Hotline #711

Chairman Swift's Amtrak trust fund bill has not been introduced yet in the House, but we are told that it will happen soon. Swift still needs co-sponsors, so ask your Representative to support his bill. Meanwhile, H.R.4250, the Amtrak reauthorization bill, was approved yesterday by Swift's Transportation Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The House has approved a budget resolution with two possible outcomes, depending on what happens next week with a proposal by Representative Conyers (Mich.). He wants to remove the barrier between defense and domestic spending set by the 1990 budget agreement. If it fails, Amtrak would get a funding freeze for 1993 in the budget resolution. If Conyers wins, Amtrak would get more, though budget resolutions are not binding on the Appropriations Committee. Even so, elimination of the wall between defense and domestic spending would make it far easier for Appropriations to give more to Amtrak.

The Federal Aviation Administration also has a reauthorization bill pending. One good proposal by new DOT Secretary Card would allow some federal money for airports to go to access facilities, including roads and rail lines. That supports the concept of intermodalism and would mean it would not just be up to a local transit agency to pay for connecting an airport to the regional transit system.

The National Mediation Board has ended mediation on rail labor disputes not covered in last year's freight strike, including those involving 60% of all Amtrak workers. This starts a 30-day clock ticking through April 4, in which labor may not strike and management may not impose new rules, but after that they may, unless the President calls an emergency board. The Maintenance-of-Way union is against an emergency board, saying they will gain more by striking than by leaving it all up to the government. In their opinion, an emergency board is not needed to prevent an Amtrak strike because that would not constitute a disruption of essential transportation services. We beg to differ -- shutting down Amtrak, and thereby many commuter systems -- would be terrible.

The Iowa Transportation Commission has voted unanimously to begin talks with Amtrak on a central Iowa 403(b) route. Last week, Iowa House Democrats said they supported appropriating money for the new service. The Iowa DOT planning director said the train could run as early as 1994.

A ceremony will be held at Washington Union Station on March 11 to unveil the first Virginia Railway Express commuter coach. It will be at Gate B at 1:00 pm.

Quebec Province has approved a $250-million program to save the Montreal-Deux Montagnes commuter line, including $99 million for 58 new cars from Bombardier. The electric locomotives used there now date to World War I. Also, Canadian Pacific is promoting an idea to restore commuter service to other Montreal-area routes.

VIA Rail has now completed reequipping the Canadian with refurbished, all-electric rolling stock. The next train set to be finished will go to the Chaleur, including a dome car.

Supertrains author Joseph Vranich will give a presentation on high-speed rail at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., on March 15.

The states of Massachusetts and New York are proceeding with a federally funded study to link Boston and New York via Albany with a maglev using highway rights-of-way. Their goal is to reduce the New York-Boston trip time to under three hours. Someone should tell these researchers that Amtrak will accomplish that for a lot less money when the New Haven line is electrified.

NARP Region 1 meets at New London, Conn., tomorrow. On March 14, Region 3 meets at Atlantic City, Region 4 at Baltimore, Region 11 at Phoenix. On March 21, Region 5 meets at Charlotte and Region 9 at Little Rock. . NARP Executive Director Ross Capon will speak at New London and Baltimore, NARP Assistant Director Scott Leonard at Atlantic City, and Amtrak Executive Vice President Dennis Sullivan at Charlotte.