Hotline #55 - October 9, 1998

The conference committee for the 1999 transportation appropriations bill, H.R.4328, has begun meeting and has made a lot of progress, but has not yet finished all its work. We are cautiously optimistic about the final outcome for Amtrak -- but we also recognize that nothing will be final until the bill is passed and signed into law. Everything should be resolved within a few days.

The continuing resolution extending fiscal 1998 funding for most federal programs expires today. However, we understand Congress will pass another extension good through October 12.

Amtrak, of course, is now in a new fiscal year. Amtrak says that in fiscal 1998, Metroliner ridership was over 2.1 million, the most ever.

A ceremony was held yesterday at Washington Union Station, announcing an agreement between the Federal Railroad Administration and Bombardier Transit Corporation to produce a prototype of a fossil-fuel, high-speed locomotive by 2000. In opening the ceremony, Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris said, "We knew if we wanted to take high-speed technology from the Northeast to the rest of the country, we would need a technology that did not require the electrification that has been necessary until now."

According to an FRA release, the agreement calls for development of a 4,000-horsepower locomotive, capable of 150 mph and weighing 100 tons. It will use an Allied Signal TF-40 turbine. In later phases of the project, the locomotive's performance will be enhanced with energy from a flywheel storage system being developed by the FRA-funded Advanced Locomotive Propulsion System project (led by the Center for Electromechanics at the University of Texas, Austin).

FRA and Bombardier will share evenly the estimated cost of $25 million to develop the prototype. FRA awarded the first $3 million to Bombardier (matched by the company) at the ceremony.

Besides Molitoris, those appearing at the ceremony were U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, Bombardier President Peter Stangl, Amtrak Acting President George Warrington, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D.-N.J., ranking Democrat on the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee).

Flash flooding disrupted some rail traffic in the Midwest earlier in the week; particularly, the Southwest Chief had to be rerouted on October 5 between Kansas City and Bucklin, Mo., on the former Burlington route. Also, it ran directly between Kansas City and Emporia, Kans., due to flooding near Topeka and Lawrence.

A groundbreaking was held on October 7 for a flyover connection on the Kansas City Terminal tracks at Sheffield Junction. It will take nearly two years to build. The location has an average of 200 trains a day, and delays can range from 45 minutes to two hours. This will also help the six Amtrak trains a day that use the junction.

A ceremony and party was held at Washington Union Station on October 7 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Capitol Limited. Though it did not run during Amtrak's early years, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad began operating the service in May 1923.

The NARP board and staff are meeting in San Diego next week -- every effort will be made to produce an on-time hotline on October 16, but an appropriations update before that may not be possible.