Hotline #67 - December 31, 1998

Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater is expected to announce further Midwest high-speed corridor designations in late January, after requesting input from states in a December 11 Federal Register notice. Key candidates that have not yet been designated include Chicago to South Bend-Toledo-Cleveland, to Indianapolis-Cincinnati, and to Champaign-Carbondale. If you live in any of these states, ask your state officials, U.S. Senators, and Representatives to urge Slater to include these in his announcement. Act quickly!

Amtrak President George Warrington and Chairman Tommy Thompson, according to the Chicago Tribune (December 24) said that a "major announcement on a timetable to establish a high-speed Midwest corridor will be made in late January. Sources said that Amtrak will next month announce a firm financial commitment to an already federally designated Midwest high speed rail corridor."

Warrington met with reporters in Chicago on December 22, the day after his appointment as President was announced in Washington. He had hoped to ride the train all the way from Washington but had to fly to Pittsburgh to catch up with the Capitol Limited because the Washington news conference, reception, and media interviews could not be finished by the train's 4:05 pm departure.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bud Shuster (R.-Pa.) has abolished the Railroads Subcommittee and given its responsibilities to the Surface Transportation Subcommittee (which will be renamed), chaired by Thomas Petri (R.-Wis.). This lets Shuster revive an oversight subcommittee and probably means Bob Franks, the former Railroads chairman, will chair the Economic Development Subcommittee. The committee must formally approve the structural changes in January.

Amtrak settled 42 lawsuits filed by families of passengers killed in the 1993 Sunset Limited disaster that resulted from a towboat whose pilot was disoriented in a dense fog, hitting a railroad bridge near Mobile, Ala.  Associated Press reported December 24 that a lawyer for the families said the payoff would be one lump sum to be divided up by a federal judge, to whom the settlement will be presented in January. These wrongful-death lawsuits would have gone to trial in February. An Amtrak statement expressed deep regret for the fatalities and said that, although Amtrak was not at fault, "it was time for all concerned to move forward in this matter." The families also sued CSX and the towboat company. Under Amtrak's contract with freight railroads, Amtrak generally assumes liability for its passengers, crews, and property while the railroads are liable for their crews and property.

An upbeat story on Virginia Railway Express was in the December 29 Washington Post. Also covered was the steady recovery of VRE's ridership from the on-time-performance disaster that followed a CSX freight derailment in the summer of 1997.

Due to a severe ice storm, from December 24 to 26, CSX was shut down between Newport News and Richmond, and other Amtrak trains through Richmond were severely delayed.

The Federal Railroad Administration and the Surface Transportation Board issued a joint proposal on December 30 that would require merging railroads to file a Safety Integration Plan with the two agencies for review and approval. The proposed rule is in today's Federal Register. Comments from the public are due March 1.

To head California's transportation department, Gov.-elect Gray Davis (D.) has selected Jose Medina, a labor leader and current member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He described himself in the city's voters' guide as an advocate of public transportation and of alternative methods of transportation. He has an urban planning degree.