Hotline #237 - April 5, 2002

Amtrak today sent letters to the 46 governors of the states it serves, and to the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, informing them of its funding needs for 2003. The letter said, "While Amtrak could not be more committed to a national passenger rail system, if funding falls below Amtrak's budget, it is likely that certain trains will be discontinued. Of course some trains require more direct subsidy than others. Eighteen of these already have been identified as being at high risk and, depending on the level of appropriations, other routes, services or programs also are at risk."

Amtrak had announced on February 1 that absent an appropriation of $1.2 billion, Amtrak would discontinue its 18 long-distance trains (but not Auto Train). Amtrak also had said, at that time, that 180-day discontinuance notices would be posted around March 29, giving Amtrak the flexibility to discontinue the trains depending on what funding Amtrak gets.

NARP expressed concern to Amtrak that a formal 180-day notice would harm Amtrak's cash flow by depressing advanced bookings, and so could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Intense media coverage since February 1 seems to have brought much of the "educational" value of the formal notice, and Amtrak's funding needs. Also, the law has exceptions to the 180-day notification rule that would let Amtrak discontinue service during the first 30 days after enactment of an Amtrak appropriation, or during the first 30 days of a fiscal year, if authorization and appropriation are not enacted at least 90 days before the beginning of the fiscal year (presumably July 3).

The urgency of the situation has not lessened -- we still need to work towards an authorization bill that does the most for nationwide passenger rail service (and so far, that's Senator Hollings' S.1991), and for an adequate fiscal 2003 appropriation, which Amtrak says is $1.2 billion.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Railroads Subcommittee will hold its third passenger-rail hearing this year. They have already examined the recommendations of the Amtrak Reform Council and the relative successes and failures of Amtrak and the Amtrak reform law of 1997. The April 11 hearing will look to the future, and has for its topic "Passenger Rail in America: What Should it Look Like?" Federal Railroad Administrator Allan Rutter is the first witness and may unveil the Administration's long-awaited plan for intercity passenger rail.

President Bush on March 29 made a "recess appointment" to fill two Department of Transportation positions, the nominees for which had been blocked by Sen. Joe Biden (D.-Del.). Recess appointments can be made by a President in absence of Senate confirmation, but they are valid only for the rest of the current Congressional session (January 2003). The two appointees, Jeffrey N. Shane and Emil H. Frankel, were named Associated Deputy Secretary and Assistant Secretary, respectively.

Their nomination had been supported by Biden, but he placed the hold on them because of one or more anonymous holds that had been placed by other Senators on S.1550, the Rail Security Act of 2001. That bill had been approved by the Commerce Committee on October 17 with bipartisan support (including that of Sen. McCain), and authorizes $1.8 billion for Amtrak security and safety measures. Biden had been promised floor action in return for dropping his insistence that this money be part of the aviation security bill last fall.

Here are some of the changes in the April 29 timetable. The westbound Capitol Limited will leave Washington 45 minutes earlier, at 3:20 pm, and arrive Chicago 39 minutes earlier, at 8:40 am. Amtrak says this is necessary, despite the fact that the current schedule is one of the few Amtrak offers that is ideal for overnight travel between major cities, because there are chokepoints at stations (like Cleveland and Pittsburgh) that can handle only one train at a time, and single-track running near Cleveland. The eastbound Capitol will leave Chicago 20 minutes later, at 7:00 pm, and arrive Washington 4 minutes later, at 1:27 pm.

The westbound Lake Shore Limited will arrive Chicago 25 minutes earlier, at 10:45 am (leaving New York and Boston at the same time as now). The eastbound Lake Shore leaves Chicago 35 minutes later, at 7:45 pm, arrives New York 20 minutes later, at 3:30 pm, and arrives Boston 35 minutes later, at 7:10 pm.

The westbound Three Rivers will leave New York 35 minutes later, at 12:15 pm, and arrive Chicago 40 minutes earlier, at 7:45 am. The eastbound rain leaves Chicago 20 minutes earlier, at 9:00 pm, and arrives New York 10 minutes earlier, at 7:10 pm.

The biggest change is the Pennsylvanian, which has suffered since its extension to Chicago from very passenger-unfriendly times at both ends of its route (the other being Philadelphia) and poor connections at both ends. The new schedule will vastly improve times and connections on the east end, while preserving daytime service in Ohio, and be attractive to many more passengers than the current train. The westbound train will leave Philadelphia 1:25 later than now, at 8:00 am, and arrive Chicago 1:18 later than now, at 1:44 am. The eastbound train will leave Chicago at 11:55 pm (6:05 earlier than now), serving as a "sweep-up" train for coach passengers (and sleeper passengers wishing to downgrade rather than spend the night in Chicago) making connections from very late trains from the West -- and arrive at Philadelphia at 8:00 pm, which is 4:52 earlier than now. That makes the eastbound train 1:13 slower than it is today -- an hour of that added time is in the night between Chicago and South Bend to produce better times at Toledo.

The Georgia Senate Appropriations Committee, at the last minute, inserted $12 million into the 2003 state budget to go towards Atlanta-Macon passenger rail, using funds from Georgia's share of the nationwide tobacco settlement. If the provision survives a vote in the full Senate, the House and Governor Barnes still have to go along with it. It had been thought that any funding for the project for 2003 was a dead issue.

Last week, we reported that Amtrak was considering removing the sleeping car from the Silver Palm -- reportedly in order to save money by also eliminating that train's dining car -- but that NARP was urging Amtrak to keep the sleeper on that train and make a test case for delivering sleeping-car meals more economically. Amtrak says it does not have the food service cars that would allow such a test. Effective with May 1 departures, the Silver Palm will lose its dining and sleeping cars and become the coach-only Palmetto (but with a Business Class car, which started April 1, and dinette/lounge car).

Passengers who have bought sleeping-car spaces on the Silver Palm for May 1 and beyond are being contacted by Amtrak. They are being offered space on the Palmetto for the same date as their reservation -- in coach or Business Class -- or sleeping-car space on one of the other two Florida trains, on the same date, if available. Since Amtrak's changes are the cause, passengers do have the choice of getting their money back. NARP is trying to clarify whether "bumped" passengers can book on a Meteor or Star sleeper on another day without paying a higher fare.

The inaugural celebration of the extension of light rail to Denver Union Station began today. The Regional Transportation District recently took over Union Station, and there is a web site dedicated to future plans for this building.

NARP Region 7 meets tomorrow in Champaign, Ill.; Region 10 meets in Omaha.

Most of the nation moves to Daylight Savings Time early on Sunday, April 7. Clocks are turned ahead one hour, meaning Amtrak trains running at that hour (2:00 am) are suddenly an hour late (or more, if they were already late).