Hotline #225 - January 11, 2002

Tomorrow is the grand opening of the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center, located at 9th and Jones, just north of the current Amtrak station (Union Station). The station will be used by local buses and Trinity Railway Express commuter trains (from Dallas). The portion of the new station that will be used by Amtrak is not quite ready, but Amtrak could move in sometime next month.

The Amtrak Reform Council met today and voted on its preferred option for restructuring passenger rail. After discussing nine options in December, the Council had directed its staff to produce three options. Under any remaining option, a three-part structure would replace today's Amtrak. First, a new, independent oversight organization ("National Railroad Passenger Corporation," the legal name for today's Amtrak) would -- among other things -- disburse federal funds, plan corridor development, manage any franchising of train operations, implement plans to bring the Northeast Corridor (NEC) to a state of good repair, and hold the statutory franchise to access freight railroad rights-of-way.

Second, a new government-owned infrastructure company would maintain and manage the NEC, with "operating shortfalls covered by track use fees" and capital funds coming from "a mix of federal and state funds."

Third, operations would occur under three scenarios -- "national or regional monopolies," "competition [only] for the long-haul market," and "competition for all intercity passenger markets" (with a 2-5 year transition). Prior to voting to recommend the third, "competition-for-all" scenario, the Council approved two amendments. The first amendment requires allowing current workers to "follow" their jobs in seniority order, with existing contracts intact, and normal Railway Labor Act bargaining to follow expiration of said contracts. The second amendment makes "franchising" optional (seemingly blurring the distinction between the first and third options). The Council's vote in favor of the amended third option was 8-1, with labor representative Charles Moneypenny voting no, and James Coston abstaining.

The third ("preferred") option also says, "Operating shortfalls on long-haul trains [are] funded by the federal government; after transition, states [are] responsible for funding losses on existing and new corridor trains. Train operators [are] responsible for privately financing new equipment. If necessary, [there is] federal funding of long-haul equipment and state financing of corridor equipment."

More detail will be developed by staff over the next ten days. The Council has already announced a final vote on February 7, the deadline for the Council to make its advisory recommendation to Congress. However, there may be another meeting, by telephone conference, before then. Chairman Carmichael said that to comply with the sunshine requirement, a room would be set up where the public could listen.

Milwaukee Mayor and Council Member John Norquist made a pitch for flexibility in use of both highway and aviation trust funds on passenger rail. He also observed that Congress might decide not to change the existing Amtrak structure but almost certainly wants to find a different way to provide funding.

In public comments at the meeting, and in talking to reporters, NARP's Ross Capon emphasized that ideas about how to insure Congress gets "value for money" and provides the right incentives to Amtrak -- and ideas about funding sources -- are far more valuable than ideas about restructuring. If "operational self-sufficiency" is history, some may see a choice between ending funding altogether and pouring money down a black hole, so devising credible incentives for Amtrak may be critical.

Clearly, separating operations from infrastructure does not magically create federal funding resources and a meaningful federal-state funding partnership, nor does it create the will to do those things. We have not seen credible evidence that operations and infrastructure under one agency (like Amtrak) is a problem with any significance applicable to the U.S. (not European or British) policy environment.

NARP is concerned that separating Amtrak into an operating agency that is viewed as requiring operating grants mostly for its non-Northeastern trains and an infrastructure agency that is viewed as requiring capital grants for its mostly Northeastern-situated holdings threatens to break apart political support for a passenger-rail network with national reach. It also raises a question of whether a majority of votes in Congress will exist for either of the two separate remnants of Amtrak.

The States for Passenger Rail Coalition (SPRC) had this to say in a January 10 letter to the ARC:

"SPRC believes that the success of a rail corridor structure will be severely limited if the corridors are not connected by a national system framework. The states believe that regional corridors offer the best opportunity for passenger rail development in the United States. However, a series of unconnected corridors, while serving regional needs, will not form a coherent, national system. Connectivity has been the basis of success for the interstate highway system and, as the events of September 11 have so clearly demonstrated, the security and resilience of our national transportation system require that such connectivity and redundancy exist within and between modes. A national intercity rail network should be supported by the federal government, as the federal government has supported such investment and operation of the interstate highway, aviation, and maritime systems."

Amtrak ran the first two 90-mph trains in revenue service on a 40-mile segment of the Chicago-Detroit route in southwest Michigan, on January 7, after the Federal Railroad Administration gave its approval for running at that speed. It is not know when all four daily round-trips will operate at that speed. The experimental positive train control signal system was installed in 1999, and Amtrak trains have been using it to run at 79 mph.

Amtrak is running a contest at its web site (click on "On Track to Win Sweepstakes"). Grand prize is a round-trip ticket for two to any Amtrak destination (including Air-Rail), with two nights in a hotel, Hertz car rental, and $500 cash. There are other prizes as well, listed at the web site. Entries are accepted through February 28; the drawing will be "on or about" March 12.

The intermodal station at Spokane was the scene of a police shoot-out early January 7. Police had been chasing a suspect from an earlier shooting in the area, and entered the platform area and began firing an assault weapon "wildly," though, fortunately, the only person injured was the gunman himself. Still, bullet holes were found in a Greyhound bus and in Amtrak's Empire Builder, which was in the station, and a bullet was found in a dinner roll inside the (closed) dining car. There were 250 people on the train and 100 on three nearby buses at the time, and more in the terminal. Police didn't fire at the gunman until they chased him back outside, away from the passengers.

The new Augusta-Savannah Thruway bus, reported on here last week and set to begin January 14, will connect in Savannah in both directions with the Silver Star and Silver Palm (but not Silver Meteor). The southbound bus leaves Augusta at 4:30 pm and arrives Savannah at 7:10 pm, with a nearly two-hour layover to the northbound Star, and four-hour layover with the southbound Palm -- with the Savannah station lying far out on the west edge of the city. The northbound bus (leaving Savannah at 7:25 am and arriving Augusta at 10:10 am) involves a two-hour layover for both the southbound Star and northbound Palm.

A new Northeast Corridor timetable will appear January 28.

Ohio rail improvements will be discussed at the Northeast Fast Track Summit 2002, on January 31, in Cleveland. This event, to be held at the City Club of Cleveland, is open to "regional public officials and corporate executives;" click here for more information. The main sponsors are the 3-C/CTC Corridor Campaigns and the Greater Cleveland Growth Association. Speakers include James Seney, Executive Director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission; Patrick Simmons, Director of the North Carolina DOT Rail Division; and Rich Harnish, Executive Director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Coalition.

New Jersey Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein will become an Amtrak senior vice president, responsible for Northeast Corridor operations, starting February 4. He has been in his current post, which includes acting as chairman of the New Jersey Transit board, for three years. He replaces Stan Bagley, who was the Northeast Corridor business unit president until 2001, but who now is national Executive Vice President for Operations.

Monterey County, California, will begin a study in March of extending Caltrain commuter rail service from Gilroy south to Watsonville (in Santa Cruz County) and Salinas. If the study is favorable and there are no further delays, service could start in 2005 or 2006.