Hotline #819 - April 1, 1994

The last Amtrak hearing for this spring is set for April 13, before the Senate Commerce Surface Transportation Subcommittee, on Amtrak reauthorization. As in the other hearings, Amtrak will present its plan to establish a dedicated capital fund, initially by redirecting the approximately $7 million a year in federal fuel taxes paid by Amtrak.

The Spanish Talgo train begins revenue service April 3 between Seattle and Portland, with financial support from the State of Washington. The train set visited Vancouver, Bellingham, and Everett on March 29, and on March 30 it visited Salem, Albany, and Eugene.

Start-up of the overnight New York-Niagara Falls weekend train that Amtrak planned for May 1 has been delayed to June 24, to allow VIA Rail more time to implement service through to Toronto.

An interagency task force looking into the Sunset Limited wreck in Alabama last fall concluded last week that no state laws were violated by anyone involved in the tragedy. Civil liability issues were not addressed. The National Transportation Safety Board report is due sometime in the summer.

House Appropriations Chairman Bill Natcher (D.-Ky.) died this week, clearing the way for Dave Obey (D.-Wis.), who was made associate chairman just last week.

British Rail was split into several units today as a step toward eventual privatization. It was created in 1948 by combining and nationalizing the four private railroads then in existence, which themselves were grouped together by the government in 1923 from a larger number of private companies. Today's action creates a new agency called Railtrack, which owns all the track, signals, and stations. It also creates 25 passenger-train operating agencies separated by market function, as well as several freight agencies. All these agencies will keep extensive operating records for the government's use in selling off the agencies in the next year or two. New private operators will be given access to Railtrack's facilities.

Until the sectors are sold off, they will remain the property of the British government. It is recognized that some of the operating agencies, while passing into private ownership, still will require government subsidy. And the government may never be able to sell off Railtrack. So despite today's move toward privatizing the former British Rail, the British government will continue to have a presence in rail operations that is far greater than anything ever seen here in the United States. Also, the BBC says that opposition party leaders and rail passenger interest groups predict great inconveniences for passengers from splitting up a unified system.

NARP Region 5 last week elected Austin Coates, Charles Dunn, Bill Herndon, Jack Martin, Keith Perry, Ned Williams, and Alan Yorker to the NARP board. Region 7 elected Howard Baitcher, Ron Boardman, Ed Leight, Pierre Loomis, John Parkyn, David Randall, Pat Robbins, and Jim Sponholz. Region 11 elected Pat Curran.