Hotline #721

A milestone in NARP's history is approaching. Twenty-five years ago, on May 18, 1967, in Chicago, NARP was founded and incorporated by Anthony Haswell. To consider what good NARP may have done in that quarter-century, perhaps one ought to consider what passenger transportation in this country would look like had NARP not been founded. How many trains would be left? Would people be as aware of the damage a car-and-plane-only transportation system has caused? NARP looks forward to another 25 years of public service.

This week was also the 25th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Though formed in 1967, the DOT only recently has shown signs of acting like a uniform body, with emphasis on intermodalism only beginning under Secretary Sam Skinner's tenure.

Former Federal Railroad Administrator John Riley underwent surgery in Minnesota yesterday for a brain tumor. Many NARP members will recall his long recovery from a previous brain tumor in 1989. Riley played a very important role in preserving Amtrak from the budget axe during the Reagan Administration.

The following are co-sponsors of H.R.4414 -- Williams (Mont.), Kaptur (Ohio), Towns (N.Y.), Gejdenson (Conn.), Yates (Ill.), Boehlert (N.Y.), Jenkins (Ga.), and Unsoeld (Wash.). All are Democrats but Boehlert, who is Republican. Jenkins is the first co-sponsor of H.R.4414 from the deep South.

The conference work on the budget is now done in Congress. The House will probably vote on the conference report next week. Appropriations subcommittee allocations will soon follow.

As we have said all through the spring, there is much reason to believe that 1993 will be a tough year for transportation and for all domestic discretionary spending. Amtrak funding and transit operating subsidies are particularly vulnerable. Legislators need to hear from their constituents again about the importance of Amtrak and transit.

A House energy bill to be considered later in the month will include raising the monthly tax-free benefit to employees using transit from $21 to $60. This was already part of a larger tax bill vetoed by the President in March, though the President does support this particular provision. This plan, promoted by Representative Matsui (D.-Cal.), also would cap tax-free parking benefits at $160 per month.

The National Transportation Safety Board has blamed Amtrak for an April 12, 1991, crash between some Amtrak electric locomotives and a Conrail train on the Northeast Corridor near Chase, Md. The locomotives, which were being shuttled without a train, were found to have had their brakes improperly connected by an inexperienced Amtrak employee before departing Washington. That employee was subsequently fired and Amtrak changed its rules for setting up such shuttles and added a training course that has since been given to 600 employees. The FRA is developing new rules on connecting air brakes.

Transport 2000 Canada will host a strategy meeting on May 23 on bringing back a transcontinental passenger train on the Canadian Pacific route. The meeting will be at 10:00 am on May 23 in Calgary, at the Calgary Delta Bow Valley Hotel.

The round of fare cuts started by TWA in early April may be hurting the airlines more than helping them, said the Washington Post this week. It quoted industry analysts as saying other airlines may abandon the deeply discounted fares by the end of the month.