NARP February 1999 Hotlines

#71-A - February 3, 1999
#72 - February 5, 1999
#73 - February 12, 1999
#74 - February 19, 1999
#75 - February 26, 1999

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President Clinton's budget for fiscal 2000 is right on target with the $571 million that Amtrak requested and that the Administration promised in Hill testimony a year ago. However, general funds for high-speed rail would be cut sharply -- from $20.5 million to $12 million. In addition, President Clinton proposed giving high-speed rail $35 million in excess gasoline-tax revenues. We support this, but it will be tough to get because it requires changing the TEA-21 law, under which highways get all such excess gas-tax revenues.

[Continues with text from #71 of January 29.]

President Clinton's request for fiscal 2000 is right on target with the $571 million that Amtrak requested and that the Administration promised in Hill testimony a year ago. However, general funds for high-speed rail would be cut sharply -- from $24 million to $12 million. In addition, President Clinton proposed giving high-speed rail $35 million in excess gasoline-tax revenues. We support this, but it will be tough to get because it requires changing TEA-21, under which highways get all such excess gas-tax revenues. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Chafee (R.-R.I.) publicly opposed any such change on February 1, the day the President's budget came out.

All major non-Amtrak transportation programs would get funding increases under the President's proposal, largely due to the budget firewalls created by TEA-21 for highways and transit. Highways get a 4% increase, transit goes up 13%, and aviation goes up 4%. Vice President Gore released elements of the transit funding proposal last week. It included -- among other things -- money for more double-tracking on the Tri-Rail commuter line in Florida, and money for light-rail projects in places like Orlando, Dallas, Memphis, Newark, San Diego, and Salt Lake City.

Now that the President's budget has been released, Congressional hearings begin. February 10 is for Members of Congress and other witnesses before the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.). NARP Executive Director Ross Capon will appear then.

The Wolf subcommittee's annual Amtrak hearing will be March 4, with Amtrak President George Warrington, the FRA, and the DOT's Inspector General. DOT Secretary Rodney Slater will testify March 18.

The Amtrak board will meet in Los Angeles next week, and on February 9 they will dedicate a new, $19-million locomotive maintenance building. They will also break ground on a $14-million service inspection facility for passenger cars, which should open in 2001. The locomotive shop replaces a 1930's roundhouse designed to handle steam locomotives.

There will be a dedication ceremony on February 9 at 11:00 am for a renovated facility for Amtrak passengers in Charlottesville, Va. Amtrak has moved out of the crumbling former Union Station and into the adjacent former REA building, which has been fixed up with a new waiting room, ticket office, agent office, baggage room, and crew facilities. After the ceremony, a set of equipment used on the Cardinal will be open for public inspection. The old station is gutted and will be made into a restaurant and offices.

The Baltimore Sun says Amtrak is working with a developer to create a moderately priced hotel in the upper three floors of Baltimore Pennsylvania Station. The hotel would have about 75 rooms, cost $5-6 million, and be done in 12-18 months. By then, high-speed trains would be running on the Northeast Corridor, and a hotel in the train station could become an attractive business destination. The historic commission in Baltimore approved the plans last month. The passenger areas of the building were renovated about 15 years ago, and more work has been going forward. There is a new parking garage and a new light-rail line connecting to downtown and the airport.

The Thruway bus between Fargo, N.Dak., and Winnipeg will be discontinued March 1. The service only began in October as an Amtrak connection, but the operator of that route has decided to drop it completely.

The February 4 St. Louis Post-Dispatch had a story on new Amtrak Reform Council Member Wendell Cox, in which he questions the future of rail passenger service outside the Northeast Corridor and even the St. Louis light-rail line, which most experts regard as highly successful.

NARP Executive Director Ross Capon testified on February 10 before the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.). He appeared on a panel with Harriet Parcells of the American Passenger Rail Coalition, and Mark Dysart of the High-Speed Ground Transportation Association, and all endorsed full funding for Amtrak and for high-speed rail programs.

NARP is co-sponsoring a Washington Legislative Action Day for Amtrak and high-speed rail on March 24. There will be morning briefings in a room on Capitol Hill, with participants urged to meet with their own Representative and Senators in the afternoon. A nominal registration fee may be charged. Contact NARP if you want more information as it becomes available.

