Hotline #141 - June 2, 2000

The Senate version of the fiscal 2001 transportation appropriations bill could begin moving the week of June 5. During May, it was thought that the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee would act on June 6, and the full Appropriations Committee on June 8, so that a floor vote could occur by the end of June. However, some sources say that may be postponed somewhat. The House approved its bill, H.R.4475, May 19, with $521 million for Amtrak, of the $989 million authorized. Senators should still hear messages of support for the full Amtrak amount.

Senator Lautenberg has a new web site in support of his high-speed rail investment bill (S.1900, H.R.3700 in the House) that is well worth a visit. Due to the Memorial Day recess, there are no new bill co-sponsors.

A special inaugural train consisting of the newly delivered Pacific Surfliner train set ran June 1 from San Diego to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, making several stops along the way. The new train set is the first of eight ordered by Amtrak at a cost of $125 million. All eight should be in service by next spring. It is part of Amtrak West's effort to revamp what had been the San Diegan corridor -- a name given the Los Angeles-San Diego segment decades ago by the Santa Fe Railway, but which no longer is as relevant to a corridor that now also serves Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo to the northwest.

A partially correct wire story about Acela Express service circulated in the Northeast over Memorial Day weekend, which led to stories this week in the Boston Herald and Boston Globe. The wire story said that Amtrak had "announced" that -- for the foreseeable future -- it would run Acela Express high-speed trains at no more than the top speed for other trains on the Metro North line between New Rochelle, N.Y., and New Haven, Conn. Amtrak does not own this segment of the Northeast Corridor. For the most part, speeds are limited to 75 mph, though there is a short 90-mph segment in New York State. The stories went on to say that the total running time between New York and Boston would be 3:15 hours, rather than the planned 3:00 hours, when Acela Express service begins later this summer.

However, in fact, there was no such announcement. Amtrak says that planning for the three-hour Acela Express running time already has assumed 75-mph running on Metro North in Connecticut, recognizing that 90 mph might not be attainable in the near term (though Amtrak continues to try to get to 90 mph). Still, it looks like the initial travel time will indeed be 3:15 hours, due to several other, varied issues along the length of the route. Amtrak said the funding was in place to fix those issues within the next year or two and bring the Acela Express travel time back down to three hours.

There is still no specific start-up date announced for the new service, though a general Northeast Corridor timetable change remains a possibility for late July or early August.

Amtrak's northbound Carolinian derailed one truck on one coach June 1 near Cary, N.C. No one was reported injured, but the 286 aboard had to be bussed onward. No cause has been reported.

Amtrak's Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawathas generally will have 15 minutes added to their schedules on a temporary basis, due to a six-week trackwork project on host railroads Metra and Canadian Pacific, beginning June 4. Departure times from either terminal will remain the same. On June 4 only, the 10:40 am train from Milwaukee and the 1:00 pm train from Chicago will not run. Also on June 4 only, the Chicago-Janesville Lake Country Limited will run on a slightly different schedule -- see the Amtrak web site.

An interesting radio show from Seattle will be June 8 at 10:00 am Pacific time, about a new anti-transit ballot initiative in the State of Washington. The Dave Ross Show on station KIRO (710 AM; with live web feed) will feature Tim Eyman, the chief proponent of last fall's Initiative 695, which repealed a vehicle tax that was a primary source of revenue for the state passenger rail program. Eyman is now pushing a new, anti-transit Initiative 745 for this fall's ballot. Other guests will be Lloyd Flem of the Washington Association of Railroad Passengers to discuss the need for balanced transportation, and Aaron Ostrom of the 1000 Friends of Washington to discuss the negative effects of the proposed initiative.

In Colorado, the ColoRail passengers group is endorsing a November ballot initiative called the Transportation Finance Act. It would require Colorado DOT to spend at least 12% of its annual budget on non-highway modes, including rail (up from zero now!). They will be circulating petitions to get the measure on the ballot at the People's Fair in downtown Denver on June 3 and 4; contact John Valerio by e-mail for more information.