Hotline #211 - October 5, 2001

The Senate debated whether to begin debating an aviation security bill (S.1447) this week, and enhancements to passenger rail security featured prominently. At the request of 16 Senators, Amtrak last month assembled a list of near-term security, safety, and capacity enhancements. Amtrak offered a package that now totals $3.2 billion, which was expected to be the basis for a proposed Biden-Durbin amendment to the bill. However, the Senate did not actually get to the bill. The Senate is expected to return to the bill on October 9.

Several Senators spoke in favor of improving passenger-rail security and said that waiting for "some other time" was not good enough now. Those taking the Senate floor in favor of including rail in S.1447 were Biden (D.-Del.), Torricelli (D.-N.J.), Kerry (D.-Mass.), Durbin (D.-Ill.), Clinton (D.-N.Y.), Carper (D.-Del.), and Corzine (D.-N.J.). Other Senators favored adoption of a clean bill, while suggesting a rail security bill could be done later. Of course, there are not many legislative days left in this year's session.

Please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to act this year on both the near-term passenger-rail security/capacity issues, and on the High Speed Rail Investment Act. Click here for ways to contact them. Because some legislators are upset with Senator Biden's efforts, please begin with a general statement -- equally valid next year -- that our economy is fragile partly because it has relied so heavily on aviation, and has neglected passenger rail. Passenger rail development is an important part of the answer.

The Senate Commerce Committee on October 2 held a hearing on surface transportation security. Part of the discussion was about the Amtrak security/capacity enhancement package (see above). Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.), one of the 16 Senators who requested the package, criticized the amount of the security and capacity package that would go to the Northeast Corridor, which has Amtrak's highest concentration of infrastructure and traffic. Amtrak President George Warrington responded that he is "a very strong supporter of the national system. This entire package was focused around dealing with a critical need [arising from] the tragedy that occurred on September 11. It is not intended to indicate any lack of concern regarding the national system."

Warrington said Amtrak could use 27 more sleeping cars than it has today just to meet demand through Thanksgiving. Partly in response to Hutchison's remarks at the hearing, Amtrak revised its request to include Amtrak's first proposal in recent years to acquire new long-distance equipment (Viewliner and Superliner sleepers; single-level diners). The package still has funds for new train sets for use in corridors outside the Northeast. However, in a floor statement October 4, Hutchison said she still did not support "extraneous" amendments, like Biden-Durbin, to the aviation security bill.

A couple of Senators at the hearing suggested Amtrak should check every bag of every passenger. Warrington said the security and aid package calls for additional police officers and dogs, but that the entire intermodal public transportation network has been designed to be an open system. Citing the passenger volumes at New York Penn Station, he said checking every bag would not be practical. Indeed, except for the English Channel trains, other world railways are open, but have "various degrees of ad hoc and spot checking." Amtrak has been invited to participate in a transit-industry security task force.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Railroads Subcommittee held a hearing the same day, October 2, on H.R.2950, the rail bond/loan bill introduced September 25. Subcommittee Chairman Jack Quinn (R.-N.Y.), James Oberstar (D.-Minn.), and Earl Bluemenauer (D.-Ore.) all spoke favorably about passing both H.R.2950 and H.R.2329, the High Speed Rail Investment Act (HSRIA). Oberstar, a lead sponsor of HSRIA, noted that HSRIA's tax credits are more attractive to states and H.R.2950's tax-exempt bonds (which states already have the right to issue, in any event), and said that the tax-exempt-bond approach "shifts all the burden on the states. We need a national program, not a state-by-state approach."

One witness, North Carolina Deputy Transportation Secretary David King, expressed concern about the higher state burden implied by H.R.2950. He added that bill language requiring removal of all grade crossings and running at 125 mph or more also was a problem for states. Another witness, Mayor Scott King of Gary, Ind., offered a specific calculation of how much more tax-exempt bonds (H.R.2950) would cost states than would the tax credits (HSRIA). Based on a $1-billion issue, he estimated annual state debt service at $78 million with tax-exempt bonds, but only $16 million with tax credits.

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Federal Railroad Administrator Allan Rutter rode an Amtrak Acela Express to Philadelphia on October 1 to attend the annual meeting of the American Public Transportation Association. Mineta told reporters upon arrival at 30th St. Station that "We don't want a cookie-cutter approach to all modes of transportation," when asked if railroad passengers should be subjected to the same sort of security checks as airline passengers. He said that protecting rail infrastructure and control systems "are greater problems than whether or not we should put metal detectors at the trains stations prior to passengers boarding trains." But he also said that metal detectors will be part of the discussion as officials review Amtrak's security funding request.

Amtrak will eliminate on-board ticket sales on the Northeast Corridor effective October 8. All passengers will need to have a ticket before they board any Northeast Corridor train on the "main spine" of the corridor -- Washington to Boston, including those stations and all those in between, even stations that are unstaffed and/or don't have ticket machines. This will not apply to Intercity trains or segments of the Northeast Corridor off the "main spine" (like the Harrisburg, Springfield, Empire, Newport News lines), where passengers may buy tickets on-board if they show the conductor photo identification. NARP strongly argued against making this a requirement nationwide.

Newark International Airport station will open October 21. Tickets showing that destination will include the $5 Port Authority monorail charge; otherwise, there will be a ticket machine at the station for the monorail. Amtrak trains that will stop there are indicated in the Northeast Corridor timetable that took effect September 30 (the original opening date for the new airport station).

Union Pacific track work and freight derailments wreaked havoc with Amtrak's Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle earlier in the week. The two derailments were in Arizona, and coupled with various speed restrictions, caused one eastbound Sunset to be terminated at New Orleans, with some passengers flown to Orlando. Track work resulted in passengers being detoured by bus between Fort Worth and San Antonio, and this will last through October 9.

Canadian Pacific track work will force replacement busing of the Adirondack north of Albany, October 10-12.

Union Pacific bridge work will force replacement busing of Capitol Corridor trains and the Coast Starlight between Oakland and San Jose, October 27-November 9. (UP is allowing Coast Starlight, but not its passengers, to use an alternate route). During that time, Altamont Commuter Express trains will not run between Fremont and San Jose.

Amtrak passengers passing through Niles, Mich., on September 29 got a surprise treat, as the Four Flags Garden Club provided refreshments -- as they have for 27 years -- as part of the town's annual Apple Festival. Apples, cookies, and cider were available in the station; volunteers gave conductors bags of apples to give out on board the train.

A planned Amtrak special train to Augusta, Ga., may not happen after all. Mayor Bob Young has been lobbying Amtrak for train service and Thruway bus service, and had worked with Amtrak on a special trip around November 9 to draw attention to that effort. CSX denied the request, saying that since the September 11 crisis, no passenger specials were allowed on routes without regular passenger service. Young was hopeful Thruway talks could lead to a connection to Columbia, S.C., within a few more weeks.