Hotline
Your weekly source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the RPA Blog.
Hotline #934
October 23, 2015
The House Committee on Transportation approved, by a voice vote, a surface transportation bill extending highway and transit funding at current levels for six years. Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) told reporters he believes a bill could come to floor of the full House “possibly next week or after.” While the bill did receive some bipartisan support, many pro-infrastructure Members of Congress were clearly disappointed by the numbers, which freeze in place current funding levels (with a smal
Hotline #933
October 16, 2015
As pressure on Congress to pass a transportation bill continues, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) says his panel will mark up a long-term bill to renew highway and transit programs on Oct. 22, reports BNA. A short-term highway patch expires Oct. 29, and House transportation panel ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has raised doubts about whether the House and Senate can reconcile reauthorization legislation before that deadline, “Next week,
Hotline #932
October 9, 2015
A CNBC breaking news item on Tuesday reported letter sent by Amtrak to the Senate Commerce Committee warning that they will suspend train service starting January 1 unless Congress extends the deadline for rail companies to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology. The industry is currently required to have PTC installed by December 31, 2015. “A vast majority of our network would be inoperable without an extension,” Amtrak President Joseph Boardman wrote in a letter to Congress. Amtra
Hotline #931
October 2, 2015
Photo by By Martin Falbisoner, via Wikimedia Commons It went down to the wire, but Congress managed to pass a stopgap government spending bill mere hours before the midnight deadline. However, they settled for kicking the can down the road until December 11, with no real guide on how they are going to handle their legislative priorities, including the DRIVE Act. According to BNA, members from the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees are looking at using one-time revenue fro
Hotline #930
September 25, 2015
Despite earlier predictions from Senate transportation leaders, Congress’ newest stopgap budget proposal to avoid a government shutdown fails to extend a deadline for a rail safety technology—a decision that threatens to leave train passengers and freight shippers left stranded at the station come January 1. [ACT NOW to tell your elected officials that you depend on trains!] Congressional leaders said they would use the short-term budget extension—called a Continuing Resolution—as a v
Hotline #929
September 18, 2015
Hotline #929 The week started with a hopeful announcement that there may be consensus building on a way forward for starting construction on a new train tunnel under the Hudson River, reports NorthJersey.com. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) asked President Obama to have the federal government cover half of the project’s estimated $20 billion cost, plus potentially billions more in federal loans that the states eventually would repay. "If the federal gove
Hotline #928
September 11, 2015
Congress went back into session this week with a lot of legislation to pass in the fall session before adjourning for 2015. The bill that’s most important to NARP is the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act, a major transportation effort that includes provisions from the Senate’s rail reform bill. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said in Politico that it “wasn’t happy news” to hear this week that DOT now predicts the Highway Trust Fund won’t need another
Hotline #927
September 4, 2015
The Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration held an event September 3 at Washington Union Station to announce an increased TSA security presence over the Labor Day travel weekend, part of a program dubbed "Operation Rail Safe." "Rail safety is shared endeavor," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told reporters at the event. "You will see days like today when there is increased personnel and random screenings. We do this several times a year." Last we
Hotline #926
August 28, 2015
Photo courtesy of Amtrak An attempted attack by an armed man aboard a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris has now brought rail security in the United States into the spotlight, including the question on whether current security measures are adequate, reported the New York Times. Unlike airports, which are guarded with multiple layers of security — including airport police and Transportation Security Administration personnel operating metal detectors and full-body scanners — most rail
Hotline #925
August 21, 2015
A vintage post card of of the Hudson River Tunnels. Image courtesy of the Northeast Corridor Commission. As the wrangling over when a new Hudson River Tunnel will be built and who will pay for it, the New York Times editorial board urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to “get on board” with the Gateway project. The editorial noted that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) recently met with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and said it was time for Cuomo to do the same. Gov. Cuomo hasn't denied