Hotline #952 - October 18, 1996

CSX announced plans to acquire Conrail on October 15, which came as a surprise to many observers. What this means to passenger service is unclear. However, a joint release said it should be possible to take Conrail freight traffic off of the Northeast Corridor and put it onto CSX's own line between Washington and Philadelphia, and that freight congestion could be reduced on MARC's Brunswick line, apparently by rerouting some east-west freight traffic to the Conrail main line in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the Washington Post also reported on CSX's feeling that the MARC Camden line commuter service ought to be eliminated in order to make more room for freight trains.

Other areas to watch for where CSX and Conrail have parallel service, and which have Amtrak service, would be the Broadway route between Pittsburgh and Chicago, the Cardinal route between Cincinnati and Chicago, and the Pere Marquette route between Grand Rapids and Chicago.

A guest editorial from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.) in the October 13 Dallas Morning News discussed Amtrak's future. She said it is important for states to act to save trains threatened for discontinuance in May. On the other hand, she said it is important for Congress to act to save the Amtrak system itself, citing the half cent and labor reforms.

In that vein, it is important for NARP members in states affected by proposed route cuts to contract their state legislators right away -- before election day -- to ask that the state take action to keep trains running through all of 1997. Keeping the trains running in the short run must take precedence over states' feelings that the federal government is treating them unfairly. There are no guarantees that the federal government will act again to keep these trains running, but actions taken by states before May could make all the difference. Please contact your governors as well.

At the federal level, letters to the White House are in order, praising President Clinton for taking the train to the Democratic Convention in Chicago, and urging him to make sure in advance that the budget he proposes for Amtrak in fiscal 1998 will preserve all existing service.

The CSX line between New Orleans and Mobile took a few days longer to reopen than expected. The Sunset Limited and Gulf Coast Limited resumed service on October 14. Barges torn from their moorings in high seas on October 7 struck a CSX bridge east of New Orleans and knocked it out of alignment. The Sunset was rerouted via Hattiesburg, Miss., while the Gulf Coast was canceled.

Amtrak is due to receive its last two Superliners this month. The last group is one coach and two transition-dorm-sleepers. The Viewliner order will be done by the end of December, as Amtrak expects to get four more cars each in October, November, and December. California Cars are arriving at a rate of two a month, and should all be ready by next May.

The NARP board is meeting in St. Louis at this time. Speakers today have included the project manager of the St. Louis intermodal terminal, John McCarthy; the Amtrak Intercity vice president of marketing, Steve Scott; and the Amtrak Intercity vice president of operations support, Doug Sizemore. Tomorrow's guest speaker is Tony Iannone of the United Transportation Union.