Media Watch: 1998 (Jul.-Dec.)

• In this file: July, August, September, October, November, December

December

• "Bus rider? Light rail may alter route" Salt Lake City Deseret News, 26 December 1998. QUOTE: "Once light rail is part of the mixture, more than 30 of UTA's 161 bus routes likely will be changed to maximize the efficiency of the overall transit system. The whole point of light rail, after all, is to provide better and more cost-effective transit service to the public."
• "Amtrak Train Derails in Texas; 13 Are Injured" Los Angeles Times 23 December 1998
• "Will the whistle stop? Amtrak a lifeline for some far-flung communities" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 23 December 1998
• "Warrington Named Amtrak President" Washington Post, 22 December 1998; Page A21
• Toledo Blade editorial: "Keep Amtrak on track" 22 December 1998
• "Amtrak, Facing a Critical Juncture, Plans to Name Warrington to CEO Post" The Wall Street Journal, 21 December 1998
• "Amtrak may name new chief" Philadelphia Inquirer, 21 December 1998. QUOTE: "Amtrak today is expected to name a new president: George D. Warrington, a New Jersey native whose 11-month tenure as acting president has been marked by the railroad's largest ridership increase in a decade."
• Andrew Selden's memo to the All-Aboard mailing list, 21 December 1998
• "Train derails in Arlington: 17 passengers go to hospitals for minor injuries, officials say" 21 December 1998, The Dallas Morning News
• "Amtrak train derails in Arlington" 21 December 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• "After killing woman, passenger train later derails in Texas" (CNN Interactive)
• "Amtrak Train Derails in Texas" (ABC News)
• "Amtrak train derails in Texas" (MSNBC) QUOTE: "The posted speed limit in the area is 60 mph, but the train was probably traveling much slower at the time it left the tracks, English said. 'All the damage is just crinkling on the cars.'"
• "15 Injured in Texas train derailment" Washington Post, 21 December 1998
• "Gas Tax Touted to Board as a Route to VRE Link" By Jennifer Ordonez, The Washington Post, December 17, 1998; Page V07. Fauquier County Virginia contemplates a 2% gasoline tax which would finance its joining the Potomac-Rappahannock Transportation Commission, extending VRE commuter trains, and better bus service. QUOTE: "Fredericksburg Mayor Bill Green told the board Tuesday about the benefits of commission membership, saying funds generated by the tax have allowed his city of about 20,000 residents to revitalize its train station and jump-start a new local bus system."
• VIA consultants name likely site for Metro Center San Antonio Express-News, 17 December 1998. QUOTE: "Consultants for VIA Metropolitan Transit have identified a near West Side location as a preferred site for a multipurpose transportation facility. VIA officials also hope to use it to keep its buses from clogging downtown streets."
• Amtrak coaxes Kansas to join in: Legislature urged to expand rail service with Oklahoma The Topeka Capital-Journal 16 December 1998. QUOTE:"An Amtrak spokesman Monday urged Kansas legislators to join Oklahoma's effort to expand rail passenger service in the two states by adding a new route from Fort Worth to Kansas City."
• "City OKs $8.4 million to purchase 2 miles of rail line near I-10" by Jon Burstein, The Arizona Daily Star, 15 December 1998. QUOTES: "The Tucson City Council last night authorized spending up to $8.4 million to acquire a two-mile stretch of railroad line that runs alongside Interstate 10... the line currently is in such poor shape that railroad workers have to walk alongside any train that goes down it. The track could be removed by 2000 with several potential development opportunities..."
• "Amtrak price cut derails travel agent commissions" Capital District Business Review, 14 December 1998. QUOTE: "Travel agents are feeling as though they have been hit by a speeding train, now that a 50 percent cut in commissions for selling tickets for Amtrak passenger rail has taken effect."
• Florida: "Mass transit center may be in future" Jacksonville Business Journal, 14 December 1998. QUOTE: "State officials are proposing a Downtown center to consolidate the Jacksonville area's transportation services under one roof. Under the plan, Greyhound Bus Lines, Amtrak and the Skyway people mover -- as well aslocal buses, taxis and limousines -- would be tied into a designated transportation hub."
• "Mass., Maine railroad link on fast track: Rail, state officials sign deal for construction to start in March" Boston Business Journal, 14 December 1998
• Ardmore [Oklahoma] All Aboard For Depot Renovation The Daily Oklahoman, 13 December 1998.
• "Chandler OKs advisory vote on transit tax", by Janie Magruder, The Arizona Republic, 12 December 1998, page EV1. QUOTE: "The [tax] would raise nearly $54 million over the next five years to buy 26 new buses, add more bus routes, expand service to evenings and weekends, establish service every 15 minutes on certain routes and every 30 minutes on others, and hire more staff."
• ACE'd out of parking: Popularity of commuter express trains creates space crunch at lots San Jose Mercury News, 11 December 1998. QUOTE: "When Fremont started improving its Amtrak train station a few years back, no one expected riders of the Altamont Commuter Express to gobble up all 49 spaces in the new parking lot every morning. But since the ACE trains started running in October, that's exactly what has happened. Now in its second month of service, the ACE is so popular that parking has become a problem at Alameda County stations along the Stockton-to-San Jose run."
• "Chandler council orders election on sales tax for transit", by Janie Magruder, The Arizona Republic, 11 December 1998. QUOTE: "The tax would expire in 10 years, sooner if revenues exceeded projections, but the council could extend it. It also could be reduced or repealed if a regional transit tax was passed."
• "Chandler transit-tax plan a realistic, first big step" Editorial, The Arizona Republic, 10 December 1998, page 6EV. QUOTE: "An efficient transprotation system in Chandler and the East Valley is vitally important to its economic future. To do nothing would be to embrace the status quo -- congestion, accidents, longer delays in goods and service, worsening air quality, keeping people from their jobs."
• [Canada] "Charting Via's future: Options for railway include privatization" Montreal Gazette, 9 December 1998
• [San Antonio's] "VIA 2025 vision considers wider scope for transit" San Antonio Express-News, 9 December 1998. Discusses an expanded network of buses with "a crisscrossing spine of fixed guideways — such as rails and/or dedicated busways — that connect to a commuter rail line proposed by regional leaders to link San Antonio and Austin."
• "Bechtel Infrastructure/Adtranz Team Low Bidder on Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit System" Business Wire, 7 December 1998. QUOTE: "A Bechtel and Adtranz-led consortium has been named low bidder by the New Jersey Transit Corporation to design, build, operate and maintain a 34-mile diesel light rail transit system extending from Trenton to Camden, N.J."
• "Chandler council to weigh $54 million transit sales tax: Plan includes road improvements, more buses." by Janie Magruder, The Arizona Republic, 6 December 1998, page 1EV.
• "Train depot enters new station in life: Officials envision restored Gilroy (Calif.) landmark as an `intermodal transportation hub'; a tenant is sought" San Jose Mercury News, 3 December 1998. QUOTE: "The South County elected officials and transportation authorities who gathered Wednesday in Gilroy to dedicate a restored Southern Pacific Railroad depot believe the structure will revolutionize surface travel as much as the original station did 128 years ago."
• "VRE Plans 3 Tourist Trains For Manassas: Noncommuter Trips Aim To Make City Destination." The Washington Post, 2 December 1998; By Josh White, Staff Writer; Page V03
• "Amtrak said to face $300M-plus deficit in 2003" (New Jersey's Bergen Record, 2 December 1998) QUOTE: "Amtrak is on pace toward a cash deficit of more than $300 million in 2003, the year by which it must wean itself from federal subsidies, a new government report concludes."
• "Feds planning high-speed Virginia-to-Florida rail line" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2 December 1998. QUOTE: "The booming Southeast will flourish in the 21st century with a new network of passenger trains capable of reaching speeds of 110 mph, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ronald Slater said Tuesday.")
• Blaze destroys Chicago Pullman-Standard plant (Chicago Sun-Times, 2 December 1998)
• "DASHed hopes? Downtown [Phoenix] shuttles empty; critics call for end of line" by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic, 1 December 1998, page B1.
• Tilting train of future glides into Northwest (Oregonian, 1 December 1998) QUOTE: "SEATTLE -- The Amtrak Cascades, America's newest passenger train, kicked off service from Seattle's King Street Station on Monday, bound for Eugene and the future."

