Hotline #239 - April 19, 2002

Amtrak's Auto Train derailed yesterday afternoon, for as yet unknown reasons, south of Palatka, Fla. Four people were killed (though six fatalities had been reported earlier), and 159 injured, with 27 still hospitalized as of 10:00 am today. Fourteen of the 16 passenger cars, and some of the 23 auto-carrying cars, derailed. Seven of the passenger cars were on their sides, and some were jackknifed. The locomotives and first two passenger cars did not derail. The train had 418 passengers, 34 crew members, and 200 motor vehicles. Auto Train General Manager Sharon Maloney was aboard, and helped direct rescue efforts.

The accident happened on CSX tracks running beside US 17, about an hour after the train left the Sanford terminal. The passenger speed limit in the area is 60 mph, and the train was going 56 mph. A wire story said the northbound train's engineer applied the emergency brakes upon seeing a misalignment in the tracks ahead. CSX said it visually inspected the tracks eight hours before the accident, but the National Transportation Safety Board is looking at the wheels of a coal train that passed by after that inspection.

Clean-up activities continued today, with Amtrak services disrupted in Florida. Yesterday's Auto Train departure from the northern terminal at Lorton, Va., was turned back at Richmond. Today's Auto Train departures from both terminals were annulled. Amtrak sent a "customer care" team to the scene to help displaced passengers.

The accident and the number of damaged Superliner cars reinforce the wisdom Congress would have shown by funding, among many other items, the $17 million Amtrak said last September it would take to bring 32 passenger cars (and seven locomotives) out of wreck storage. Amtrak's fleet is stretched tight. We will soon see the impact this new loss of equipment will have on services and revenues.

The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday approved S.1991, the National Defense Rail Act. The bill was approved in the form of a substitute amendment offered by Chairman Ernest Hollings (D.-S.C.) that had several changes from the original authorization bill introduced March 6. These include increasing the amount of money for Amtrak security needs (excluding tunnels) from $360 million to $515 million; applying Buy America requirements to high-speed projects (as is now the case for Amtrak); specifying that the bill will not affect rail labor protections now in place; stating that any profit from Amtrak non-passenger activities must go to improving Amtrak's working capital (to help prevent service disruptions due to financial problems), or to "high priority capital projects."

Ranking Republican John McCain (Ariz.) introduced several amendments, two of which were rejected. These would have created an "Amtrak Control Board" (from McCain's S.1958 authorization bill; the board would be similar to that which used to oversee the finances of the District of Columbia); and prohibited Amtrak from entering into any new debt without the approval of the Secretary of Transportation. A McCain amendment to make the bidding process on high-speed rail access competitive was agreed to, with the condition that existing labor protections be preserved. A McCain amendment requiring an 80-20 federal-state split on investment was modified to make state funding voluntary. Gordon Smith (R.-Ore.) had some amendments passed, including adding Portland, Ore., to the list of proposed high-speed rail hubs.

Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.) offered an amendment, that passed, requiring the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation to develop "objective" standards and criteria which Amtrak would use for route decisions. This was the topic of a report he commissioned from the General Accounting Office, which was released earlier this week.

Three more sponsors have signed onto S.1991, bringing the total to 33 -- Nelson (D.-Neb.), Dodd (D.-Conn.), Chafee (R.-R.I.).

Amtrak and IBM announced a deal on April 15 that involves Amtrak's reservations system ("Arrow"). Over seven years, Amtrak will pay IBM $229 million to operate and maintain Arrow, from a data center in Manassas, Va. IBM also will manage Amtrak's voice and data networks, including such systems at Amtrak's three reservations call centers (Philadelphia, Chicago, Riverside, Cal.). IBM also will provide support service for 7,500 Amtrak computer work stations and help with emergency planning. Amtrak expects to save $85 million by paying IBM to perform these functions. IBM and Amtrak will market the Arrow system to other transportation companies.

Business travelers will have easier access to Amtrak reservations as a result of a deal announced April 16. GetThere, which is an on-line corporate travel reservation system and subsidiary of Sabre, will integrate Amtrak reservations into its system. GetThere is used by over 800 top corporations (including over half of the Fortune 200), meaning this should greatly increase Amtrak's visibility to business travelers. GetThere will activate the link to Amtrak in the fall. A competitor of GetThere, eTravel, made a similar link to Amtrak last fall.

The Iowa Association of Railroad Passengers will hold a series of public meetings at every Amtrak station in their state, in order "to inform the public about Amtrak's current plight, and to encourage citizens to contact their federal legislators to urge their support of funding for passenger rail. The series starts in Creston on April 29, and ends in Fort Madison on May 3; for a complete list of times and locations, see our events page.