Hotline #109 - October 22, 1999

The NARP board is meeting in Toronto. This morning we heard from Amtrak Northeast Corridor President Stan Bagley. He said that new Acela uniforms were unveiled in Providence on October 20, that work allowing the first electric through-service to Boston would be complete by December 21, and that the Northeast Corridor beat its 1998 budget goal by $23 million.

At lunch, VIA Rail Canada President Rod Morrison told how his railroad has had its funding cut in half since 1992, and yet has kept up service standards without reducing train service. We will hear from Transport 2000 President Harry Gow tomorrow.

There is late word that the Surface Transportation Board has decided in Amtrak's favor to allow Boston-Portland service to run at 79 mph on 115-pound rail, with a few conditions. Track owner Guilford had held out for stronger, 132-pound rail, or for Amtrak to run only at a non-competitive 60 mph. NARP filed a brief and successfully argued that Amtrak already does what it proposes to do on the Portland line in several other places with no problems.

The westbound Southwest Chief derailed in the early morning hours of October 16, due to an earthquake. The train was traveling very near -- or maybe even right above -- the epicenter of an earthquake at Hector, Cal., which is deep in the Mojave Desert. The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.0 on the Richter scale, which is even bigger than the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake or the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. The Southwest Chief remained upright, and there were four minor injuries.

There will be an Amtrak oversight hearing on October 28 before the Ground Transportation Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Subcommittee chairman is Thomas Petri (R.-Wis.). This subcommittee only got jurisdiction over Amtrak this year, after the dissolution of the former Railroads Subcommittee. Among the witnesses will be Amtrak Board Chairman and Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, officials from the General Accounting Office and DOT Office of Inspector General, Amtrak Reform Council Chairman Gil Carmichael, and NARP Executive Director Ross Capon.

Hurricane Irene earlier this week caused some disruption to Amtrak service in the southeast. The Silver Palm and Silver Meteor had bus substitution between Florence and Richmond some days, with no train originating October 17. The Silver Star and Auto Train detoured between Columbia and Alexandria on October 17 and 18.

The new Amtrak station at Modesto, Cal., opens October 31, replacing the current station at Riverbank.

The top ranking state transportation official in California suggested last week closing down Caltrain north of Millbrae after the BART extensions to Millbrae and San Francisco Airport open two years from now. Commissioner Jeremiah Hallisey told a session of the California Transportation Commission's Public Transit Committee that it should be looked at before even considering electrifying Caltrain. Some of the concern seems to be that more job growth is occurring in the South Bay area around San Jose than in San Francisco proper. However, closing half of Caltrain and making commuter passengers change to BART at Millbrae doesn't make much sense. There's probably no need to ask the Commissioner if the parallel US 101 freeway also should be shut down with a forced transfer to BART.