Hotline #226 - January 18, 2002

Continental Airlines and Amtrak have announced a code-sharing arrangement centered on Continental's hub at Newark, N.J., where an airport-rail station opened this fall. The plan will take effect in March, and will involve four rail stations -- Wilmington, Philadelphia, Stamford, New Haven. Air passengers making reservations through Continental can ticket travel to those four cities via Newark airport all on one reservation, set of tickets, and fare, just as if the train were a connecting flight. This sort of thing is increasingly common in Europe, but rare here. It was attempted ten years ago, when Midway Airlines had an arrangement to use Amtrak trains from Philadelphia airport to Atlantic City -- but neither that airline nor Amtrak's Atlantic City trains exist today.

Travel will involve Acela Regional and Keystone trains. Travelers on segments using Continental tickets will be able to earn Continental OnePass miles or Amtrak Guest Rewards points (but not both).

December figures show the air-to-rail shift continuing. For airlines, domestic passenger-miles fell 13.2% from a year ago; ridership fell 14.7%. Amtrak passenger-miles rose 3.8%, while ridership was down 0.8% -- taking out the New York-Philadelphia Clockers (a handful of peak-hour trains), ridership was up 1.6%.

Amtrak's Chicago-Toronto International is suffering from harsh policies imposed on its westbound riders at the U.S. Customs station in Port Huron, Mich. Passengers and their luggage are forced off the train at Sarnia, Ont., driven across the border on buses, processed by U.S. Customs, and then reboarded at the Port Huron Amtrak station. This procedure takes the same time as examinations did earlier (which were already quite slow), but it's extremely inconvenient to passengers. This new procedure was on-again, off-again in the weeks following the September 11 terror attacks, but an Amtrak bulletin this week suggests it is occurring steadily now, leading one to wonder how much longer it will go on. It appears to be occurring due to fewer Customs agents available (who are busy taking care of the backed-up highway crossing). Eastbound (entering Canada), the procedure remains as it had been, with riders staying aboard the train.

As a result of the U.S. Customs procedures, passenger crossings by rail have dwindled. Therefore, the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers last week recommended to the Michigan Department of Transportation that the International be replaced with a Port Huron-Chicago train, similar to the Blue Water in the 1970's (early morning westbound, evening eastbound). The Michigan DOT has been considering moving its Chicago-Toronto service closer to Detroit anyway, for some time now. NARP believes the superior routing for such a train would be via Dearborn, Detroit, and Port Huron (not via Windsor, which means skipping Detroit and awkward trackage in Windsor), if it weren't for the miserable U.S. Customs situation at Port Huron. VIA Rail, for its part, has considered sending at least some of their Windsor trains into Detroit, but might face the same Customs problems.

In California, the budget proposal for 2002-03 proposed by Gov. Gray Davis (D.) keeps funding for intercity passenger rail fairly constant, at $73.1 million. Another $8.5 million is proposed for the California High-Speed Rail Authority (largely from the State Highway Account). Though the authority only got about $1 million in the current year, it benefited from additional funding from Congress (the first federal funds for high-speed planning in the state).

The Ohio Senate now has a bill to allow that state to join the Midwest High Speed Rail Compact. The bill was introduced last week by Jeffry Armbruster and nine other sponsors. Armbruster is the chairman of the Highways and Transportation Committee, and he will have a hearing on the bill on January 29.

Test results from the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colo., indicate it is safe to run passenger trains at 79 mph on the Boston-Portland run, according to Amtrak and the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. The current limit is 60 mph, imposed by Guilford (owner of the tracks north of Plaistow, N.H.). Guilford had reported a few weeks ago that raw data from the September tests indicated quite the opposite. The final report apparently indicates that the track exceeds standards for running on more than 99.95% of the track over which Amtrak seeks to run over 60 mph. The rail authority has asked for a meeting with Guilford. Failure to reach agreement could send the entire matter (for the third time) to the Surface Transportation Board (which ordered the tests) for resolution.

As part of their annual Washington conference, the U.S. Conference of Mayors will hold a news conference at Union Station on January 24, followed by an Acela Express trip to New York.

Since December 17, Amtrak Northeast Corridor passengers boarding at stations that are unstaffed -- or are closed at train time -- have been able to buy tickets on board (with photo identification). If a Quik-Trak machine is available, Amtrak prefers -- but does not require -- passengers to use that instead.

The Northeast Corridor will have a new schedule on January 28. Generally, New York to Boston will gain some weekend Acela Express service; New York to Washington will gain two weekday and Saturday Acela Expresses and three on Sunday. There is also some shifting in time slots among various trains. The Empire Corridor will lose its earliest weekday-morning New York-Albany round-trip (a Rutland train will be moved to connect from the Maple Leaf).

The Acela Express product line plans a series of on-board events to be called "Live on Acela Express." The first will be January 19, with a cooking demonstration and book-signing by New York chef Mark Strausman. It will happen on train 2290, departing New York at 8:03 am, with the cooking demonstration upon departure from Providence. Strausman will be headed to the Boston Cooks! festival, of which Amtrak is a sponsor.

One of the New York City area's leading rail transit advocates, Dr. Stephen Dobrow, of Woodside, Queens, died unexpectedly on January 13, at the age of 58. At the age of just 19, nearly 40 years ago, he formed the Committee for Better Transit, and maintained a profile as a voice for the transit user. He was also a professor of electrical engineering and urban studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J.

Delaware's General Assembly Consumer Rail Task Force heard a consultant's report January 9 on the feasibility of commuter rail service between Wilmington, Middletown, and Dover. The report found no "fatal" flaws in the idea, stating that existing track was adequate. Capital costs were estimated to be up to $477 million, and annual operating costs up to $13.8 million. The report was requested by the state Department of Transportation. Further studies are expected, and it could be another eight years before trains begin running.

The Utah Transit Authority was expected to announce a deal with Union Pacific on January 17, under which it would buy certain segments of right-of-way and get permission to use others. A commuter-rail proposal from Salt Lake City to Ogden (and later Brigham City) would benefit, as would a light-rail proposal to West Jordan and South Jordan.

The British Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers, presented the government's ten-year plan for the Strategic Rail Authority to the House of Commons on January 14. In doing so, he said that the rail network had suffered from lack of investment for 30 years. The new plan, at $48.9 billion, would be targeted at infrastructure improvements to Railtrack, Britain's beleaguered rail infrastructure company, or whatever succeeds it. However, that money depends on $33.3 billion in private investment.

For its part, passenger rail in the U.S. (i.e., Amtrak), also suffers from decades of disinvestments. Critics would have one believe that Amtrak has been a black hole of taxpayer money, but only about $11 billion in the last 30 years has gone to passenger-rail infrastructure investment in the U.S., much of that to address capital investment needs deferred in the decades before Amtrak was created. The U.S. spends a tiny fraction of what other developed countries spend on rail capital. Until that changes, Amtrak in its current form cannot improve its position, nor can any Amtrak restructuring plan -- including the Amtrak Reform Council's -- work.