Hotline #814 - February 25, 1994

Three Congressional committees heard DOT Secretary Federico Pena discuss the 1995 budget this week. On February 22, he went before the House Budget Committee. On February 23, he went before the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. There, Representative Durbin (Ill.) said Amtrak smoking policies were still a problem. He said any service getting federal funds should ban all smoking and ban tobacco advertising. Durbin also expressed disappointment over the cut in high-speed rail funds. Pena said he had requested more, but OMB turned him down. Chairman Carr (Mich.) said he was pleased by the lower high-speed rail funding level. He also said he supported Boston electrification.

Yesterday, Pena went before the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. Chairman Lautenberg (N.J.) asked several Amtrak and high-speed rail questions. Lautenberg pointed out that Amtrak wants $430 million for operations, yet the Administration seeks just $380 million. Pena said the budget used older, more optimistic revenue projections. Lautenberg also said the Administration request makes it hard to institute new 403(b) services, such as those proposed in Maine and Washington.

On both days, Pena stressed the importance of new technologies to cut the cost of implementing new high-speed rail corridors. He cited work on a non-electric, higher-speed locomotive and on high-tech grade-crossing safety devices.

Pena also appeared yesterday before the House Public Works Committee to discuss the National Highway System proposal he unveiled in December. Chairman Mineta (Cal.) expressed his support for the multimodal nature of the Administration's proposals.

Members of the House of Representatives, especially those on the Public Works Committee, need to hear support for passage of House Resolution 107 (H.Res.107). It urges the White House not to agree to lower truck safety standards, including for size and weight. Senate Resolution 36 to the same effect passed last year. This is important because the U.S., Canada, and Mexico soon start negotiation NAFTA details. We have heard that Federal Highway Administration staff are sympathetic to allowing bigger and heavier trucks in the U.S. Pena and Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater also need to hear from citizens opposed to bigger, heavier trucks.

Amtrak announced a new Vice President of Finance yesterday. Elizabeth Reveal was appointed effective March 28. She is now Director of Finance for the City of Seattle. She succeeds Norris Overton who will become Vice President of Reengineering, a newly created position.

As an experiment, Amtrak will ban smoking May 1 on the Broadway Limited, California Zephyr, and all non-overnight trains. Amtrak's board expects a report on all its smoking policy experiments by August and then may consider banning all on-board smoking.

We reported earlier that California, Illinois, and Indiana faced sanctions by the Environmental Protection Agency because of serious non-attainment areas in those states. The sanctions would withhold federal highway funding beginning in May if laws were not passed to improve inspection programs, under terms set out in the Clean Air Act of 1990. Since then, Illinois and Indiana have taken proper steps, but the EPA and California are reported to be still far apart.

Voters in Switzerland on February 20 approved a controversial referendum to ban all international through-trucks not doing business within that country. All international through-freight must move by rail by 2004. Two new rail tunnels far below Alpine passes are already planned by 2005 and 2010. Now Austrian environmentalists are afraid that some of the truck traffic will be diverted there, particularly though the Brenner Pass.

NARP Region 2 meets tomorrow at 11:30 am in Albany at the Empire State Plaza, in the Albany Room. Region 8 meets March 8 in Vancouver, Wash., at the Crossing Restaurant, featuring Harriet Parcells of NARP.