Hotline #733

The Senate debated H.R.5518, the 1993 DOT appropriations bill, for two days this week and approved it yesterday, 74-22. All Amtrak items reported last week were retained. We expect a conference committee to meet in September, after the summer recess that begins August 14. Recess is the time for NARP members to ask their Members of Congress to work for the good Senate figures for Amtrak capital and the Northeast Corridor.

Senators Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), and Dodd (Conn.) made floor statements in favor of the Boston electrification project. Senator Sasser (Tenn.) praised efforts to renovate Memphis Central Station and make it an intermodal terminal, Senator Hatfield (Ore.) praised light rail in Portland, Senator Adams (Wash.) promoted Puget Sound commuter rail and light rail, and Senator D'Amato (N.Y.) got an amendment through committing $300,000 for a light-rail study for Manhattan.

The full House and Senate will consider their Amtrak reauthorization bills next week. The Senate probably will consider S.2608 on August 10; and the House probably will vote on H.R.4250 on August 11. S.2608 is expected to have an amendment by Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (Kans.) requiring ditch lights or strobe lights on all railroad locomotives. Only a few Amtrak locomotives have ditch lights, but all have strobes. This follows a widely publicized grade crossing accident in Kansas.

There was only one remaining active rail labor dispute as of August 3. One hundred sixty Amtrak train dispatchers who did not strike in June will see their arbitration process end by August 21.

The group called Citizen Action held a press conference at Washington Union Station on August 4 to announce a report they commissioned that makes the false claim that people are at a three times greater risk of dying by riding Amtrak trains than on an airline. Speakers from Amtrak and the FRA disputed that number. Citizen Action says 50 Amtrak passengers died in the past decade; the correct number is 34. At many points, the report also uses grade crossing, trespasser, and employee fatalities to show that railroading is growing more dangerous to the public. Deservedly, the report got only minimal press coverage.

Amtrak will announce more restrictive smoking rules, effective September 8. Trains running only between the following cities will have no smoking at all -- Sacramento-San Jose, Chicago-Milwaukee, Philadelphia-Harrisburg, Philadelphia-New York, and New York-Albany. Also, Amtrak is testing a mid-car partition on a Metroliner coach with a door to separate a smoking area. And in a test that runs through October 24, no smoking is allowed in Coast Starlight lounges. Instead, one coach will be a smoker.

A long article about intermodal terminals was in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, for which NARP contributed information.

The passenger services director for the MARC commuter system, Joe Nessel, was dismissed this week by Maryland DOT Secretary Lighthizer in the wake of a summer of poor service. MARC trains have been averaging only 70-80% on-time. A national search will be conducted for a successor.

The North Carolina Board of Transportation, according to the Carolinas Association for Passenger Trains, is expected to approve $34 million in ISTEA money for the renovation of three Amtrak stations. The money would come from the enhancement funds in ISTEA and would go to Fayetteville, High Point, and Rocky Mount as historic preservation projects, but railroad passengers will get better facilities as a result.

Peter Pan Trailways and Greyhound are at the peak of a fare war this summer for Washington-New York bus service. Prices have been cut successively down to the current $5 one-way, $10 round-trip. These fares are supposed to expires sometime this month.