Hotline #723
May 29, 1992
House Budget Chairman Leon Panetta (D.-Cal.) has released a staff study showing three ways to balance the budget in five years. Options One and Two have big transit cuts and eliminate Amtrak funding. Unfortunately, Panetta favors Option Two -- but his whole effort may help Amtrak by reducing support for any balanced-budget constitutional amendment. Panetta opposes letting legislators "cast the easy, politically popular vote" for the amendment now and dumping the tough votes it would force on "some unfortunate future Congress." His Option One is all spending cuts; Option Two is two-thirds cuts and one-third tax increases; Option Three preserves Amtrak and transit and is half-and-half spending cuts and tax increases. For revenues, Options Two and Three use a national sales tax or packages of other taxes, including 15-20 cent motor-fuel tax increases.
A University of New Hampshire conference this week strongly supported Boston-Portland Amtrak service and the Boston North-South Station rail link. The opening speaker, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D.-Me.), said, "Rail service has become the stepchild of the American transportation system ... Passenger rail service is an idea whose time has come, then gone, now come again ... I believe the [Boston] rail link is essential to the long-term viability of the Boston-Portland line ... Nationally, I believe high-speed rail, whether existing technology or maglev, will play a much larger role than anyone now believes."
Tim Gillespie of Amtrak said the X2000 would be in the U.S. from November 27, 1992, to August 5, 1993. He said the "quickest, cheapest, and easiest way" to build the Boston rail link would be to put it in the Central Artery -- "When the box is open, that's the time to get the rail link in."
New Hampshire Transportation Commissioner Charles O'Leary was the only naysayer. He said his state would not support a Portland train, again calling it Senator Mitchell's selfish political mission. The May 27 Portland Press Herald page-one headline was "New Hampshire official says he'd 'rather die' than support trains." Maine will consider running a sealed train through New Hampshire but stopping near both state lines. The May 28 Bangor Daily News said, "New Hampshire ... has devised yet another way to push safer transportation out of reach ... Perhaps the New Hampshire motto should be 'live free or freeload.'"
Amtrak opened a first-class lounge at Philadelphia 30th Street Station on May 25.
Amtrak has reduced the hours of the weekend excursion black-out in the Northeast. They are now 12:00 noon to 7:00 pm. Also, senior citizens now get the VIA Rail senior rate on the Maple Leaf and International, which is 10% off for those 60 and over, any day of the week.
The three Presidential Emergency Boards released their recommendations yesterday and talks between carriers and unions should begin soon. The Boards rejected the efforts of the Machinists and Maintenance of Way unions to break the freight pattern, but did adjust entering rates and the allowance granted to replace campcars. The Boards said there should be no retroactive payments, but adopted a less aggressive approach to changing shop work rules than management had hoped. The Boards said members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers should be paid the same as those of the United Transportation Union. Many observers believe the Machinists' stance makes a June 24 strike inevitable. The share of Amtrak's unionized workers covered by new contracts meantime has risen to 63%.
Transport 2000 reports that their meeting in Calgary last week on restoring the Canadian was a success, with good participation from concerned municipalities between Thunder Bay and British Columbia. T-2000 thinks there is growing sentiment for the train's restoration and will be making it one of their main priorities.