Hotline #685

There is still no progress on the conversion of the Hotline to a 900 number, so it will be at least another two weeks yet.

Congress returns on September 11. We expect the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee to mark up its DOT funding bill on September 11 or 12. The fate of the House surface transportation bill is still very dicey. House and Public Works leadership will be discussing what, if any, changes should be made to the bill, especially whether to keep the controversial gas tax increase. There is much open skepticism as to whether the bill can be passed and reconciled by the end of the fiscal year.

Alabama Governor Hunt vetoed the state budget with 1992's Gulf Breeze funding in it. Alabama NARP members should encourage their legislators to be sure the funding is kept in as the legislature meets during a special session on the budget this month.

Many features of the Amtrak fall timetable are now known. Most of the local Philadelphia-Atlantic City trains will be dropped, because they had low ridership and Amtrak felt they could not meet their Congressional criteria for the line if the trains were kept. The Silver service schedules will be adjusted to avoid congestion at New York Penn Station and on the Northeast Corridor. Flint and East Lansing will get Thruway buses to Battle Creek to complement the International. Milwaukee will get more 403(b) trains, bringing that corridor's total to eight round trips a day -- the most in Amtrak's entire history and the same amount of service provided by the Milwaukee Road and Chicago & North Western combined in April 1971. Of course, at that time, some of the North Western's Milwaukee service also continued on to Appleton and Green Bay.

Some proposals floating around this summer are not in the new timetable. There will be no through-ticketing to Grand Central, though that is in the works. There will be no through-service through Penn Station this time. There will be no second Pennsylvanianor Cleveland extension this time. There will be no added Newport News weekend service this time, nor a Eugene extension of the Mount Rainier or a ninth San Diegan. The additional three round-trips between Sacramento and San Jose have been postponed at least until November.

The Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, resigned yesterday to become the Director of the Peace Corps. Chao often represented Secretary Skinner at Amtrak board meetings but was thought to be somewhat in his shadow. Eventually, she may want to run for Senate from her home state of California, so her new job will give her more visibility.

The Waterfront Connection was dedicated in New Jersey on September 4. It connects from the Northeast Corridor onto the Morris & Essex line for Hoboken. Beginning September 9, diesel-powered New Jersey Transit trains from Bay Head will be able to go through Newark Penn Station, over the new connection, and on to Hoboken. In two years, the reverse of this connection, called the Kearny Connection, will be open and will allow Morris & Essex trains to go directly to Penn Station in Manhattan.

The Long Island Rail Road awarded a $69 million contract this week to refurbish its part of New York Penn Station. The project should be done in 1995.

The Internal Revenue Service on July 1 raised the cap on non-taxable, employer-provided transit benefits from $15 to $21. Of course, there is still a "cliff-effect" beyond $21 and no limit at all to parking benefits. Bills in Congress to raise the limit even higher have stalled just like last year, because a revenue offset must be found for every tax cut.

Amtrak transported all of the Miss America pageant contestants and officials on a special train from Philadelphia to Atlantic City.