Hotline #83 - April 23, 1999

With the passage in both houses of Congress of a budget resolution last week, the die is cast for appropriations battles in the months to come. The fact that the guaranteed funding programs for highways and transit threaten to take money away from non-guaranteed programs like Amtrak and the Coast Guard will be exacerbated if Bud Shuster succeeds in taking aviation "off-budget," and greatly increasing its funding. Shuster is the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Fortunately, there still is a core group of Senators opposed to Shuster's proposal.

The NARP board is meeting in Washington, and last night was the annual reception in Union Station. The George Falcon Golden Spike Award was presented to Gov. Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, who gave a very rousing and enthusiastic address about the future of Amtrak and passenger trains, saying he would not rest until their financial and political health was assured. The Dr. Gary Burch Memorial Safety Award was presented to Amtrak conductor Frank Garrard of Jacksonville, for his extensive work in training Amtrak employees and local emergency response personnel about railroad safety and rescue procedures.

Amtrak President George Warrington addressed the board today. He stressed his commitment to seek the capital resources needed to increase market share for Amtrak. He also made a commitment to the group to keep and expand the national system, vigorously denying charges from some quarters that he has a secret agenda to do quite the opposite.

Amtrak has broadened the terms of the 10% travel discount offered to NARP members. Effective yesterday, the discount is available for all dates in the Amtrak inventory, which is typically 11 months into the future. Also, the discount is now good on Thruway buses in the 7000 and 8000 number series. Finally, the discount is now good on joint Amtrak services in Ontario. Fulfilling a 1998 promise by Amtrak President George Warrington, this brings the NARP discount up to a par with the AAA discount, except for one respect. The NARP discount cannot yet be booked on the internet, but we understand that may happen next month.

Amtrak and Norfolk Southern announced an agreement on express shipments, on April 19. Norfolk Southern's Triple Crown Services unit will be able to run RoadRailer trains on the Northeast Corridor and on the Keystone Corridor, both owned by Amtrak. Revenue projections from the deal for Amtrak were not released, but were described as being in the "millions" annually. Northeast Corridor President Stan Bagley said, "Amtrak will expand our partnership with [Norfolk Southern] in a manner that is compatible with Amtrak and commuter rail operations ..." This will primarily be at night, though that is when much maintenance work also is performed. Amtrak will also get access to Norfolk Southern's Portside Yard in northern New Jersey for its own express traffic.

The announcement did not include information about possibly adding express shipments on Amtrak routes outside of the Northeast Corridor. Currently, the only Amtrak train using a significant amount of Norfolk Southern traffic is the Crescent. However, there will be more after the break-up of Conrail is complete, including the entire Pennsylvanian route west of Harrisburg.

A computer problem in South Station yesterday disrupted signals and trains on the Amtrak line between Boston and New Haven.

The new intermodal station in Champaign, Ill., had its grand opening April 16. The station has been in service since January 29.