Hotline #73 - February 12, 1999

NARP Executive Director Ross Capon testified on February 10 before the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.). He appeared on a panel with Harriet Parcells of the American Passenger Rail Coalition, and Mark Dysart of the High-Speed Ground Transportation Association, and all endorsed full funding for Amtrak and for high-speed rail programs.

NARP is co-sponsoring a Washington Legislative Action Day for Amtrak and high-speed rail on March 24. There will be morning briefings in a room on Capitol Hill, with participants urged to meet with their own Representative and Senators in the afternoon. A nominal registration fee may be charged. Contact NARP if you want more information as it becomes available.

Amtrak yesterday announced a restructuring of its management team. Stan Bagley has been named permanent president of the Northeast Corridor business unit. He had been the acting head since George Warrington left that post in late 1997. Sandy Brown is the new vice president for Government Affairs. She has been acting vice president for nearly a year, since Tim Gillespie left that post. A new department, High-Speed Rail Development, will support the advancement of new corridors across the country. Its vice president will be David Carol, who has been in charge of the Northeast Corridor high-speed program for six years.

The Missouri House Appropriations Committee approved a transportation funding bill for the coming fiscal year this week. Unfortunately, the $6.2 million for Kansas City-St. Louis Amtrak service that both Amtrak and the governor requested was cut to $5 million. This committee has been a problem in past years, too, and there will be opportunities to restore the cut funding in future House floor action and in the state Senate. Missouri NARP members should contact their state legislators right away in support of the full $6.2 million.

The committee also did not include a state DOT request for $50,000 for improvements to the Kirkwood Amtrak station, but appeared to have left transit funding intact.

In the Oklahoma Senate, two bills sponsored by pro-rail Sen. Dave Herbert were passed out of committee on February 9. One bill, Senate Joint Resolution 12, would allow a ballot initiative next year to raise fuel taxes to benefit passenger trains and other public transit. Gas taxes would go up one cent, and diesel would go up two cents. The other bill allows Oklahoma to enter into a compact with the other states in the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

The dedication of a new station space for Amtrak in Charlottesville, Va., on February 9, drew over 1,000 people, who toured both the station and a set of Cardinal equipment on display. Speakers at the dedication ceremony included Al Edelston, Amtrak Intercity President for Customer Service, Virginia Doherty, mayor of Charlottesville, and Leo Bevon, the director of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

The first light-rail vehicle for the Hudson-Bergen light-rail project in New Jersey was unveiled February 8 at a New Jersey Transit shop in Harrison. The first phase of the line will open in March next year, connecting Hoboken Terminal with downtown Jersey City and 34th St. in Bayonne. This was the first car of a 45-car order. Of those, 29 are for the new Hudson-Bergen line, and the rest to replace aging PCC streetcars on the Newark City Subway.

Two Sacramento light-rail trains collided head-on on February 8 on a single-track bridge, sending 27 people to the hospital with minor injuries. Only one train was a revenue run with passengers; the other was a disabled train being pushed by another, neither one with passengers on board. A transit agency spokesman said the non-revenue train had a red light to allow the revenue train to pass, and that the investigation would focus on why the driver passed the red light. It was the first such collision in Sacramento since the system started in 1987.