Hotline #964 - January 10, 1997

President Clinton's State of the Union address will be February 4, and he will submit his budget on February 6. So there's still time to tell him to support an Amtrak operating grant of at least $245 million, and the Amtrak half-cent.

Two new members of the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, which proposed huge funding cuts for Amtrak last year, are leading budget-cutters -- Tiahrt (R.-Kans.) and Aderholt (R.-Ala.). Other new subcommittee members are Torres (D.-Cal.), Olver (D.-Mass.), and Pastor (D.-Ariz.).

This week, Bud Shuster (R.-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced a bill that would take the transportation trust funds off-budget. The bill has 123 co-sponsors and is expected to pass the House, as it did last year.

This year, however, Shuster and the committee's ranking member, James Oberstar (D.-Minn.), hope the Senate also will pass it. Here is a full quote from yesterday's Washington Post:

"[Shuster and Oberstar say] members of the Senate Appropriations Committee are not talking so tough this year. Also, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott [R.-Miss.] is downright sympathetic. Shuster and Oberstar seem to think they have a deal that Lott can't resist -- more money for Amtrak. Shuster went out of his way to say that if trust funds [go off-budget], Amtrak's much-coveted half-cent per gallon of the gasoline tax could be folded into the legislation."

Trains between Seattle and Eugene and the California Zephyr are running their normal routes now. The Vancouver train will resume January 12, and the Coast Starlight north of Oakland is now scheduled for February 1. The Empire Builder situation, however, is complicated by a blizzard and deep cold in the High Plains. BNSF has closed the route between Havre and Minot. There is an eastbound train holding at Havre, and a westbound train that has been stopped at Stanley, N.Dak., for 24 hours. That train is expected to start moving again this evening.

An extension of the DART light rail line in Dallas opened today, from Pearl north to Park Lane. Also, the new commuter rail service opened on December 30 -- something that happened on schedule only because Amtrak made equipment and crews available. That was necessary because work to recondition old rail diesel cars has been delayed. The Trinity Railway Express runs from South Irving to Union Station in Dallas, where it connects with the light rail line that opened last year.

A U.S. district court judge in Connecticut this week denied an injunction to stop Amtrak electrification construction in that state. A group of residents in the Stonington area filed suit last June. The judge ruled that the Federal Railroad Administration's studies of environmental concerns and alternatives to electrification "adequately addressed" all concerns.

The future of passenger train service from Boston to Portland is still bogged down in a dispute between Amtrak and Guilford, which owns more than half the route. Last week, Guilford publicly asked officials in Maine to reconsider their earlier decision to give the operating contract to Amtrak. Instead, Guilford wants Maine to leave Amtrak out of it altogether, and let it run the trains. However, it appears Amtrak still has the job, assuming Amtrak makes good on its commitment to file the dispute with the Surface Transportation Board before the end of the month. Meanwhile, bids will be awarded for station design and work.