Hotline #156 - September 15, 2000

The time for action on the High Speed Rail Investment Act (S.1900/H.R.3700) is nearing, with Congress eager to leave Washington again by the end of the month. In fact, the crucial period could be in the coming week. It appears that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bill Roth (R.-Del.) is willing to add S.1900 to H.R.4923, the Senate version of the Community Renewal Act -- if the Senate takes up that bill.

Roth and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R.-Miss.) will play key roles in determining whether that happens. Consequently, the key message now is to ask other members of the Senate Finance Committee to urge Roth and Lott to take up H.R.4923 and attach S.1900 to it. Time is now short, so if you have a Senator on the Finance Committee, please renew your previous requests that he or she act on this legislation (see the Senate web site for a list of committee members). Ask Republican members to urge Roth and Lott to make passage of S.1900 a priority this month, possibly as part of H.R.4923, the Community Renewal Act. Democratic members should be asked to make the same request of President Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (S.Dak.). You can find information on contacting Senators at the Senate web site.

Also, your House Members should be asked to tell Speaker Hastert and Minority Leader Gephardt to support any House bill returned from the Senate that includes the pro-rail language of S.1900/H.R.3700.

Sponsorship of this bill -- so important to the future of passenger rail -- increased this week to 53 in the Senate and 155 in the House.

Formal activity by the conference committee on H.R.4475, the fiscal 2001 transportation appropriations bill, still has not begun, but the pace could quicken in the coming week. It looks more like the bill will move forward separately, rather than as part of a larger omnibus measure, as we thought last month. It could reach the President for signature by the end of the week.

Amtrak ridership and revenue grew again in August, with Amtrak calling this summer the "best in the company's 29-year history." Amtrak earned its highest-ever amount of ticket revenues (not adjusted for inflation), $108.4 million; and had the best ridership for one month in 21 years, nearly 2.1 million. With only one month remaining in fiscal 2000 (fiscal 2001 begins October 1), Amtrak said it was on course to set a record for annual ticket revenue and to exceed its previous highest ridership level for one year, which was 22.2 million in 1990. The gains could be due to a variety of factors this year, such as the new Satisfaction Guarantee program, aviation problems, and higher gas prices.

A shortage of federal accident investigators is holding up reports on several rail accidents in the Midwest, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A report on the March 1999 accident at Bourbonnais, Ill. (in which a steel truck drove in front of the City of New Orleans and killed 11 passengers) is still pending, even though in the past, such reports typically were released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about a year after an accident. The newspaper noted that just this past August 28, the same Amtrak train had to apply its emergency brakes at the same crossing when three steel trucks tried to cross in front of it -- fortunately, the train didn't hit them (this time). Contributing to the delay in releasing the report was the death this spring of the lead investigator on the Bourbonnais case, but there are also several vacancies for the demanding job of rail accident investigator at the NTSB.

The newest commuter rail service in the U.S. begins September 18, when Sounder begins running between Tacoma and Seattle. Initially, there will be two weekday round trips, mornings northbound and evenings southbound.

In Texas, September 16 is the grand opening of expanded Trinity Railway Express commuter rail service (regular service begins September 18). The current Dallas-South Irving line will add four stops to the west, terminating at Richland Hills. A further extension to Fort Worth will be next year. One new stop, CentrePort, will feature shuttle buses to terminals at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. To promote the new service, all TRE trips will be free through September 20.

The Vermont Rail Council was told this week by Amtrak that rerouting the Ethan Allen from its current Schenectady-Rutland route (via Saratoga) to a new route in southwest Vermont (via North Bennington and Manchester) would cost $70 million. This includes extending the train north from Rutland to Middlebury and Burlington, and bringing track up to a 60-mph standard. The state owns most of the route, but it has not had regular passenger service in over 50 years and now has only freight service provided by a shortline operator.

Protests in Europe and Britain over gasoline taxes have filled the news this week. In Britain, blockades of fuel distribution centers meant no gas for motorists, and transit systems and passenger trains were quickly filled to capacity. While the protests have ended for now, it's unclear whether the British government will give in to blockaders' demands for reduced taxes in the next annual budget, to be released in November. If it comes to that, it would be a terrible case of giving in to the demands of a short-sighted segment of the population who cares more about their short-term motoring "needs" than long-term effects on the environment.