Hotline #70 - January 22, 1999

Amtrak announced five new business partnerships on January 20 that are expected to improve Amtrak's finances. First is an agreement with Dobbs International Services, which will take over Amtrak's 11 commissaries in April, with expected long-term savings to Amtrak of $28 million. Dobbs is a leading airline catering company, but Amtrak will still determine the menus. Second is a partnership with Burlington Northern Santa Fe and UPS, in which Amtrak will lease 40 RoadRailers, divert some express traffic from BNSF intermodal trains between Kansas City and Albuquerque, and earn $2.9 million in annual revenue.

Third is an agreement with the US Postal Service to carry more second-class mail worth $15.2 million a year, leading 89 RoadRailers to carry new mail business from Philadelphia and Springfield, Mass., to Los Angeles and Oakland, Cal. Fourth is a new partnership with ExpressTrak for a pilot program using eight refrigerated express cars, with ExpressTrak providing marketing, billing, maintenance, and other services for Amtrak. Fifth is a premium package service Amtrak will operate with the Dynamex delivery system, using Metroliners to provide a one-day delivery system in the Northeast. All these items to provide Amtrak with revenue (in addition to ticket sales) will help Amtrak meet its mandate of operational self-sufficiency by 2002.

The Wall Street Journal (January 19) reported that Norfolk Southern and Amtrak are near agreement on a plan to run more freight trains on the Northeast Corridor. The plan would call for Norfolk Southern to run Triple Crown RoadRailer trains into the New York City area from Chicago on the Harrisburg line, and from Atlanta by way of Washington. This would save about six hours over routes that will be controlled by Norfolk Southern after the final break-up of Conrail and make the service more competitive with trucks.

A crash early January 17 involving three Conrail freight trains tied up the Conrail main line between Toledo and Chicago during the early part of the week. Much traffic was rerouted through Michigan, including some Amtrak trains, though on the first day the Pennsylvanian was annulled west of Pittsburgh. Other Amtrak trains detoured through Fostoria, O. The accident happened near Stryker, O., just a half hour after one Amtrak train had passed through the area.

Another Conrail derailment January 21 shut down the main line west of Amsterdam, N.Y., with the Lake Shore Limited rerouted by way of Binghamton, and Empire Corridor service interrupted.

A storm with powerful winds interrupted Amtrak and commuter train service on January 18 by knocking out electrical power. For about a two-hour period in the early evening, 15 Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor were stranded, as were 20 New Jersey Transit trains on the North Jersey and Raritan Valley lines. Several SEPTA commuter rail lines were affected, and PATH train service stopped for 40 minutes between Newark and Jersey City.

A two-week track work project began on the San Joaquin route on January 18, which required all passenger train service to be substituted between Fresno and Bakersfield. The trains will be restored at the end of the month.

A meeting today was to be hosted by the mayor of Gainesville, Tex., for state legislators and DOT officials from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas to discuss a three-state passenger rail compact.

There was a ceremony on January 19 to mark the 100th anniversary of South Station in Boston. About 200 union members who are Amtrak employees protested during the program, claming that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority was planning to award parts of the commuter rail contract to a foreign company. Amtrak currently has the contract, and it is up for bids.