NARP April 1998 Hotlines

#28 - April 3, 1998
#29 - April 10, 1998
#30 - April 17, 1998
#31 - April 24, 1998

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The House passed H.R.2400, the ISTEA renewal bill, on April 1. It has $10 million a year for high-speed corridor grade-crossing work; $25 million a year for Swift Act technology development; and $10 million a year for corridor planning. The bill has roughly $1 billion for "green projects," including funding earmarked for intercity rail in Georgia, Oregon, and Virginia; $10 million for Detroit-Lansing service; and money for train stations in Sacramento and in Springfield and Worcester, Mass. The Boston North Station-South Station Rail Link is listed, though it is unclear how much money it would get.

H.R.2400 does not include state funding flexibility for intercity passenger trains, but the Senate bill does. This is one of the many differences that will have to be worked out in conference. A floor discussion indicated that the conference may add State of Washington rail corridor funding.

House conferees have been appointed. The Republicans are Shuster (Pa.), Young (Alaska), Petri (Wis.), Boehlert (N.Y.), Kim (Cal.), Horn (Cal.), Fowler (Fla.), Baker (La.), Ney (Ohio), Metcalf (Wash.). Democrats are Oberstar (Minn.), Rahall (W.Va.), Wise (W.Va.), Borski (Pa.), Lipinski (Ill.), Clyburn (S.C.), Filner (Cal.), McGovern (Mass.). Senate conferees will be the entire Environment and Public Works Committee, plus a few others yet to be named.

Please tell your legislators -- especially if they are among the conferees -- to work for the Senate language on intercity passenger rail flexibility. The House and Senate have adjourned for two weeks, so many members will be home where you can reach them.

The Senate budget resolution passed last night. There were no anti-Amtrak amendments. Instead, there was a very positive Sense of the Senate amendment. Its primary sponsors were Lautenberg (D.-N.J.) and Lott (R.-Miss.), and it called for full funding of authorized Amtrak programs. The amendment passed on a voice vote.

Reports indicated that the Clinton Administration has some nominees in mind for the new Amtrak board. They are DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, current board members Sylvia de Leon and Amy Rosen, Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Miss., former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton, former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, and William Teitelman.

The Surface Transportation Board told Maine officials to expect a decision on the Boston-Portland service in May. This involves a dispute between Amtrak and Guilford over the terms of operating the new service.

The STB itself was the subject of a hearing on March 31 in the Surface Transportation Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee. STB chair Linda Morgan -- herself a former staffer in that subcommittee -- came under intense fire from subcommittee members. Subcommittee chair Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.), in particular, was critical of the STB's role in the takeover of the Southern Pacific by the Union Pacific, which many observers felt led to the terrible gridlock experienced in Texas and other places since last summer. The STB is up for reauthorization this year, though this week's hearing was held specifically to talk about railroad service problems.

The Association of American Railroads has appointed James Hagen as interim president. He replaces M. B. Oglesby, Jr., who resigned recently after less than nine months on the job. Hagen was chairman of Conrail from 1990 to 1996, and is a former assistant Federal Railroad Administrator.

The May issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine has a feature story on the Rocky Mountaineer and American Orient Express trains by deputy editor and long-time rail traveler Fred W. Frailey.

The March issue of Scientific American has an article about oil reserves in some of the larger world oil fields peaking in 2005, causing supply to start falling short of demand and prices increasing.

Last week we named the 18 members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee named to the ISTEA conference committee, as well as the 18 Senators making up the entire Environment and Public Works Committee. In addition, the following 16 Senators have been named -- Republicans Stevens (Alaska), Shelby (Ala.), McCain (Ariz.), Domenici (N.Mex.), Hatch (Utah), Roth (Del.), Grassley (Ia.), D'Amato (N.Y.), Nickles (Okla.), Gramm (Tex.). Also, Democrats Dodd (Conn.), Sarbanes (Md.), Hollings (S.C.), Murray (Wash.), Breaux (La.), Conrad (N.Dak.).