Amtrak yesterday announced a restructuring of its management team. Stan Bagley has been named permanent president of the Northeast Corridor business unit. He had been the acting head since George Warrington left that post in late 1997. Sandy Brown is the new vice president for Government Affairs. She has been acting vice president for nearly a year, since Tim Gillespie left that post. A new department, High-Speed Rail Development, will support the advancement of new corridors across the country. Its vice president will be David Carol, who has been in charge of the Northeast Corridor high-speed program for six years.

The Missouri House Appropriations Committee approved a transportation funding bill for the coming fiscal year this week. Unfortunately, the $6.2 million for Kansas City-St. Louis Amtrak service that both Amtrak and the governor requested was cut to $5 million. This committee has been a problem in past years, too, and there will be opportunities to restore the cut funding in future House floor action and in the state Senate. Missouri NARP members should contact their state legislators right away in support of the full $6.2 million.

The committee also did not include a state DOT request for $50,000 for improvements to the Kirkwood Amtrak station, but appeared to have left transit funding intact.

In the Oklahoma Senate, two bills sponsored by pro-rail Sen. Dave Herbert were passed out of committee on February 9. One bill, Senate Joint Resolution 12, would allow a ballot initiative next year to raise fuel taxes to benefit passenger trains and other public transit. Gas taxes would go up one cent, and diesel would go up two cents. The other bill allows Oklahoma to enter into a compact with the other states in the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

The dedication of a new station space for Amtrak in Charlottesville, Va., on February 9, drew over 1,000 people, who toured both the station and a set of Cardinal equipment on display. Speakers at the dedication ceremony included Al Edelston, Amtrak Intercity President for Customer Service, Virginia Doherty, mayor of Charlottesville, and Leo Bevon, the director of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

The first light-rail vehicle for the Hudson-Bergen light-rail project in New Jersey was unveiled February 8 at a New Jersey Transit shop in Harrison. The first phase of the line will open in March next year, connecting Hoboken Terminal with downtown Jersey City and 34th St. in Bayonne. This was the first car of a 45-car order. Of those, 29 are for the new Hudson-Bergen line, and the rest to replace aging PCC streetcars on the Newark City Subway.

Two Sacramento light-rail trains collided head-on on February 8 on a single-track bridge, sending 27 people to the hospital with minor injuries. Only one train was a revenue run with passengers; the other was a disabled train being pushed by another, neither one with passengers on board. A transit agency spokesman said the non-revenue train had a red light to allow the revenue train to pass, and that the investigation would focus on why the driver passed the red light. It was the first such collision in Sacramento since the system started in 1987.

A new San Joaquin schedule starts February 21, introducing a fifth train.  This one will run in the morning from Sacramento down to Bakersfield, and back up in the evening. It will be the first passenger train service between Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley since Amtrak started. The train will run temporarily on a former Western Pacific line north of Stockton until track work can be completed on the parallel ex-Southern Pacific line. Also on February 21, reservations will be required for all San Joaquin trains. Finally, there will be a sixth Capitol Corridor frequency between Oakland and Sacramento.

An article in today's Chicago Tribune indicates that the Canadian National will abandon the St. Charles Air Line south of the Chicago Loop in exchange for the city dropping its opposition to CN's takeover of the Illinois Central. This is good news for Amtrak, in that part of the plan would involve a rebuilding of the Grand Crossing connection in South Chicago for use by freight trains. Amtrak had said last month it would spend $5 million on Grand Crossing itself as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, which would allow trains from Champaign and Indianapolis to avoid the time-consuming St. Charles Air Line. Now, Amtrak may find that CN will pay for much or all of the Grand Crossing work, and that it will get done much sooner. Another part of the CN plan is a grade separation at Englewood, where the Conrail line used by Amtrak crosses Metra's former Rock Island commuter line.

The Florida edition of the Wall Street Journal this week reported that Governor Bush has recommended that $5 million be spend on the project to introduce Amtrak service along the east coast of Florida, using leftover funds from the FOX high-speed rail project. That leaves another $125 million left over that Bush has indicated he would divert from intercity passenger rail use. The article suggested that the Silver Meteor would be diverted from its current route to the coastal route, but Amtrak has not made a final announcement on that. NARP is still pressing Amtrak to find a way to introduce the new service without diverting capacity away from the existing routes through Orlando and Ocala.

