Hotline #32 - May 1, 1998

The Clinton Administration has been complaining recently about the amount of spending in the two ISTEA bills, which are now being reconciled in a House-Senate conference committee. DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, however, has stopped short of a veto threat. Speaking to a legislative conference on Capitol Hill on April 29, he said that the legislation is "far in excess of anything we can afford." Slater said, "The President will support more spending if it stays in line with the balanced budget agreement reached by Congress and the Administration last year."

This is important because the House bill, by taking the Highway Trust Fund off budget and greatly increasing highway spending, would drastically squeeze programs remaining dependent on general revenues for their funding. That includes all kinds of programs -- transportation and otherwise -- including, of course, Amtrak. Therefore, it would be in the best interest of railroad passengers that some sort of ISTEA funding compromise is reached that does not violate last year's budget agreement.

There is still time to urge your Members of Congress to support the Senate ISTEA language on state flexibility to spend federal funds on passenger trains. Conferees will be working all through May.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week denied an application by Enron Power Marketing of Houston to have access to the mid-Atlantic electricity transmission system. Enron wanted this ability so that it could sell discount electricity to Amtrak, which would have lowered the cost of much of Amtrak's electricity by 50%. Amtrak planned to pass some of that savings to commuter operators such as New Jersey Transit, SEPTA, and MARC, and to put the rest of the savings toward improving its own budget. Amtrak said in an April 22 statement that it would continue looking for ways to buy discounted power.

Governor Pataki of New York vetoed $700 million in spending, including $10 million that some state legislators wanted to use to double-track the congested passenger line between Albany and Schenectady. He also vetoed $60 million for multimodal facilities that could have included other rail projects. New Yorkers should tell the governor they don't like what he did and tell state legislators to work to salvage the passenger rail funds.

NARP Executive Director Ross Capon will be on a talk show on May 8 on KFYR Radio 530 in Bismarck, N.Dak., which boasts the nation's largest geographical daytime coverage, including the Dakotas and parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Others can catch the program over the internet at "kfyr.com" by clicking on KFYR Live. The program will air from 10:15 am to 12:00 noon (Central).

The Federal Register for May 4 will have the Federal Railroad Administration's final rule requiring railroads to meet minimum standards for emergency response and to mark, inspect, maintain, and repair emergency exit doors and windows. The new rule builds upon emergency rules issued by the FRA two years ago in the wake of fatal commuter train accidents in New Jersey and Maryland. It also builds upon discussion and recommendations of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee, which was created by the FRA and of which NARP is a part.

Bankrupt Pan Am, which operates only charter flights, says Guilford Transportation Industries, the New England railroad, has agreed to buy the airline for $28.5 million. Court approval is required.

The President of VIA Rail Canada last week announced his resignation from that post. According to a news release, Terry Ivany's announcement comes one month before the end of his five-year appointment, at a time of VIA's "strongest performance in its history." During Ivany's tenure, VIA's operating subsidy was cut by more than 50%, without a massive round of service cuts on the scale of that last seen in Canada in 1990.