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Colorail Newsletter "A Voice for Colorado's Rail Passenger"

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Colorail Newsletter ColoRail Newsletter "A Voice for Colorado's Rail Passenger" April, 1995 Issue #15 The Battle to Save Amtrak Continues: As the weather around the country turns warmer, the fight over preserving our national rail passenger system has also been heating up. The House of Representatives is now considering legislation that would eliminate the Amtrak "subsidy" along with a host of other government programs ranging from public broadcasting to solar energy research. Colorado's own Rep. Joel Hefley is leading the charge with his bill, (H.R. 259) which would end federal support for Amtrak. In prior years, similar proposals by Hefley have been overwhelmingly voted down. Neither the House proposals or Hefley's bill address the issue of federal, state, and local subsidies for highways and air transportation. There is to be no reductions for these programs. The narrow view of many of those in Congress is most unfortunate in view of worsening air pollution, costs of highway and airport construction, and growing dependence on Persian Gulf countries for petroleum to fuel autos which not only puts this country at a strategic disadvantage but is one of the main reasons why we have a balance of payments problem resulting in the falling value of the dollar against major foreign currencies. It should be noted that those countries with strong currencies such as Switzerland and Germany spend significantly more, per capita, than the United States on passenger rail development. According to the International Railway Journal, the United States ranked between Bolivia and Turkey in the per capita amount spent on passenger rail services in I994. There does appear to be support from the Clinton Administration as shown by a funding request for I996 that exceeds the authorized I995 levels by 6%. The Administration is requesting more for the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, the Penn Station/Farley Project, and High Speed Rail. The request for capital improvement remains the same as last year; however, money dedicated to funding operations drops by 24%. The President has threatened to veto the House package of cuts if it stays in its present form. Amtrak seems to have shot itself in the foot by following the recommendations of Mercer Consulting Services, a CPA firm, who in the past couple of months has graphically demonstrated it knows nothing about passenger rail operations and marketing. The institution of tri-weekly trains makes poor use of equipment and on• board personnel. Cuts in service makes it difficult to add to Amtrak's revenue base to correct the rail corporation's deficit. Mercer was hired by the Amtrak Board to cope with the budgetary crisis which was discovered late last year. Since then, revenues have been up and the original money shortfall has been deemed not to be as severe. i 2 One foolhardy decision put into place by Amtrak (Mercer) that is of concern to ColoRail members was the initiation in February of a tri-weekly Desert Wind. ColoRail members have observed that on the days when there is no Desert Wind, the California Zephyr (CZ) leaves Denver westbound with a consist that includes only two coaches. This greatly reduces the capacity for day trips Denver-Glenwood Springs-Grand Junction and discourages customers which only serves to reduce revenue. Amtrak ticket agents in Glenwood Springs have complained for years that it is almost impossible to obtain space for local travel to either Denver or Grand Junction because the space is taken by the long distance passenger. What is worse is that the eastbound Sunday CZ with no Desert Wind or Pioneer sections leaves Denver with only two coaches to cope with the heavy Denver-Omaha-Chicago traffic. Amtrak (and Mercer) don't seem to realize that the inherent efficiency of the passenger train comes from adding revenue producing cars, not taking them awav. Though Amtrak President, Tom Downs, has given assurance publicly and privately (in a recent letter to a ColoRail member) that there are no immediate plans for a change in the CZ's operation, one can see the danger of lowering the carrying capacity of the CZ when the train is given a budgetary review in a few months. Budget analysts are going to find that revenue has dropped precipitously because of declining ridership, i.e. limited space availability, and come to the wrong conclusion that the CZ has become unpopular. Since the train has less ridership, pressure will mount from Amtrak management and Congress to drop it. This is a sure fire method to end the long distance train in this country. ColoRail members need to be aware of this ploy when Amtrak officials and politicians argue for eventual elimination of long distance rail service. Colorado Congressional Views on Amtrak: ColoRail members have