Hotline #53 - September 25, 1998

The conference committee on the 1999 transportation appropriations bill, H.R.4328, did not meet this week. But they may meet October 1, so there is still time to phone, fax, or e-mail messages of support for the House's funding level of $609 million for Amtrak.

Last week, Congress approved a measure that, in effect, moves the end of the fiscal year from September 30 to October 9, giving Congress a little more breathing room to get its appropriations bills passed. However, the transportation bill seems likely to be lumped into a larger omnibus spending bill. The question is whether the transportation part of this big bill will be the final version, or whether resolving some transportation issues will be left for later.

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on September 22 on two of the three remaining nominations to the Amtrak board -- former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton and Amy Rosen, a previous board member and New Jersey Transit official. Committee Chairman John McCain (R.-Ariz.) went on at great length about how Amtrak should have been privatized 25 years ago and quoted the recent GAO report that says only one Amtrak route is "profitable." Sen. Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.), expressed his anger that the Pioneer was discontinued, even though other trains have "worse economics," and said he was not prepared to vote for either nominee. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.) said Amtrak is needed very much and that "you can throw that GAO report right out the window -- I don't think it is measuring prospects for the future." That is an assessment NARP agrees with 100%.

The Amtrak board met yesterday. They selected Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson to be the chairman of the board, with former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis the vice chairman. The new board's first responsibility will be to appoint a new Amtrak president. George Warrington, who was reluctant to take the position of Acting President late last year, now is an enthusiastic candidate to become the President.

Amtrak service south of Orlando and Tampa is annulled today because of the arrival of Hurricane Georges.

Amtrak's Piedmont in North Carolina will operate with the state-owned, full-length dome car during weekends in October. The car, the "Mount Mitchell," ran in successful parlor service during weekends this past summer.

According to the Journal of Commerce, the Federal Aviation Administration reports that airline travel is expected to increase 50% from 1997 to 2007. Last year, there were 599 million passengers, and FAA projects 900 million ten years from now. Since airports are already crowded and air traffic control systems already in need of modernization, this should present an opportunity for a coordinated effort between federal, state, and private interests to improve passenger rail -- perhaps along the lines of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative report released August 31. Otherwise, federal and state governments could continue their policies that segregate the modes, and figure they can spend their way out of aviation congestion by investing only in aviation.

A German ICE high-speed train collided with a piece of machinery hanging over the track near Stendal, while running at 125 mph, the evening of September 20. The lead power car was badly damaged, but no one was injured. The three railway workers operating the machinery escaped. The accident occurred near a bridge over the Elbe River on the new high-speed line between Berlin and Hanover, which opened for service just the week before.