NARP December 1996 Hotlines

#959 - December 6, 1996
#960 - December 13, 1996
#961 - December 20, 1996
#962 - December 27, 1996

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The painful process of developing a 1998 Clinton Administration budget is well underway. The DOT has received its "passback," which is the revised budget request it gets from the Office of Management and Budget. Numbers evidently are disappointing for Amtrak, transit, and highways. Outgoing Secretary Pena is not in a strong position to defend the DOT request in the White House. Indeed, we understand that even last year, Rodney Slater, federal highway chief and White House intimate, advocated for the entire DOT budget in the White House instead of Pena. That all means that the need for pro-Amtrak letters is greater than ever.

Be sure to write or copy Vice President Gore, because he is interested in passenger trains -- and in your vote four years from now. Also note that even Amtrak says there is no more room to cut routes without wrecking the long-distance network -- and thus the willingness of the Congress as a whole to support corridor services in the Northeast or anywhere else. That means there is great peril in going below Amtrak's $245-million operating request. Finally, the Clinton Administration has not supported any of the key reforms in the reauthorization bills that would help Amtrak improve its finances without cutting routes.

Transportation programs in general seem to have dropped off the President's list of priorities. An anonymous White House source quoted by the Washington Post said that when the President's budget numbers for domestic discretionary programs comes out, "You'll hear plenty of screaming." We have to assume that includes Amtrak.

In Congress, subcommittee assignments should be firmed up by the end of January. We have now heard, however, that Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.) is likely to keep her chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Amtrak.

New Jersey Transit pledged in November $125 million over several years for upgrading signal systems on the Northeast Corridor, particularly on the congested, two-track Newark-New York segment.

New Jersey Transit also approved, on November 26, plans for a light-rail line from the Trenton Amtrak station to Camden. Passengers could transfer to the PATCO line there, and the light-rail line could be extended to Glassboro someday. The line may use diesel light-rail cars like the one demonstrated in Calgary this summer. The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers worked hard to get this plan approved.

BART will open a five-mile segment tomorrow from the North Concord/Martinez station to Bay Point/Pittsburg.

The BNSF reopened the long-dormant Stampede Pass line in Washington yesterday. At first, it will have one freight train a day each way. Already, local communities such as Pasco and Yakima are asking to have passenger service, too.

Damage to one of the three tubes in the Channel Tunnel caused by a fire November 18 is worse than first thought. One account described the tube at the tunnel scene as "an unlined hole" through the chalk seabed. Repairs to the tunnel could take six months and cost $83 million, with nearly $20 million more for trains and trucks destroyed in the fire, and more for lawsuits. Freight service has resumed in the remaining rail tube, and Eurostar passenger trains returned to service on December 4, running with 30-minute delays.

An out-of-date story ran in the December 2 Chicago Sun Times, indicating that Illinois DOT may seek bids from others interested in operating the state-supported Amtrak services. The article said Metra believed that if it ran these routes, they must pay for themselves in terms of fares and subsidies. However, we understand that Amtrak and Illinois are still working towards and agreement.

President Clinton today nominated William Daley to become Commerce Secretary. That means it looks more like the next Transportation Secretary will be Rodney Slater, the Federal Highway Administrator. He would be the first black person to be Transportation Secretary. Slater is a longtime Clinton associate, and reportedly did the heavy lifting for the entire DOT budget one year ago, in arguing in the White House against budget cuts proposed by the OMB.

NARP wrote to OMB Director Franklin Raines on December 11 urging adequate fiscal 1998 funding for Amtrak. NARP urged $300 million for operations to continue all existing routes. NARP warned that anything below the $245 million Amtrak has requested could lead to such drastic route cuts as to make the system impossible to defend in Congress.

The California High Speed Rail Commission was to meet in San Francisco today and approve plans for an ambitious high-speed rail project from Sacramento and the Bay Area through the Central Valley to Los Angeles and San Diego. A high-speed rail authority has already been created, and will work toward getting a funding measure on the ballot in 2000.