been receiving replies to letters recently sent to the various members of the Colorado Congressional delegation in support of Amtrak funding. Rep. Pat Schroeder (Denver), who has been a long time supporter of Amtrak continues to be so. Rep. David Skaggs (Boulder), who has had the best voting record on Amtrak of any of the state's representatives, gives moderate support now. In a similar fashion, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, has recently turned from very enthusiastic to moderately enthusiastic about passenger rail funding. Rep. Scott Mclnnis (Western Slope and Southern CO) was decidedly neutral. His neutrality may be a reflection of the fact that he has more miles of Amtrak service in his district (CZ as well as the Southwest Chief) than any other representative in the state while at the same time wants to remain loyal to his Republican colleagues, Reps. Joel Hefley (CO Springs), Wayne Allard (Northeast CO), and Dan Schaefer (Denver South Suburbs) and Sen. Hank Brown, all of whom are anti-Amtrak. Reps. Schaefer and Allard are co- sponsors of Rep. Hefley's bill to kill Amtrak. (Incidentally, Sen. Campbell is the Colorado legislator with the speediest replies. Last year this honor was held by Rep. Hefley whose response time is now close to being last.) ColoRail's Response to Prospective Amtrak Funding Cuts: ColoRail members have been contacting legislators and President Clinton as well as local officials and chambers of commerce to let them know of our concerns. ColoRail's Board of Directors recommends that letters be positive, plain, and straight forward. Instead of writing one long letter, write several short ones keeping to one subject you feel is essential for the legislator to know. Topics may include why Amtrak service is of personal importance to you, environmental concerns you may have, safety and fuel efficiency issues, costs and hidden subsidies for planes and autos, etc. The following ColoRail members have been leafleting trains while they were stopped in Denver: Jo Campbell, Jay Jones, Hugh Wilson and his father, Hugh Sr., Bob Rynerson, Reg Holmes, Ron Vanderkooi and his wife, Betty, Don Zielisch, Peter Barkman, and Jon Esty. Gary Friedly has been handing out leaflets at the Glenwood Springs station. All of us have found station and on-board personal to be most appreciative of our efforts. Many of them have no confidence in the present Amtrak management. We also find most passengers receptive to our message and concerns. RTD Board Chairman Resigns: On February 25, Brian Propp, the embattled recently elected chairman of RTD resigned his seat on the RTD Board of Directors. Mr. Propp, along with seven other newly elected RTD Directors, caused quite a stir in their first Board of Directors meeting in January when they proposed a reexamination of the proposed light rail build-out from the original MAC line. Many citizens and public officials were outraged at the apparent reversal of RTD policy and confronted Mr. Propp and his Board. Many ColoRail members wrote and called Mr.Propp as well as other Board members to encourage continuation of the light rail program. Calls for Mr. Propp's resignation came to a head in the February Board meeting primarily because of his use of a post office box as his home address, a violation of election law, and because of his announcement that he would be spending from half to three quarters of his time in 1995 doing working in Ukraine. When Mr. Propp finally did submit his resignation, he did not admit he could not properly serve the public by his absence from the country. Instead, he blamed what he called a "media frenzy" for causing his departure. MAC and the Southwest Corridor Extension: The newly opened 5.3 mile MAC LRV line continues to met and, sometimes exceed, ridership projections. It became apparent to RTD officials that the eleven LRVs which initiated service on the line in October were woefully inadequate to handle peak demand times and allow for time to be out of service for repairs and future overhauls. RTD managers had also underestimated the time the LRVs would take to traverse the route through downtown. Even though it appeared the future of light rail in Denver 4 was going to be seriously challenged by the new RTD Board, the Directors, in their January meeting, did approve the purchase of six additional LRVs from Siemens Duewag of Sacramento which will be delivered in 1996. The relatively cool response of the newly elected RTD Board members to light rail was of great concern to long time supporters of the SW Corridor project, however, the Board decisively voted in favor, 13-1, to reconfirm their commitment to the project in their February 21 meeting. Director Bishop from Aurora opposed the measure and Chairman Propp was absent. The resolution received support from Rep. Schaefer who promised to strongly advocate federal matching funds for the extension.
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