Hotline #252 - July 19, 2002

Congressional negotiators reached final agreement July 18 on H.R.4475, the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. In the end, the bill includes $205 million for Amtrak, to be used to cover a cash shortfall in this fiscal year, and to allow services to run through September 30. Both houses must approve the final version of H.R.4775, and the President must still sign it. No strings are attached to the $205 million, in contrast with the elaborate $100 million loan agreement finalized June 28. (Amtrak received the cash from that loan on July 5). It is not clear if Amtrak can or will use part of the newly granted $205 million to erase the loan.

The next big issue facing passenger rail is for the transportation appropriations bills -- not yet introduced in either the House or Senate, and far behind schedule -- to include at least $1.2 billion for Amtrak in 2003. The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Patty Murray (D.-Wash.), plans to act on July 23; the full committee on July 25. Please urge your Senators to support and work for that $1.2 billion at the subcommittee and committee levels and on the floor; click here for ways to contact them.

It is important that the $1.2 billion appropriation be accomplished without what the New York Times recently called "reforms that are impractical in the foreseeable future." In that vein, Senate Commerce Chairman Ernest F. Hollings (D.-S.C.) wrote to Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta on July 16, expressing deep concerns over the Administration's apparent path on passenger-rail policy. Hollings pointed out that at a July 10 Senate Commerce hearing, Federal Railroad Administrator Allan Rutter linked the Administration's proposed reforms (released on June 20) with support of full funding for Amtrak in the fiscal 2003 appropriations bill ($1.2 billion).

Hollings instead urged the Administration, through the letter to Mineta, to leave such proposed reforms to authorization bills, not appropriations bills. Hollings said he would resist an approach such as the Administration's. The tight deadline for fiscal 2003 appropriations bills makes implementation of the Administration's controversial reforms unlikely. Hollings complained (as he did at a June 27 hearing) that the Commerce Committee, with authorization jurisdiction over Amtrak, has received no formal proposal from the Administration, nor any Administration input on S.1991, the National Defense Rail Act.

Late last week, the Administration had proposed a loan package of up to $170 million to keep Amtrak running through the rest of the fiscal year. This was a change from the Administration's position after the June 28 agreement with Amtrak to loan Amtrak $100 million to make it through mid-August, when the Administration said the next aid package could take the form of a loan, loan guarantee, or direct grant. As with the earlier, $100-million loan, the second loan would come with reform conditions. On July 12, the Administration rejected plans in Congress to give a direct grant of $205 million to Amtrak -- as Congress is now poised to do (see above) -- with one spokesman saying a loan was "more fiscally responsible" because a grant would be "a continuation of the broken pattern of the last 30 years."

However, as we saw this week, that view is not prevailing. Several Congressional leaders, including Senate Transportation Appropriations Chairman Patty Murray (D.-Wash.), pointed out that loans to Amtrak in 2002 mean a reduction in spending power from the 2003 appropriation, because the loans have to be repaid from that appropriation. That just pushes the problem to next year -- either way, an appropriation has to cover the shortfall.

Northeast Corridor schedules will change August 3, to accommodate a project to rehabilitate one of the Hudson River tunnels during weekends. The weekend work, which will take at least a year, will involve closing one tunnel entirely during work periods. During each hour, the remaining tunnel will be open for 25 minutes to eastbound traffic, close for five minutes, reopen for westbound traffic for 25 minutes, close for five minutes, and so on. The new schedule is an attempt to minimize passenger waiting on either side of the tunnels (in Penn Station or New Jersey).

On weekends, Acela Regional trains will leave Washington at 20 or 25 minutes past the hour (most now leave at 5 past). A new, Washington-New York train 158 will leave at 6:20 pm, with train 80 (Carolinian) becoming a discharge-only train north of Alexandria on weekends. Northbound trains will leave New York generally on the even hour, with Springfield connections re-timed. Southbound trains will leave New York close to their current times.

Weekend Acela Express service is not affected, though two new Sunday trains will run -- 4:00 pm New York-Washington, and 2:00 pm Washington-New York.

Changes to Keystone trains include restoring trains 662 and 643 to through-operation, Harrisburg-New York. Long-distance trains will be affected as well.

Train speeds between Charlotte and Durham, N.C., will increase on August 1. Increases on this stretch of the North Carolina Railroad will vary between 5 and 44 mph, cutting about 10 minutes from Amtrak passenger schedules. This results from some track straightening, and some grade-crossing improvements and/or eliminations, performed with state support. Another project between Greensboro and Cary will be done in 2004, cutting about 20 minutes from passenger schedules. That project includes elevated curves, lengthened passing sidings, signal improvements, and grade-crossing improvements.

APTA, the American Public Transportation Association, announced on July 17 a new study called "Conserving Energy and Preserving the Environment: The Role of Public Transportation." Its findings make a strong case for building a balanced transportation system and investing in transit. Though the study focused on transportation within metropolitan areas, the concepts it contains can be applied easily to intercity passenger rail investment.

The study said that if just one-tenth of all Americans regularly used transit, the U.S. could:

• Reduce imported oil by 40%; roughly all we import from Saudi Arabia;
• Save more energy than all the energy used in the U.S. by the petrochemical and food production industries;
• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 25% of the standard set by the Kyoto Agreement;
• Reduce carbon dioxide levels by an amount three times that produced by four high-polluting industries (chemical manufacturing, oil and gas production, metals processing, industrial use of coal).

Ohio will formally join the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact in October, as a result of the enactment of Senate Bill 212. It was signed into law by Gov. Bob Taft (R.) on July 2.

Caltrain has kept its electrification schedule on target for 2006, which had been threatened by local government budget problems. Caltrain will use $12 million in federal funds originally meant for improvements between San Jose and Gilroy, and spread it over the 2003 and 2004 budgets, to be used on engineering and design. Last month, Santa Clara County had said it would not contribute to electrification this year because of its own tight budget, but San Mateo County and San Francisco were still prepared to move forward. The total project will cost $600 million.

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