Hotline #155 - September 8, 2000

The NARP Executive Committee elected a new President for the organization September 7, in a telephone conference call. They chose Alan Yorker, of Decatur, Ga., who has been one of the four Vice Presidents since this past April. He is also president of both the Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers and Georgians for Transportation Alternatives. He will serve the remainder of the term of his predecessor, John R. ("Jack") Martin, who passed away September 1. That term expires in April, 2002.

Alan Yorker is a retired family therapist, who recently resigned after serving 16 years as legislative affairs chairman of his professional association, and who served 1991-98 as chairman of the state licensing board that oversaw counselors, social workers, and family therapists. He was appointed to that position by former Gov. Zell Miller, who is now a U.S. Senator.

Jack Martin's funeral was September 3 in Atlanta. NARP Executive Director Ross Capon attended, as did several NARP directors and Amtrak staff members. As a tribute to Jack, Amtrak President George Warrington ordered that all Amtrak locomotives sound their horns that day at 5:00 pm (Eastern), which is the time that the funeral began. Jack's family has requested that contributions in his memory be made to NARP and/or the Atlanta Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (P.O. Box 1267, Duluth, GA 30096-0023).

The Federal Railroad Administration today released a partial decision on Amtrak's petition for "grandfathering approval" for the five existing Talgo train sets. The petition, which NARP supported, was necessary because the trains predate the FRA's new passenger-car safety standards. The new standards allow for such grandfathering petitions to be considered. At issue was the Talgo's lower "compressive" or "buff" strength, which "Amtrak has sought to address through use of unoccupied cars and conventional locomotives" (FRA release).

The FRA has authorized continued operation of the trains on the Pacific Northwest Corridor, "subject to certain conditions." These conditions include certain modifications to be made to the equipment within nine months, under the review of the FRA.

The FRA wrote that additional information will be needed to decide whether to run the Talgos faster than 79 mph (which the Pacific Northwest states would like to do someday), and noted that the Amtrak petition did not directly address this issue. The FRA also wrote that additional information will be needed to decide whether to allow the trains to run on two other corridors named in the Amtrak petition -- the Pacific Surfliner route in Southern California and Los Angeles-Las Vegas.

Now that Congress has returned to Washington, there are several new co-sponsors to the High Speed Rail Investment Act. The Senate bill (S.1900) gained one, for a total of 51, with the addition of Senator Collins (R.-Me.). The House bill (H.R.3700) gained seven, and is up to 154 sponsors. See our web site for the complete list.

This month -- September -- will be the key month when the fate of this important initiative is decided. Members of Congress are eager to "hit the campaign trail" and so will want to leave Washington again (and end this session of Congress) as soon as they can. That works against passage of any bills except the "must-pass" appropriations bills for 2001. That said, there are still opportunities to get this bill passed, but much depends on increasing the number of sponsors even more. If a Senator or Representative has responded to your requests for bill co-sponsorship with some statement like, "I'll keep your views in mind should the bill ever come to a vote," write him or her back again and explain that their co-sponsorship is vital to getting the bill to a vote in the first place.

Due to extreme heat, Union Pacific on September 4 imposed a mandatory 40-mph limit on all trains on their lines south and west of St. Louis, down into Texas. The heat has caused numerous "sun kinks" in rail, causing at least two freight derailments before the order was issued. That caused tremendous delays to the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited, which experienced annulments over some segments, with bus substitutions. Temperatures moderated somewhat later in the week.

Two new pass programs in California began this week. The first, called the Statewide Rail pass, is good on any Amtrak California train (Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin, Pacific Surfliner) and connecting Thruway buses; good for travel a total of seven days in a 21-day period; $159 for adults and $80 for children. The second pass, "5 days in 7 pass," is good either in the northern or southern part of the state; $99 for adults and $50 for children.

Four cars of a CSX freight train carrying auto parts derailed early September 6 (about 2:00 am) near Elizabeth, N.J., on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit passengers faced delays of up to 20 minutes up to about 8:00 am that day.