July 15, 2011: Hotline #715

Amtrak revealed this week that ridership projections put the railroad on course to exceed 30 million passengers in the current fiscal year—which would break the 40-year old company’s all-time annual ridership record.

“We are having a very strong year because people around the country are choosing the convenience, efficiency and hassle-free environment of Amtrak to meet their travel needs,” said President and CEO Joe Boardman.  “Amtrak has wisely invested the federal funding we have received to improve infrastructure and equipment.  Continued investment in Amtrak and passenger rail will support the further growth of this increasingly vital transportation option.”

After seeing strong June ridership numbers—combined with expected ticket sales for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, which ends in September—Amtrak expressed confidence in its projections.  June 2011 was the best on record, topping 2.6 million passengers and capping 20 consecutive months of year-over-year ridership growth (a streak that started in November 2009).  If Amtrak just tops 28.7 million (the level hit in 2008 and again last year), it would be the seventh time the railroad has set an annual ridership record in eight years.

The numbers have special significance given the fight in Congress about what levels to fund transportation; without sufficient capital resources, Amtrak will not be able to replenish and expand its equipment to meet soaring demand from the public.  The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is proposing a 25% cut to Amtrak’s operating grant in 2012 and 2013, which would represent a huge step backward for U.S. passenger trains.

In the Senate, meanwhile, 19 senators wrote July 5 to Senators Murray and Collins (chair and ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee), requesting $2.2 billion for Amtrak’s intercity passenger rail service in the coming budget.  From the letter:

While we are cognizant of this difficult budgetary climate, it is essential to fully support Amtrak’s service to improve our intercity passenger rail system and connect our economic centers.  Today, Amtrak is the only nationwide intercity passenger rail service.  Every day, it serves on average 78,000 passengers in more than 500 communities—150 of them rural—across 46 states on nearly 300 trains.  Amtrak is also the nation’s largest provider of contract-commuter service for state and regional authorities and serves more than 800,000 people each weekday… Amtrak also improves our transportation system by reducing congestion and easing our dependence on foreign oil.  Each year, Amtrak takes 50,000 planes out of the air and 8 million cars off the highways nationwide, resulting in less frequent and less extreme delays on our highways and in our skies.

[Read the full letter, along with a list of the 19 signees, on Senator Jim Webb’s (D-VA) website]

As debt talks progressed, President Barack Obama said he hopes the final agreement on the debt ceiling would recognize that Congress can cut the deficit while addressing serious problems in the quality of U.S. infrastructure.  The idea is a recommitment to his Administration’s belief that transportation investment will be key to maintaining a competitive edge for American business.

“Right now, there are over a million construction workers out of work after the housing boom went bust, just as a lot of America needs rebuilding,” said the President on July 8.  “We connect the two by investing in rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our railways and our infrastructure.”

In a July 14 Wall Street Journal op ed column, Karl Rove disapprovingly listed President Obama’s “$53 billion high-speed rail proposal” as one of the items “off-limits to cuts.”  That is no guarantee that the HSR proposal will survive any debt ceiling deal but that, but this quote and the President’s reference to railways does present an opportunity to thank the White House and to tell legislators that you agree with the President, at least on this point.


The U.S. House of Representatives passed a fiscal 2012 Energy-Water appropriations bill that contained a provision to strip $1 billion in unobligated high-speed and intercity passenger rail funds today on a 219-196 vote. The vote passed mostly along party lines, although 10 Democrats supported the bill while 21 Republicans voted against it.

The provision, offered by Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), who chairs the energy & water development appropriations subcommittee, would redirect $1 billion in unobligated high-speed and intercity passenger rail funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to a federal fund for victims of flooding.  The amendment is operative to the extent that funds remain unobligated by the time of enactment.

Several Democrats spoke out against the rescission of rail funds, arguing that cutting a job-creating program is short-sighted and unwise while the recession’s effects are still being felt by so many families.

