Hotline #954 - November 1, 1996

The Clinton Administration will make critical decisions this month about its 1998 budget request, including Amtrak dollar amounts and whether an Amtrak half cent should be part of ISTEA renewal. So be sure to let President Clinton know what you think -- including your concern that falling operating grants are forcing route cuts to an already skeletal system. Address your letters to The President, The White House, Washington, DC 20500.

It looks like Transportation Secretary Federico Pena will leave for the private sector no matter who wins the presidential election on November 5. Yesterday's Washington Post said the leading candidate to succeed Pena is Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater, who served Clinton as Arkansas highway chief.

Rep. James Oberstar (D.-Minn.), ranking member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, addressed a meeting of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee today. The advisory committee advises the FRA on safety and includes industry and labor officials, as well as NARP. Oberstar praised the committee for the progress it is making on developing safety regulations, but said if progress doesn't move fast enough, he will work to legislate such regulations. Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris reported that much work of concern to Oberstar will be done by mid-January. Oberstar said he wants to join the effort to make rail travel safer than air travel again.

Senate Commerce Chairman Larry Pressler (R.-S.Dak.) is in danger of being defeated on November 5. That likely would make John McCain (R.-Ariz.) the next chairman. During Senate debate of the DOT appropriations bill, McCain offered an amendment to cut Amtrak to the fatal House levels, but was defeated 82-17.

The policy of putting on-board crew in Superliner sleeping-car revenue space will end shortly, Amtrak has assured NARP, after we expressed concern about this practice on sold-out trains. The exception would be the sleeping-car attendant. Also, the practice may continue on the Pioneer between Chicago and Denver, where its combination with the Desert Wind or California Zephyr results in more crew members than the dormitory car can handle.

NARP has given Amtrak examples of travel groups blocking more than 80 coach seats on the Cardinal between Huntington and White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., sharply reducing sales of long-distance trips. Amtrak is investigating, since its policy is to limit such groups to 40.

The National Transportation Safety Board this week cited the Illinois DOT for a fault in a traffic signal that was involved in a grade-crossing accident on October 25, 1995, at Fox River Grove. A Metra commuter train struck a bus, killing seven high school students. The NTSB also faulted the school district for not properly training the substitute bus driver about her route.

In another ruling this week, the NTSB faulted Washington Metro for an accident on January 6 that killed a subway driver at the beginning of the big blizzard. Metro was charged with endangering public safety with a rigid management system. A year ago, Metro reversed a long-held policy and directed its staff to never manually override the computer train control system -- even when the train skidded due to snow or wet leaves. Metro thought it could save some money that way and not fix so many flat spots on wheels. But the policy reversal exposed the system to a 20-year-old bug in the computer system, which caused the system to fail to stop the train involved in the accident. Metro now requires operators to run manually in bad weather.

Thruway bus service connecting Galesburg, Peoria, Bloomington, and Champaign, Ill., ended October 10, when the operator running those buses ended its service over that route.