Hotline #233 - March 8, 2002

Senate Commerce Chairman Ernest Hollings (D.-S.C.) on March 6 introduced a comprehensive passenger rail reauthorization bill, that would -- if enacted and if funded through the appropriations process -- restore a nationwide Amtrak to financial health, address capital backlogs on the Northeast Corridor, and allow for service growth, particularly on designated high-speed rail corridors. It would also provide for enhanced rail security needs that were identified last fall.

The bill is S.1991, the "National Defense Rail Act." It had 22 sponsors as of yesterday, including Senators Stevens (R.-Alaska, Appropriations Chairman), Snowe (R.-Me.), and Hutchison (R.-Tex.). A hearing on the bill is scheduled for March 14 in the Commerce Committee. The bill contrasts with other reauthorization bills previously introduced that generally would lead to less (or no) federal investment in rail and less rail service -- H.R.3591 in the House (lead sponsor, Mica, R.-Fla.) and S.1958 in the Senate (McCain, R.-Ariz.).

Among the categories of authorized funding in S.1991 are $1.26 billion for rail security (for 2003 only), $1.55 billion annually for high-speed rail development (2003-2008), $2.66 billion annually for Amtrak (including the Northeast Corridor and the long-distance network), and $350 million annually to provide for a $35 billion enlargement of the existing DOT passenger and freight rail loan program.

All NARP member should ask their Senators to sign onto this bill (if he or she is not already on the list). Click here to read more about provisions in the bill and for a list of sponsors.

Amtrak President George Warrington announced his resignation on March 7. He has been appointed Executive Director of New Jersey Transit by that state's governor. Warrington has been president since December 1998, after serving a year as acting president after the December 1997 departure of the previous president, Tom Downs. Warrington will stay at Amtrak until the Amtrak board designates an acting president.

Warrington presided over Amtrak in one of its most challenging periods, which was dominated by the shortsighted operational self-sufficiency mandate enacted in December 1997. During that time, Amtrak plowed virtually all efforts and resources into meeting the mandate. While Amtrak made substantial progress in meeting the narrow, legal definiation of the mandate, its costs grew faster than its revenues, in great part due to borrowing by Amtrak to make up for operating and capital funds authorized by Congress, but not appropriated. Amtrak's financial situation was exacerbated by outside factors, including the late delivery of Acela Express train sets, the 2001 recession, added security costs after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and added financing costs after the Amtrak Reform Council's action last November 9.

Warrington also presided over an Amtrak that tried to make itself more customer-friendly. These efforts included introduction of service guarantee and frequent user programs, and expanded customer service training for all Amtrak employees.

Warrington's departure comes at a delicate point in the political debate over the future of passenger rail. Warrington himself has said in recent Congressional hearings that it was the job of Congress and the Administration to set public policy, including on the general question of whether a national network should continue. Warrington is to be credited for not cutting long-distance trains in the face of budget problems, as his predecessor did.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Railroads Subcommittee held its second passenger rail hearing of the year on March 6. The theme of the hearing was the successes and failures of Amtrak and the Amtrak reform act of 1997. Chairman Jack Quinn (R.-N.Y.) said the law "established conflicted mandates" by laying down the operational self-sufficiency mandate on a public service like Amtrak. "I don't beliew we established a level of funding commitment," he said. "You can't expect Amtrak to be a vital link to other transportation modes without providing a comparable level of funding." Ranking Democrat Bob Clement (Tenn.) said, "Congress has cheated the American public from the world-class passenger-rail system it deserves."

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee had a hearing on Amtrak funding in 2003 on March 7. Chairman Patty Murray (D.-Wash.) criticized the 1997 mandate, saying, "That requirement appears only to have succeeded in pushing Amtrak into making short-term financial decisions that have undermined its long-term financial condition." She also criticized Amtrak's contingency plan to eliminate the long-distance network, in the event of inadequate funding in 2003. Murray said that if you count depreciation, "a number of" Northeast Corridor trains lose more money per passenger than other trains. Amtrak President George Warrington responded, "Depreciation is a non-cash item, and we manage on a cash basis to get through a given fiscal year ... Excluding depreciation, on a cash basis, the Northeast Corridor trains lose less money."

Murray also asked why Northeastern states weren't expected to contribute more money to the Northeast Corridor, pointing out the contributions Washington State has made to the Cascade Corridor. Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson said that the Administration's proposal would "increase reliance on states," but that a stable federal funding source would be needed to make that work. Indeed, Congress has yet to enact any framework that would allow an equitable federal-state partnership in the area of passenger-rail investment.

For the first time in Amtrak history, more people are taking the train between Washington and New York than are flying. Amtrak this week said it had 52% of the combined air-rail, endpoint-endpoint market in the last three months of 2001.

The code-sharing agreement announced by Amtrak and Continental Airlines in January begins March 9. The connecting point is the Newark Airport station, in New Jersey.

Empire Corridor service was disrupted when a barge hit the Spuyten Duyvil bridge in New York City on March 2. The bridge, which crosses the Harlem River, is part of the West Side Connection, which opened in 1991 as a way to get Amtrak trains from Albany into Penn Station. The barge was carrying retired New York subway cars, which were being shipped to a location in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Delaware, to be dumped there for use as an artificial reef. The bridge was partly open at the time of the incident, and could not be closed again for over five hours, during which time Amtrak service was diverted into Grand Central Terminal.

The major freight railroads are not interested in taking over passenger rail in this country, according to an Associated Press wire story that came out of Iowa on March 4. The story quoted Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley: "Passenger trains lose money, and we are not interested in doing that. And if the federal government subsidized the railroad and we were to run it, there would be lots of strings attached that we are very shy of getting involved with." Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Steve Forsberg said, "We have no interest in getting back into the passenger train business at this time."

Amtrak Thruway service in northern Arizona was restored effective March 4, under a partnership announced by Amtrak and Open Road Tours, Inc. Buses will connect with the Southwest Chief station of Flagstaff twice daily with Williams (Grand Canyon Railroad station), Tusayan, and the Grand Canyon. Another route will run four times a day from Flagstaff to Camp Verde and two locations in Phoenix (Metro Center Transit Station and Sky Harbor Airport). The previous Thruway operatior, Nava-Hopi Tours, ceased operation last October.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined on March 5 that the derailment of Amtrak's California Zephyr on Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks at Nodaway, Ia., March 17, 2001, was caused by a rail failure. The NTSB said contributing to that was BNSF's "lack of a comprehensive method for ensuring that replacement rail is free from internal defects." The accident killed one passenger. The NTSB is recommending that all railroads conduct ultrasonic "or other appropriate" inspections of replacement rail.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has begun a process to solicit bids for operating its commuter rail system. Amtrak has, since 1987, provided train operations and maintenance of way and vehicles for MBTA, and Amtrak's contract is up in June 2003. The next contract would be for five years and cover everything except maintenance of way on the Boston-Providence route (also used by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor trains). In 1999, MBTA awarded a contract for vehicle maintenance to a company called Bay State, which was the lowest bidder (Amtrak was the highest bidder). Though some blamed Amtrak and labor unions for blocking consummation of that contract, Bay State, in fact, could not attract enough employees to do the work, and the MBTA applied for, and got, an 11th-hour waiver from the Federal Transit Administration allowing it to retain Amtrak, in order to prevent a service shutdown.

NARP Region 1 meets tomorrow in Haverhill, Mass. On March 16, Region 4 meets in Baltimore, Md., and Region 9 meets in Fort Worth, Tex.