Hotline #208 - September 14, 2001

The September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington are having far-reaching implications for travelers. The aviation system, which the terrorists used as their tool -- with tragic results -- was shut down across the U.S. and Canada by mid-morning, September 11, and it is not known when it will be back to normal. As of today, Washington Reagan National Airport is still completely shut down. The three New York-area airports, where officials temporarily detained two groups of people yesterday, were closed after briefly reopening. They're open now, but Boston Logan remains closed.

Amtrak is reporting a swelling of ridership nationwide, with twice the normal amount of Washington-New York traffic at mid-day, September 12. Extra Northeast Corridor trains have run. Amtrak honored airline tickets to points on its system. The Amtrak web site -- like many others -- was running very slowly due to high visitor volume. Greyhound was also extremely busy, but the busy Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan only reopened this morning.

Amtrak's capacity to absorb the overflow is limited, however. Amtrak has struggled to pay for repairing wreck-damaged equipment from earlier accidents, cars that could be carrying people and earning revenue now -- the two derailments this week (see below) can only exacerbate an already tight situation.

As a result of this week's events, there are great changes in the social and political landscape of this country. Great changes also lie ahead for travelers. In a statement earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said, "Travelers will see increased security measures at our airports, train stations and other key sites. There will be higher levels of surveillance, more stringent searches." Indeed, today's Washington Post advised domestic air travelers to arrive at airports two hours before scheduled times for domestic flights, and two-and-one-half hours before international flights.

How this will impact passenger rail remains to be seen, both in terms of public policy and in terms of train-travel demand. While we can imagine that airline services will return to some level that is more like normal than it was this week, a return to the pre-September 11 status quo seems unlikely. We can also imagine that demand for all passenger rail services will remain higher than normal -- even for the long-distance and corridor services of less than 125 mph that rail critics profess to find no use for.

To truly meet the nation's travel needs, now more than ever, the government must abandon policies that have weakened the financial health of passenger rail and that have prevented its expansion into new markets. Specifically, these include the Congressional mandate of operational self-sufficiency for Amtrak by fiscal 2003; and features of the TEA-21 and AIR-21 laws that deny that passenger rail is a form of surface transportation worthy of investment, that shut highway and aviation funding into tight, budgetary lockboxes, and that deny rail the resources it needs to play a meaningful alternative to congested (and now partially crippled) highway and aviation modes.

Because of flawed transportation policy in the past, we could only imagine -- not witness -- a far-reaching passenger-rail network that could act as a more effective travel alternative this week -- and, no doubt, for the foreseeable future. Congress and the Administration will be right if they act to make the aviation system safer, but they must also look at the benefits of a better passenger-rail system, and begin to make serious, public investments in that system.

Amtrak, as usual, honors airline tickets for travel between metropolitan areas with rail service, subject to availability of space. Amtrak is not honoring tickets from Southwest (which does not belong to the agency that coordinates inter-company reimbursements) or Midway (which has ceased operations due to bankruptcy).

Amtrak ran a "Clara Barton Express" yesterday, and will do so daily as long as necessary. It runs from Washington to New York. It consists of mail cars carrying medical and other supplies and a few passenger cars. Yesterday's train also carried the President of the American Red Cross, Dr. Bernadine Healy. Northeast Corridor trains will also carry medical and emergency personnel to New York without tickets.

The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned mail and cargo shipments on passenger planes, according to the Los Angeles Times. The U.S. Postal Service has redirected this mail -- about a quarter of its business -- to trucks, anticipating delays of 24-48 hours. Some of that business is also going to Amtrak.

Most Northeastern commuter and local rail agencies were back in service by September 12. In New York, Penn Station and Grand Central reopened the day of the tragedy to outbound commuters, but have been closed a few times since then due to bomb threats. New York subways are running non-stop through Lower Manhattan, except for the handful of lines running below the World Trade Center site. This site is also above one of the Manhattan terminals for PATH train service to New Jersey. PATH resumed limited service on its other Manhattan line (Sixth Avenue) on September 12. However, one New York television station reported today that PATH was missing one of its trains and feared it might still be under the World Trade Center.

A few Amtrak passengers have been detained and/or questioned this week by law enforcement officials in an atmosphere of heightened alert. Southbound train 173 was stopped at Providence September 12, where one detainee was later released after it was learned he carried a knife as a symbol of his Sikh religion. Federal agents also detained two men at Fort Worth on September 13, who were traveling from St. Louis to San Antonio.

