Hotline #138 - May 12, 2000

The first step for a fiscal 2001 transportation funding bill in the House was made May 8 by the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee (chaired by Frank Wolf, R.-Va.). The Subcommittee approved a bill with $521.5 million in general funds for Amtrak, the same level proposed by the Clinton Administration. The last authorization law for Amtrak (in 1997) authorized $989 million for 2001. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider the new bill on May 18.

The House bill's $521.5 million for Amtrak is unlikely to be exceeded in the Senate, where the amount of money available to transportation is far tighter. The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee may act around June 6.

The huge gap between authorized and proposed general fund appropriations for Amtrak increases the need for other pro-rail bills. S.1144, the flexibility bill giving states the choice to spend some federal TEA-21 money on intercity passenger rail capital projects, may come to a vote the week of May 15 -- please urge your Senators to reject any anti-rail amendments. H.R.3700 and S.1900 would invest $10 billion in passenger rail over ten years -- H.R.3700 got seven more sponsors this week (a total of 60); see our web site.

Redevelopment of Chicago Union Station will get another look, at the urging of Amtrak Board Chairman and Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson. Amtrak broke off talks three years ago with two bidders on an $80-million project to add retail, office, and hotel space. The eight-story main building, built in 1925, was designed to have other stories built on top -- that remains a possibility, though its level of difficulty is not known.

A "railfest" in Janesville, Wis., will be held May 13 (9:30 am - 2:00 pm) by Amtrak to draw attention to the Lake Country Limited that started running last month. The festival will happen at the Wisconsin and Southern yard, downtown (Hwys. 11 & 51/Center & Court Sts.) -- not at the Amtrak platform site. An equipment display and free train riders to/from the Amtrak site are included, along with a ceremony at 11:45 am.

Flash-flooding west of St. Louis the weekend of May 6 disrupted Amtrak's Kansas City-St. Louis service. The line should be reopened by May 15. Alternate bus transportation is offered only for the Ann Rutledge west of St. Louis.

The next Amtrak system timetable change is May 21. Significant changes involve the Texas Eagle, which gets Chicago-San Antonio daily service for the first time since 1993. However, in order to get Union Pacific to agree to more trains, Amtrak agreed to put the southbound train on a new route west of Texarkana, bypassing Marshall and Longview. A new bus transfer will be set up at Gilmer (20 miles northwest of Longview), serving Longview and Marshall (and the current Longview connections for Houston and Shreveport). The northbound train stays on the current route. Union Pacific insisted on this because it divides its freight traffic by direction through the region on roughly parallel routes. NARP has urged Amtrak not to accept future such conditions, and to restore the Eagle to its current route in both directions as soon as possible.

NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon today received the second annual Robert K. Pattison Partnership Award. The award was presented by the Intermodal Passenger Institute in Philadelphia at the High Speed Ground Transportation Association's annual conference. The first Pattison Award was given last year to Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene Molitoris.

The Ohio Rail Development Commission was to meet today to discuss whether to ask the state for $50 million to develop a passenger rail service between Cleveland and Columbus. The state had earlier budgeted $32 million, but that was greatly inflated by added requests from CSX for track and signal work. There is concern that the CSX requests are so big as to sink the entire project.

Voters in San Antonio rejected by a 70-30 margin a light-rail plan that involved a new quarter-cent sales tax. San Antonio is the largest city in the U.S. without any rail transit service or plans for one.

The Minneapolis light-rail proposal survived two challenges this week. First, a judge threw out a light-rail-related lawsuit filed by a Republican state legislator against Governor Ventura. Second, Republican House leadership failed to knock out light-rail funding during a conference to reconcile state transportation funding bills. A final vote is still needed in the legislature, but further, significant change is unlikely.