Hotline #280 - January 31, 2003

Final resolution of the question of whether Amtrak will get a reasonable funding level in the current fiscal year -- and thereby prevent a shutdown crisis in the spring -- is in the hands of a House-Senate conference committee that will consider the fiscal 2003 omnibus appropriations package (H.J.Res.2). The Senate approved the $1.2 billion Amtrak requested on January 16.  The entire House has never approved any figure, though the House Appropriations Committee approved only $762 million in September 2002.

Please ask your representative to sign one of the pro-Amtrak letters (to appropriations leaders) circulating in the House and expected to be sent on or about February 5. If a Republican representative wants to sign up, his or her office should call Steve Stallmer in Rep. Quinn's office at 225-3306. Democratic offices should contact Frank Mulvey at the Railroads Subcommittee (Transportation and Infrastructure), minority staff, 225-3274.

The main, individual players in the final decision are likely to be the "big four" appropriators -- the Senate Appropriations chairman and ranking member (Stevens, R.-Alaska, and Byrd, D.-W.Va.) and House Appropriations chairman and ranking member (Young, R.-Fla., and Obey, D.-Wis.). While many more Appropriations committee members will be in the conference committee, major decisions will rest on these four.

Please tell your senators and representative to urge one of those four to secure the full $1.2 billion for Amtrak, as appropriate. In other words, your Republican Senators should contact Stevens, Democrat Senators should contact Byrd, Republican Representatives should contact Young, and Democrat Representatives should contact Obey.  Click here for ways to make contact.

The Bush Administration will release its fiscal 2004 budget proposals on February 3 and 4 -- even though, for the first time in recent memory, existing year funding levels are still unknown.  The President's State of the Union address on January 28 didn't give any clues as to what will be proposed. Though the address had a section on energy independence, it did not address the potential benefits of passenger rail in that area.

Mounting budget deficits will increase the challenge of funding even a basic passenger rail system -- which, unlike aviation, highways, and transit, does not enjoy the protection of budgetary "firewalls." The Congressional Budget Office on January 29 forecast that the 2003 deficit will be $199 billion -- more than a third bigger than the forecast of just five months ago, and the biggest since 1994. And that doesn't count the possible costs of a war or additional tax cuts.

The Administration's director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., told reporters on January 21 that the proposed increase in discretionary spending in 2004 will be 4% over 2003 (where 2003 is projected to be 9% over 2002 -- Washington Post, January 22). There will be "substantial increases" for defense, veterans, and homeland security, but "other domestic programs will have to be squeezed." It makes one wonder -- if the federal government couldn't figure out how to develop the passenger rail alternative that Americans want during good times, and can't figure out how to develop it during bad times, when will it figure it out?

Some progress has been made in Congressional committee assignments, though most subcommittees are still unassigned. One major change is in the House Appropriations Committee, where a new Subcommittee on Homeland Security has been created, chaired by Harold Rogers (R.-Ky.). To avoid increasing the number of subcommittees, "non-Homeland-Security" parts of the old Subcommittees on Transportation (chaired by Rogers) and of Treasury, Postal Service and General Government (chaired by Ernest Istook, R.-Okla.) were combined into a new Subcommittee on Transportation and Treasury, to be chaired by Istook.

Some observers worry this means relatively bipartisan transportation bills would get bogged down with controversial riders that gravitate to Treasury, but others thought the result would be a bigger constituency to get things through.

As for Amtrak, Istook in 1999 and 2000 spoke out against the Heartland Flyer (which began Oklahoma City-Fort Worth service in June 1999). At one point, he asserted that it would be cheaper for all the passengers to rent a limousine to drive to Texas. However, he apparently has not commented in recent years. Going even further back, to the most recent House roll calls on Amtrak, he voted twice in 1993 and once in 1994 to cut Amtrak funding.

Istook's district, Oklahoma 5th, includes part of Oklahoma City (which is served by the Heartland Flyer) and curves north to Ponca City (a likely stop if the Heartland Flyer is ever extended north to Wichita and Newton, Kans.) and Bartlesville (a Thruway bus stop).

At a ceremony in Beech Grove, Ind., January 30, Amtrak put two Superliner sleeping cars back into service. They are the first in a backlog of 105 cars awaiting repair at Beech Grove, and at Bear and Wilmington, Del.  Such work has been deferred since 1999 due to Amtrak's financial situation. If Amtrak gets the $1.2 billion it says it needs for the current fiscal year, $20 million is set aside for such repairs. Amtrak's plan calls for repairing 21 cars over the next 18-24 months at Beech Grove.

The Federal Railroad Administration announced an agreement to make permanent repairs to the Acela Express power units, according to a January 28 Reuters report. The plan, to which the FRA expressed no objections, would have the Bombardier consortium replace steel suspension system brackets with new ones. The new brackets will be reinforced and the surface over which they are attached to the power units will be larger. Bracket installation will begin next week, with testing the following week. It is not known when all brackets will be in place.

Temporary repairs have kept the Acela Express train sets and HHP-8 electric locomotives running since a cracking problem was first identified on August 12, 2002. There also has been regular inspection of the components. The prototype JetTrain also will get the new brackets.

Acela Express service to Boston increased with the new January 27 Northeast Corridor timetable. There are now ten weekday New York-Boston round trips (up from nine, but still fewer on weekends). Northbound, new weekday train 2158 leaves New York at 12:03 pm. Southbound, new weekday train 2163 leaves Boston at 11:15 am, and takes over the former Metroliner 119 slot from New York at 3:00 pm, running through to Washington. Because of some minor slot-exchanges south of New York, there are still 12 weekday New York-Washington round trips.

In an equipment-balancing move related to this service increase, a new Acela Express train 2118 will run weekdays from Washington to New York, leaving Washington at 8:30 pm. Because this is a low-demand slot for such premium service, Amtrak is offering a $59 introductory business-class fare on this train through April 25. This is less than half the lowest fare available on other Acela Express trains. Fares for intermediate segments will be less than $59.

The Pennsylvanian now will become a New York-Pittsburgh train -- rather than a Philadelphia train -- starting February 10. This was postponed from January 27. The westbound Pennsylvanian will run daily on the same Philadelphia-Pittsburgh schedule, but Monday-Friday it will be train 43 leaving New York at 7:10 am; weekends train 45 departing at 7:00 am.  Eastbound train 42 leaves Pittsburgh 7:30 am and arrives New York at 4:43 pm (Monday-Saturday); on Sunday, train 44 leaves Pittsburgh at 1:30 pm and arrives New York at 10:50 pm.

On the same weekend (February 9 from Chicago), the eastbound Three Rivers will run later than it does now, departing Chicago at 10:30 pm, departing Pittsburgh at 10:00 am, and arriving New York at 8:04 pm.

The State of North Carolina has temporarily discontinued food service on the Raleigh-Charlotte Piedmont.It is in the process of finding a new vendor to provide that service, and is providing complementary beverages and snacks in the meantime.

Amtrak ridership at the new Albany-Rensselaer station, which opened September 22, was up 3.6% the last three months of 2002, compared to the same period in 2001. However, shuttle bus service linking the station with downtown Albany is being discontinued, according to the Albany Times Union (January 28), due to lack of riders. Though the bus ran 8-10 times a day, as few as five people a day were using it, according to the Capital District Transportation Authority (which also built and owns the station). Regular bus routes (#14 to Albany and #24 to Troy and Albany) remain.

The Montreal-St. Albans Thruway bus now is slated to continue indefinitely.