Hotline #92 - June 25, 1999

The House approved its transportation appropriations bill for fiscal 2000, H.R.2084, on June 23. Though as late as that morning we were still getting information that there would be an amendment from Joel Hefley (R.-Colo.) to severely cut Amtrak by $114 million, that amendment never actually came up during floor debate. Apparently, a whip count showed that the amendment would be badly defeated, as indeed were Hefley's last attempts at such amendments in 1993 and 1994. There is no doubt that the hard work of many NARP members helped out with such a head count, and, so, many thanks to all of you who contacted your Representatives.

H.R.2084 did have a lot of funding cut from it, however, about $300 million. Much of that came from unobligated funds in the Airport Improvement Program. There is no guarantee that we are out of the woods yet; or that someone down the road won't try to replenish some of the airport money by going after Amtrak. We still have to get the bill passed in the Senate and through a conference committee.

During debate on H.R.2084, the House approved one amendment cutting funding for the Amtrak Reform Council. This amendment, offered by Robert Andrews (D.-N.J.), cut the Reform Council's funding from a proposed level of $750,000 to $450,000. The amendment was approved overwhelmingly, with almost 300 votes in favor.

The Senate Commerce Committee on a voice vote on June 23 approved the nomination of Sylvia De Leon to the remaining vacancy on the Amtrak board. De Leon was a board member before the current board was established last year. This nomination has been delayed by the committee for nearly a year, because De Leon was seen on the committee as someone with a controversial role in the labor situation late in 1997, which contributed to the resignation of Amtrak President Tom Downs.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a resolution on June 22 in support of S.1144, the Senate flexibility bill that would allow states to spend some of their TEA-21 federal funding on intercity passenger rail. A group of 15 mayors sponsored the resolution, many of whom are members of the Amtrak Mayors Advisory Council formed this spring. Other groups who have already passed similar measures are the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, and the National League of Cities.

Amtrak and Motorola announced on June 22 a $24-million contract to develop a state-of-the-art Automated Fare Collection System. This would include a hand-held device that would allow Amtrak conductors to read ticket barcodes, process on-board credit card purchases, and make instantaneous updates to the train manifest. This is expected to gain Amtrak more than $7 million in revenue annually after full implementation. The system will start on Acela Express service this fall and on the rest of the Amtrak system a year later.

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean announced on July 22 that a new rail service would begin in the western part of his state sometime in August. A daily service connecting with Amtrak's Ethan Allen at Rutland will run 70 miles north to Burlington Union Station, using equipment already delivered for a local commuter service in Burlington. This equipment has been sitting idle because the commuter service has suffered some delays. No word on what happens to the longer-distance service when the commuter service starts next year. Also no word on intermediate stops.

The new train will be operated by the Vermont Railway, which already leases the tracks from the state for freight operations. The train will travel about 30 or 40 mph, so the trip will take a pretty slow two-and-one-half hours, which officials point out will still be faster for Burlington passengers headed for New York than for them to take the Vermonter from nearby Essex Junction.