Hotline #82 - April 16, 1999

Amtrak will begin running a daily train between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City on June 14, under an agreement announced April 14 by Amtrak President George Warrington, Sen. Don Nickles (R.-Okla.), and state DOT Secretary Neil McCaleb. NARP has urged operation of a Thruway bus linking the train with Dallas. The announcement came two days after Gov. Frank Keating signed into law Senate Bill 383, which allows that state to enter into a proposed passenger rail compact with Kansas and Texas. The new law creates a commission to pursue such an alliance.

The State Senate in Washington has approved money in its budget allowing a second daily Amtrak train between Seattle and Vancouver. The House budget, however, does not include the funding. NARP members in Washington need to contact their legislators to make sure the funding ends up in the final, reconciled budget.

Comments made to reporters last month by the new Democratic governor of California, Gray Davis, suggest that he sees other forms of mass transit as deserving priority over investment in high-speed rail. The California High Speed Rail Authority has been working on a proposal for high-speed trains from San Diego to Sacramento and the Bay Area. But Davis said that his highest priority for rail transportation would be to "facilitate the commute of hundreds of thousands of Californians who experience unwarranted frustration, delay and loss of productivity because of all the delays they encounter."

There will be a Thruway bus connecting with the Texas Eagle to and from the north only, effective May 1, between Little Rock, Ark., and Branson, Mo. Also May 1, the existing Longview-Houston Thruway will be extended to Galveston.

Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris promised a safety blitz involving major Amtrak routes to gain the attention of local officials and commercial motor vehicle operators. This came at a meeting April 15 of the FRA's Railroad Safety Advisory Committee, on which NARP sits. She advocated widespread use of photo enforcement, noting that violations in California fell 90% during a test period and 70% over the long run. She noted that states theoretically could flex $820 million into grade-crossing work and urged states to follow the example set by Texas last year, which alone flexed $30 million and experienced a 30% reduction in injuries and fatalities.

A federal judge has approved a deal between Amtrak, SEPTA, Conrail, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and various Pennsylvania agencies, under which the three railroads will pay $1.45 million in damages resulting from hazardous PCB's in the Paoli rail yard. The successor company to the Penn Central has not yet entered the agreement, and manufacturers like Monsanto, G.E., and Westinghouse still face a class-action suit on behalf of almost 200 individuals. The three railroads all owned or conducted operations in the yard at various times in the last 20-25 years. They have already spent $12 million on clean-up, but EPA says there is $20 million more to do. The Paoli yard has been in operation since the Pennsylvania Railroad extended its electric suburban operations there before World War I.

The United Transportation Union petitioned the Surface Transportation Board on March 26 to indemnify its oversight of the Safety Integration Plans in the Conrail break-up, Finance Docket 33388. UTU alleges a shortage of conductors and engineers on Conrail.