NARP December 1999 Hotlines

#115 - December 3, 1999
#116 - December 10, 1999
#117 - December 17, 1999
#118 - December 22, 1999
#119 - December 30, 1999

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The Utah Transit Authority will formally open its TRAX light rail line on December 4, with revenue service following on December 6. Rides all day December 4 will be free, and there will be a ceremony from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon at the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City. This is the first electric rail transit in Utah since the Bamberger Electric Railroad closed in 1952. The opening this weekend is three months ahead of schedule. The line extends 15 miles from the Delta Center south to the Sandy Civic Center. Regular service will run Monday-Saturday only.

Amtrak will extend the Chicago-Indianapolis Hoosier State overnight to Jeffersonville, Ind., beginning with the southbound trip of December 17. It will run as a separate train the four days that the Hoosier State currently does, and as a section of the Cardinal on the other three days. The new service, to be renamed the Kentucky Cardinal, will arrive at Jeffersonville at 8:40 am and depart at 10:25 pm, carrying Superliner coaches, one Superliner sleeper, and mail cars. Jeffersonville is just across the river from Louisville, Ky., through Amtrak is interested in direct service to Louisville. This will be the first passenger service between Indianapolis and the Louisville area since the early 1970's, and the first service to the Louisville area from anywhere since 1979.

Federal Transit Administrator Gordon Linton left his post at the end of October. He was the longest serving Administrator the FTA has had, having begun in 1993. Linton is leaving to form his own consulting firm specializing in transportation and innovative financing. He previously was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Linton led the FTA during an important time for transit in general, which was marked both by new opportunities made by the 1991 ISTEA law, and the successful effort to keep and expand pro-transit elements of ISTEA in the 1998 TEA-21 law. He addressed the NARP board at its October 1994 meeting in Portland, Me.

Nuria Fernandez was named acting Transit Administrator by Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater on November 5. She had been a deputy administrator since July 1997. She has also been a budget assistant in the Clinton DOT and a planner for the Chicago and Washington transit agencies.

The FTA gave its approval November 5 for a light rail project between downtown Houston and the Astrodome. The Metro transit authority approved it in September. Because of the FTA action, Metro may proceed with preliminary engineering.

With 2000 less than a month away, transit agencies are preparing for the arrival of a new dollar coin. The new gold-colored Sacagawea dollar will replace the Susan B. Anthony dollar minted in 1979 and 1980. As vending machines -- including transit ticket machines -- requiring dollar coins have proliferated in the past few years, the supply of Anthony dollars has finally been nearly depleted, even though more were minted in 1999. The U.S. Mint says the new coin will match the dimensions and weight of the old one, so ticket machines should not need to be reconfigured.

VIA Rail Canada will be changing its schedules January 16. One bright spot in that is the restoration of a Toronto-Montreal overnight rain, daily except Saturday, to be called the Enterprise. This is similar to the Cavalier that was discontinued in 1990. A more negative schedule change is to have the Monday-Saturday westbound International leave Toronto 80 minutes earlier than now, but without changing the schedule in Michigan -- meaning through-passengers have an additional 80 minutes to sit doing nothing in Port Huron. The International will not connect at Toronto with the Enterprise in either direction.

Amtrak will energize 27 miles of catenary between New London and Old Lyme, Conn., on December 6.

The State of Maine is moving forward with plans for passenger rail extensions, even before the first regular Amtrak passenger train reaches Portland. In November, the state hired a Massachusetts engineering firm to upgrade the 56-mile line between Brunswick and Rockland. The cost is $33 million. Current track speed is 10 mph, but the state wants to raise it to 60 mph, providing a 75-minute trip (compared to two hours on parallel US 1 during peak summer periods). Service could start in 2002 or 2003.

A proposal for a commuter line running northwest from Orlando to Tavares and Eustis got a good review this week from the Florida "Year 2000 Fast Track Selection Team," a panel that screens projects vying for the remnants of funding that was dedicated to the high-speed rail project killed by Governor Bush at the beginning of the year. If an initial $8-million recommendation gets approval, the project could get track and signal money as early as summer 2000.

