Hotline #801 - November 26, 1993

Congress has gone into recess until January, with no further action taken on the high-speed rail bills, S.839 and H.R.1919.

The Penny-Kasich amendment for a big array of spending cuts was rejected narrowly by the House on November 23. It would have zeroed out all funding for, among other things, maglev.

The next DOT-sponsored public meeting on ISTEA will be November 30 at San Jose at the Santa Clara County Board Chambers. Seattle will be December 2 at the Seattle Center in the Olympic Room.

For NARP's responses to negative pieces on Amtrak in Barron's and Forbes (both November 22) and in the December issue of Pacific Rail News, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. NARP also has responded to a rail safety story in yesterday's Washington Post that had some misleading statements about Northeast Corridor safety after the Chase, Md., accident in 1987.

At NARP's request, Amtrak will offer checked baggage service on the Houston section of the Texas Eagle, beginning today southbound and November 28 northbound.

The Amtrak board will meet next week. If any announcement is made at that time regarding a new Amtrak president, this message will be updated promptly.

The eastbound Pioneer derailed just east of Boise, Ida., for reasons not yet known, on November 23 at 12:17 am. The entire train remained upright with everything but the last car derailed. Of 225 passengers on board, 12 were taken to a hospital with apparently minor injuries, one of whom was admitted for possible vertebrae fracture.

The eastbound Capitol Limited was struck yesterday by an automobile that drove around lowered gates and struck between the two locomotives, separating them, at the Madison St. crossing in LaPorte, Ind., west of Elkhart. Passengers and crew were not injured, but the motorist was taken to a hospital. Thirty-five passengers bound for points from Elkhart to Cleveland were transferred to the eastbound Lake Shore Limited. The Capitol, after setting out one engine, made it to Mishawaka, six miles east of South Bend, where the remaining locomotive failed and could not be restarted. A Conrail switcher from Elkhart towed the train to Elkhart were 47 passengers were put in hotels for the night. Bus service was provided for stops from Elkhart to Washington. The train itself later was towed back to Chicago by a Conrail freight locomotive.

Amtrak has announced the subject of its 1994 calendar. It is a color photograph of an AMD-103 diesel locomotive, the X2000, and the ICE that was taken July 23. It's similar to the photo that appeared in the August NARP newsletter. Amtrak had commissioned a painting of the Sunset Limited, but decided not to use it on the calendar after the tragedy at Mobile.

Eight law firms in Alabama and Florida, according to the Journal of Commerce, will try to consolidate all personal injury claims resulting from the Sunset wreck into one court. If the request is granted in January, the case would involve over $100 million in claims.

The German federal government has agreed to give states in Germany a greater share of motor fuel tax revenues in exchange for the states picking up more responsibility for regional passenger train services. This clears the way for a final restructuring plan on German railways to be approved by the legislature next month and for the plan to take effect January 1. On that date, the two current government railways will be merged into a single operating entity, with track and infrastructure spun off to another entity. Much later, the plan is to privatize various operating sectors of the railway.