Hotline #219 - November 30, 2001

Congress is back in session. Talks have resumed to try to reach agreement on an economic stimulus package, both between House and Senate leaders, and within the Senate (which has not passed a bill). The House-passed bill is focuses on tax cuts. The bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee, H.R.3090, includes $7 billion in tax-credit bond for high-speed rail (similar to the High Speed Rail Investment Act), and $2 billion for a new Hudson River passenger-rail tunnel.

An amendment to H.R.3090 contemplated by Senate Appropriations Chairman Byrd (D.-W.Va.) would have provided $15 billion in "homeland security" funding, including $760 million in safety/security funding for Amtrak. However, Byrd has dropped plans for such an amendment to the economic stimulus package and may introduce his homeland security package as a separate bill. The Amtrak number is down from a previous Byrd proposal of $1.2 billion, and down from the October Hollings-McCain authorization proposal (S.1550) of $1.77 billion.

Floor action on the Hollings-McCain rail security bill, S.1550, was anticipated a month ago, but now is more likely as part of debate on S.1214, the Port and Maritime Security Act. This would authorize $1.77 billion (but not appropriate, see above) for Amtrak security and safety needs. Several amendments relating to Amtrak are expected, including a beneficial one from Hutchison (R.-Tex.) restoring authorization of funds to repair wreck-damaged cars. However, action in December is doubtful.

Conferees on the transportation appropriations bill, H.R.2299, broke a longstanding logjam on the issue of inspecting trucks from Mexico. The House passed the conference report this morning, including $521 million scored at 100% for Amtrak. Senate consideration is expected December 6.

Northeast Corridor service was disrupted on November 25 -- the busy Sunday of the Thanksgiving weekend -- when the last two cars of an empty CSX trash train operating on an adjacent track derailed and knocked out Amtrak's overhead power wires. The accident occurred early in the afternoon on the Amtrak-owned segment of line in the Bronx, between Penn Station and the Metro North junction at New Rochelle. Amtrak used diesel engines to ferry trains -- normally electric powered -- through the area, but some trains were delayed by over two hours. Electric power over one track was restored early November 26, and over the second track later that day.

A Pacific Surfliner struck a farm tractor at a private crossing at Camarillo, Cal., on November 23. The tractor's driver was killed, and 12 on the train had minor injuries. The train was running in "push mode," with the cab-car running forward. The lead truck on the cab car derailed, but the rest of the train stayed on the track. That car and the one behind it had some fire damage as well.

Amtrak stopped four Southwest Chiefs the evening of November 27, in response to a bomb threat. Local police in each location swept the trains to ensure they were in no danger, and the trains proceeded after some delay.

The Kentucky Cardinal will be extended into Louisville December 4 (first revenue trips leave both Chicago and Louisville that evening). A non-revenue train will run from Jeffersonville to Louisville that morning (with dignitaries on board) for a 10:00 am ceremony at Union Station, to mark the return of train service there after a 25-year absence (Amtrak served a different location, south of the city, 1976-79). That day is also the start of a Thruway service, connecting with the train in both directions, to and from Elizabethtown, Bowling Green, and Nashville.

The National Transportation Safety Board on November 27 released an abstract of its final report on an Amtrak Empire Corridor-CSX collision near Syracuse on February 5. The report itself is still pending. The abstract said that the probable cause was the Amtrak engineer's inattention -- a wire story added that he had been looking at paperwork and otherwise had a clear record. The train passed a signal showing a restricting speed (15 mph) that the engineer read as medium approach (30 mph), but the train was actually going 35 mph. It struck the rear of a CSX train going 7 mph, derailing parts of both trains and injuring 62. The investigators felt that if the Amtrak train had been going 15 or 30 mph, it would have been able to stop in time. The NTSB will ask the Federal Railroad Administration to study instances in the U.S. where passenger trains operate with lone engineers (as in this case) on railroads without a Positive Train Control System. The NTSB wrote that such a system, with its redundancy features, could have compensated for the engineer's inattention in the Syracuse collision.

The NTSB has yet to issue a report on the accident at Bourbonnais, Ill., in 1999, in which a truck derailed the City of New Orleans, killing 11 passengers.

Trinity Railway Express commuter rail service will be extended from Dallas through Richland Hills into Fort Worth, starting December 3. A ceremony marking the event was to be held at the Centreport Station today. TRE will serve two downtown Fort Worth locations -- the Intermodal Transportation Center at 9th & Jones (where a grand opening ceremony will be January 12), and the old T&P terminal on Lancaster Ave. Free rides will be offered on TRE on December 3 and on December 8.

A two-state high-speed rail commission had its first meeting November 28 in Raleigh. Transportation officials from Virginia and North Carolina met to discuss strategies for getting their priority -- the Washington-Charlotte segment of the Southeast Corridor -- to the top of the list for federal funding. However, officials acknowledged, there is no source for federal funding, and without it, they can do little (passage of the High Speed Rail Investment Act surely would help them and other states).