Hotline #176 - February 2, 2001

A proposed, new, Senate version of the High Speed Rail Investment Act was unveiled January 31 at a news conference in the Capitol. It would provide $12 billion in rail capital bonds over ten years -- where last year's S.1900 would have provided $10 billion. The bill is expected to be introduced next week with commitments from 51 Senators to be original co-sponsors -- compared to 22 for S.1900 when it was introduced, and 57 for S.1900 at the end of the last Congress (plus ten more who sponsored a tax bill that S.1900 was folded into in October). For a complete list, see our web site. Commitments to co-sponsor include those of Senate leaders of both parties -- Lott (R.-Miss.) and Daschle (D.-S.Dak.). Of the "target" Senators listed here last week, the following have not yet committed: Akaka (D.-Hawaii), Allen (R.-Va.), Bayh (D.-Ind.), Ensign (R.-Nev.), Fitzgerald (R.-Ill.), Lugar (R.-Ind.), Murkowski (R.-Alaska), Nelson (D.-Fla.), Nickles (R.-Okla.), Smith (R.-Ore.), Stevens (R.-Alaska), and Voinovich (R.-Ohio).

As in previous versions, bond holders would get tax credits in lieu of interest payments. The bill would require a 20% state funding match before Amtrak could sell bonds for a particular project; set a $3 billion cap on the amount any single corridor can get; and set a $1 billion cap on projects that don't involve eligible corridors (Northeast Corridor plus corridors designated under ISTEA and TEA-21). Under HSRIA, corridor designations become much more meaningful than they are now. HSRIA is the best opportunity for the federal government to provide an incentive for state investment (as highways and transit enjoy) and for serious development of intercity passenger rail nationwide.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D.-Del.) opened the news conference by noting, "We owe it to the country ... because our transportation system is already stretched to the breaking point ... High speed rail has to be part of our long-term environmental policy, part of urban planning, part of our nation's future."

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.) followed, saying, in part, "We want to make Amtrak a truly national rail system. I think George Warrington is really committed to that, and I think he can do that if we give him the tools ... Some of my colleagues think this is another subsidy for Amtrak. There isn't a transportation system that isn't subsidized ... Rail is the least subsidized to the point of ridiculousness ... Air traffic congestion is at an all-time high ... It will get worse over the next 10 years ... Highway expansion is very expensive and sometimes environmentally untenable. We've got to have an intermodal transportation system that includes rail."

Also this week, Amtrak unveiled a 20-year, long-range capital plan. It is the first such plan in Amtrak's 30-year history, which has featured wide swings in capital funding. The plan covers two investment scenarios:

(1) To bring its current network to a state of good repair (eliminating deferred maintenance and modernizing its assets), Amtrak would need $973 million a year in the first five years, and $750 million a year thereafter. This is more than the current funding level of $521 million, but less than the authorized (but unappropriated level) of $989 million. "Current network" includes providing for service expansion in the phase-one National Growth Strategy announced a year ago.

(2) To accomplish the goals in (1) and to provide the resources needed to expand the network, Amtrak would need a total of about $1.55 billion a year for all 20 years. This would be less a year than the current appropriation of $521 million plus the annual $1.2 billion that could come from HSRIA. A workable scenario would be for Amtrak to continue to get appropriations for modernization of its core system *and* HSRIA money for expansion (which would require state matching funds). This would let Congress show its support for passenger rail playing a more important role in the nation's transportation mix. [Another solution would be to use some of the whopping "excess" in gasoline-tax receipts -- expected to rise from $3 billion this year to $5 billion next year.]

The Texas Eagle's weekly San Antonio-Los Angeles segment will be discontinued effective April 4. Amtrak will continue to run the Eagle daily between Chicago and San Antonio, and the Sunset Limited tri-weekly to Los Angeles. The "fourth" Eagle was added in February 1998 when both the Eagle and Sunset were tri-weekly trains (with the main Eagle route going to daily service in May 2000). That provided the most service (four times a week) west of San Antonio since before Amtrak's creation, when the Southern Pacific reduced the Sunset Limited to tri-weekly status in 1970.

On a more positive note, Amtrak and Union Pacific have agreed to end the "bi-directional" running west of Texarkana that apparently was a quid-pro-quo for daily Eagle service last year. The Eagle will resume serving Longview and Marshall in both directions starting in early March, after a track repair project near Mineola is complete.

Sandy Brown, Amtrak's highly respected Government Affairs vice president, resigned that post effective January 31. She had been vice president since February 1999, and was acting vice president for nearly a year before that. An avid outdoorsman and former stable owner and professional harness-racing driver, she long has wanted to work closer to nature. Joe McHugh, her able assistant, now is acting vice president.

Amtrak is expanding its use of cell-phone-free "quiet cars." As of February 1, Metroliners 106 and 107 each have a designated quiet car -- people wishing to use a cell phone are asked to move to another car. NortheastDirect trains 151 and 170 have had a quiet car for some time.

A collision on the Angel's Flight funicular in downtown Los Angeles killed one person and injured seven on February 1. Normally, the two counterbalanced, wooden cars move up and down Bunker Hill in opposite directions, passing each other on a midway double-track segment. The city fire chief said that the cable for one car apparently broke, sending that car crashing into the other, though the National Transportation Safety Board was still inspecting the cable.