Hotline #846 - October 7, 1994

The House today passed the watered-down high-speed rail bill, with FRA safety program and grade-crossing legislation tacked on, but without including any Amtrak provisions. It has been sent to the Senate where its fate is uncertain if, as expected, Senator Moynihan (D.-N.Y.) tries to tack on a Farley Building authorization.

There has been no action on Amtrak authorization this week. There is only a faint chance for action later today. Congress likely will adjourn today. The lame-duck session in November is expected to be only for the trade bill.

Amtrak Vice President Art McMahon was appointed chief of Amtrak's Intercity Strategic Business Unit last week. Based in Chicago, this unit will control Midwest corridors and almost all long-distance trains.

The $193 million shortfall the Amtrak board thinks it faces for fiscal 1995 is based on some shaky assumptions. Amtrak has assumed that passenger revenues will drop 5%, or $45 million, below the level of the disastrous year just concluded.

Last week, the board did not approve specific cuts. It invoked the right to make cuts later. It told management to come up with a plan to deal with the budget gap. This plan is due by the board meeting of November 29-30. That meeting may be postponed to December 13-14. Service cuts could come no earlier than January 1.

NARP is working to convince Amtrak management and the board that cutting routes is not the answer. NARP has urged Amtrak President Tom Downs and DOT Secretary Federico Pena not to cut routes during fiscal 1995. NARP noted that making cuts even then would put the process on a much faster schedule than occurred in the late 1970's. Congress needs time to consider such drastic actions and would not appreciate "stealth" cuts cooked up and implemented during the end-of-year recess.

However, polls suggest that the 104th Congress will be tougher on Amtrak and likely will have more anti-Amtrak members like Barton (R.-Tex.) and Hefley (R.-Colo.). That will make our efforts more important, and more difficult.

Congress extended the Soo Line cooling-off period to February 28, when Congress will be in session.

VIA Rail announced that the Atlantic will be terminated on December 15. This train links Montreal, St. John, and Halifax, using a Canadian Pacific line in northern Maine, whose future has been up in the air for months. St. John, site of a brand-new VIA Rail station, will have no rail service -- not even a connection to the other Halifax train, the Ocean, at Moncton. The Ocean will expand from three to six times a week by adding Halifax sections to the tri-weekly Chaleur.

The Talgo train leaves Oakland the morning of October 9, passing through Salt Lake City around 3:00 am on October 10, Denver around 6:00 pm, and arriving Chicago at 12:00 noon on October 11. There will be demonstration trips to Joliet on October 13, Springfield on October 14 and 15, St. Louis on October 16 and 17. Then it goes to Michigan and Ohio.

The Florida DOT has said the state is now willing to support high-speed rail financially. Previous projects failed because the state refused to pay for anything.

Union Pacific made a bid this week for the Santa Fe, which was rejected. Santa Fe and Burlington Northern already have merger plans.

A British Royal Commission is expected this month to issue a report critical of transport policy in the Thatcher-Majors era. It will be critical of policies encouraging automobile use and will encourage greater investment in mass transit and more sensible land use planning. The report will be the first official attempt in Britain to measure the environmental and social costs of automobile use -- and it will find those costs to be too high.