Hotline #965 - January 17, 1997

A bill to give state flexibility under ISTEA to spend some of their federal money on intercity passenger trains may be introduced in the Senate as soon as January 21. The sponsors would be Senators Roth (R.-Del.) and Biden (D.-Del.). Please ask your Senator to co-sponsor that bill, and also to work for the Amtrak half-cent, which would be covered in a different bill.

The Shuster bill we reported on last week has the number H.R.4. That is the bill to take transportation trust funds off-budget.

The Wall Street Journal ran a story on Amtrak on January 15, the point of which was that Amtrak's loss more than doubled in the first quarter of fiscal 1997, and that it may have to borrow as much as $70 million to get through the year.

The westbound Pioneer derailed on January 13, nine miles west of Borie, Wyo. Eleven of the 12 cars derailed, but none overturned. There were eight minor injuries among the 107 on board, with a ninth person hospitalized for chest pains. The weather was bitter cold and passengers were given blankets and stick lights until buses could take them to local hotels. The train was running more than two hours late at the time.

Mud slides at Edmonds, Wash., have further disrupted Amtrak service on the Mount Baker International and the Seattle section of the Empire Builder. A mud slide yesterday struck a BNSF freight train, sending part of it into Puget Sound. The track will be closed until the end of the month. Passengers are being bussed from Seattle to Vancouver and Spokane. Meanwhile, Coast Starlight service all the way north to Seattle has been restored as of today.

Amtrak and Illinois announced their agreement to keep state-supported trains running, on January 14. Illinois will pay $22.5 million over three years and will outline specific service parameters for the trains. Amtrak will pay a penalty of $2,700 for each train leaving its originating terminal more than 30 minutes late, and when such departures are les than 99% on-time annually. The package applies to the Illinois Zephyr, State House, and Illini. The late-departure penalty resulted mainly from the late Chicago departures of the Illinois Zephyr, whose train and engine crews have been turning from the unreliable, inbound California Zephyr.

Despite much talk about the future of a state passenger rail in California, this week Gov. Pete Wilson (R.) released a 1997-98 budget request that has record amounts for passenger trains. A total of $56.3 million is requested. That includes $2.2 million for San Joaquin service between Sacramento and Stockton. But that is no guarantee the service will start next year. Service between Bakersfield and Los Angeles has been budgeted for years and never implemented.

CSX's bid to take over Conrail was dealt a setback, today in Philadelphia. Conrail shareholders rejected a measure that CSX wanted approved. The vote was not about the pending takeover proposals themselves, but on an interpretive point relating to Pennsylvania law. However, observers believe that the outcome benefits CSX rival Norfolk Southern.

The director of the Italian State Railways has said there appears to have been nothing wrong with the high-speed Pendolino train that derailed last weekend, killing eight people. The ETR-460 train derailed on a conventional main line at Piacenza, 45 miles southeast of Milan. The director also said that the track conformed to specifications and that the signals were working correctly. Authorities have suggested speed may have been to blame, but labor unions reject that and called a protest strike yesterday.

A non-revenue TGV train derailed January 15 on a conventional line in France at Hendaye, near the Spanish border, and no one was injured.