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Rep. John Olver (D-MA) decrying the attack on passenger train.

[A compilation of all the pro-rail speeches is on the HSIPR Congressional Caucus’ YouTube channel]

The bill now heads to the Senate where it will be received coldly—for a number of reasons—by the Majority.  The bill’s fate depends, in large part, on the result of the larger debt ceiling negotiations taking place between the House, Senate, and Obama Administration.  That’s good news for the communities designated to get the funds, because it gives the Federal Railroad Administration longer to provide the final clearing for construction work, putting the projects beyond reach of Frelinghuysen’s provision.


In related new, Texas announced this week that it is proceeding with planning work on a project to connect Dallas-Fort Worth to Houston and to Oklahoma City by high-speed rail.

The funding for the high-speed rail study—$15 million for the North Texas-to-Houston corridor and $5.6 million for the North Texas-to-Oklahoma City route—comes from the Recovery Act, and is therefore subject to rescission by the Energy and Water bill that the House moved to the Senate today.

“It’s embedded in the conversation about raising the debt ceiling,” said Tom Shelton, senior program manager with the North Central Texas Council of Governments. “But the money has been awarded to us, subject to a grant agreement, so there’s no reason for us to believe that’s not going to happen.”

Shelton hopes to have the money in-state within the next three to four months, where it will be used for environmental impact and ridership studies.


Amtrak’s Empire Builder will resume service along the length of its route this weekend, following repairs made to flood damaged track.

Record floodwaters have plagued the region, closing down transportation arterials throughout the Dakotas.  BNSF Railway work crews have been able to restore the tracks to operational integrity, however, clearing the way for passenger trains.

“We appreciate the patience of our customers and the work being done by Amtrak and BNSF employees to restore service,” said Daryl Pesce, the Chicago-based Amtrak General Superintendent. “Amtrak and the predecessors of BNSF have together operated the Empire Builder since 1929 and no one can recall as much flooding and disruption on the route in these 82 years.”

Starting with the eastbound trains departing Seattle and Portland on Sunday, July 17, the Amtrak Empire Builder will return service to missed stops in eastern Montana, North Dakota and western Minnesota.  The first, full westbound Builder will depart Chicago on Monday, July 18.

Service to Minot, N.D., however, will remain suspended.  The city was severely affected by the floods, and the Minot Amtrak station and boarding platform were both damaged.  Repairs are scheduled for some time in August.  However, service will resume at Rugby, Grand Forks, and Devils Lake, although long-term service continuation depends on finding a third funding partner (along with BNSF and Amtrak) to pay for needed infrastructure upgrades.


Amtrak’s Downeaster was involved in a serious accident July 11 when a tractor-trailer drove into the path of the oncoming Amtrak train, killing the truck driver and injuring six people on board the train.

The train was traveling north from Boston to Portland, Maine at around 70 mph when it struck the truck.  Eyewitnesses report that the crossing-gates and safety lights were engaged and working properly, which should have given the truck driver enough warning to come to a stop.  Investigators at the scene report that skid marks indicate the truck engaged its brakes some 200 feet before reaching the grade crossing.

“It looked like somebody dropped a bomb,” Tom Gorski told reporters.  “The flames were shooting higher than a three-story house.”

Patricia Quinn, Director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), was quick to assure the public of the safety of the train.  Of the 31,000 trains that have made the Maine to Boston trip, only about a dozen have been involved in any incidents said Quinn, and none have approached the severity of Monday’s accident.  Ironically, the accident came the same week that NNEPRA announced that the Downeaster had set a ridership record after carrying more than 500,000 passengers in a single year for the first time.  Annual ridership has more than doubled since the Downeaster began operating in 2005, and an average of 1,400 passengers a day use the Portland-to-Boston service.

Maine’s Congressional delegation praised the professionalism of the response shown by onboard crew.

