Hotline #986 - June 13, 1997

The Senate Commerce Committee may consider Senator Hutchison's Amtrak reauthorization bill, S.738, next week. Rail labor opposes the bill, even though its labor provisions are essentially the same as ones labor accepted during the last, unsuccessful attempt at Amtrak reauthorization. That means Democrats on Senate Commerce need to hear support from Amtrak's non-labor friends. An attempt may be made to amend the one-year shutdown trigger in this bill, something that Senator McCain insisted on. The previous bill and the proposed amendment would have a three-year trigger.

Bud Shuster (R.-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, would like a one-year extension of ISTEA, rather than a sweeping, multi-year renewal. He then would have a multi-year bill during an election year. The House leadership opposes this. A multi-year renewal of ISTEA was one of the possible vehicles for passage of Amtrak reauthorization and for the Amtrak gas-tax half cent.

Shuster's "blue ribbon" panel is thought to be wrapping up its work on exploring ways to solve Amtrak's financial problems, and might release its findings next week.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.) this week became the 16th sponsor of S.436, the Senate Amtrak half-cent bill. The House version, H.R.1437, is up to 47, with Martinez (Cal.), Quinn (N.Y.), and Gejdenson (Conn).

Amtrak West has announced it will end service July 8 on the Cascadia between Portland and Eugene unless state funding, which expires June 30, is extended. Though the governor proposed $5.6 million for the train for the 1998-99 biennium, the legislature took it out. The trains were not funded in this biennium, either, but Oregon DOT and Amtrak managed to find other ways to fund it.

It's now official that the Denver-Trinidad Thruway bus connecting to Southwest Chief points west of there will start service June 23. It will serve the Denver bus station, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. The western region of the Amtrak Explore America Fare plan has been extended to Trinidad to allow one-zone fares to be used on the new bus.

The Night Owl will be replaced July 10 with a new Boston-Newport News train called the Twilight Shoreliner. It will run about two hours earlier in both directions than the Night Owl does now.

Freight derailments have been plaguing Amtrak in recent weeks. There were two more this week. On June 8, a CSX collision disrupted service on the Cardinal route west of Charleston, W.Va. A derailment June 9 on the New England Central at Windsor, Vt., disrupted the Vermonter. Passengers were bussed north of Bellows Falls.

The Cardinal had a dining car added to it last week for a trial period. For now, it is running with a staffing level less than normal for other dining cars, with the same menu as earlier, but seems to be popular. A second sleeper was added this week.

Sunset Limited service at Palm Springs, Cal., began last week. The new, sheltered platform was funded by the city and state. The city is providing security there, and is considering a shuttle bus to the airport nearby.

Trains between Kansas City and St. Louis will handle up to four unboxed bikes, starting June 15. There is a reservation fee of $10 for one of the four available slots. Bikes will be stored in specially designated overhead luggage racks.

Norfolk Southern and the North Carolina Railroad have taken their lease dispute to the Surface Transportation Board. The dispute is delaying state plans to improve the Raleigh-Greensboro segment for better passenger train running times.

The American Passenger Rail Coalition honored Rep. Spencer Bachus (R.-Ala.) on June 11 with its first Rail Leadership Award. He is an original co-sponsor of H.R.1437.