Hotline #118 - December 22, 1999

According to a December 14 Moody's news release, "Moody's Investors Service has assigned an issuer rating of A3 to Amtrak. The rating, which has a stable outlook, reflects Moody's assessment of the financial strength of Amtrak in relation to its unique operations and political prominence in the U.S. The A3 rating is based on ... Moody's expectation that operational self-sufficiency will be achieved, but that the Federal government will continue to provide financial support for Amtrak's capital program ... The rating reflects the continuing, intense competitive pressures that Amtrak faces from the nation's highly developed highway and air transportation systems, as compared with the national passenger rail systems in other countries, and the substantially larger land area that it serves ... The Amtrak Reform Council may recommend the dissolution of Amtrak if it fails to meet the self-sufficiency goal, which in Moody's view is unlikely, given achievements to date." See also Amtrak's release on the action.

In a December 9 talk to the Maine DOT's 49th annual meeting and conference in Augusta, Amtrak President George Warrington said, "As most of you know, at Boston the Northeast Corridor ends at South Station. However, the service to Portland will commence from North Station. That leaves a one-mile gap between the two stations. Obviously, a rail connection between Boston's North and South Stations would significantly enhance our service, and link Portland and Brunswick to Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Maine needs to be directly connected to the national system, through the North-South Rail Link! In our view, the fact that Boston's rail system is divided is an unfortunate historical fluke that needs to be corrected. True, the cost would be significant, but the impact of a Rail Link on the health and vitality of Boston and New England would be extraordinary. And ultimately, the Rail Link would enable the development of one continuous Atlantic Coast Corridor, providing superior service from Maine to Florida."

Meanwhile, the bitter dispute continues over MBTA's planned transfer of commuter-rail maintenance work from Amtrak to Bay State Transit (referred to by union leaders as "B. S. Transit"). An article in today's Boston Globe quotes Rep. Joe Moakley (D.-Mass.) saying the MBTA action is "a safety threat to everybody who rides ... I don't want to ride a train whose safety is being maintained by people who haven't had a day's experience," referring to an MBTA/Bay State plan to hire new workers if Amtrak workers don't apply for Bay State jobs. The article says, "Department of Labor and DOT officials have told the MBTA its federal funding is in jeopardy unless it can prove it is complying with previous agreements in contracting out commuter-rail maintenance work." FTA Acting Administrator Nuria J. Fernandez wrote to MBTA urging postponement of a March 1 target date for the transfer if the labor issues are not resolved.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported on December 19 that 200 people cheered when the first scheduled Kentucky Cardinal arrived at Jeffersonville, Ind., the morning of December 18. The paper reported a passenger load of about 30, "most of them railroad enthusiasts and Amtrak officials." During ceremonies, Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Gallagan said, "This is a great day for the area, the community. This is going to connect Jeffersonville with the rest of the world."

Amtrak trains now are running normally in the wake of a December 14 freight-train derailment on the Steel Bridge in Portland, Ore., and a mid-afternoon fire on December 19 in a signal box at New York Penn Station. A Portland fire inspector blamed the derailment on the light weight of empty cars at the front of a 94-car Union Pacific freight train. The New York incident stranded thousands of holiday shoppers and travelers.

In response to complaints by Members of Parliament about schedule changes, Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette asked VIA Rail to postpone changes that were planned for January 16. This apparently means the Monday-Saturday International will continue to depart Toronto at 7:50 am and not switch to 6:30 am. VIA is considering adding a Toronto-Montreal overnight service, however, and it is still possible this will begin January 16. Transport 2000 is pressing VIA to have this connect with the International, which might mean the new train would become a Montreal extension of the International later in the year.

The DOT Office of Inspector General on December 14 issued a report on Amtrak's progress on Boston-New Haven electrification, identifying "critical issues that may pose risks to Amtrak" starting limited electrified service between New York and Boston next month.

The report is covered in an article in the New England edition of today's Wall Street Journal. The report says Amtrak should consider delaying the planned January start-up of all-electric service because of potential unreliability problems resulting from the fact that some of the Boston-New Haven line will have only single-track electrification. The article quotes Amtrak Vice President for High Speed Rail David Carol saying service start-up will "probably be late January." NARP Executive Director Ross Capon is quoted saying "it would be interesting and disappointing" if the service doesn't start next month, but "this is the kind of stuff that a couple of years from now, we won't remember it."

The report says the electrification contractors have complained that they don't have enough "outage" time to get the job done by a December 22 deadline. "In the report, Amtrak says the contractors should make better use of existing outage periods. But if that doesn't work, Amtrak told government officials it would request that" commuter-train schedules be altered to free up more time. The report notes the complexities of work near Boston South Station because of construction on the highway "Big Dig" (Central Artery depression). On December 11 and 12, Amtrak had to stabilize tracks there with additional rock and gravel ballast after tunnel construction caused tracks over a 500-foot stretch to sink at least seven inches.

Amtrak disputes an assertion in the article that original plans called for electrification to be completed by June 1999. Also, Amtrak is confident that single-track operation will work well with electrification, and notes that -- due to electrification construction -- operations have been partially single-track through the construction territory for a long time.