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Senate majority leader favors Amtrak funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said yesterday he favors appropriating additional funding for Amtrak despite the pessimistic prospects for the passenger carrier’s budget voiced recently by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee.

"I personally would like to see Amtrak funded," Lott told reporters Tuesday.

Lott said he hasn’t had a chance to talk to Shelby about the matter, but added, "I know he has a problem with the transportation bill because he has a finite amount of money that he’s been assigned and he has to try to do a lot of things."

Congress approved $2.2 billion for Amtrak last year, but the carrier says it needs another $2 billion over the next five years, including $621 million for fiscal 1999, which starts on Oct. 1, 1998.

Earlier, Shelby said the $621 million Amtrak seeks would not be a priority with the panel he chairs, and that the request could not be granted unless cutbacks are made in such areas as aviation, highway safety, Coast Guard operations, and drug interdiction.

According to reports, senate aides yesterday said a comprise on Amtrak funding could emerge at a meeting of Shelby’s committee this afternoon.

TWU, SEPTA negotiators talk, but report no progress

PHILADELPHIA -- Leaders of Transportation Workers Union (TWU) Local 234 and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) met yesterday for the first time in a week, but reported no progress after two hours of talks.

Now in its 38th day, the SEPTA strike was marked yesterday by a TWU rally at City Hall, during which union leaders accused state mediator Sen. Vincent Fumo of offering Local 234 President Steve Brookens a bribe during negotiations, an allegation Fumo is angrily denying. Fumo has scheduled a news conference for later today to address the accusation.

Meanwhile, local labor leaders pledged solidarity with TWU workers at yesterday’s rally, which was attended by about 1,000 strikers.

Another rally is planned for today at Broad and Oxford Streets in North Philadelphia, and Brookens warned that potentially more disruptive protests lie ahead.

Chicago’s Metra Rail to add new track

CHICAGO -- Metra Rail, suburban Chicago’s commuter rail service, plans to spend about $188 million to add 12 miles of track between Cook and Lake counties and build five new stations along its North Central Service Line.

The new track would more than double Metra’s capacity of 10 trains a day and ease congestion for freight trains run by the Wisconsin Central Railroad, which owns the mostly single track it shares with the commuter agency.

Meanwhile, a proposed 45-mile commuter railroad servicing northwest Indiana may be hauling passengers to Chicago and back as soon as 2005, officials said.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Rail proposal has been under consideration since 1989 by the West County Transportation Corridor Study Group, a coalition of Indiana municipal, country and transportation officials.

According to an engineering firm official, the rail project would use freight lines from Lowell and Crown Point, Ind., and link up with one of two rail lines -- either Metra’s Electric District or its Rock Island District.

An alternate route could link the new service with the River Line Railroad at Hegewisch, then turn north and connect with the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad near the mouth of the Calumet River.

AAR’s 1997 spending places it among top 25 lobbyists

WASHINGTON D.C. -- A computer-assisted analysis of disclosure statements conducted by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed that money spent on political lobbying activities in 1997 by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) placed it among the top 25 contributors.

According to the AP analysis, the AAR spent $5.8 million on lobbying last year, ranking it near the bottom of the list.

Others who made the top-25 list included auto manufacturers, telecommunications firms, insurance associations, manufacturers’ associations, pharmaceutical industry representatives, and a pair of senior advocacy organizations (including the American Association of Retired Persons, which spent $6.1 million, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, which spent $7.7 million).

Topping the list was the American Medical Association, which contributed $17.1 million to political activities in 1997, the AP said.