost two advocacy leaders.
Paul Adams,
Deputy Director of Oklahoma DOT, passed away in his sleep on Wednesday
evening. He is eulogized by NARP Director and TEMPO Vice Chairman
Bill Pollard, “From the time of the Heartland Flyer's inauguration, Paul
attended almost every TEMPO meeting, both to show his support for passenger
rail in this part of the country, and to provide information on the Heartland
Flyer, in which he took a particular interest. Paul was a rarity
in this part of the nation -- a DOT/highway official with a vision and
passion for the potential of passenger rail. His interest in rail
was enhanced by his experience dealing with state political processes and
his professional contacts both in Oklahoma and in surrounding states.
His willingness to spend time attending meetings of the Heartland Flyer
Coalition, TEMPO, TXARP and NARP to share his knowledge and experience
is something for which we will always be appreciative.”
George Benson,
a long time Seattle-area rail activist who was primarily responsible for
the construction of the Seattle Waterfront Streetcar, died Monday.
He was 85. Although the project was fraught with cost overruns and
was dubbed by some as “Benson’s Folly,” the trolleys have been wildly popular
and a major stimulus to revitalization on the Seattle Waterfront.
For his efforts and the two decades he spent on the Seattle City Council,
he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Public Transit Association
in 1997.
#368 - October 8, 2004
Regarding the last
item, NARP has expressed its concern to Amtrak that, at least initially,
passengers boarding at un-staffed stations at overnight hours be given
a grace period for compliance.
#369 - October 15, 2004
#370 - October 22, 2004
#371 - October 29, 2004
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