In Canada, Transport 2000 President Harry Gow told the Montreal Gazette that it would be appropriate for North Americans to reflect on their over-reliance on the air and road modes. He said Basque terrorists twice tried to destroy French TGV trains with explosives and then gave up, given the limited damage they were able to inflict. Gow praised the U.S. for its Northeast Corridor high-speed service, and suggested that it will play an ever more important role for various reasons, including the public's need for an alternative, and for national security.

Here is one moving vignette about rail travel this week from the September 13 Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

"Angela Cocke, a 26-year-old Atlanta advertising executive, got on the [Crescent] in Newark, N.J. On Tuesday morning, she had been meeting with a client in Weehawken, N.J., across the Hudson River from the towers in lower Manhattan. She learned about the attack from TV reports. She and a crowd of people went down to the waterfront and watched as the second tower collapsed. 'There seemed to be a lot of fighter planes, a lot of air traffic around the building,' she said.

"It was a different scene Wednesday morning on the train. 'The thing that struck me was this morning at sunrise riding through rural America, and seeing all the flags flying at half-mast and school buses,' she said. 'They can't take that away from us.'"

Amtrak's westbound Texas Eagle collided with a Union Pacific freight train September 11, just west of Marshall, Tex. Five passengers and one crew member were injured. Though the investigation continues, it seems that the Eagle had entered a siding to yield to the oncoming freight train, and then failed to wait at the end of the siding. The collision derailed 12 of the freight train's cars, and the Eagle's two locomotives, baggage car, dorm car, sleeper, and diner (the last three remaining upright). The injuries were described as "non-life-threatening."

Then early on September 13, Amtrak's westbound California Zephyr collided with another Union Pacific train, this time in Utah just east of Wendover (near the Nevada state line). The train had 14 crew and about 263 passengers (many seeking an alternative to closed airports). However, most injuries were minor. Apparently, a coal train was entering a siding to wait for the oncoming Amtrak train. The Amtrak train then struck the coal train, which had not completely cleared the main line. The Amtrak train derailed, and two locomotives, a baggage car, and a dorm car sustained fire damage (the dorm car and others behind remained upright).

Last week, we reported on a proposed rail bond bill to be introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young (R.-Alaska). Due to the national emergency, introduction of the bill has been postponed, probably to the coming week. While a "$71 billion bill" certainly is interesting, concern remains that it may require a much higher state share than either the federal government now requires for air and road projects, or than required by the pending High Speed Rail Investment Act. There also are concerns that the requirement of running speeds of at least 125 mph and elimination of all grade crossings may raise the bar so high that no state would participate.

The Washington Fruit Express service began when two cars were added in Wenatchee, Wash., to the September 12 eastbound Empire Builder. The service involves switching refrigerated ExpressTrak cars onto Amtrak's Empire Builder in Wenatchee, and running them to East Coast markets. The cars carry fruit grown in the region. The state has supported the service in hopes of opening new markets for growers, providing an alternative to trucking (which has capacity problems of its own), and improving the Empire Builder's bottom line. A planned inaugural ceremony has been postponed.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation is looking at a plan to accelerate catenary replacement on the 45-mile segment of the Northeast Corridor it owns west of New Haven. The current project is scheduled to end in 2006, with construction currently underway on the far western six miles (west of Stamford). The aging and outmoded power-delivery system is increasingly unreliable, causing delays to 134 Metro North commuter trains this year (up from 29 in 1999), as well as delays to Amtrak trains. Modern catenary that will allow trains to travel over the segment's current limit of 70-75 mph will also help cut New York-Boston travel times for Acela Express.

Amtrak's Quiet Car program -- in which most Northeast Corridor weekday trains have one car set aside where cell phone use is not permitted -- has been very popular and now has inspired a bill in the New York State Assembly. The bill, filed by Steve Levy (Long Island) would require commuter trains that have start- and end-points in the state to have two cars per train that are designated as cell-phone-free. This would apply to all Long Island Rail Road trains and Metro North trains on the Hudson and Harlem lines, but not to the New Haven or to lines west of the Hudson. The bill may be considered next year.

The central part of the Baltimore light rail system reopened September 8. The portion along Howard Street had been closed since mid-July due to a derailment and fire on a CSX freight train in a rail tunnel below that street.