Hotline #815 - March 4, 1994

A truck derailed the eastbound Pioneer last night, as it was going 68 mph at Platteville, Colo., 32 miles north of Denver on the Union Pacific. Amtrak said the truck stopped before starting across the tracks, then stopped again on the tracks. The truck driver was not killed. Though several passengers were treated for minor injuries, one was admitted to a local hospital with abdominal pains. Of course, NBC's Today Show this morning had sensational color footage of the incident, though they routinely ignore the 70 or so automobile occupants killed every day in the U.S.

Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar has not given up on the ecological-nightmare third-airport plan for Chicago. On March 1 he released a 1995 budget proposal with more money for a study for an airport at Peotone, which is south of Chicago on the Illinois Central. It also came out this week that the St. Louis high-speed rail study being done by Illinois DOT includes three different route options taking the line past Peotone, as well as other non-Peotone options. The report, which is due in mid-1994, will not consider access to O'Hare Airport. But it will look at several Chicago terminal locations, including a Randolph Street lakefront stub terminal permitting no connections to other rail corridors. Illinois NARP members may want to tell Edgar and state legislators your views on all this.

Amtrak President Tom Downs, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Cellucci, and Transportation Secretary Kerasiotes signed a contract governing expenditure of the federal $4 million to start engineering the Boston rail link, in a public ceremony on March 2. Kerasiotes spoke warmly of NARP member Guy Rosmarin, whose work made the event possible. Kerasiotes said Rosmarin insisted that the Central Artery rail link was feasible when many others were skeptical.

The Federal Aviation Administration has said that the plan for modernizing the air traffic control computer system, called Advanced Automation System, has $1.2 billion in new cost overruns, according to today's Washington Post. The estimated total project cost has risen from $3.6 billion when the contract was first let in 1988 to $7 billion. Overruns identified in just the past year now total $2.6 billion, enough to pay for about 169 high-speed train sets.

A man in an automobile on February 28, who falsely claimed to have a bomb, paralyzed the important 14th Street and Long Bridge crossing of the Potomac River at Washington. From about 7:00 am to 2:00 pm, the highway crossing, Metro's Yellow Line, and the intercity rail line were all closed. Amtrak trains were delayed at Washington and Richmond.

The conservative Christian Democrat German federal cabinet formally approved on March 2 a proposal to build a maglev from Hamburg to the edge of Berlin. The government would have to pay over half the $5 billion cost. The scientific advisor to the Transport Ministry opposed the project last month, saying government support for the maglev might make sense from a research -- but not a transportation -- point of view. Because plans are going ahead for Berlin-Hamburg ICE rail service, the Christian Democrats seem more interested in a maglev showpiece they can use to entice Americans to buy something Germany itself does not really want.

There is much opposition to the maglev from environmental groups, citizens' groups, and the Social Democrat party. There will be hearings, with final approval in the fall, just before a national election. The Christian Democrats have promised 10,000 new jobs related to the project, mostly in the depressed eastern states, where the Christian Democrats are weak. The Social Democrats, who are strong in the east, stand a good chance of taking over the government next fall.

Region 2 met in Albany last week and elected George Armeit, Frank Barry, Andrew Cabal, Richard Kulla, Bob Lenz, and John Ross to the NARP board. Region 8 meets in Vancouver, Wash., tomorrow at the Crossing Restaurant. On March 12, there are three meetings. Region 1 meets at 10:30 am at the Boston Sheraton. Region 10 meets at 9:00 am at the Oxford Hotel in Denver. Region 12 meets at 9:00 am at Spenger's Fish Grotto in Berkeley.