Hotline #182 - March 16, 2001

A House version of the High Speed Rail Investment Act should be released soon. In the meantime, we need Carnahan (D.-Mo.) and Cantwell (D.-Wash.) to co-sponsor the Senate bill, S.250. If one is your Senator, please let her know you support this bill.

Houston Metro broke ground on the area's first light rail line on March 13 -- a 7.5-mile, $300-million line connecting downtown with Hermann Park, Rice University, and the Astrodome. Among the many obstacles to this project has been opposition from powerful U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay (R.), who represents a far southwestern suburban area. He blocked $65 million in federal funding last year. Also, a lawsuit claimed a referendum on the light rail line was required. An appeals court rejected that idea March 8, reaffirming Metro's position that a referendum is not needed (or perhaps not even legal) since Metro is a public agency and no bonded debt will be issued to fund the project. However, the Metro board decided on March 8 that future extensions would be approved by voters.

Twelve employees of the Birmingham Steel plant at Bourbonnais, Ill., have been  nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal, awarded by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. They were nominated by survivors of the March 15, 1999, collision of a steel truck and Amtrak's City of New Orleans, and by the relatives of the 11 killed on the train, in recognition of the rescue assistance provided by the workers. Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board expects the investigation to be completed this summer. Such investigations usually take a year, but this case has been held up in part because of the untimely death of the lead investigator a year ago. Concrete medians will be installed at the McKnight Road crossing, scene of the accident, preventing vehicles from zigzagging through.

New York State officials plan to use rebuilt Turboliners to cut Amtrak's Albany-New York running time down to two hours, but CSX says tax relief from the state must come before track improvements. CSX owns the Albany-Poughkeepsie segment, where some running at 125 mph is envisioned. Current state law would make CSX pay taxes on improvements that benefit only passenger trains. This unfortunate law also has delayed restoration of double track between Albany and Schenectady, a bottleneck for Amtrak trains. Governor Pataki has proposed a ten-year tax exemption on such upgrades and the legislature nearly agreed to that last year before annual budget negotiations ended.

A Missouri House bill (HB 685) would create a Transportation Sales Tax fund using three cents per gallon added to the state fuel tax and from a few other sources. In return, it would distribute 65.5% of the funds to transit, 13% to intercity passenger rail, and lesser amounts to ports, intercity bus, and bicycle and pedestrian needs. This could help with investment in the St. Louis-Kansas City route (which on January 19 got federal designation as a high-speed corridor), and others. The sponsor is Joan Bray of St. Louis, a long-time friend of rail passengers. The bill has been referred to the House Transportation Committee.

Also in Missouri, a Senate bill, SB 286, would increase the sales tax by 1% to create a State Sales Tax Transportation Fund, with 80% going to roads, 15% for transit, and 5% for other "multi modal transportation projects." Its sponsor is James Mathewson of Sedalia.

Amtrak's Boston-Portland service is postponed from May 1, as reported here in recent weeks, probably to sometime this summer. A 1999 decision on the part of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) seemed clear that Amtrak could run at 79 mph on 115-pound rail on Guilford track in New Hampshire and Maine after track work and testing. However, since Guilford has refused access to Amtrak to do the testing, Amtrak has had to file another petition to the STB (on March 12). Guilford also has claimed that the STB decision requires repeated testing the length of the line, something that is not practical. Amtrak's new petition also asks for approval of the proposed testing methodology and clarification that continuous testing is not required. Meanwhile, Guilford has increased its effort to reach agreement on other outstanding issues -- and the lead story in the March 15 Maine Times focuses on "The Guilford Dilemma."

Amtrak today issued its 180-day notification to discontinue the Chicago-Janesville Lake Country Limited. Effective March 24, this train will convert from daily to Saturdays only (the day of highest passenger use), on its present schedule. When it began in April 2000, the train was expected to carry significant amounts of express business and relatively few passengers. The express business did not materialize, in part because of Amtrak's inability to work out an agreement on a connecting train with Norfolk Southern in a timely manner (the proposed Chicago-Philadelphia Skyline Connection).

The Janesville train has been part of bad press Amtrak has gotten lately, including in this week's U.S. News and World Report. That article used the train as an example of all Amtrak trains, ignoring its experimental status and ignoring Amtrak's successes. The article -- like some government officials -- also confuses operating loss and federal operating support, in an attempt to make it seem less likely Amtrak can meets its Congressional mandate to survive without federal operating grants. "Operating support" is smaller than "operating loss," and does not include depreciation and mandatory excess payments to the federal railroad retirement system (that benefit freight railroad retirees).

The New York Times on March 13 reported on a March 12 race between three reporters from the White House in Washington to City Hall in New York. While the reporter who flew beat the reporter who took the new Acela Express run by 24 minutes, she also paid $67 more for a less comfortable, more hectic journey. The reporter who flew also benefited from ideal weather conditions and the foresight to use subways on both ends of the journey. The reporter who drove had the slowest and cheapest trip, but had to park illegally upon arrival.