Hotline #297 - May 30, 2003

NARP has posted a current version of an action leaflet on this web site, in pdf format. This leaflet may be printed out and copied, if you wish to distribute it. A quantity of a slightly modified version of the leaflet is being printed by NARP for those who do not wish to do their own copying. It should be ready in about a week.

The main thrust of the leaflet is that the best way to ensure continuation of a nationwide train service, with improvements aimed at reaching a state of good repair (for the first time), is for Amtrak to get its requested level of $1.812 billion in federal funding in fiscal 2004. The leaflet points out the extent to which funding historically has fallen short of a basic, subsistence level. A rail network can't be run for nothing, or even a fraction of its real cost, and it's time our leaders heard that from the public.

A New York Times editorial from May 29 supports the concept of getting that amount of funding for Amtrak.

Please continue to urge House members to sign the pro-Amtrak letter that Chairman Jack Quinn and others are circulating, as reported in last week's hotline.

Oregon's Lewis and Clark Explorer train made its first revenue run from the Linnton section of Portland to Astoria and back on May 23. The train will run four days a week through the summer. The status of the train was very much in doubt after Amtrak's 11th-hour decision that its participation in the service violated the conditions of the 2002 loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation. One condition was that Amtrak would not use any of its resources to plan or operate new services where Amtrak's full costs were not covered. That meant that Oregon suddenly lost access (through Amtrak) to railroad property (including a BNSF segment and Portland Union Station) and insurance. Amtrak will still allow tickets to be sold through its reservations system.

In the end, the state reached quick agreement with the Portland and Western Railroad to use its tracks west of Linnton, which is reachable by special shuttle bus from Union Station. For more on the service, see the Oregon DOT web site.

The new transportation funding package in Washington State contains more than the five-cent gas-tax increase that we mentioned last week. It also has a variety of other revenue sources, such as higher trucking fees and vehicle sales taxes. By state law, the gas-tax money must go to roads, but the other fees can be "flexed" to the rail and transit programs we mentioned.

Sounder Transit and BNSF signed a preliminary operating agreement for running Seattle-Everett commuter trains. The signing happened at a May 28 ceremony at the Everett station. The agreement allows for one round-trip to be in place by the end of this year, with three more after certain track and signal improvements are made. Sounder Transit also will buy a 21-mile BNSF line from Tacoma southwest to Nisqually.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority voted to eliminate from its planning options the current Pacific Surfliner segments through San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, and along the Del Mar bluffs. The vote came at a May 27 meeting in Irvine. Local officials, who had complained that the segments were in environmentally sensitive areas and too close to beach homes, favored alignments further inland at the meeting. The Authority will release an environmental impact report on the entire high-speed project in August.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will hold a series of public meetings June 3-12 regarding its proposed, budget-driven service cuts. These include shutting down the short Almaden light-rail branch -- the first time a transit agency has proposed abandoning a light-rail line built in the modern (post-1980) history of light rail in the U.S. The Almaden branch opened in 1991. The other two light rail lines would have reductions in frequency and hours of operation. These cuts come on top of significant service cuts made a few months ago. See the VTA web site for more on the cuts and meetings.

Amtrak's California Zephyr was delayed at Dotsero, Colo., for two hours on May 28 as two mail cars on the rear derailed. No one was injured on the westbound train.

The train station at the Anchorage airport was used for the first time the weekend of May 16. The station, built with $28 million in federal funds, will serve only cruise-shop passengers, generally five days a week, May-September, for the foreseeable future. Those passengers ride on Alaska Railroad's Grandview train, which started service in 2000 between Seward and downtown Anchorage, but which now runs from Seward to Anchorage airport (114 miles). A new station at Seward docks also opened this month, and it includes an Alaska Airlines check-in desk for cruise passengers.

A 1.4-mile extension of the Miami Metrorail line opened today from Okeechobee to Palmetto Expressway. Free rides are offered from Palmetto through June 30.

NARP Region 3 is meeting in Harrisburg, Pa., May 31.