Hotline #909 - December 22, 1995

It appears that the Senate will not take up the Amtrak authorization bill this year. This means the authorization may not be enacted until February or March, and postpones new labor agreements until late next year.

The Amtrak half cent appears still to have a good chance. Continue to ask your pro-Amtrak legislators and all House Ways and Means Committee members to work for it. Ways and Means members should be asked to tell their chairman or their ranking Democrat that they support it. Susan Molinari (R.-N.Y.) and Bud Shuster (R.-Pa.) of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee also need to hear support from their constituents.

The Senate passed an ICC sunset conference report today. Jurisdiction over rail mergers and over disputes between Amtrak and the freight railroads will shift to a new division of the DOT, not to the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.

USA Today's editorial on December 18 was a nasty attack on Amtrak, saying, "It's time for Uncle Sam to hop off the train and force Amtrak to become self-supporting or let private businesses, states and local governments take over." Located firmly in the highway lobby's pocket, the editorial also attacked the half cent idea as "making no sense. Motorists with limited access to Amtrak shouldn't have to pay its bills. They're already paying through federal taxes."

Today's edition carries two great pro-Amtrak letters, one by NARP member Arthur House of New Canaan, Conn. He starts out, "Oh, come on! What highway lobbyist took your editorial writer to lunch?" He advocates giving Amtrak "a tiny crack at the Highway Trust Fund. All Americans, including highway users who never board a train, would benefit by even a marginal reduction in the nation's highway traffic and pollution that would result."

Amtrak West announced more Coast Starlight improvements on December 20. The Amtrak system menus will be replaced with special Starlight menus, including traditional recipes from Southern Pacific and Union Pacific, and regional items. The dining car will have full wine service. Starting yesterday, sleeping car customers have the option of dessert by candlelight in the Pacific Parlor Car. New upscale desserts from Laura's Bakery in Los Angeles have been added, including chocolate truffle cake and lemon mousse pie. Starting tomorrow, all passengers will get varying daily entertainment offered briefly in each coach and the Pacific Parlor Car -- magicians, comedians, singers, and instrumentalists associated with Los Angeles-based Zebra Entertainment. More coach service improvements are planned next year.

Amtrak West's jurisdiction is expanding slightly -- Gil Mallery's organization will be responsible for any short-distance trains local to the Reno-Bay Area and Las Vegas-Los Angeles segments.

As we anticipated, the Jeffords provision to provide flexible highway funding for the Vermonter that was in the Senate ICC bill has been dropped in conference.

A Conrail freight train derailment near Fonda, N.Y., blocked the Empire Corridor main line for two days. The line reopened December 16.

The Georgia DOT unveiled its model for the Atlanta Intermodal Terminal yesterday. The model will be displayed at several locations around the state, then displayed at DOT headquarters in Atlanta beginning in February. All design for the station and rail approaches is now complete and the design phase for the project came in well under budget. However, there is still no funding source for the work. None of it will be done in time for the Olympics in July.

Papers were signed by the Florida DOT and other parties on December 15 allowing work to begin on restoring Tampa Union Station. The first job will be asbestos removal. The entire project is expected to be done in mid-1997.