Ohio has joined the Midwest Regional Rail System Study, bring the total to nine states. The study was outlined in the lead article in the November NARP newsletter. The other states already in the study are Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska.

Amtrak is pleased with early numbers from the new Ethan Allen, which began running from New York to Rutland on December 1. The most passengers per trip so far was December 6, when 50 people rode north of Albany, with 41 getting off at Rutland. Today, 45 were supposed to get off at Rutland. Amtrak said ridership should improve deeper into the ski season. The State of Vermont supports the operation of the Ethan Allen, in addition to the existing Vermonter.

An editorial in yesterday's Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., says the new Silver Palm has been a big hit there. The editorial also said local travelers are slated to get a much-needed new passenger terminal. The current station in North Charleston looks like what one might have found at an Iron Curtain border crossing.

The RegioSprinter diesel light-rail car has finished its trial run in Calgary, and is now in the United States. On December 19 and 21, it will be on public display at the Amtrak station in San Jose, Cal. The hours both days are 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.

The San Francisco Municipal Railway put into revenue service on December 10 the first two streetcars of a 77-car order from Breda. The new cars are ADA-compliant and are hoped to be more reliable than the ill-starred Boeing cars that Muni has been using for 20 years. The new cars got good marks from riders the first day, but apparently they have a loud, high-pitched whine that has been disturbing some local residents.

A short circuit shut down BART's trans-bay tube between Oakland and San Francisco for seven hours yesterday, including over the morning rush hour. The San Jose Mercury said, "All main arteries in the East Bay" were clogged with car traffic, and that there were lines of people four blocks long waiting to take buses over the Bay Bridge. A bad day, but a good indication of how some cities rely on rail transit.

A joint venture including the Kansas City Southern and a Mexican steamship line on December 6 won the 50-year concession for taking over Mexico's most important rail line, from Matamoros and Laredo on the Texas border to Monterrey, Mexico City, and Veracruz. Their bid was $1.4 billion. The Union Pacific, which feeds the most rail traffic to this Mexican line, and which was once regarded as a favorite to win the concession, came in third.

Automobile shuttles resumed service through the Channel Tunnel on December 10. Passenger and freight trains resumed earlier. Only truck shuttles are not running. That is the sort of train involved in the November 18 fire that did serious damage to one of the rail tubes.

As expected, President Clinton today announced the nomination of Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater to be the next Secretary of Transportation. Slater is held in high regard by fellow administrators and, as a longtime Clinton associate, reportedly did the heavy lifting for the entire DOT in internal administration budget debates a year ago. Slater will be the second black DOT secretary -- after William Coleman, who served under President Ford -- not the first, as we said here last week.

The fifth anniversary of the signing of the landmark ISTEA law was December 18. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 gave states and regions more choices about how to spend Highway Trust Fund dollars and increased the power of regional planning organizations, as compared to state highway departments. Progress from our point-of-view has been uneven, but ISTEA was crucial to realizing much of the progress we've seen. We want to correct ISTEA's one great flaw by making intercity passenger rail projects an eligible use of ISTEA funds. The highway lobby and some states are fighting to go the other way, to turn the clock back, in favor of a "HOTea" or "Highways Only Transportation" bill.

The Surface Transportation Policy Project on December 18 had a reception at Union Station in Washington to mark the anniversary. Speakers included the author of the 1991 bill, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D.-N.Y.); and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater, Amtrak President Tom Downs, STPP President Hank Dittmar, Reps. James Oberstar (D.-Minn.) and Tom Petri (R.-Wis.; both of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee), and Maryland Transportation Secretary David Winstead. Moynihan said that in ISTEA he tried to advance the concept of highway rationing and pricing and to eliminate the crazy notion that highways are free goods. He said he had proposed something like this early in the Kennedy Administration. He fears ISTEA may be too late and said "I think we have destroyed most of the cities that can be destroyed."

