Hotline #798 - November 5, 1993

Rep. W. J. Tauzin (D.-La.), chair of the House Merchant Marine Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Navigation, introduced a safety bill on October 14. It was prompted in part by the September 22 Sunset Limited wreck. H.R.3282 would require better navigational tools on inland towboats and licenses for their use, to help prevent such accidents. Tauzin held a hearing on this subject on October 12. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard still has not installed marine navigation aids on or near the CSX bridge near Mobile. Nor has CSX installed a wire-triggered sensor that could be connected to the signal system and make approach signals turn red if the bridge is out of alignment.

The rapid transit line to Chicago Midway Airport was opened October 31, after months of delay.

A fatal construction accident on November 3 in Chicago involved a post office building being built over the south leads to Union Station. Metra commuter traffic was interrupted while the damaged areas were secured, but Amtrak seemed all right. This is the site where, last year on October 30, construction workers cut a large signal cable, crippling Union Station's south end.

Amtrak's River Cities, which served as a through-car link between the City of New Orleans and Mule, yesterday became a St. Louis-Centralia bus with bad westbound hours. The Pioneer west of Denver and the Texas Eagle south of St. Louis are now both tri-weekly. Amtrak and Pennsylvania reached an agreement, so Philadelphia-Harrisburg service was increased on November 1.

New York State will announce on November 9 a $1-billion high-speed rail plan to link New York, Albany, and Buffalo, using federal funds. There is also an $8-blllion maglev component that state officials admit may have no short-term application.

Canadian National announced last week that it wants to sell subsidiary Central Vermont, the route of Amtrak's Montrealer.

Guilford may buy the eastern end of the threatened Canadian Pacific line through Maine. Guilford's Maine Central subsidiary would take over the CP from Mattawamkeag, Me., to St. John, N.B., via McAdam, but not the western segment from Mattawamkeag to Sherbrooke, Que. VIA Rail's Atlantic uses both segments. Such a deal could raise the possibility of VIA and Amtrak running the Atlantic from St. John down to Portland and Boston, rather than to Montreal.

The Department of Transportation is holding a series of public hearings on the implementation of ISTEA. The first was today in Hartford, followed by Chicago on November 8 at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St.; Kansas City November 9 at the Embassy Suites Airport Hotel on Tiffany Springs Pkwy.; Louisville November 16 at the Convention Center; New York November 17; Philadelphia November 18; San Jose November 30; Seattle December 2; Tulsa December 13; Denver December 14. Witness panels are set for the early hearings but the general public may ask questions.

Legislation to privatize British Rail finally was approved by Parliament yesterday, and was sent to the Queen for royal assent. Beginning April 1, all fixed plant would pass to a new government agency called Railtrack. British Rail would continue to run current operations for at least a year, in order to collect data for possible investors that reflect operations only. Therefore, at least into 1995, the railway in Britain would resemble the situation in Sweden, where track and trains were separated in 1989, but remain under public ownership. British passengers still fear that the new scheme will mean big fare increases and service cuts.

The Clinton NAFTA "War Room" invited NARP and many other organizations to a meeting today at the White House. For a written summary of what was said, send NARP a self-addressed, stamped envelope.