Hotline #867 - March 3, 1995

There was a hearing on 1996 Amtrak funding yesterday in the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.). Amtrak President Tom Downs and Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris testified. Wolf seemed generally positive, saying no one on the committee wants to see Amtrak go under, but acknowledging it would be a lot of work. He hopes to mark up a funding bill in mid-May.

Downs said the Amtrak Board will make final decisions on what is expected to be the final round of service cuts April 4 and 5, for public announcement April 6 and implementation in June. We understand that, based on painful experience, Amtrak will notify and start talks with affected states well in advance of the board's decisions. Amtrak expects this round will involve frequency reductions only, no more route eliminations.

Senate Commerce Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Trent Lott (R.-Miss.) asked Amtrak to assemble a task force to study Amtrak's future. This process will include about seven public forums where the general public can speak on the importance of the service. The first one probably will be in Meridian on March 18. Later ones are planned for Milwaukee, Portland, Ore., Cleveland, Sacramento, Philadelphia, and Dallas.

Also yesterday, DOT Secretary Pena appeared before the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Mark Hatfield (R.-Ore.).

There will be a Thruway bus from Toledo for Lake Shore Limited passengers. It probably will serve Detroit, Dearborn, and Ann Arbor. Eastbound, it may be the same bus as the one for the Capitol Limited, because of the relatively small gap between train schedules at Toledo.

The Turboliner train set refurbished by Amtrak and New York State for high-speed service was demonstrated to the public earlier this week. It reached 125 mph on a Conrail-owned stretch of the Empire Corridor between Albany and Hudson, N.Y. The project, which is partly FRA-funded, is investigating fossil-fuel technology to be used in high-speed train sets for use away from the Northeast Corridor.

There may be increased positive publicity about Amtrak in coming weeks as Al Neuharth, former publisher of USA Today, starts his 38-state "TrainCapade." Starting today, Neuharth will ride Amtrak for five-and-one-half weeks and write articles about it. Mostly, he will be on long-distance, overnight trains. He did a similar bus trip in 1987 and an international air trip in 1988.

The first region meetings for NARP members are tomorrow. Region 1 meets at Providence at the Marriott Hotel, 11:30 am to 5:00 pm. The speaker will be Ross Capon of NARP. Also tomorrow, Region 2 meets at Albany at Jack's Oyster House, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Speakers are State Transportation Commissioner John Daly and Scott Leonard of NARP.

On March 11, Region 6 meets at Beech Grove, Ind., at the Ramada Inn South, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. The speaker will be Scott Leonard of NARP, plus a tour of the Beech Grove shops. Also March 11, Region 12 meets at Santa Ana, Cal., at the station, 10:00 am to 2:30 pm. Speakers are Gil Mallery and Lee Bullock of Amtrak West, Cindy McKim of Caltrans, Richard Stanger of Metrolink, and Ross Capon of NARP. On March 12, Region 11 meets at Albuquerque, N.Mex., at the Gourmet Diner, 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm. The speaker is Ross Capon of NARP.

On March 18, Region 4 meets at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. The speaker is Amtrak Chief Financial Officer Betsy Reveal. Also on March 18, Regions 7 and 9 meet jointly at Bloomington, Ill., at the Jumers Hotel, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Speakers include former Federal Railroad Administrator Gil Carmichael and NARP President Jack Martin.