Hotline #112 - November 12, 1999

This is the last telephone hotline that will be recorded. 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 can be found by visiting the NARP web site. Thank you for your support of the telephone hotline over the past eight years that it has been a 900 number.

Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey on November 10 introduced S.1900, the High-Speed Rail Investment Act. This is the bill that would allow Amtrak to sell $10 billion in tax-free bonds over 10 years to be used on high-speed corridor development and improvement nationwide. Counting Lautenberg, the bill has 21 sponsors so far.

Amtrak President George Warrington and Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Mark Schweiker on November 8 announced a high-speed funding agreement aimed at improvements on the Keystone line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The plan includes $140 million in investment, and aims to cut the travel time to 90 minutes. It takes two hours -- more or less -- to cover the 104 miles today. Amtrak and the state will each provide half the cost of restoring electric service to all trains, upgrading tracks and signals, and building a new intermodal station at Harrisburg airport. In addition, Pennsylvania DOT has committed to improve the remaining three grade crossings on the line. The Keystone trains will be redesignated "Acela Regional" next year.

Time is running out for work on aviation reauthorization to be done before Congress adjourns. House and Senate conferees declared an impasse on November 10. The Senate quickly passed a six-month stopgap bill, but House Chairman Shuster is holding out for a multi-year reauthorization. The House wants guaranteed spending of all aviation revenues plus some general funds. The Senate wants to leave more power with the budget and appropriations committees. There is a danger that adoption of the House position could make it harder or impossible for appropriators to fund programs not protected by budget firewalls, such as Amtrak.

Time is also running short for the flexibility bill, S.1144, though it can still go to the Senate floor after Congress reconvenes in January. Please ask your Senators to urge Senator Lott to bring the bill up before adjournment. Democratic Senators should ask Senator Daschle to urge Lott to do this.

The Senate approved the renomination of Linda Morgan to the Surface Transportation Board on November 10. She is currently its chairman.

A dump truck derailed Amtrak's International on November 9 at a crossing 12 miles west of Toronto, killing the truck driver and injuring 11 passengers. Though the locomotive overturned, the cars remained upright and in line.

San Francisco voters on November 7 approved a ballot proposition in favor of moving the Caltrain commuter rail station downtown. They also approved a plan to replace the Central Freeway with an at-grade boulevard.

The Surface Transportation Board has extended a 90-day deadline for the City of Boise, Idaho, and Ada County to buy a segment of Union Pacific track formerly used by the Pioneer. The former deadline was November 5. Ada County is interested in involving Boise Locomotive as a private partner to use the line for locomotive testing; while the city wants to preserve the line for future transit use. Total abandonment of the line would mean that if the Pioneer were ever restored through Idaho, it would not be able to serve Boise directly, because Boise would then be only on a dead-end branch.

A gala ball marked the completion of the restoration of Kansas City Union Station on November 5. The main presence in the station is a science museum that opened November 10. An Amtrak space in the station should open about a year from now.

Governor Ryan of Illinois will be honored November 13 at a combination press conference and meeting of the Illinois Association of Railroad Passengers at Springfield. Ryan will be honored for his commitment of funding to passenger rail projects, including those on the Chicago-St. Louis line that are compatible with the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

The grand re-opening of the restored station in Marshall, Tex., is November 13. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.) will cut the ribbon at 10:30 am, and there will be train displays and other festivities all day.