Hotline #60 - November 13, 1998

Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich announced on November 6 that he would resign. It's likely the new Speaker will be Appropriations Chairman Robert Livingston (R.-La.), and that he in turn may appoint either Jerry Lewis (R.-Cal.) or Bill Young (R.-Fla.) to replace him. All of that, however, won't necessarily affect the Transportation Subcommittee chairmanship.

New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R.) on November 6 resigned from the Amtrak Reform Council, which she chaired. Whitman said she was frustrated that Congress denied the Council the right to spend its $450,000 on outside consultants. Vice-chairman Paul Weyrich said he understood her reasoning, adding that he was not sure what future the Council has. The Council next meets November 24, and Weyrich said they will consider whether the Council can fulfill its Congressional mandate. If the conclusion is negative, Weyrich suggested he also would resign and urge the other members to do likewise. Meanwhile, the Association of American Railroads is lobbying for ex-AAR president William Dempsey to replace Whitman on the Council.

The derailment of Conrail RoadRailers the morning of November 11 forced the detour of several Amtrak trains. Heavy winds blew ten RoadRailers off the tracks and into Sandusky Bay, along the Ohio shore of Lake Erie.

Amtrak moves into the new intermodal terminal in Syracuse, N.Y., on November 17.

Amtrak has been awarded a five-year, $80-million contract allowing it to continue operating and dispatching the Metrolink commuter train system in the Los Angeles area. However, Amtrak recently lost its contract to maintain Metrolink equipment to Bombardier.

There was a proposition on the ballot last week in four Bay Area cities supporting a feasibility study to design passenger rail capacity into a replacement of the Bay Bridge. The measure passed decisively in the four cities, which were San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville.

Also last week in San Francisco, voters approved Proposition E, a measure that calls for the elevated Central Expressway to be demolished, including the part crossing over Market Street. It would be replaced with a tree-lined boulevard.

Los Angeles County voters approved an initiative banning use of the county's transit sales tax on new construction of subway lines. The subway has been plagued with problems and cost overruns, but it looks like county voters have unnecessarily limited their own future transit options.

Union Pacific Railroad said on November 9 that it will expand its work force by 30,000 over the next 12 years, from the current 55,000 to 85,000. About 2,500 workers a year retire, and 5,000 a year will be hired to replace them and to handle new business growth. The new jobs will mostly be engineers and conductors. If the hiring can help UP keep its own operation in order, that can only help Amtrak operations over UP lines.

A coalition of groups announced on November 10 their intent to file a lawsuit against the federal government, the Georgia DOT, and the Atlanta Regional Commission for allowing 61 illegal road projects into the most recent Transportation Improvement Plan for the Atlanta area. If the parties do not negotiate a settlement within 60 days, the suit will be filed. The plaintiffs include Georgians for Transportation Alternatives -- which the Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers helped set up -- the Georgia Sierra Club, the Georgia Conservancy, and the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The Auto Train struck an abandoned car at a grade crossing in Jarratt, Va., on November 10. There were no injuries, but the lead locomotive was derailed.