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Due to the Independence Day 4 Holiday there will be no News Digest on Friday

FRA awards $1.45 million to North Dakota to repair flood damage

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced yesterday it is awarding $1.45 million in additional emergency funding to North Dakota to repair railroad tracks damaged by spring flooding.

Due to the severity of continued flooding affecting the nation’s transportation systems, President Clinton on May 1 signed the 1998 Supplemental Appropriations Act which included $9.8 million to repair flood-damaged shortline and regional railroads. A total of $18.9 million was appropriated last year for the same purpose.

North Dakota was the first state to submit a request for the current funding.

Amtrak chief asks Congress to fulfill funding commitment

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- If Congress keeps its commitment by approving a final injection of promised funds, Amtrak can wean itself from public funding by 2002, according to George Warrington, the national passenger carrier’s acting president and chief executive officer.

Warrington outlined Amtrak’s business plan in the wake of reports that Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee, may try to slash President Clinton’s $621-million budget request for Amtrak to zero when Congress returns from its Independence Day recess next week.

"Congress should fulfill its commitment by providing the needed funds between now and 2002," Warrington said, citing a long list of productivity improvements and business innovations that he said puts the railroad on track to breaking even. "Frankly, anything less than that would squander the nation’s multi-billion-dollar investment in passenger railroad service," he said.

Meanwhile, Amtrak recently dodged a bullet when the Senate confirmed half of a new board of directors last Thursday. Under Amtrak "reform" legislation, a new board of directors had to be in place by July 1 or the carrier’s authorization would lapse.

The Senate confirmed three of President Clinton’s nominees, but ignored three others. Because Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater is included automatically as a member, the board got the required quorum.

Confirmed were Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson (R), former Massachusetts governor Michael S. Dukakis (D), and mayor of Meridian, Miss., John Robert Smith.

Not brought up for a vote were the nominations of Washington lawyer Sylvia A. deLeon, New Jersey Transportation official Amy Rosen, or former Virginia governor A. Linwood Holton Jr. (R).

Los Angeles DOT proposes LACMTA spin-off

LOS ANGELES -- In what it claims to be an attempt to provide increased and improved bus service at a lower cost, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) has asked the city of Glendale and some of its neighbors to consider providing their own regional bus service in the San Fernando Valley.

LADOT offered an overview of its proposal Monday during a joint meeting with the cities of Glendale, Burbank, and La Canada Flintridge, wooing the three cities, along with Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, San Fernando, Westlake Village and Los Angeles County, to form a transportation zone of about 350 square miles.

According to reports, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), which would have the final approval on creation of a new zone, supports the concept because it would not lose any money in the secession.

The Glendale City Council has taken no position yet on the matter and sounded some cautious notes after the meeting, but appeared willing to explore the matter further.

Glendale Councilman Larry Zarian, one of 13 LACMTA executive board members and former chairman of the organization, has voiced concern over what would happen to union contracts for bus drivers and whether the contracts would carry over to the new authority.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon said many fellow council members would not support a measure that excluded the unions.

Contractors submit bids to build Alameda Corridor rail trench

CARSON, Cal. -- Officials of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA) yesterday received three proposals to design and construct a 10-mile-long railroad trench as part of a 20-mile project that would create a rail freight expressway linking the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to the transcontinental rail yards east of downtown Los Angeles.

The project aims to speed cargo shipments by consolidating rail lines and would eliminate grade crossings by having trains travel below ground level in an open trench three stories deep.

The project’s final contract is expected to be awarded in late September or early October, with digging of the trench expected to begin in June 1999.