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The ten-year $3.9 billion central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (RTA) proposal passed on November 5 with an overwhelming 58% yes vote. The proposition passed in all three counties (just squeaking by in Pierce County but with healthy margins in King and Snohomish Counties). After nearly thirty years of effort, the gridlocked and stressed out citizens of the region will have better choices of their mode of transportation.

The plan provides for an electric rail line from south of Sea-Tac Airport through downtown Seattle to the University of Washington. There will also be a short electric rail feeder line from Pierce Transit's under-construction Tacoma Dome Station to downtown Tacoma. Hopefully, a second phase will connect the two lines together.

There will be a commuter rail line on BNSF tracks from Lakewood through Tacoma, the Puyallup, and Green River valleys, Seattle, and Edmonds to Everett.

There will be 20 new regional express buses with two-way bus service every 15-30 minutes. RTA will also fund direct access ramps to the inside car pool lanes at key interchanges and conversion of the reversible lanes on I-90 to a two way operation. WSDOT will still be responsible for finishing construction of the actual car pool lanes.

RTA will also establish a regional fare system so riders can easily transfer between RTA trains and buses to the local bus systems.

The RTA board has laid out an aggressive schedule for the first 14 months. If it is met, the project should be in high gear by the end of 1997. Many of the express buses and the Seattle-Tacoma commuter rail line will be operating within three years. The other segments of the commuter rail will follow within a year. The first light rail segments will be the Tacoma section and downtown Seattle to the Boeing Access Road.

An unanswered question is the state's role, if any, in helping fund RTA construction. Some help is assured as there will be joint projects with the Northwest Corridor intercity rail program and with car pool lane construction.

The Country's intercity passenger rail network is already skeletal and falls short of a truly national system. Yet, Amtrak management sees elimination of trains as the only way to financial salvation. Rail advocates from Seattle to Miami and Boston to Las Vegas are appalled that Amtrak itself is leading the charge for massive service cuts, a first in its 25 year history. In the past, attempts to gut Amtrak's national system have always come from Congress, presidents, their political appointees, or misguided journalists. All of them have no problem with the massive annual multi-billion dollar subsidies to automobile drivers, truckers and airlines.

At its October 17-19 board meeting in St. Louis, the NARP directors debated for four hours on what our response to Amtrak's recent actions should be. A strong majority felt the time had come to publicly part ways with Amtrak, something we had resisted many times in the past so as to not give aid and comfort to Amtrak's enemies. With the directors feeling Amtrak was leading its own demise, they decided there was no choice. (See enclosed press release).

Rail advocates nationwide are dismayed at Amtrak's thinly veiled contempt for Congress providing funding to keep the Pioneer and other targeted trains running for an additional six months. Amtrak also claimed equipment and crew shortages would preclude it from going forward with many of the enhancements in its business plan, such as restored daily service on the Empire Builder and the California Zephyr, the return of the Broadway Limited, and better long distance train equipment utilization by running long distance equipment through Chicago.

There is no equipment shortage. In the last two years, Amtrak has taken delivery of 200 new Superliners and 50 single level Viewliner Sleepers. In the past, every western Long Distance train, except the Sunset Limited, operated daily and the four eastern trains that now use Superliners don't use 200 cars.

The Amtrak board recently directed management to shut down the Pioneer and the other trains on May 10 when the Congressional mandate to operate them expires unless 100% state or local funding is provided. The question rail advocates ask and Amtrak hasn't answered is why some states should be expected (maybe "Forced" is a better word) to pay for long distance interstate trains while other states are not expected to contribute.

Even if some states are willing to put up money, what happens when one or more states refuse to provide funding? The Pioneer, for example operates through nine states.

No one denies Amtrak faces severe financial problems. Congress, while mandating Amtrak be operationally sufficient by 2002, has failed to provide a stable source of capital funding (for example, a half cent of the gas tax) or pass a reauthorization that would allow Amtrak to operate more efficiently and reduce costs in ways besides eliminating trains.

The first several months of the new Congress, which opens in January, will be critical to Amtrak's survival. Your senators and representatives need to hear your support for a well-funded national rail passenger system. First, President Clinton must be urged to put Amtrak's full 1997 request in his budget, including $245 million for operations, as Congress will not go above him.

Of the nation's 166,035 public crossings, 17.5% have gates and 17.7% have flashing lights. Fifty percent of 4296 crashes occurred at these crossings...People try to beat the train, whose speed is often misjudged because of its size; others drive around lowered gates.

Of the above crashes, 1135 were the vehicle striking the trains; 420 of them hitting the second or further car of the train. A driver needs to take responsibility as he approaches a crossing.

USDOT conducted a nationwide study of train whistle bans, which was published in April 1995. It clearly states that prohibiting train horns has significantly increased the number of accidents. In one case, the night time accident rate decreased 68.8% when the horns were used again.

The cancellation of whistle bans enabled federal rail officials to make direct comparisons of the number of accidents during the bans and during equal time intervals when the bans were not in effect. Comparisons indicated that whistle ban crossings experience an average of 84% more accidents than crossings without bans.

INCOMPLETE: Rest of Print Newsletter to follow at a future date.

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Last Update: 12/07/97
Web Author: Warren Y. Yee