The Clinton Administration is in the process of formulating its budget numbers for fiscal 2001. It's highly important that the Administration approve the full $989 million authorized for Amtrak by the 1997 reauthorization law that President Clinton approved. Amtrak has been getting only about half its authorized amount (also by the President's approval), and the Administration has indicated in the past that it would propose only $521 million for 2001. That may be enough for Amtrak to barely squeak by in its effort to meet the operational self-sufficiency mandate, but not enough for service expansion, including helping pay for the early phases of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. Please contact the White House right away and urge the full $989 million for Amtrak in 2001. Click here for information on contacting the White House.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R.-Pa.) said on December 3 that a third Chicago-area airport was "probably not doable." Instead, he said that the state should look at developing the airport at Rockford. Though Shuster did not address access from Chicago, a reasonably fast rail line using existing rights-of-way could connect Chicago Union Station with O'Hare Airport (south side), Elgin, Rockford Airport, and downtown Rockford, a total distance of 85 miles.

An advisory committee is studying restoration of passenger service between the Twin Cities and Duluth. The lat train on that route was an Amtrak service cancelled in 1985 after the State of Minnesota withdrew its operating support. The study is being done by the same firm that is doing the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative study, Transportation Economics and Management System, of Frederick, Md.

The first business day of service for the new TRAX light rail service in Salt Lake City was Monday, December 6, and press accounts reported a favorable reception. The new service offered over 15,000 trips that day. Meanwhile, the city council appears to be moving toward agreement with the Utah Transit Authority and Utah DOT on an alignment for a future east-west line. The city council pulled out of talks a month ago, but are reconsidering after getting thousands of calls and letters from pro-light-rail citizens.

The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Board announced on December 8 several changes to Amtrak West's Capitol Corridor service to take effect February 13. These include a 7th Sacramento-Oakland round-trip (mid-afternoon northbound, evening southbound); and a 4th Oakland-San Jose round-trip (by extending trains that now start in Sacramento at 5:30 am westbound, Oakland 11:30 am eastbound). The existing round-trip to Colfax will be cut back to Auburn due to low ridership at Colfax and new means to turn a train at Auburn.

Amtrak provided supplementary transportation service in connection with the memorial service held in Worcester, Mass., yesterday for the six firefighters killed in action last week. Amtrak's special train ran from New Haven to Worcester, while MBTA ran a special from Boston.

The State of Virginia has agreed to authorize the sale of Main Street Station to the City of Richmond, which resolves the main barrier to a project that would restore Amtrak service to an intermodal facility there. The first phase of the Amtrak portion of the project -- allowing Newport News trains to stop downtown at the old station they pass by today -- will take another two years to realize.

An event announcing Amtrak's plans for Los Angeles-Las Vegas service is scheduled for December 14. It will be hosted by Wisconsin Governor and Amtrak Chairman Tommy Thompson and Amtrak President George Warrington, along with Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn and Senator Harry Reid, in Las Vegas. It is generally thought that the new service is at least a year away, but the announcement should shed new light on the matter.

Amtrak has exercised an option to expand the bi-level Pacific Surfliner order it placed in early 1998. Six coaches worth $14 million will be added to the eight five-car train-sets already being built and due to begin service in the spring.

The first set of coaches for the Sounder commuter service have arrived and had a trial run between Seattle and Tacoma December 9. Funding for this project and also capital projects related to the Amtrak Cascades services has been in doubt since voters approved ballot initiative 695 last month, which cuts the state motor vehicle excise tax that funded many transportation programs. Officials are still hoping for a September start-up for Sounder.

Amtrak has announced its preliminary plans for the eventuality of "Y2K"-related disruptions New Year's Eve. It plans to stop the 53 trains that will be operating at midnight at the nearest convenient station before midnight for as brief a time as possible to make sure all operating systems are in order. When that is done, the trains will be allowed to resume. Amtrak believes it is ready for New Year's Eve, but its successful operations also depend on the preparations of others, including electric utilities and host freight railroads.

In the Northeast Corridor, where Amtrak owns and controls most of the track it uses, trains will be stopped at least 15 minutes, with the average anticipated wait being 30 minutes. Elsewhere, Amtrak expects trains to be stopped in stations for one or two hours. In cases where the delay extends far beyond that, contingency plans will be enacted to keep passengers safe and comfortable. Though Amtrak believes bussing will be unlikely, it is making such preparations just in case.

Travel demand that night should be lower than normal, but Amtrak also is planning to have complimentary refreshments and souvenir train whistles available to passengers that evening. Some foreign railroads and some rail transit systems in the U.S. (like Chicago and Washington) are planning to stop their trains for a short period of time.