Staffers of the conferees began meeting this week. They will meet again in the coming week, though the actual conferees won't meet until the week of April 20. Now is the time to tell your Representative and Senators to keep state flexibility for passenger trains in the ISTEA bill. Now is the time to write supportive letters-to-the-editor.

Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater rode Amtrak's Carolinian on April 6 from Raleigh to Charlotte, N.C. His trip was part of a tour of Southeastern states, and this part was to highlight efforts to close grade crossings and prepare an existing rail line for high-speed service.

In a ceremony in Portland yesterday, Amtrak Northeast President Stan Bagley and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R.) gave the State of Maine the first half of the $23 million in Taxpayer Relief Act money that Maine gets because it has no Amtrak service. Part of it will be used to extend the planned Portland service to Freeport and Brunswick. Because a full construction season is needed, the service may not start until next year. Ironically, the state has an incentive not to start until then -- it would get more TRA money in 1999 for not having Amtrak service.

Amtrak is being sued by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes and by eight black employees, a former employee, and a rejected applicant, all of whom are accusing Amtrak of racial harassment and discrimination. They say Amtrak's Northeast Corridor engineering department hires too few black workers, denies them promotions, and disciplines them more harshly. Amtrak has denied the charges. The suit is in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia.

As part of a plan to mitigate congestion during a ten-year project to rebuild I-71 between Cleveland and Columbus, the Ohio DOT is considering passenger trains as an option. However, the Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers points out that three or four daily round trips are needed to provide a more practical alternative than the two trips proposed by the state. Public comment meetings have begun in the corridor, and they are listed on the events page of the NARP web site.

The Hartford, Conn., council of governments and City Council both voted, during March, against Hartford light rail, effectively killing a project that has been planned for years. The line would have run to Hartford's airport. The Hartford Courant blamed the "highway-obsessed" Connecticut DOT for sinking the project.

Cincinnati's regional council of governments has approved a two-year study of a light-rail line from the main airport in Kentucky northeast through the city to King's Island amusement park. When the study is done, voters will decide whether it is built. However, the area's local congressmen are saying they do not support more funding to do more studies, and that is giving light-rail enemies an opportunity to become more vocal.

A consulting firm has told a city committee in Fort Worth, Tex., that an urban streetcar line could be built for about $20 million, and could be financed through federal grants.

Telling your Members of Congress that the final ISTEA renewal bill must contain flexibility for states to spend money on intercity passenger rail projects is still the most important item on our agendas right now. It now looks like the conference committee's work will last until about May 21 -- but don't wait to make your views known. Decisions on specific issues could come at any time. There were more staff meetings of conferees this week, but the important meetings won't begin until after legislators return from spring recess on April 21.

Also, appropriations subcommittee members need to hear from you about the importance of granting the Administration's request for 1999 funding for Amtrak.

The eastbound Three Rivers struck a derailed Conrail train at Conway Yard west of Pittsburgh, early the morning of April 13. Several of the Amtrak cars derailed also, injuring 20 people, none seriously.

A freight derailment on CSX south of Sebring, Fla., meant passengers were bussed between Orlando and Miami and intermediate points from April 11 to 14. Passenger also were bussed April 16 between Richmond, Va., and Rocky Mount, N.C., due to another CSX derailment. Yet another CSX derailment the morning of April 12, at Crystal City (Arlington), Va., disrupted Amtrak's Easter traffic and some Monday morning VRE commuter trains.

The station at Sebring, Fla., had its restoration completed with ISTEA funds, and there will be an official dedication on April 24. For a long time it was considered the worst Amtrak station in Florida.

Tri-Rail will open a short extension south to the site of the proposed Miami Intermodal Center on April 27. The site will be a four-minute shuttle ride from the airport. Amtrak will have through-ticketing to the new station with a cross-platform transfer at Hollywood.

