Hotline #111 - November 5, 1999

The last telephone hotline will be #112, to be recorded November 12. NARP is changing over to a free, on-line hotline, which will have the same type of information you've come to expect from the telephone recording. The new hotline will be posted today and can be found by visiting the NARP web site. Thank you for your support of the telephone hotline over the past eight years it has been a 900 number.

President Clinton yesterday vetoed a Republican plan for fiscal 2000 that would have cut all programs -- even the firewalled highway and transit areas. The cut was intended to end the impasse on the remaining appropriations bills. The cut would have worked out to just under 1%. That would mean a $5.5 million cut from the $571 million already enacted for Amtrak for fiscal 2000.

The Lautenberg-Jeffords High Speed Rail Investment Act needs as many co-sponsors as possible before the Senate adjourns, which would be November 10. Republicans are especially needed; Jeffords (Vt.) is the only Republican to date. New co-sponsors since last week are Boxer (Cal.), Kohl (Wis.), Leahy (Vt.), and Robb (Va.). The bill's 20% state matching requirement applies across the board, including the Northeast Corridor, and up to 5% of the bill's funding could go to non-designated routes, including long-distance trains.

Lincoln Chafee has been appointed to fill the remaining Senate term of his father, John Chafee, who died last month. Chafee, who had been mayor of Warwick, R.I., is on the Environment and Public Works Committee that his father chaired. The new chairman is Bob Smith (N.H.), who has not been an Amtrak supporter, so he needs to hear pro-rail messages from his constituents.

The Federal Railroad Administration on November 1 published in the Federal Register its proposed policy on its jurisdiction over light-rail operations on freight-railroad tracks. Much of the policy discusses situations in which a transit agency does not plan to separate light-rail and freight traffic by time of day. Comments are due January 14.

A Providence Journal report last weekend said that the builders of the Acela high-speed train have told Amtrak that they have figured out how to fix the wheel-wear problem that led to the announcement two months ago that train delivery would be delayed. However, Amtrak said that it wants to test the new design before announcing another start-up date.

The states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan on October 26 announced they will work together, along with Amtrak, to develop a plan to purchase high-speed train equipment to operate in three Midwest passenger-rail corridors.

The northbound Coast Starlight struck a truck and derailed late November 4 near Salinas, Cal., resulting in 12 derailed -- but upright -- cars and 13 minor injuries. The truck driver admitted to trying to beat the train.

Investigators are focusing on train equipment and track as possible causes for the October 22 derailment of the Sunset Limited at Cathedral City, Cal. The derailed train did not overturn, and there were three minor injuries. Aftershocks of the October 16 earthquake that derailed the Southwest Chief occurred the same morning, but were ruled out as factors in the Sunset derailment.

On November 8, Amtrak will begin offering checked-baggage service on two Hiawatha round-trips, at Chicago and Milwaukee only. This will make checked-baggage service far more attractive to Milwaukee passengers making long-distance connections at Chicago.

In local elections November 2, voters in Columbus, O., rejected a sales tax for commuter rail. Voters in Aspen, Colo., Virginia Beach, and Kansas City rejected measures promoting light-rail projects. In Washington State, voters repealed a vehicle tax that is a primary source of revenue for the state passenger-rail program. In Denver, voters approved a light-rail measure by a two-to-one margin.