Hotline #101 - August 27, 1999

An attacker stabbed three men on the eastbound Lake Shore Limited yesterday at about 3:30 am. The train stopped at Olmsted Falls, O., 14 miles southwest of Cleveland, where the attacker was arrested. Passengers were bussed into Cleveland after the injured were cleared from the train. They later were bussed up the line toward New York State and some were put on other trains. Two of the stabbing victims were Amtrak conductors, and one was a passenger. All three were hospitalized, though one conductor with less severe injuries has been released.

The attacker was identified as Aaron Hall, 41, whose last address was Ontario, Cal. Witnesses have said that the incident began in the dining car when Hall became unruly, and stabbed those who tried to subdue him. Hall told police later than an Amtrak attendant threatened him with a gun, but no guns were found during a search of the entire train. Later, Hall was arrested while attempting to blend into the crowd after the train was stopped. After he was detained, he became very violent and broke several pairs of plastic handcuffs and the back window of a police car. He is in Cuyahoga County Jail with bond set at $1 million, charged with three counts of attempted murder.

Such attacks are so rare on Amtrak that the Federal Railroad Administration does not keep records on them. Amtrak has said it will review whether security on trains is adequate. However, considering the rarity of such events, elaborate, expensive security measures may be as impractical for Amtrak as they would be for Greyhound or any local transit service.

Amtrak said on August 25 that its passenger revenues were up 6% for the first nine months of the current fiscal year, compared to last year. This is a nine-month period that ended June 30. Passenger revenues were $738 million, which is $49 million higher than the previous year and $11 million higher than the level planned in the Amtrak budget.

Police in the Richmond, Va., area seized $320,000 in suspected drug money from an Amtrak passenger early on August 24, the most ever seized in that area. The seizure took place at the Amtrak station when the southbound Silver Meteor was making a regular, middle-of-the-night stop. Police, acting on a tip, approached the passenger and asked to examine a piece of luggage, and found the money. No drugs were found, and the man was detained, questioned, and released. A similar seizure on April 9 resulted in a find of $294,000 in two suitcases an Amtrak passenger had in his sleeping car room.

Heavy rains last night caused flooding over parts of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the Baltimore area, delaying several trains severely.

A nine-mile stretch of Amtrak-owned track from Providence to Pawtucket, R.I., according to yesterday's Providence Journal, is such a mess with graffiti and trash that Amtrak has specially targeted it for a clean-up campaign in anticipation of the start of Acela service, along with seven other so-called "hot-spots" along the Northeast Corridor. Among the efforts is a goal of washing away new spray-painted areas within 48 hours of it being reported. Such quick attention has proven a successful way for some rail transit agencies to discourage graffiti taggers and artists.

To pay for the effort, Amtrak is using $4 million of its appropriation toward the Acela project to pay for 18 new police officers and special clean-up crews armed with high-pressure hoses and graffiti-resistant paint. There is also a toll-free hot line to report problems, offering up to $500 for information that leads to a conviction.

Amtrak and local officials dedicated the newly renovated train station at Washington, Mo., on August 14.