On December 14, Amtrak and Nevada officials announced that they would begin Talgo-train service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in September 2000. Wisconsin Governor and Amtrak Chairman Tommy Thompson, Amtrak President George Warrington, Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, and Senator Harry Reid (Nev.) all gathered at Las Vegas to make the announcement and unveil the Talgo train-set to be used. The service will start with one daily round-trip that would take five-and-one-half hours each way, leaving Los Angeles at 9:00 am and Las Vegas at 4:00 pm. There will be only one stop, at Montclair, Cal., which is on Metrolink's San Bernardino commuter line. Amtrak will not be returning to the station in the Union Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, once served by the Desert Wind, but instead will build a new platform and canopy near the Strip downtown. Other infrastructure improvements will be made, including putting in 20 miles of double track on the Union Pacific between Cima and Kelso, Cal., in the Mojave Desert.

A freight train derailment on the Steel Bridge near Union Station in downtown Portland, Ore., on December 14 ruptured a nearby gas pipeline and caused a spectacular fire. One car fell off the bridge into the Willamette River. Investigators are checking whether the intense heat caused any damage to the bridge, which is also used by Amtrak (Eugene route) and Tri-Met light rail trains.

An Amtrak Cascades train struck a mudslide (without derailing) on December 15 south of Tacoma. Other slides and possible washouts closed the Seattle-Portland route with a reopening planned for December 16. There also was some rain-related damage north of Seattle.

The Amtrak station at Santa Barbara, Cal., will be rededicated at 10:00 am on December 18. A $9-million restoration project on the Mission Revival gem has just been completed, with city and state funding.

A massive transit strike that was expected for New York on December 15 was averted at the 11th hour.

The Salt Lake City Council on December 14 unanimously approved a light rail spur from the Delta Center downtown east 2.5 miles to the University of Utah. The spur should be open by the 2002 Winter Olympics. This new line would be a spur to the 15-mile Delta Center-Sandy line that opened December 4. Previous proposals for western extensions from the Delta Center to the Amtrak station and airport appear to be dormant.

The Tasman West light rail extension in Santa Clara County, Cal., was dedicated this morning. The new segment adds 7.6 miles to the existing Guadalupe line from San Jose, reaching to the Caltrain station in Mountain View, in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Regular service starts December 20. Free rides are offered until January 31, partly because all the ticket vending machines have not yet arrived. Light-rail vehicle operators have called for delaying the opening, citing signal and gate failures and inadequate operator training.

The new Chicago-Jeffersonville (Ind.) Kentucky Cardinal starts tonight, with a ceremony tomorrow morning at Jeffersonville at 8:40 am; other activities from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.

According to a December 14 Moody's news release, "Moody's Investors Service has assigned an issuer rating of A3 to Amtrak. The rating, which has a stable outlook, reflects Moody's assessment of the financial strength of Amtrak in relation to its unique operations and political prominence in the U.S. The A3 rating is based on ... Moody's expectation that operational self-sufficiency will be achieved, but that the Federal government will continue to provide financial support for Amtrak's capital program ... The rating reflects the continuing, intense competitive pressures that Amtrak faces from the nation's highly developed highway and air transportation systems, as compared with the national passenger rail systems in other countries, and the substantially larger land area that it serves ... The Amtrak Reform Council may recommend the dissolution of Amtrak if it fails to meet the self-sufficiency goal, which in Moody's view is unlikely, given achievements to date." See also Amtrak's release on the action.

In a December 9 talk to the Maine DOT's 49th annual meeting and conference in Augusta, Amtrak President George Warrington said, "As most of you know, at Boston the Northeast Corridor ends at South Station. However, the service to Portland will commence from North Station. That leaves a one-mile gap between the two stations. Obviously, a rail connection between Boston's North and South Stations would significantly enhance our service, and link Portland and Brunswick to Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Maine needs to be directly connected to the national system, through the North-South Rail Link! In our view, the fact that Boston's rail system is divided is an unfortunate historical fluke that needs to be corrected. True, the cost would be significant, but the impact of a Rail Link on the health and vitality of Boston and New England would be extraordinary. And ultimately, the Rail Link would enable the development of one continuous Atlantic Coast Corridor, providing superior service from Maine to Florida."

