Hotline #710

The Senate confirmed the nomination of Andrew Card as Secretary of Transportation on February 21.

NARP testified on Amtrak reauthorization on February 26 before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Transportation. Senator Nickles (R.-Okla.) said he had assurances from Amtrak President Graham Claytor for a tri-weekly Lone Star by the end of 1993, though Amtrak says it would have to be a 403(b) train. The Amtrak gas-tax penny got an impressively sympathetic hearing from Senators Breaux (D.-La.) and Lott (R.-Miss.). Lott is pleased with plans to extend the Sunset Limited through his state to Florida.

House Energy and Commerce Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Al Swift (D.-Wash.) will introduce his Amtrak trust fund bill next week. Please ask your Representatives to co-sponsor this bill. If enough co-sponsors do not materialize, this effort could be set back for years. Republicans should hear that Don Ritter (R.-Pa.), ranking member on Swift's subcommittee, will be a co-sponsor.

The Bush Administration is urging House Republicans to oppose the Swift bill for violating the 1990 budget agreement. With this being an election year, the Administration position could change if strong support for the penny develops. The problem with President Bush and the OMB is that they like to say pretty things about Amtrak self-sufficiency, but stubbornly refuse to provide Amtrak the tools needed to do the job.

The National Transportation Safety Board has blamed Amtrak for the Boston Back Bay wreck of the Night Owl in December 1990. The board said the apprentice engineer driving the train was not adequately supervised and that there was not adequate line-side warning for a transition from a 100-mph speed zone to a 30-mph zone. The result was that the engineer did not apply the brakes in time to prevent the train from derailing on a curve in the station and colliding with a stopped commuter train. Though 250 of the 1,100 on board both trains were injured, it was a miracle no one was killed. The NTSB made several training-related recommendations to Amtrak.

The Amtrak board met and voted to begin a 60-day comment period as a first step to eliminating the River Cities between St. Louis and Carbondale. Amtrak would run a bus to Centralia, claiming it will retain 88% of current ridership, which is very hard to believe. The board also approved spending $155 million in fiscal 1992 electrification funding on the New Haven-Boston line.

Earlier this week, the Maine DOT selected Amtrak's proposal to operate Boston-Portland service over a rival plan by Guilford, the freight railroad that owns most of the track involved.

The Amtrak Reservations Sales Office will stay in Chicago, after Mayor Daley called Amtrak's landlord to request a lease renewal. Amtrak had been trying in vain for months to renew its lease. Meanwhile, there had been reports that Wisconsin Gov. and Amtrak board member Tommy Thompson had wanted to move the facility to Wisconsin. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (Ill.) and the Transportation Communications Union protested that.

Amtrak will add a Friday-only round-trip to Newport News in April. The new train will leave Washington at 7:00 am and Newport News at 1:05 pm.

A Florida circuit judge has dropped charges against Amtrak for toilet dumping near Palatka in 1989, 14 months after President Bush signed legislation clearing the matter up.

NARP Region 2 elected the following to the NARP board on February 22 -- George Armeit, Frank Barry, Richard Kulla, Robert Lenz, John Ross, and Stephen Salatti. Region 1 meets at New London, Conn., March 7 and the following all meet March 14 -- Region 3 at Atlantic City (with NARP Assistant Director Scott Leonard), Region 4 at Baltimore (with NARP Executive Director Ross Capon), and Region 11 at Phoenix.