Hotline #825 - May 13, 1994

Allocations between House Appropriations subcommittees were made yesterday. Transportation got $13.6 billion in budget authority and $36.4 million in outlays for 1995. The outlay figure is $800 million less than proposed in the Administration's budget. The subcommittee will have to decide what to cut as a result. The way is now clear for the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Bob Carr (D.-Mich.), to proceed with mark-up of a DOT funding bill. This could come as early as May 24, which is not far away. Very important decisions about Amtrak and rail transit will come out of this meeting.

The Surface Transportation Subcommittee of the House Public Works Committee yesterday completed mark-up of H.R.4385, legislation that designates the National Highway System. The NHS consists of 159,000 miles of highways and is essentially the NHS system map submitted to Congress by the DOT. The bill has $32.5 billion in highway, transit, and intermodal demonstration projects. Subcommittee Chairman Nick Rahall (D.-W.Va.) and members of the committee were quick to point out that this involved no net increase in spending -- spending for any new demonstration projects is offset by rescissions for other highway and transit projects not moving forward. An amendment to rescind the mandatory motorcycle helmet law enacted in ISTEA narrowly passed (20-19) and an amendment offered by Representative Byrne (D.-Va.) to require "value engineering" in highway contracts also passed. Full Committee mark-up is scheduled for May 17.

Amtrak released a gracious statement yesterday announcing the resignation of Amtrak Executive Vice President William S. Norman, effective July 31. The release included this quote from Amtrak President Tom Downs -- "Bill's experience and wise counsel have been invaluable to me during my first six months at Amtrak."

An announcement is likely late next week from Amtrak and VIA Rail that the New York-Niagara Falls weekend overnight trains will run through to and from Toronto but will involve one round-trip only, from New York Friday nights and from Toronto Sunday nights. The schedule may be different and tighter than shown in Amtrak's May 1 timetables. Also contrary to the May 1 timetable, there will be no New York-Niagara Falls overnight trips originating on Saturday nights.

Amtrak finally did restore the Executive Sleeper on May 1. This car had not operated since mid-January due to the impact of extensive freeze damage on Amtrak's fleet.

The General Accounting Office has released a report on safety programs in the Federal Railroad Administration, as required by the 1992 Rail Safety Enforcement Act. The report claimed that the FRA was unable to finalize a track inspection plan because it did not collect information on routes handling passenger trains and hazardous materials, according to the Journal of Commerce.

This week, the United Transportation Union rejected a plan to submit a tentative national wage and work-rules agreement to its membership for a vote. That means formal bargaining notices may be filed this fall, starting a process that eventually could lead to strikes like those in 1991 and 1992.

Canadian National was to select a winning bidder for its Central Vermont subsidiary at a board meeting on May 10. This is the route of Amtrak's Montrealer from New London, Conn., to St. Albans, Vt.

Interstate 5 through the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles will reopen next week. This highway closely parallels Metrolink's Santa Clarita line.

CalTrain held a ceremony yesterday marking the completion of its program to retrofit coaches for bicycle accessibility. Effective today, trains designated in the timetable as carrying bikes will take 12 bikes per train, as opposed to eight previously. NARP member Cap Thomas, who is on CalTrain's Bicycle Advisory Committee, led this effort and participated in the ceremony.