Hotline #881 - June 9, 1995

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to consider the Molinari Amtrak authorization bill on June 14. It is now numbered H.R.1788. It appears to let the current Amtrak board decide on its own how to pick board members. NARP has written to committee leaders expressing concern about having a board accountable only to itself. NARP suggested that six of Amtrak's nine directors be chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Representative Nadler (D.-N.Y.) is expected to offer an amendment keeping board selection the way it is now. He offered such an amendment on May 25, but it failed.

In 1993, a 4.3-cent-per-gallon fuel tax for deficit reduction was imposed. Amtrak pays it, but the airlines were given a two-year exemption, through October 1. The airlines want to make that exemption permanent and have lined up some key members of the House Ways and Means Committee.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.) pledged his support to making the exemption permanent yesterday, saying the additional tax "would kill jobs and could kill airlines." Please tell your legislators there is no reason for Amtrak to pay this tax and for airlines to be exempt. Tell them that nay bill exempting airlines from this tax must also excuse Amtrak from paying it.

The State of Illinois announced an agreement with Amtrak on June 2 to save most of the Quincy, St. Louis, and Carbondale services Amtrak said would have to end on June 11. Illinois will pay about $2.3 million to maintain existing service levels on these lines through December 31, except for the Saturday round-trip of the Loop between Chicago and Springfield. Food service on the remaining Loop trips will be modified and fares will rise 10-30% on July 1.

Planned frequency reductions will take place June 11 on the Hoosier State, City of New Orleans, and California Zephyr. Also, the Hoosier State will lose its food service.

Amtrak and Missouri will restore a second St. Louis-Kansas City train starting July 1. It will run roughly on the schedule of the Mules that were discontinued on April 2.

Amtrak and the Illinois Central Railroad announced on May 9 that they had reached a 15-year operating agreement. This is significant because it is the first new agreement with a major railroad that takes Amtrak operations beyond 1996, when most agreements expire. Service between Jackson and Memphis will be rerouted through Greenwood and Yazoo City. This is expected to add only five minutes to the running time.

Caltrans has declared Morrison Knudsen in default on its $215-million California commuter car order. Mostly, this is a legal step taken by the state to protect itself in case Morrison Knudsen or its Brazilian subcontractor, Mafersa, go bankrupt. The 47 commuter cars have been delayed, but 12 of the 67 intercity cars on order have been delivered. They are being used now on the Capitol Corridor.

The westbound Pioneer struck a pick-up truck early yesterday on a crossing near Nyssa, Ore., near the Idaho border. The train did not derail, but seven farm workers in the truck were killed.

Law enforcement agents seized 91 pounds of marijuana on June 2 on the Texas Eagle at Longview, Tex. The agents were acting on a tip and used drug-sniffing dogs. They rode to Marshall, where one arrest was made.

Clerks at the Grand Trunk Western voted this week to authorize a strike. Grand Trunk handles Amtrak's Pontiac trains and the International. It is not clear when a strike would take place.