Hotline #746

Of the three presidential candidates, President-elect Clinton said the most about high-speed rail. He alone rode Amtrak and transit during the campaign year. NARP will give input as the transportation policy of the new administration develops.

The next Congress will have new faces in key transportation positions. Rep. Bob Carr (D.-Mich.), who was narrowly re-elected, will be the new House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee chairman. He is most interested in aviation and is not known to share Bill Lehman's (D.-Fla.) enthusiasm for rail, but he doesn't have a road bias, either. Frank Wolf (R.-Va.), the likely ranking member, is a strong supporter of Metro and the Virginia Railway Express.

The ranking member on Al Swift's (D.-Wash.) Energy and Commerce subcommittee, Don Ritter (R.-Pa.), was defeated, as was subcommittee member Rinaldo (N.J.). Possible new ranking members include Jack Fields (R.-Tex.) and Dan Schaefer (R.-Colo.). Carlos Moorhead (R.-Cal.) is the likely new ranking member on the full committee.

Though there were 33 co-sponsors of H.R.4414 this year, some were lost to retirement or defeat. However, due to the mailing NARP did to all candidates, the number of surviving co-sponsors and new pledges is now 35.

Proposition 156, the California measure to raise another $1 billion in rail bonds, was defeated on November 3, on a 51.5-48.5 margin. This may harm long-term efforts to improve rail transit in that state, but shouldn't affect near-term projects that are already funded. The sorry condition of the state's economy may explain the defeat, which came despite massive publicity and considerable, recent expansion of passenger-rail service in the state. There will be another try in 1994.

Many trains were tied up at Chicago Union Station last weekend, after a demolition crew on an adjacent parcel of land destroyed the control system regulating all the tracks between the yards, the BN and Conrail mainlines, and the station. That happened on the afternoon of October 30 and train operations were back to normal late on November 2. The control system was to have been fixed by today.

Former Federal Railroad Administrator John Riley resigned from his position as chief-of-staff to Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson on October 27, for health reasons. Riley had surgery in May for a second brain tumor and is still getting treatment. The first, much more serious tumor was discovered in 1989, shortly after he left his FRA post.

Amtrak will run its usual extra Northeast and Empire Corridor services this Thanksgiving, but will save money by not printing a special timetable for public distribution.

The American Trucking Associations plans to expand its lobbying efforts in Washington this year, taking advantage of the large freshman class in Congress, according to the Journal of Commerce.

The South Shore interurban railroad will move its South Bend terminal to new quarters at the Michiana Airport on November 21. An 11:00 am ceremony will be held the day before. South Shore currently shares the Amtrak station on the west fringe of South Bend. That building is less than desirable and Amtrak is the only tenant. Proposals to get Amtrak into the former Union Station downtown have produced little tangible action from Amtrak or Conrail.

Amtrak will move into new quarters at Youngstown on November 12, exactly two years after the Broadway Limited was rerouted. Passengers will board from the former B&O station, rather than from a temporary facility.

Norway will triple its expenditure on railways during the period 1994-1997. Its investment will be about $170 per capita per year, but the 1993 Federal Railroad Administration budget, including Amtrak, comes to less than $4 per capita. Thus, the Kingdom of Norway spends about 42 times more on rail per capita than our republic does.