Pennsylvania DOT announced on December 18 that Gov. Tom Ridge on that day signed Senate Bill 809 which, by letting Pennsylvania enter into a labor protection contract with Amtrak and other railroad-related unionized employees, clears the way for $18.7 million of federal funds and $4.67 million of state funds to purchase new diesel-multiple-units for the Keystone Corridor, capable of up to 110 mph (vs. current maximum speeds of 55-70 mph). This limit, of course, is primarily a track rather than an equipment related problem. The release says the state will own the rolling stock and Amtrak will operate it. Each two-to-four-car train set will cost between $3 million and $6 million. The release notes that DMU's are common overseas but none are currently operated in the U.S. Presumably, however, this sounds the death knell for overhead electrification to Harrisburg.

Amtrak released a "Response to Queries" today regarding Amtrak's negotiations with Illinois DOT. The statement said in part that "productive discussions have taken place since Amtrak submitted to the Illinois DOT an innovative, multi-year service package. Amtrak is optimistic an agreement can be reached as early as the end of this month."

Amtrak has formed a Travel Agency Computer Reservation System Advisory Council. It has seven members, and met in Washington for the first time a few weeks ago. The council talks to agents who use different computer reservations systems to find out what the agents would like to see when they call up Amtrak on their screens. Many agents say that Amtrak needs a more user-friendly system for selling its travel products. One council member is NARP Director Carl Fowler of St. Albans, Vt.

Amtrak has changed the names of some of its sleeping-car rooms. Superliner economy rooms are now called "Superliner standard bedrooms." Viewliner compartments are now called "Viewliner standard bedrooms." Superliner and Viewliner special bedrooms are now called "accessible bedrooms." A December 12 Amtrak release on First-Class service includes all the current names but does not explain the changes.

It looks like the budget debate within the White House will last longer than expected, so there's still time to write or e-mail your views on Amtrak funding. On December 25, the Washington Post reported that budget deliberations -- originally expected to be resolved by today -- could drag into the new year, though the president must make final choices "soon" if he is to get his formal budget document to Congress by the February 3 statutory deadline.

The Congressional Budget Office has said it overestimated the amount of budget-cutting needed to get to a balanced federal budget in 2002, and so has issued revised projections. President Clinton now is trying to decide how to use the extra money this makes available -- whether to avoid deeper Medicare cuts, to soften cuts for other programs (possibly including Amtrak), or to give the middle class a slightly larger tax break. Early indications, says the Post, are that Clinton will do a little of each.

If you're traveling between Portland and Seattle on Amtrak or anywhere in that region on any mode of transportation, check before you go because snow, sleet, and rain have severely curtailed most travel.

Amtrak has formed a Travel Agency Computer Reservations System Advisory Council. It has seven members and met in Washington for the first time a few weeks ago. The council talks to agents who use different computer reservations systems to find out what the agents would like to see when they call up Amtrak on their screens. Many agents say that Amtrak needs a more user-friendly system. One council member is NARP Director Carl Fowler of St. Albans, Vt.

The Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled public hearings for January 14-15 on its proposed updating of air quality standards for ozone and particulates, which could force public officials to take transit far more seriously than ever before, and which the highway lobby is gunning for, of course. The hearings will be in Salt Lake City at the Red Lion Hotel, in Chicago at the Midland Hotel, in Boston at Westin Copley Place, and in Durham, N.C., at the Omni Durham. In all four cities, a hearing will run January 14 from 10:30 am to 8:00 pm, and on January 15 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. To sign up to testify, contact Linda Metcalf at the EPA at 919/541-2865 (fax 919/541-0804), or by e-mail.

Send written comments by February 18 to Carol Browner, Administrator, U.S. EPA, 401 M St., S.W., Washington, DC 20460; attention EPA Dockets A-95-54, A95-58, A96-51, and A95-38. Send copies to your legislators and to the Clean Air Network, 1200 New York Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20005.