Hotline #809 - January 21, 1994

The earthquake on Los Angeles on January 17 left the rail system relatively intact -- in sharp contrast to the freeway damage. The Red and Blue lines were not damaged, though the Red Line did not run on January 17 because of the need to inspect tunnels after every aftershock. The Blue Line ran on surface segments only on January 17. Both lines have had full service ever since.

Metrolink resumed on January 18. On the Santa Clarita line, where morning ridership had been 500, three-car trains were expanded to eight cars, with many standees. On January 24, two round trips will be added through to Lancaster, increasing the Santa Clarita total round trips to nine. The 75-mile ride from Lancaster to Los Angeles will take 2:25 hours. A freight derailment on the Simi Valley line near the earthquake epicenter at Northridge kept Metrolink from running west of Van Nuys through January 19. Orange County commuter service was reconverted to Amfleet to free up Metrolink cars for other lines.

Amtrak's San Diego service resumed midday, January 18. Santa Barbara service resumed the evening of January 19. The Coast Starlight resumed full service January 20. Earlier, it ran north of Oakland with connecting stub train from San Luis Obispo and bus from Los Angeles. For at least another week, Thruway buses from Los Angeles will miss San Joaquin train connections. The 4:00 pm bus from Los Angeles runs all the way up the valley because it misses the last San Joaquin.

At Burbank Airport on January 19, President Clinton moderated a news conference where Sen. Dianne Feinstein said, "We've got to take advantage of Metrolink and the rail network in southern California." DOT Secretary Federico Pena mentioned the cars obtained from Amtrak and the search for more cars. Incidentally, right after the 1989 Bay Area earthquake, BART ridership rose 64%. Today, it is still 18% above what it was before the earthquake.

Cold and snow caused major disruptions elsewhere. The Empire Builder was suspended between Spokane and St. Paul and later just between Havre and St. Paul. Empire Builder train sets originating tomorrow should run through. There were numerous spot-annulments on corridor trains around Chicago and in the Northeast Corridor. Some Metroliners were annulled to cut power use during the Northeast's electricity crisis. At one point, the City of New Orleans detoured through St. Louis due to a freight derailment near Mattoon, Ill.

Several Northeastern overnight trains were annulled. Check with Amtrak before you travel, but it appears that the Capitol Limited will resume today, the Montrealer northbound today and southbound tomorrow, the Lake Shore Limited on January 23, and the Cardinal on January 25. Amtrak continued to run the Broadway Limited with extra cars through Cleveland, but with considerable delay. Also, the Adirondack was kept running because its Amfleet I cars handle cold relatively well.

A loose barge nearly caused another disaster on January 18. A barge struck a swing bridge on the Southern Pacific at Bayou Boeuf near Amelia, La., between Schriever and Morgan City. A bridge tender on duty was able to stop the westbound Sunset Limited, which was only 10 minutes away from the bridge. The barge had knocked the bridge six inches out of alignment.

A bill debated this week in the Alabama legislature would require warning devices to stop trains approaching any rail bridge knocked out of alignment. CSX and Norfolk Southern oppose it, saying safety is the domain of the federal government.

The Washington Post reported on January 17 that the Administration's 1995 budget, to be released on February 7, will make modest increases in Amtrak's operating and capital grants over this year's appropriation. That's the first time in many years an Administration has proposed that.