“The accident could have been much, much worse, and in part we have the crew to thank,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) yesterday on the floor of the House. “We should all take a moment today to think about the men and women in our transportation system, who work day-in and day-out to make sure that we are safe.”

Two Amtrak crewmembers were injured, along with four passengers.  None of the injuries were reported to be life threatening.


The U.S. Department of Transportation has given DesertXpress the green light to begin work on a Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail line.

This record of decision is the final step in the environmental impact review process.  With federal approval, the private company can begin work on preliminary engineering for the line, which would run around 180 miles from Las Vegas to Victorville, a town just outside Los Angles.

“[This] announcement is about one thing: creating good-paying jobs right here in Nevada,” said Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) in a press release applauding the decision. “This major step forward for the privately sponsored DesertXpress project will create more than 32,000 jobs in Southern Nevada and boost our economy by providing another way for tourists to visit and enjoy this great state.”


Representatives of the rail industry gathered in Washington, D.C. yesterday to educate Congress on the importance of rail investment for the U.S. economy.

“In addition to 175,000 rail industry jobs, our nation’s freight railroads directly support over 150,000 manufacturing jobs in the railway supply industry,” said Tom Simpson, president of the Railway Supply Institute, in an official statement.

Professional NARP staff joined nearly 400 others from the railroad industry to push to “preserve reasonable regulation,” to extend the short line tax credit, to protect funding for grade crossing safety programs to prevent collisions between motor vehicles and trains, to oppose bigger and heavier trucks and to secure funding for a healthy Amtrak.


China’s brand new Beijing to Shanghai high-speed rail line had a rough first month, experiencing multiple power outages that have stalled some trains on the tracks.

The power disruptions have led to some passengers waiting on a stalled train while engineers scrambled to restore service.  In a July 13 incident, an electrical transformer malfunctioned dropping the top speed to 100 mph; operators were forced to transfer passengers to another train capable of reaching top speeds rather than risk disrupting the entire network.

China’s Railway Ministry has attributed the problem to summer thunderstorms and high winds.

“These malfunctions did not cause any major safety risks, but they have truly affected the railway’s operation,” said Railways Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping.  Wang apologized to the public for the disruptions in service to the new line.

Despite these incidents, the Railways Ministry is reporting the trains are seeing promising early successes.  The Beijing-Shanghai line carried an average of 165,000 passengers daily between July 1 and July 13, reported Wang, with a peak of 197,000 passengers.


Traveler’s Advisory

• Effective Sundays through Thursdays Only - Beginning July 24, 2011 Some CSX track work may affect the eastbound Capitol Ltd. between Pittsburgh and Washington, Sundays through Thursdays beginning July 24 and lasting “approximately 13 months.”  Issues will arise on days when the train departs Cleveland after 3:30 am (over 82 minutes late based on current schedules).  Most significantly, when that happens, passengers destined for Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry, Rockville and Washington, will be bused from Pittsburgh.  The train itself will stop at Connellsville and Cumberland to discharge passengers only and will terminate at Cumberland.  (No impact on westbound trains, or on Friday and Saturday.) More information is available at Amtrak.com.
• Golfers in the Midwest now have more travel options, with the unveiling of Amtrak’s pilot program that will allow passengers to carry their golf bags on board for small service charge. “This pilot program to expand carry-on baggage service on corridor trains in the Chicago Hub lets big-city golfers explore the lower greens fees and a change of scenery in the smaller cities and suburbs,” said Jeff Snowden, Amtrak Senior Director, Service Delivery. “We’re opening more travel opportunities to some of the most challenging courses in the country in some of our larger markets, too.” Passengers must make carry-on golf bag reservations prior to boarding at 800-USA-RAIL or through a ticket agent at an Amtrak station.  A $10 one-way fee will be assessed. The service is available on 300-series trains that travel to and from Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City; Galesburg/Quincy and Champaign/Carbondale, Ill.; Detroit/Pontiac, Grand Rapids and East Lansing/Port Huron, Mich.  See Amtrak.com for more details.