Meanwhile, the bitter dispute continues over MBTA's planned transfer of commuter-rail maintenance work from Amtrak to Bay State Transit (referred to by union leaders as "B. S. Transit"). An article in today's Boston Globe quotes Rep. Joe Moakley (D.-Mass.) saying the MBTA action is "a safety threat to everybody who rides ... I don't want to ride a train whose safety is being maintained by people who haven't had a day's experience," referring to an MBTA/Bay State plan to hire new workers if Amtrak workers don't apply for Bay State jobs. The article says, "Department of Labor and DOT officials have told the MBTA its federal funding is in jeopardy unless it can prove it is complying with previous agreements in contracting out commuter-rail maintenance work." FTA Acting Administrator Nuria J. Fernandez wrote to MBTA urging postponement of a March 1 target date for the transfer if the labor issues are not resolved.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported on December 19 that 200 people cheered when the first scheduled Kentucky Cardinal arrived at Jeffersonville, Ind., the morning of December 18. The paper reported a passenger load of about 30, "most of them railroad enthusiasts and Amtrak officials." During ceremonies, Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Gallagan said, "This is a great day for the area, the community. This is going to connect Jeffersonville with the rest of the world."

Amtrak trains now are running normally in the wake of a December 14 freight-train derailment on the Steel Bridge in Portland, Ore., and a mid-afternoon fire on December 19 in a signal box at New York Penn Station. A Portland fire inspector blamed the derailment on the light weight of empty cars at the front of a 94-car Union Pacific freight train. The New York incident stranded thousands of holiday shoppers and travelers.

In response to complaints by Members of Parliament about schedule changes, Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette asked VIA Rail to postpone changes that were planned for January 16. This apparently means the Monday-Saturday International will continue to depart Toronto at 7:50 am and not switch to 6:30 am. VIA is considering adding a Toronto-Montreal overnight service, however, and it is still possible this will begin January 16. Transport 2000 is pressing VIA to have this connect with the International, which might mean the new train would become a Montreal extension of the International later in the year.

The DOT Office of Inspector General on December 14 issued a report on Amtrak's progress on Boston-New Haven electrification, identifying "critical issues that may pose risks to Amtrak" starting limited electrified service between New York and Boston next month.

The report is covered in an article in the New England edition of today's Wall Street Journal. The report says Amtrak should consider delaying the planned January start-up of all-electric service because of potential unreliability problems resulting from the fact that some of the Boston-New Haven line will have only single-track electrification. The article quotes Amtrak Vice President for High Speed Rail David Carol saying service start-up will "probably be late January." NARP Executive Director Ross Capon is quoted saying "it would be interesting and disappointing" if the service doesn't start next month, but "this is the kind of stuff that a couple of years from now, we won't remember it."

The report says the electrification contractors have complained that they don't have enough "outage" time to get the job done by a December 22 deadline. "In the report, Amtrak says the contractors should make better use of existing outage periods. But if that doesn't work, Amtrak told government officials it would request that" commuter-train schedules be altered to free up more time. The report notes the complexities of work near Boston South Station because of construction on the highway "Big Dig" (Central Artery depression). On December 11 and 12, Amtrak had to stabilize tracks there with additional rock and gravel ballast after tunnel construction caused tracks over a 500-foot stretch to sink at least seven inches.

Amtrak disputes an assertion in the article that original plans called for electrification to be completed by June 1999. Also, Amtrak is confident that single-track operation will work well with electrification, and notes that -- due to electrification construction -- operations have been partially single-track through the construction territory for a long time.

As the Year 2000 approaches, Amtrak, in a December 29 release, said, "Amtrak customers will usher in the new millennium in style with on-board celebrations ... All 49 regularly scheduled trains will stop as briefly as possible in the nearest convenient station or location just prior to midnight before resuming operations ... On-board celebrations will include complimentary food and beverages and souvenir train whistles specially crafted for the event ... In the Northeast Corridor ... trains will be held in stations an average of 30 minutes while systems are validated. [Elsewhere], trains are expected to stop in most instances between a few minutes to two hours. If the length of a delay becomes unacceptable, a contingency plan would be implemented with buses on standby."

