Hotline #763

PATH train service from New Jersey to the rail station below the World Trade Center in Manhattan was restored by morning rush hour on March 1, which is near-miraculous considering the amount of damage there from the fatal February 26 bomb blast. The station is just below the parking garage where the terrorist bomb was and its ceiling collapsed onto the tracks and platforms.

The target date for opening the Los Angeles-San Diego line is now March 10. It was closed by a landslide on February 22.

DOT Secretary Federico Pena appeared before the Senate Budget Committee on March 3 to discuss the transportation elements of the Clinton economic plan. Some of the statements made during the hearing were somewhat disturbing. Sen. Trent Lott (R.-Miss.) at one point said to Pena, "We can save money by cutting the subsidy on some unused Amtrak lines. I don't know what that means, but they're out there." Of course, NARP doesn't know what that means, either, not being familiar with any "unused" Amtrak lines.

The other major point from the Budget hearing regarded the extension of the five-cent gas tax from 1990 beyond 1995. Pena announced that the OMB has agreed that the 2.5-cents now going to deficit reduction should go to the Highway Account within the Highway Trust Fund. That means that the current highway/transit split within the Trust Fund of 87/13 would worsen to 89/11 in favor of highways. DOT's rationale is that the Highway Account is in greater danger than the Transit Account of running out of money for projected needs. But that is only because of the pro-highway-spending, anti-transit-spending bias of the Bush Administration.

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Lautenberg (D.-N.J.), yesterday sponsored a hearing on high-speed rail, with three panels. On the first were Amtrak President Graham Claytor and AAR cheif counsel Robert Blanchette. Second were Ken Mead of the General Accounting Office, representatives of proposed high-speed rail projects in Texas, Florida, and Ohio, and High Speed Rail/Maglev Association President Joseph Vranich. The third was people from the investment community.

The GAO witness strongly supported incremental corridor improvements. However, Vranich appeared to throw water on that. He sharply criticized Amtrak and AAR for defining high-speed rail as being over 100 mph. Vranich says it should be nothing less than 150 mph, though we should note that for many years, even the Japanese bullet trains did not reach that speed. Vranich's written statement did say some supportive things about Amtrak.

In a March 3 letter to Secretary Pena, NARP urged that the bulk of President Clinton's high-speed rail funds go for "practical improvements to existing services." Now is the time to tell Pena how you think that money should be spent.

The effort to put high-speed rail bonds on an equal footing with airport and seaport bonds -- that is, to exempt them from state bonding caps -- resumed last week as Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.) introduced S.438 and Rep. William Coyne (Pa.) introduced H.R.928. The Senate passed an identical bill last year but it died in conference. The Clinton stimulus package also endorses the concept.

Norfolk Southern offered Conrail $1.7 million last week to buy its 17-mile line between Gary and Valparaiso, Ind. This was the highly controversial route of Amtrak's Broadway Limited and Capitol Limited until 1990, and of the Valparaiso commuter train until 1991.

Transport 2000 Quebec has a new president, Hans Sontag. He replaces Guy Chartrand who resigned to run for Parliament from the Riding of Longeuil on the Federal-Labor Party ticket.

The 100th anniversary of the first federal railroad safety legislation was March 2. The Rail Safety Appliance Act of 1893 required automatic couplers, hand holds, and other devices. The Journal of Commerce says the mortality rate for train and engine workers has declined from 77 deaths per 10,000 workers to three today.