Hotline #933 - June 7, 1996

The House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.), yesterday released fiscal year 1997 figures for Amtrak that are just devastating. The new bill would cut total Amtrak funding by 28% from the current year, but leave virtually untouched every other major transportation program. Operations would be cut from $285 million to just $200 million. That is the same as the level proposed by the Clinton Administration. But because that is $50 million less than what Amtrak says it needs, this raises a very real possibility of even more service cuts.

Capital funding would be cut in half from $230 million to $120 million. That is only a third of what Amtrak says it needs. The prospect of another round of capital starvation is alarming and threatens the viability of whatever train service we will have just a few years from now. It also means Amtrak needs the gas-tax half cent more than ever.

The Northeast Corridor had already been cut nearly in half from 1995 to 1996. Now it would be cut again, from $115 million to $80 million. And all of that would go toward high-speed train maintenance facilities. There would be nothing for electrification or other on-going capital needs on the Corridor.

NARP and Amtrak both issued releases today protesting the cuts. NARP members should write to all their Members of Congress to protest, too.

The Nightly Business Report, a news show on PBS, did a show on June 3 generally criticizing public funding of Amtrak, without mentioning all the public-sector benefits highways and aviation get.

Arguments on the NIMBY lawsuit against Amtrak were held yesterday in Connecticut. The judge will make a decision in October on whether to stop electrification construction. But in the meantime, Amtrak will begin construction in earnest in Rhode Island.

Amtrak will begin applying yield management pricing techniques to sleeping car charges on June 18, for travel after June 21. That means that sleeper charges will be based on availability, just like coach seats on reserved trains. Charges on a given day's sleeping car will start at the lowest level and rise in stages until the car is full, giving an advantage to people who book early.

Look for an Amtrak coupon in your Sunday paper this weekend if you live in Albany, Albuquerque, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Portland (Ore.), Salt Lake City, Seattle, or Tacoma. The coupon is a two-for-one offer good on most trains run by the Amtrak Intercity business unit. Tickets bought with the coupon must be bought by June 15 for use through August 18.

Amtrak has entered into an interline bus agreement for service from Milwaukee to Oshkosh and Wausau. This is a step below full Thruway status. This means Amtrak can sell the bus tickets, but no through-fares are allowed.

Aviation authorization bills moved a little bit in both Houses this week. They must be passed in order for the government to collect ticket taxes again. Since the tax expired December 31, the aviation trust fund has been drained of $17 million a day and is running out of money. This is a subsidy to airlines and their passengers.

Amtrak's southbound Vermonter had an unusual accident on June 4 near Randolph, Vt. It struck a herd of cows on the track, killing seven of them. Two others were injured and slaughtered later. The train was delayed while the mess was cleaned up.

This week was the start of a new European high-speed train, the Thalys. It is based upon the French TGV and uses TGV tracks from Paris to Lille. Then it uses conventional tracks from Lille to Brussels and Amsterdam. It has cut the trip from Paris to Brussels by 30 minutes, down to 2:03 hours. In 1998, when a stretch of high-speed track opens between Lille and Brussels, the Paris-Brussels time will fall to 1:36 hours. The London-Brussels Eurostar travel time will fall, too.