Hotline #113 - November 19, 1999

Several Amtrak management changes happened November 16. Anne Hoey became Service Operations vice president, heading the Corporate Operations Department (responsible for food and beverage contracts, equipment and mechanical services, safety, environmental, crew management services, operations standards). NEC President Stan Bagley gained responsibility for the national operations center, headed by Ron Frazier (now System Operations and Police Services vice president). Ron Scolaro is High Speed Planning and Development vice president, reporting to Vice President David Carol.

On December 1, the new Amtrak Intercity president will be Ed Walker (currently General Manager, NEC Mid-Atlantic Division). Lee Bullock will become Freight Railroad Affairs Corporate Vice President.

President Clinton and Republican Congressional leaders have agreed on a fiscal 2000 spending agreement with an across-the-board cut averaging 0.38%. Clinton can vary the impact on individual programs between no cut and 5%, but it appears that most programs, including Amtrak, will get the basic 0.38% cut. When applied to Amtrak's $571 million, that is a $2.2 million cut.

Twenty-six of the nation's 50 governors on November 17 sent a letter to President Clinton urging him to provide Amtrak with all the money it is authorized to get in fiscal 2001, which is $989 million. That's more than the $571 million Amtrak got in 2000, a level which may be barely enough to scrape by in terms of its operational self-sufficiency mandate. But the higher number would allow for some system growth in terms of corridor development. The governors included 13 Democrats, 11 Republicans, one Reform Party member, and one Independent.

S.1900, the Lautenberg-Jeffords High Speed Rail Investment Act bill, had 22 "original co-sponsors" when it was introduced November 10. We failed to list Hutchison (R.-Tex.) in our December newsletter, but will correct that in January. Seven more Senators have signed up since then -- Dodd (D.-Conn.), Feinstein (D.-Cal.), Reed (D.-R.I.), Wellstone (D.-Minn.), Reid (D.-Nev.), Feingold (D.-Wis.), and Murray (D.-Wash.). Thanks to Hutchison, the bill, as introduced, provides that up to 10% of the funds -- rather than up to 5% -- could go to routes other than the Northeast Corridor and designated high-speed routes.

Amtrak announced on November 15 that it signed a 15-year agreement with ExpressTrak, LLC, a Detroit-based freight-marketing company. The partnership ultimately will provide up to 350 refrigerated express cars to be used in the shipment of fresh produce. The cars will enter service over 18 months beginning April 2000. A Wall Street Journal report the same day said the agreement will target produce shipments from California to the Midwest, the Northeast, and Florida.

On November 16, the Federal Railroad Administration conducted the first-ever crash test of a passenger coach at the testing center in Pueblo, Colo. The coach was rammed into a solid wall at 35 mph. The car and test dummies inside will be studied as part of FRA's overall effort to consider passenger car standards.

Illinois DOT conducted a test of their own November 17 at a grade crossing on the Chicago-St. Louis line near Chenoa, Ill. A pickup truck was driven into an arrestor-net apparatus at 45 mph. The crossing is one of three installed along the line last March as an experiment in grade-crossing technology.

A Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train that had not yet cleared the main line near Fullerton, Cal., November 18. Fifteen people had mostly minor injuries -- a broken leg was the most serious. The morning commuter train was headed from Los Angeles to Oceanside and the accident closed the San Diegan route for several hours.

At a ceremony at Los Angeles on November 18, California Governor Gray Davis (D.) and Wisconsin Governor and Amtrak Chairman Tommy G. Thompson (R.) announced a restructuring of the San Diegan service to take place next spring. That is when new train sets bought by Amtrak will begin to arrive. The new service will be called Pacific Surfliner.

Gov. Thompson announced November 18 that he has signed a $2.5-million contract to study high-speed rail between Madison and Milwaukee, which is part of the overall Midwest Regional Rail Initiative effort.

Thanksgiving Week is upon us -- for tips on traveling on Amtrak during this very busy travel period, see our web site.