Rep. Bob Clement (D.-Tenn.) this week in testimony before the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee asked for $2 million for a feasibility study for restoring a passenger and freight rail route between Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn. Part of the proposal involves building a new alignment in much of the eastern half of the route.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D.-N.J.) announced this week that he would not seek re-election next year. Lautenberg has been one of the most solid friends of intercity passenger rail service, both in terms of keeping a national system and of having the foresight to push hard on the Boston electrification project starting in 1990. As a Democrat, he is currently the ranking member on both the Budget Committee and the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee.

Please contact your U.S. legislators in support of the full $571 million appropriation for Amtrak and the full $99 million for high-speed rail.

Earlier this month, Amtrak and a bank in Wilmington, Del., tested an on-board automated teller machine, as part of a special train charted by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

A newspaper ad error last week had many people calling the bus station in Wilmington, N.C., asking what time the Amtrak trains leave. Actually, there are only Thruway buses in Wilmington today, although the state has long-range plans for rail service.

Amtrak and the Illinois Bed and Breakfast Association have a new program encouraging travelers to use the facilities of both organizations when traveling through Illinois.

The House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.), will hold a hearing on fiscal 2000 funding for Amtrak, on March 4. On March 10, a similar hearing will be held by the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Richard Shelby (R.-Ala.).

The National Governors Association met in Washington this week. They approved a policy calling for flexibility to spend federal surface transportation funds on passenger rail projects, such as Amtrak. TEA-21 prohibits this for all states except Vermont.

Amtrak will have a public unveiling of the first new high-speed train set at New York Penn Station on March 9. That date may also be the unveiling of the long awaited marketing initiative called "Transformation 2000," which is intended to unify the branding for Amtrak northeast service.

The last Cascade Corridor train was converted over to new Talgo equipment on February 24. This was the Seattle-Vancouver run, which had been using Superliners. All Cascade trains are now using new Talgos. The only remaining Superliner trains in the Northwest are the long-distance Empire Builder and Coast Starlight.

Both the eastbound and westbound Empire Builders were delayed by about 16 hours February 20 at Havre, Mont., due to a telephone hoax. An anonymous caller said there was radioactive material on one of the trains, but nothing was found after a search by authorities. Stranded passengers were housed at a local National Guard armory and school. The eastbound train was later detoured because of a freight train derailment at Red Wing, Minn.

The Oklahoma Senate approved Sen. Dave Herbert's bill, Senate Joint Resolution 12, on February 24, calling for a voter initiative for a fuel tax increase that would in part benefit Amtrak service, still scheduled for a May start-up. The bill was sent to the state House of Representatives.

The new San Antonio Amtrak station was opened February 20 by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.). There also was a VIP luncheon and equipment display. Among those attending was NARP President John R. Martin.

There was a town-hall-style meeting in Hermiston, Ore., February 20, hosted by Sen. Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.). The topic was restoration of passenger train service on the Pioneer route. Representatives of Washington ARP and AORTA were present, with C. B. Hall from the Oregon group given some time to speak about his recent meeting with Amtrak Intercity officials in Chicago.

A mysterious group called RailWatch appeared this week with news stories criticizing railroads for grade-crossing hazards. The group described itself as a grass-roots organization, but the stories were filled with incorrect statistics. Later in the week, including in a story in today's Washington Post, it became apparent that the group was really being run from a California p.r. firm with funding from the United Parcel Service, which is fighting with the railroads over truck-size regulations.

The Amtrak Reform Council has a new executive director, starting March 1. His name is Thomas A. Till. He has been at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, where he managed transport restructuring and investment projects in the former Soviet Union. In the 1970's, he worked in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration, including as an assistant to the director of the Northeast Corridor Program. In the 1980's, he was a consultant to the president of Amtrak and then was deputy and acting FRA administrator.

Florida trains and the Carolinian will be delayed by track work happening now through May 6 between Richmond and Rocky Mount. The Silver Meteor will not run between Washington and Florence for the departures of February 28 through March 4, and March 7 through March 11 -- passengers will be bussed around the area.