Hotline #959 - December 6, 1996

he painful process of developing a 1998 Clinton Administration budget is well underway. The DOT has received its "passback," which is the revised budget request it gets from the Office of Management and Budget. Numbers evidently are disappointing for Amtrak, transit, and highways. Outgoing Secretary Pena is not in a strong position to defend the DOT request in the White House. Indeed, we understand that even last year, Rodney Slater, federal highway chief and White House intimate, advocated for the entire DOT budget in the White House instead of Pena. That all means that the need for pro-Amtrak letters is greater than ever.

Be sure to write or copy Vice President Gore, because he is interested in passenger trains -- and in your vote four years from now. Also note that even Amtrak says there is no more room to cut routes without wrecking the long-distance network -- and thus the willingness of the Congress as a whole to support corridor services in the Northeast or anywhere else. That means there is great peril in going below Amtrak's $245-million operating request. Finally, the Clinton Administration has not supported any of the key reforms in the reauthorization bills that would help Amtrak improve its finances without cutting routes.

Transportation programs in general seem to have dropped off the President's list of priorities. An anonymous White House source quoted by the Washington Post said that when the President's budget numbers for domestic discretionary programs comes out, "You'll hear plenty of screaming." We have to assume that includes Amtrak.

In Congress, subcommittee assignments should be firmed up by the end of January. We have now heard, however, that Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.) is likely to keep her chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Amtrak.

New Jersey Transit pledged in November $125 million over several years for upgrading signal systems on the Northeast Corridor, particularly on the congested, two-track Newark-New York segment.

New Jersey Transit also approved, on November 26, plans for a light-rail line from the Trenton Amtrak station to Camden. Passengers could transfer to the PATCO line there, and the light-rail line could be extended to Glassboro someday. The line may use diesel light-rail cars like the one demonstrated in Calgary this summer. The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers worked hard to get this plan approved.

BART will open a five-mile segment tomorrow from the North Concord/Martinez station to Bay Point/Pittsburg.

The BNSF reopened the long-dormant Stampede Pass line in Washington yesterday. At first, it will have one freight train a day each way. Already, local communities such as Pasco and Yakima are asking to have passenger service, too.

Damage to one of the three tubes in the Channel Tunnel caused by a fire November 18 is worse than first thought. One account described the tube at the tunnel scene as "an unlined hole" through the chalk seabed. Repairs to the tunnel could take six months and cost $83 million, with nearly $20 million more for trains and trucks destroyed in the fire, and more for lawsuits. Freight service has resumed in the remaining rail tube, and Eurostar passenger trains returned to service on December 4, running with 30-minute delays.

An out-of-date story ran in the December 2 Chicago Sun Times, indicating that Illinois DOT may seek bids from others interested in operating the state-supported Amtrak services. The article said Metra believed that if it ran these routes, they must pay for themselves in terms of fares and subsidies. However, we understand that Amtrak and Illinois are still working towards and agreement.