Hotline #61 - November 20, 1998

Amtrak Northeast will run 70 extra trains and add cars to many existing trains to meet the demand for Thanksgiving travel. The Wednesday before and the Sunday after Thanksgiving are always the two busiest travel days of the year. In the Northeast, Amtrak ridership will be between 70 and 90% above normal on those days. The added capacity will be in place from Tuesday (November 24) through Sunday (November 29). Extra holiday trains will also run between Seattle and Portland, in the Northwest. During the Christmas period, Amtrak is increasing coach capacity on the Crescent and coach and sleeper capacity on the Florida trains.

The next House Appropriations Chairman is likely to be C. W. "Bill" Young (R.-Fla.), according to the Washington Post.  He is from the St. Petersburg area.  He would replace Robert Livingston, who was elected Speaker of the House by House Republicans earlier this week. Livingston's voting record on Amtrak has not been good, but Young's is mixed. However, he was not at all happy when Amtrak ended St. Petersburg train service in 1984.

Young now chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, which he would have to give up by moving to the chairmanship of the full committee. The resulting change in subcommittee chairmanship there probably won't affect the leadership of the Transportation Subcommittee, which is chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.).

Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, at a high-speed rail conference in New Orleans on November 18, announced that he was designating a Gulf Coast High Speed Rail Corridor linking New Orleans to Baton Rouge and Houston, to Mobile, and to Meridian and Birmingham. This will make the corridor eligible for federal TEA-21 funding to make grade crossing improvements. There would have to be a state and local funding match. The DOT wants work with states, cities, and railroads along the route to make incremental improvements to the lines with the goal of achieving passenger train speeds of 90 mph or more.

Guilford Transportation once again is complicating the proposed Boston-Portland service. Guilford wants the State of Maine to increase its investment in Guilford property -- already over $40 million -- by installing 132-poung rail, or to accept an unreasonable 59-mph top speed, 20 mph below what is planned. However, Maine and Amtrak insist -- and other experts agree -- that the planned 115-pound rail is reasonable. Amtrak trains for years have run safely at 79 mph on 115-pound rail in several other places, at 90 mph in southern California, and next year at 100 mph in Michigan.

The new Talgo train set was put through three days of testing this week at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colo. Reports indicate the test have gone well, with runs up to 115 mph, even though the top revenue speed is planned to be 79 mph. The new Talgo train sets are to enter revenue service in the Pacific Northwest on December 1, replacing the borrowed Talgos and Superliners that are there now.

Amtrak will start Thruway service from Salt Lake City to Pocatello and Idaho Falls on December 1, connecting with the California Zephyr to and from the west. On January 12, there will be a new service from Atlanta to Chattanooga and Nashville, connecting with the Crescent to and from the north.

A private investor has bought the Amtrak station in Fort Worth from the Catellus Land Development Corporation, which manages and owns the remaining real estate assets of the former Santa Fe Railway. The new owner, who also bought the two neighboring freight depots and the nine acres of land they sit on, plans to restore the station, which was built in 1899. They plan to accommodate Amtrak's presence in the building, though there are longer-term plans to move Amtrak and future commuter trains into the former Texas & Pacific station on the south side of downtown Fort Worth.