S.294

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R

Rex

Train Attendant
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Jan 4, 2007
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S. 294 would provide the national intercity passenger railroad $3.2 billion annually, including $1.9 billion in annual appropriations and $1.3 billion in bond authority, with an average of $300 million in capital grants to be allocated to states annually. The bill also would provide funds to improve Amtrak's security, bring the Northeast Corridor to a state of good repair and authorize the Surface Transportation Board to fine freight railroads that delay Amtrak trains.
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Sounds good to me. The best part is the last sentence; authorize the STB to fine freight RRs that delay Amtrak trains.

--RM
 
Wow, that sounds like a great plan for Amtrak.

Few questions though...

1) How bad is the NEC right now? What repairs are needed?

2) There is a Surface Transportation Board? What do they do?

3) Don't freight railroads get fined anyway? Where would their fine money go to?
 
Since I think the STB is part of the Executive Branch, I wouldn't expect much help there unless the legislation REQUIRED the fines. And they should go into the Amtrak coffers, not into general federal revenue. I would certainly agree that it's encouraging that they would propose an annual appropriation that at least approximates one week of Iraq funding.
 
Lennie said:
1) How bad is the NEC right now? What repairs are needed?
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The NEC is in better shape than it has been in the past. That's not to say however that there still isn't things that need to be done. There are several movable bridges in CT that need major work, if not replacement. The southern half from NYP down to WAS could use positive tension catenary, I'm sure that some switches need replacement, and there are probably a few other things that need work. Plus just keeping the tracks in working condition for high-speed travel does require some serious money.

Lennie said:
3) Don't freight railroads get fined anyway? Where would their fine money go to?
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At present they don't get fined for delaying Amtrak. They do get fined for other things, like failed signals, safety violations and so on. Odds are that money just goes into the general Federal budget, but I've honestly never looked to see where it goes. And unless that bill makes some provision, I'm sure that any fines leveled because of delays to Amtrak will end up in the same place that the other fines do.
 
AlanB said:
Lennie said:
1) How bad is the NEC right now? What repairs are needed?
Click to expand...
The NEC is in better shape than it has been in the past. That's not to say however that there still isn't things that need to be done. There are several movable bridges in CT that need major work, if not replacement. The southern half from NYP down to WAS could use positive tension catenary, I'm sure that some switches need replacement, and there are probably a few other things that need work. Plus just keeping the tracks in working condition for high-speed travel does require some serious money.

Lennie said:
3) Don't freight railroads get fined anyway? Where would their fine money go to?
Click to expand...
At present they don't get fined for delaying Amtrak. They do get fined for other things, like failed signals, safety violations and so on. Odds are that money just goes into the general Federal budget, but I've honestly never looked to see where it goes. And unless that bill makes some provision, I'm sure that any fines leveled because of delays to Amtrak will end up in the same place that the other fines do.
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To a certain extent the freight railroads get fined for not running Amtrak on time, but it involves Amtrak not paying them their potential incentive money to operate Amtrak on time. In most cases, the freight railroads have stated that they can make more money hauling their freight than they can by running Amtrak on time and getting the incentive pay.
 
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Two parts somewhat confuse me

Within two years of enactment, Amtrak is required to conduct a 1-time evaluation of the Pioneer route (Chicago - Denver, CO - Cheyenne, WY - Ogden, UT - Boise, ID - Pendleton, OR – Portland – Seattle route discontinued in 1996) to determine whether a level of passenger demand exists to warrant consideration of reinstatement of the entire Pioneer route or segments of the service.
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Why only that route? Surly all former routes should be evaluated, especialy the desert wind, as it was tied to the pioneer.

Requires USDOT to provide and “appropriate portion” of grants to states that either have no passenger rail service but require freight rail improvements and states in which the rail system is not physically connected to the continental US.
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Is this just pork for the 4 states that arn't served by amtrak? Or is it ment to do something specific? (Are there even railroads on Hawaii?)
 
How about this portion...

"Permits infrastructure-owning railroads to bid to operate any 1 Amtrak route in FY 2008 and any 2 Amtrak routes in FY 2009. Amtrak is required to make available its reservation system, stations, and facilities to any railroad that is awarded a contract under this provision."

Is someone dreaming? Or is to prove that railroads still don't want to do passenger service?
 
Heres a washington post artical

Senators Try Again to Fund and Reform Amtrak

In addition to all the carrots, the bill offers several sticks, such as expecting Amtrak to reduce operating costs by 40 percent over six years.
"This is about reform and accountability," Lott said. "It's not just a big chunk of money."

Kummant declined to specify how he would reduce operating costs, but he said that encouraging passenger growth is just as important as cutting services to achieve efficiencies.
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40%?!? Can they seriously expect that?
 
Perhaps we could expect the same of our politicians...you give yourself a raise and you need to work 40% harder? Okay, it's just a thought...

This 40% business makes as much sense as telling a starving person "now that we are going to feed you, you need to work out a weight loss plan" ;)

While I can certainly understand and support accountability, I think perhaps as much scrutiny needs to happen with our many other government programs and appropriations. Then again, I'm probably in la la land...

Dan
 
dan72 said:
Perhaps we could expect the same of our politicians...you give yourself a raise and you need to work 40% harder? Okay, it's just a thought...
This 40% business makes as much sense as telling a starving person "now that we are going to feed you, you need to work out a weight loss plan" ;)

While I can certainly understand and support accountability, I think perhaps as much scrutiny needs to happen with our many other government programs and appropriations. Then again, I'm probably in la la land...

Dan
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Or we could ask our politicians to also take a 40% paycut and work a little harder?? It would save the tax payers money also. But I'm sure sometime within the next year, they'll vote themselves another middle of the night pay raise. Whoops is my sarcasm coming out?
 
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gswager said:
Is there an item in this bill will provide $$$ to build new cars and possibly locomotives?
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The bill is not yet available online, but one would hope Amtrak management would see that NEW EQUIPMENT would be the link to BETTER SERVICE....and possibly use some of the bond authority to procure new equipment of all kinds.
 
How come the S1516 bill passed the Senate 93-6 and then wasn't considered in the House? When will it be considered? You would think if it passed Senate by that wide of a margin, it would have an easy time through the House as well. Hopefully this new bill will go through a quicker process.
 
Guest_Ben_* said:
How come the S1516 bill passed the Senate 93-6 and then wasn't considered in the House? When will it be considered? You would think if it passed Senate by that wide of a margin, it would have an easy time through the House as well. Hopefully this new bill will go through a quicker process.
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You'de think that a bill that passed by such a wide margin in the Senate would be taken up by the House and sent to the President. But that didn't happen to a great many bills. The House of Representatives is driven by politics and not policy, and the House leadership thought that if they had passed the Amtrak bill, they would cheese off their political base (fiscal conservatives that think Amtrak is a waste of money), their base would stay home on election day, and that they would loose control of the House.

I think this bill has a better chance this year than last.

Rick
 
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