At the direction of Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette, who responded to complaints from unhappy Members of Parliament, VIA Rail scrapped its planned January 16 timetable changes, except that (happily) an overnight Montreal-Toronto train will begin operating (daily except Saturday nights), with 11:30 pm departures from both cities and with Montreal arrival at 8:00 am; Toronto 8:20 am. There are good connections with Maple Leaf, Adirondack, Canadian, London-Windsor, Quebec westbound. There is no Chicago connection but VIA canceled plans to move the westbound Monday-Saturday International departure from 7:50 am to 6:30 am -- disregard the relevant paragraph in our January newsletter, which is to be mailed January 3.

Sens. Lincoln Chafee (R.-R.I.) and Richard Durbin (D.-Ill.) sent a December 23 "Dear Colleague" letter seeking signatures for a letter asking President Clinton to include in his fiscal 2001 budget the full authorization level of $989 million for Amtrak. (Twenty-six governors sent such a letter on November 17). To sign, Senators should contact [Republicans] John Seggerman (Chafee's office, 224-2921) or [Democrats] Pat Souders (Durbin's office, 224-7029). Please ask your Senators to sign!

A new report -- "Estimating Important Transportation-Related Regional Economic Relationships in Bexar County, Texas" [San Antonio] -- says "each 1% of personal trips shifted from automobile to public transit is estimated to add 226 regional jobs and $2.9 million in regional value added. Each million dollars shifted from automobile to public transit expenditures generates nearly $900,000 in regional income and 53.8 jobs. This reflects the fact that automobile expenditures provide less economic development and employment than most other consumer expenditures." This and other helpful reports are posted at the web site of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

Norfolk Southern Senior Vice President James W. McClellan, in a December 23 letter to NARP, responding to our complaint filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB), said NS "on-time performance for Amtrak has improved from a low of 55.7% in October to 73.6% in November and further improved to 82.0% in December (though the 19th). There are some positive notes from this experience. First, the Northern Region has adequate capacity to handle these Amtrak trains on time. Second, NS retains its commitment to run Amtrak trains on time; the performance of Amtrak trains on the 'old' NS underscores this fact. Third, we have increased our focus on passenger train performance. Amtrak performance is subject to every daily regional operational review by our general managers. We believe that we are well on the way to restoring the kind of service that our customers expect from NS and that Amtrak and others will see continued improvement in the coming months."

Unfortunately, CSX plays a major role in all Amtrak's Chicago-East Coast runs (except the inconveniently scheduled Pennsylvanian); unacceptable on-time performance will continue until CSX can report similar improvements.

Canadian National and BNSF announced a merger on December 22, but said they would maintain their Montreal and Fort Worth headquarters. No centralized dispatching is planned, but the two will coordinate operations. CN President Paul Tellier said locomotives will continue to be painted in current colors because "we have to be sensitive to the regional dimensions of this." National Industrial Transportation League Chairman Edward M. Emmett said, "Shippers are not going to be happy. I defy them to find one shipper who said, 'Why don't you two combine?' It just doesn't make any sense."

STB Chairman Linda Morgan's immediate reaction included, "I am surprised by the timing of this proposal. Railroads, together with their customers and employees, have not yet fully adjusted to recent mergers, and this proposal may represent the beginning of another round of major rail mergers." In a December 28 release on the STB's December 27 Decision and Notice, the STB says a formal application is expected between March and June, 2000. "The notice indicates that the applicants will be expected to include in their application evidence on the 'cumulative impacts and crossover effects' that are likely to occur in the wake of the proposed transaction," including likely future mergers. Union Pacific called the STB's decision "reasonable. It is fair to ask the question whether or not this proposed single transaction will, in fact, trigger a second round of mergers. Given the importance of the rail sector to the health of the economy, the Board is to be commended for looking at the future of the rail industry and how best to serve its customers in the long run." The Federal Railroad Administrator's December 22 statement focused primarily on safety.

Western Europe -- especially France -- was hit by severe storms December 26 and 28, with unpredicted, record-breaking winds (95 mph in Paris, 120 mph in parts of Switzerland) and over 100 deaths (at least 66 in France). All transport was disrupted. The December 27 New York Times reported that seven of Paris' 14 subway lines and most commuter rail services were out. French Railways' web site has a detailed December 29 notice on service recovery (in French). Today's Times says "most of [France's] airports were back in working order today, but train service remained at about 80%. The head of the national railroad, Louis Gallois, said he expected service to be virtually back to normal by the weekend. The bill for damages, he said, would probably come to about $83.3 million."