Hotline #202 - August 3, 2001

There are now 170 sponsors on H.R.2329, the House version of the High Speed Rail Investment Act. This is seven more than we reported a week ago -- Bass (R.-N.H.), Schiff (D.-Calif.), Hoeffel (D.-Pa.), Kennedy (D.-R.I.), Neal (D.-Mass.), Clyburn (D.-S.C.), Crowley (D.-N.Y.) -- and is one short of the 171 total that were on a similar, predecessor bill at the end of 2000. Click here for the complete list.

The Senate on August 1 approved its version of H.R.2299, fiscal 2002 transportation appropriations, on a voice vote. The measure was delayed by -- and still could face a veto over -- an issue involving safety concerns over trucks from Mexico in the U.S. The next step normally would be a House-Senate conference, but opponents of the Senate bill's truck language have threatened further delays. The House and Senate figure for Amtrak is the same -- $521 million, all available at the start of the fiscal year -- but the Senate has more for high-speed rail development ($40 million, vs. $25 million) and for transit new starts (capital for new projects, mostly rail, $100 million more).

Congress now begins a recess that will last until after Labor Day. August is a good time to write letters (not e-mails or phone calls) to your Members of Congress, telling them you want the High Speed Rail Investment Act (HSRIA) passed this fall. Also, legislators may be back home for public meetings and individual appointments with constituents. Even if HSRIA passes, rail funding will be dwarfed by highway and aviation spending. But HSRIA is still the most viable proposal on the table to improve passenger rail service across the country and to begin to offer rail as a credible, economical, and environmentally friendly alternative to the ever-worsening highway and airport conditions. Click here for ways to contact legislators.

Amtrak's southbound Texas Eagle derailed early the morning of July 29 near Sabula, Mo., which is between St. Louis and Poplar Bluff. Track-owner Union Pacific said that four-to-six inches of rain had created flash flood conditions, leading to a 50-foot washout that the Eagle crew could not stop for in time. Storm conditions built up so rapidly that it is unclear whether there was adequate time for UP to get appropriate information from the National Weather Service. In any event, the train had been going under 35 mph due to slow orders described here last week. Ten people were treated at hospitals for their injuries.

The washout derailed the front half of the train -- two locomotives, baggage car, unoccupied coach (new commuter car being delivered to Los Angeles), dorm car, sleeper, diner, lounge, and smoking coach. The cars remained upright. Two coaches, one express car, and nine RoadRailers at the end of the train did not derail. For a few days after July 29, the Eagle detoured around the area via Chester, Ill., though the northbound train of July 30 did not operate because its departure required a turning in San Antonio of the train set that derailed.

Effective August 13, there will be two more Washington-New York weekday Acela Express frequencies in each direction, replacing Metroliners from New York (107, 9:00 am, and 115, 1:00 pm) and from Washington (120, 4:00 pm, and 124, 6:00 pm). One in each direction will also serve Boston (departing there 9:12 am, arriving 10:31 pm).

NARP Executive Director Ross Capon appeared on "Market Call," a show on the CNN Finance cable television channel, on August 1, with Amtrak Reform Council Executive Director Thomas Till. When asked how the problem could be a "lack of government funding just at a time when we are supposed to be pulling Amtrak away from government subsidies?", Capon pointed out that "we've got to distinguish two things. One is getting value for money, which is an absolutely reasonable objective, and the other is operational self-sufficiency, which was developed in a 1997 law that was, frankly, a compromise between people who wanted to kill Amtrak yesterday and people who believed in its future."

The Denver Regional Transportation District approved a deal on July 26 to buy Union Station for $49.8 million, with the sale due to close in within 30 days. RTD hopes to turn the building into an intermodal facility and develop surrounding acreage it bought as part of the deal. The city is contributing $10 million and the local council of governments another $20 million.  Amtrak's California Zephyr serves the station now, and a light rail spur is due to open in April.  Other commuter rail lines are under consideration.

The formal groundbreaking at Louisville Union Station to prepare it for the return of Amtrak service was August 2. Among those present were Mayor David Armstrong, Amtrak Intercity Government and Public Affairs Vice President Cheryle Jackson, Amtrak Mail and Express President Lee Sargrad, and NARP Region 5 Directors Jon Owen (of Louisville, also with the Kentucky-Indiana Rail Advocates) and Robert Stewart (of Nashville, also president of the Tennessee Association of Railroad Passengers). After its Jeffersonville, Ind., station work was done, Amtrak ran the Kentucky Cardinal over the Ohio River to the ceremony site, much as will happen on a daily basis starting in October. Participants rode the train back to Jeffersonville to dedicate the new mail and express terminal there.