Hotline #753

In announcing today that the next Secretary of Transportation will be former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, President-elect Clinton said, "As I said often during the campaign, we must rebuild America's infrastructure to rebuild our economy. The bridges, the airports, the roads, the railways that carry our commerce ... Meeting these needs will be a truly monumental task, one that calls for a Secretary of Transportation who knows how to build and knows how America's cities and suburbs and rural areas work ... Federico is a doer ... His legacy includes the new Denver International Airport which I believe will be the largest in this country by a good ways ... In 1990, the U.S. Conference of Mayors gave Denver its city livability award for reducing its Clean Air Act violation days from 150 a year in the 1970's to 3 in 1990. Federico Pena is exactly the kind of energetic manager who can face the task of repairing and rebuilding our nation's infrastructure and getting the job done."

In accepting the position, Pena said, "Having spent about three-and-a-half weeks looking at the DOT as a cluster leader, it was startling to see that almost all of our transportation industries are facing serious problems. I look forward to investing in our infrastructure ... so important to revitalizing our economy, making our country competitive, and putting people back to work. This is something that I know about. We did that in Colorado in the midst of a very severe recession and also respecting the problem of air pollution ... I believe the DOT can play a very vital role in developing investment policy which I believe will strengthen our economy throughout the globe."

William Daley, previously thought to have the inside track to the DOT, according to reports, had conflict-of-interest problems. We had also heard that Michigan Governor Blanchard's star was rising again. This week, environmentalist pressure apparently derailed selection of Rep. Bill Richardson (D.-N.Mex.), who is Hispanic, as Interior Secretary. Clinton filled that post today with former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, president of the League of Conservation Voters.

Amtrak President Graham Claytor had a good meeting with Pena a few weeks ago. Apparently because Pena was so interested in what Claytor had to say about Amtrak's potential and problems, the meeting ran considerably longer than initially planned.

Amtrak announced yesterday that the New York-Mobile Gulf Breeze will cease operations after completion of its trips on January 10, because the State of Alabama still has not signed a renewal contract, long after the state legislature approved funding for it. Amtrak has not been paid for train operations since October 1. Amtrak's release said, "Amtrak is willing to continue service if Alabama officials promptly sign the fiscal year 1993 contract and provide adequate assurance of payments that are due."

ABC's Good Morning America program did a segment on the X2000 yesterday, showing the train in Washington Union Station with the tilt mechanism working and interviewing Bob Gall of Amtrak.

The railroad industry's point man with the White House, according to Journal of Commerce writer Larry Kaufman -- in recent years Union Pacific chief Drew Lewis -- will now be Burlington Northern Chairman Gerald Grinstein. He was chief counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee and administrative assistant to the late Sen. Warren Magnuson (D.-Wash.). The industry had three representatives at the Little Rock economic summit -- Grinstein, Lewis, and Graham Claytor of Amtrak.

The National Transportation Safety Board this week urged the railroad industry to develop a more sophisticated method of inspecting modern tank cars.

The growing problem of trespassers on railroad property, even as railroads have been downsizing their police departments (along with everything else), was the topic of a two-part story this week in the Journal of Commerce. Railroads are subject to huge liability awards when trespassers are injured if a pedestrian shortcut is in common use. More illegal alien trespassers are carrying weapons and more well-to-do people are hopping on freight trains for thrills. Railroads are also pressing for an end to media glamorization of hoboing and other bad ways. In a Taco Bell commercial (since pulled), an auto soars through the open doors of a boxcar instead of waiting for the train to clear the crossing. The ad was shot with equipment from the Orange Coast Railway Museum, which ignored Operation Lifesaver's please. The museum finally got the message, after hearing from major railroads that have donated equipment to the museum.

Canadian National and Canadian Pacific announced the start-up of formal discussions on December 22 that could lead to the elimination of many duplicate routes in the east. CP President Bob Ritchie said, "It's open season for everything east of Chicago and Thunder Bay," according to the Journal of Commerce, which quoted industry sources as saying prime consolidation candidates were Montreal-Quebec, Montreal-Toronto, and even Montreal-Chicago. Jim Speirs of the Railway Association of Canada said the two railroads are hurt by declining freight traffic and by growing competition from U.S. railroads with lower fuel and tax burdens and from trucks.