Hotline #920 - March 8, 1996

The much delayed Senate Amtrak authorization bill, S.1318, may be voted on next week. But huge problems remain. Because of the liability controversy, Democrats are reluctant even to let the bill come up. All Democratic Senators need to hear loud objections to their posture on this.

If the bill does come up, the critical vote will be on a floor amendment on liability by John Breaux (D.-La.). Right now, the bill is silent on liability, with the expectation that House-passed language will be adopted with a few changes. But Breaux would ban indemnification, meaning that freight railroads would take out huge insurance policies for negligence and pass the costs on to Amtrak as being solely passenger-related.

Call your Senators and urge opposition to any amendment -- especially Breaux's -- that unreasonably inflates the cost of running passenger trains and jeopardizes Amtrak's existence. Democrats especially need to hear opposition to the Breaux amendment on liability.

The House Railroads Subcommittee, chaired by Susan Molinari (R.-N.Y.), began a series of safety oversight hearings on March 5. This week, the general theme was human factors and grade crossings.

Generally, Republican members praised the industry's safety record, but recognized that all accidents are to be taken seriously and addressed. Democrats criticized the industry and the Federal Railroad Administration's record in carrying out National Transportation Safety Board recommendations -- a record which has improved somewhat under Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris. Particularly critical was the new ranking Democrat on the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and former Aviation subcommittee chairman, James Oberstar (Minn.).

More moderate was Spencer Bachus (R.-Ala.), whose family background is in railroading, and who, as a lawyer, has sued and defended railroads. He is deeply concerned about grade-crossing accidents. The first day of the hearing, after the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers called for a ban on cab-cars, Bachus seemed sympathetic. But the next day, he read aloud part of a letter from NARP, emphasizing our point that over the past decade, commuter rail travel has been 19 times safer than auto travel. The main focus of the letter was to defend cab cars.

A Railroads Subcommittee hearing on March 12 will consider equipment and FRA regulatory procedures, and NARP Executive Director Ross Capon will testify. Then on March 13, the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee will have its all-day hearing on Amtrak funding for fiscal 1997.

At NARP's insistence, Amtrak has modified some recently announced ticket policies. Excursion fares are refundable once again, but a $20 fee will be applied to refunding adult tickets, the same charge as making a reservations change. Sleeping car space, refundable if cancelled at least 24 hours in advance, now also can be exchanged for future travel if cancelled before actual train departure.

The Silver Star has had full dining-car service since February 16. It also has an all-day, take-out service for coach passengers, featuring food prepared in the dining-car kitchen. It is called "Gourmet-to-Go." A coach passenger can give a completed order form to the coach attendant, who takes it to the dining-car kitchen. The attendant goes back, tells the passenger how long the order will take, and then the passenger goes to the diner, picks it up, and pays for it. This service will be expanded to the Silver Meteor on April 1, when both Star and Meteor will offer the same food service.

NARP Region 1 meets in Boston tomorrow, and Region 9 meets in St. Louis. On March 16, Region 4 meets in Baltimore, Region 7 in Chicago, and Region 8 in Portland. On March 23, Region 6 meets in Detroit and Region 12 in Oakland.