Hotline #897 - September 29, 1995

The appropriations conferees met on September 27, but did not finish their work. Therefore, transportation will be covered in the 45-day continuing resolution that funds government programs starting tomorrow night. With 1996 appropriation levels still unknown, the Amtrak board on September 27 approved a one-month operating budget with no service cuts.

However, the board could decide as early as October 25 to eliminate the Pioneer. With 90 days' notice, that would mean service would end in January. NARP welcomes comments on the Pioneer, and especially theories about why its ridership fell so much this year -- after all, it should have benefited from Empire Builder frequency reductions.

Senators Roth and Biden, authors of the amendment to the National Highway System bill giving states flexibility to use ISTEA funds on Amtrak projects, were gathering signatures this week for a letter to conferees. The letter asked conferees to preserve the provision. NARP sent a similar letter. Chairman Shuster, who earlier said Amtrak would get gas-tax money "over [his] dead body," said that didn't mean it wouldn't happen. He said, "I may have a dead body."

This week, the first new Viewliner sleeping car, the Atlantic View, was in Washington.

An editorial based upon the Highway User Federation's latest anti-Amtrak report was the basis for an editorial in the Wall Street Journal this morning.

The days of operation of the California Zephyr and Desert Wind change today, as outlined in the September NARP newsletter. A last-minute change is elimination of dining car service on the Desert Wind. Sleeping-car passengers will get box meals. NARP has protested this, as well as Amtrak's new policy that requires full payment for reservations within two weeks after they are made, no matter how far in the future the travel dates are.

The Michigan Transportation Commission voted on September 25 to restore daily service to the Pere Marquette, effective October 29. However, it also voted that at the same time, the International would be reduced to four days a week and have no food service. That seems a great hardship for a train with a 12-hour one-way running time and two-to-three meal times. Some NARP members have felt the length of the run merited upgraded food service, not elimination. The International plan would be reevaluated four weeks later.

The turbo train renovated by the State of New York, the FRA, and Amtrak for 125-mph service will tour Ohio. The train leaves Albany on October 1 at 9:00 pm, passes Buffalo at 1:30 am and Cleveland 4:45 am on October 2, and arrives Toledo 8:00 am for a display from 8:30 am to 11:00 am. Then it passes Findlay at 12:30 pm on October 2, arriving Columbus at 4:00 pm.  It will run from Columbus to Cleveland the afternoon of October 3, make a round trip to Columbus on October 4, go back to Columbus on October 5 for display from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and arrive downtown Cincinnati the afternoon of October 6.

The turbo train will return east through Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg on October 7. It will visit the Crescent route between Birmingham and New Orleans in late October and Michigan in November.

Amtrak provided free a baggage car for a display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at Pasadena last weekend. The quilt panels were shipped on the Coast Starlight from San Jose to Los Angeles. The baggage car had already moved the panels from San Francisco to San Jose by way of CalTrain.

Amtrak has reached an agreement with United Airlines that will reduce the cost of the Air-Rail package.

The Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe on September 26 reached a far-reaching trackage rights agreement for the western part of the country. This includes BNSF buying the Sunset Limited route between New Orleans and Lake Charles, La.