Hotline #675

The House Public Works surface transportation bill is still being drafted within the Surface Transportation Subcommittee. Mark-up is expected no earlier than July 9, with Committee mark-up possibly the following week and House floor action the week after that. No one expects a House-Senate conference before the August recess.

However, good things have been learned about the draft bill. The House bill will have the anti-big-truck language of the Senate bill. Also, it will have the Senate's level playing field language allowing federal matching grants of 80% across the board for all modes, with the exception of 90% for interstate highway maintenance and completion. It will probably not have the 75% penalty match for projects to increase highway capacity.

The remaining problem is intercity passenger rail. In the Senate bill, a state can spend Highway Trust Fund money on rail and transit, but we're still afraid rail won't be in the House bill. We have heard that the Public Works Committee is afraid that including rail will mean crossing a jurisdictional line with the Energy and Commerce Committee. That is an old problem in the House, but a serious one if it means rail is to be left out. NARP members should encourage their Representatives to include intercity passenger rail.

Public Works Chairman Roe (D.-N.J.) is looking for a five-cent gas tax increase, all of which would go to infrastructure spending. It is unclear how many other Representatives would support that, but Roe may make it more attractive for them by designating a lot of the money to pork-like demonstration projects.

The House bill also will require states to put six times as much money into the National Highway System as the Senate bill.

Phone service was largely knocked out in the Washington area on the afternoon of June 26. We apologize to anyone who was not able to reach our offices or the Hotline that day.

The Amtrak board met on June 26. Parlor car service on the Pennsylvanian is now scheduled to begin August 1, with a public display a couple days before that. Start-up of the Postal Service RoadRailer tests has been set back to August.

May on-time performance was only 74.8% -- down three points from the year before -- mostly because of several grade-crossing accidents and other incidents blocking lines. The best railroad was Soo Line at 93%, the worst Delaware & Hudson at 24%. The best train was the Calumet at 100%, but it ran only three days in May. The best long-distance train was the Pioneer at 82%. The worst trains were the Hoosier State at 11% and the City of New Orleans at 19%.

Total April ridership was down almost 10%, partly because Easter was in March this year. The biggest growth was on the Hoosier State, at 62%, and the biggest losses on the Pennsylvanian, down 30%, and the Illini, down 28%.

Massachusetts Gov. William Weld said this week that a maglev should be built between Boston and Springfield and that any Amtrak plans to electrify the New Haven-Boston route should go through Springfield instead of Providence. However, Amtrak is still going ahead with the Shore route and there is no indication that Conrail would cooperate in any plan to upgrade the former Boston & Albany route. Also, Weld is a great believer in privatization and there is no indication that private parties would be interested in Inland Route electrification.

[Note -- Sections of the preceding and following paragraphs were corrected in #676 of July 5.]

As for maglev in Massachusetts, it is quite puzzling for the governor to promote a highly unproven technology of questionable value on the one hand, while on the other opposing a project whose value is evident to any supporter of balanced transportation -- the Boston Central Artery rail link. The Massachusetts DOT Secretary, Richard Taylor, said he will do a two-year study on rail needs in Massachusetts. That is too far in the future for our purposes, though what the study tells us about the Central Artery rail link will also tell us how much it was politically influenced.

Also, the Central Artery price tag just rose by $350 million. The State yielded to public outcry and killed the controversial Scheme Z, which would have had freeway ramps towering 110 feet over the Charles River. The State still hopes to get 90% federal funding for the less-intrusive plan, but there's no guarantee they will get it. Just last week, during debate of S.1204, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) tried to kill all federal funding for the Central Artery, but was defeated.

Amtrak and Washington Metro trains were delayed on June 23 when an RF&P freight train derailed next to the Braddock Road Metro station in Alexandria. Because of a hazardous materials leak, Metro passengers were bussed around the site and Amtrak trains held for three hours.

The American-European Express derailment on July 21 at Monon, Ind., was caused by its striking a stalled, empty flatbed trailer truck at a grade crossing. Though seven of the 12 cars derailed, only one was damaged significantly and service was to be restored today.

The New York State Assembly will hold a series of hearings on setting up a state High Speed Surface Transit Commission. The first is at Buffalo on July 16, 10:00 am, at the Mahoney Building, 65 Court St. For information on that and other hearings, call John Craik in Assemblyman Bill Hoyt's office; 716/852-2795.

Sacramento Regional Transit approved on July 24 an extension of the two existing light-rail lines by 1996 and creating a new, third one by 2000.

The third and last of the English Channel tunnels between Britain and France was broken through today, three months ahead of schedule.