Hotline #935 - June 21, 1996

The full House Appropriations Committee approved the 1997 transportation appropriations bill on June 19. It now has a bill number, H.R.3675. This is the bill released by the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee on June 6. H.R.3675 essentially freezes all major transportation programs, such as highways, airports, and transit, but singles out Amtrak for a 28% cut.

The Committee mark-up was brief, but it did feature a colloquy between the subcommittee chairman, Frank Wolf (R.-Va.) and ranking member, Ron Coleman (D.-Tex.). They both said favorable things about Amtrak getting a half cent of the federal gas tax, as outlined in the House in H.R.2789.

Immediate passage of the half-cent bills would alleviate the problems caused by slashing Amtrak capital funding in H.R.3675. The danger, of course, is that a half-cent bill doesn't pass and we get stuck with the terrible appropriation. Another danger -- even if the half-cent bill passes -- is the low operating grant in H.R.3675. At $200 million, it is so low that it raises the very real possibility of big route cuts in the fall and winter.

These route cuts could be so big that labor protection payments could force a shut down of the whole system. That could happen whether the pending authorization bill passes or not. Thus, with such a low operating grant in H.R.3675, there could be nothing left of Amtrak to benefit from passage of the half-cent bills.

H.R.3675 still has to go to the House floor. That could happen next week, the week of June 24. Please protest the Amtrak cuts to your Representative. Please tell your Senators to ask key appropriators in the Senate -- Hatfield (R.-Ore.) and Lautenberg (D.-N.J.) -- to restore Amtrak funding in the Senate bill. Once the House passes H.R.3675, it goes to the Senate, where it will be taken up in July, starting at the level of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee.

The Federal Aviation Administration and ValuJet announced a plan on June 17 to shut down ValuJet operations temporarily due to suspected problems with maintenance. This may help Amtrak revenues in the coming season, just as ValuJet hurt them in the past year.

The state transportation commission in Colorado approved yesterday funding for a month-long demonstration of two IC-3 train sets. These are self-propelled diesel rail cars described in the January NARP newsletter. Back in January, it was thought that a couple of the train sets would be in the United States by now. But the whole demonstration project has been delayed. The news from Colorado is encouraging and they hope to have the trains in their state in August or September.

Amtrak's Empire Builder resumed service June 19 after a brief interruption, caused by a freight derailment on the BNSF east of Libby, Mont.

Amtrak will cut fares on its Keystone route between Harrisburg and Philadelphia for its annual Keystone Rail Days promotion, June 29-30.

Amtrak will run an extra eastbound Cape Codder on July 3. That run is not listed in the timetable.

For the Olympics, Amtrak and a bus operator have created a package trip to carry people from Atlanta to the soccer games in Birmingham, Ala. The soccer games run July 20-28. People will be able to ride the daily Crescent westbound, and a bus back, for $89.

The next ISTEA forum will be July 2 at Portland, Ore., on the topic of the environment. It is part of a series sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The series goes through September.