Hotline #44 - July 22, 1998

The House Appropriations Committee this morning approved the subcommittee's $609 million for Amtrak. Floor action is possible as early as July 28. Committee dialogue indicated continuing danger of a steal-money-from-Amtrak amendment. The Coast Guard on its own is seeking $200 million more than the committee gave them, which was $75 million more than President Clinton requested.

The Senate counterpart bill is likely to be on the Senate floor late next week. Times are tough but Subcommittee Chairman Shelby (R.-Ala.) -- with strong support from Senator Byrd (D.-W.Va.) -- found $200 million for the 13-state Appalachian Regional Commission (mostly highways) beyond the $450 million a year mandated by TEA-21.

The first NARP Youth Rail Passenger Citizenship Award will be presented July 24 at the Spartanburg, S.C., Magnolia Street Depot at 10:30 am. The winner is Paul Dupree "Trey" Davis, III, who just graduated from Spartanburg High School and plans to attend Duke University. He is interested in public policy. NARP's Ross Capon will make the presentation. Also attending will be the mayor, city manager, some council members, staff representatives from the offices of Senator Ernest Hollings and Rep. Bob Inglis, Amtrak's Ray Lang, and Norfolk Southern's South Carolina Resident Vice President for Public Affairs, Frank Macchiaverna.

Davis in 1996 saw the need to save Spartanburg's fire-damaged depot. It was his initiative "through letters, editorials, and visits" to city leaders that saved the building from possible demolition and led to a campaign to restore it. The award text notes that "the depot and its improved surroundings will contribute to and help anchor the revitalization of downtown Spartanburg."

NARP established this award both to honor exemplary work such as Davis' and to encourage involvement of more young people in efforts to modernize and expand the national passenger rail network.

The Akron, O., Amtrak station will have its grand opening July 31, at 10:30 am. It is downtown, next to the Quaker Square Hilton Hotel (end of Bowery St. just east of Broadway). TV cameras are likely to be on hand, so Ohio ARP urges a good turnout. Funding for the small, modular station included $97,500 from the city and $12,500 from the Ohio Rail Development Commission.

"Union Pacific says its trains are backed up about 760 miles from Southern California to New Mexico," said the July 20 Wall Street Journal, "mostly because it's having trouble finding enough train crews." UP reportedly is routing some trains off the Sunset route to help matters. Until recently, UP publicity implied that all their problems were on their "central" corridor. The article said some freight is going through the Panama Canal because of the freight-train mess. Adding to shippers' woes is the disastrous premature opening of the Hong Kong airport, which has resulted in some air freight being shifted to ships. Today's Wall Street Journal has a brief item on BNSF earnings -- showing benefits from freight traffic gained from UP.

Almost 90% of the new business identified in the Canadian National/Illinois Central merger application filed last week comes out of the pockets of the four largest U.S. railroads, according to the Journal of Commerce (July 20). The story says UP stands to lose nearly $165 million in revenue if CN and IC will merger approval and execute their plan. CN -- overcoming historical IC/KCS animosity -- has a friendly relationship with KCS, adding to UP's vulnerability. However, today's Journal of Commerce says UP controls a key link between IC and KCS -- a 1.3-mile track segment in Springfield, Ill. IC's only other link with KCS is at Jackson, Miss.

No one expects the Surface Transportation Board to turn down the merger application, precisely because of the problems with existing U.S. rail service, especially on UP.