The Metrolink commuter service in southern California has awarded a three-year equipment maintenance contract to Bombardier. Their bid, at about $13 million, came in $7 million lower than the bid by the current provider, Amtrak. Though Metrolink rated Amtrak higher in technical qualifications, it decided to pay the lower amount to Bombardier. This does not affect Amtrak's contract to operate the trains.

The temporary extension of Amtrak Hiawatha service from Milwaukee west to Wauwatosa, Brookfield, Pewaukee, Oconomowoc, and Watertown, Wis., seems to have gotten off to a good start. The first day, April 14, there were about 200 passengers on the two morning eastbound trips. Local transit connections have been beefed up at Pewaukee and Milwaukee, and some employers are sending private vans to the train to pick up their employees. The service runs through July 11, as a state-supported alternative to I-94, which is undergoing major repairs right now.

Rep. Fred Upton (R.-Mich.) was a guest this week on a high-speed test run on Amtrak's Kalamazoo line, according to the Detroit News. The 110-mph service on that line, using a new signal system, was to begin this summer, but according to Michigan DOT will be delayed to spring 1999 because of bugs in the new system that need to be worked out. For example, there have been problems when signal radio antennas have had snow on them, and problems with receivers not getting the correct radio signals. However, the system correctly slows down trains when such problems arise.

Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson signed a bill on April 9 containing $40 million in state matching funds for a proposed light-rail line from downtown Minneapolis to the airport and the Mall of America. The line may be running in 2003.

House and Senate conferees began meeting this week to talk about the differences between the two ISTEA renewal bills -- H.R.2400 from the House and S.1173 from the Senate. These talks are expected to last into May, but any topic can come up at any time from now on. This includes Senate language letting states choose to invest federal money in passenger rail. So keep the pressure up on your Members of Congress.

The NARP Board of Directors has been meeting in Washington the last half of this week. Last night, at the annual NARP reception, three Golden Spike Awards were presented. One each went to Sen. John Chafee (R.-R.I.) and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D.-N.Y.), for their years of work for a balanced transportation system in this country. In particular, the two Senators have worked to make sure that intercity passenger rail be recognized legally as a form of surface transportation at the federal level. Their ISTEA renewal bill, S.1173, would do that, though the House bill, H.R.2400, does not.

The third Golden Spike went to long-time Amtrak government affairs officer Tim Gillespie, who left his post March 31 to begin consulting on his own.

Finally, at the reception, there was a presentation of the annual Dr. Gary Burch Memorial Safety Award. This year it went to Patrick Corcoran, who is a locomotive engineer on the Metra line in Chicago formerly operated by the Chicago & North Western; now Union Pacific. The award is named for a passenger in the 1991 Silver Star accident in South Carolina and is administered by NARP and by Dr. Burch's wife, Bette Burch. Corcoran was recognized for his many efforts, including teaching safe methods of evacuating trains to local police and fire departments.

This morning, Amtrak Acting President George Warrington told the group that he believes that the Administration's budget proposals for the coming years are adequate to get Amtrak back to financial health. He said he is convinced that the Northeast Corridor high-speed program will generate revenues that can be used to support the whole system. He explained that in the next 12-18 months, Amtrak will be developing service standards and a market-based planning process aimed at increasing market share in the routes and corridors Amtrak serves.

Today's luncheon speaker was Jed Dodd, the General Chairman of the Pennsylvania Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes. That section of the BMWE represents some Amtrak, Conrail, and CSX employees in the Northeast and part of the Midwest. Dodd was instrumental in negotiating the labor agreement between the BMWE and Amtrak last fall.

Former Amtrak President Tom Downs has accepted a non-paying position as head of an agency to revitalize downtown Washington, D.C. Downs had remained a Washington resident since leaving his Amtrak post last December. Earlier in his career, he held several posts in city government in Washington, including as Director of Public Works.

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the opening of the first new-start, modern light-rail line in North America. The light rail service operated by Edmonton Transit in Canada began operations on April 23, 1978.