Hotline #893 - September 1, 1995

A recent development in the issue of the Broadway Limited is the idea of running a Philadelphia section of the Capitol Limited across Pennsylvania with Superliner cars. That would be far better for passengers than the terrible plan Amtrak will start on September 10, with passenger changing trains at Pittsburgh at bad times of day. Amtrak tested a Superliner coach on the Broadway this week. The only problem appeared to be when the coach would not fit under the catenary within 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.

The California Legislature has approved $26.1 million in funding to keep the Capitol Corridor running for another year. Also included is $3.6 million for a fourth round-trip, pending talks with the Southern Pacific.

An Interstate Commerce Commission staff opinion will allow the Union Pacific to take a step further toward acquiring the Southern Pacific. The opinion puts SP into a voting trust as the merger moves forward. A protective order from the ICC is expected soon that will allow the UP and SP to exchange information needed for the formal application of merger. The application could come by the end of the year.

The third annual Glory Days of Rail festival in White River Junction, Vt., is the weekend of September 15. Many pieces of rail equipment will be on display, including a Superliner car and an Amtrak Vermonter train set, which includes the special baggage car with places for bikes and skis. There will be a lecture by Stephen Goddard, the author of Getting There, a book about how the highway industry overtook the rail industry, which was mentioned in the NARP newsletter in July 1994.

Amtrak will run special trains from Oakland and San Jose to the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 16 and 17. Tickets are sold through the festival box office.

The new intermodal station at Kelso, Wash., will be dedicated September 23.

The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that Amtrak can be sued in the case of a man who was served alcohol on a train and later fell in a jail cell and suffered brain damage. Amtrak claimed that its responsibility ended when the man was put off the train in Crawfordsville, Ind., in 1991. But his guardian claims Amtrak was negligent in continuing to serve alcohol to someone who was visibly drunk.

The San Francisco Airports Board has rejected a proposal to bring BART trains directly into a planned intermodal terminal, apparently for cost reasons. The direct line into the air terminal would add $2.4 million to its cost. A different plan was approved, with the backing of San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan, to have BART trains terminate outside the air terminal and require a people-mover transfer.

A new streetcar service was launched today in San Francisco. The F/Market line will run daily, year-round, from Embarcadero up to 17th & Castro, using a historic fleet of PCC cars. The line will be extended from Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf in 1998. Lower Market Street in San Francisco must be one of the few places in the world with three levels of rail service in one place -- the F/Market line on the surface, the Muni Metro light rail right below, and BART under that.

Three consortia have submitted bids for three-hour tilt train service between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. They are Hitachi, Fiat, and Bombardier. The project is sponsored by the government of Malaysia.

The National Safety Council predicts that during the Labor Day weekend, 512 people will be killed on the nation's highways and 24,000 injured.