November

• "Light-rail plan would connect Phoenix, Glendale downtowns" by Brent Whiting, The Arizona Republic, 26 November 1998, page EV9. QUOTES: "Valley Connections, a group of cities and agencies, envisions the Chris-Town area in central Phoenix as the hub for a Valley-wide rail system, stretching from Tempe to the West Valley, that might lessen traffic in the metropolitan area." "The estimated construction cost of the 5-mile [Glendale] route is $111.9 million; ...the 4.7-mile [Metrocenter] route... is $114.2 million."
• ARPA member Doug Martin, other tourists endure vacation terror on Mexican train ride: Story by Susie Steckner, The Arizona Republic, 13 November 1998, page A1.
• New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman Resigns from Amtrak Reform Council Washington Post, 11 November 1998
• "Grand Canyon Village's only gas station to be removed," Valley News/Update, The Arizona Republic, 9 November 1998, page B1. QUOTE: "In a move highlighting the switch from private cars to mass transit, the only gas station at historic Grand Canyon Village... will be removed Dec. 21... A light-rail system... plus additional buses and a new bike rail should be completed by 2002..."
• "We're number what? Execs take umbrage at 'low' rating" by Jonathan Sidener, The Arizona Republic, 8 November 1998, page D1. CHART: Five top Phoenix business leaders surveyed, when asked "What does the metro area need?" answered: "Mass transit," "Freeways," "Transportation," "Transportation," and "Educaction/Transportation."
• from the UTU News, Online Edition, November 1998:
  Clues found in Sunset Limited derailment
  Three years after saboteurs derailed Amtrak's Sunset Limited near Phoenix, Ariz., killing a porter and injuring 78, the FBI said its painstaking search for the perpetrators could be nearing an end.
  With help from Arizona law enforcement authorities, FBI agents recently pulled several vehicles from an 800- foot vertical mine shaft, about 35 miles north of the crash site. One of the vehicles, a rusted, twisted dune buggy suited for desert travel, may be linked to the derailment.
  Then agents found something perhaps even more crucial: a long tool called a "J-hook," shaped like the letter. Experts say it's possible such a tool could be used to extract railroad spikes.
  In addition, the FBI increased an outstanding reward offer to $320,000, up from $120,000.

October

• October 1998 ARPA UPDATE
• 25 October: According to the recently released December 1998 TRAINS magazine, Amtrak has a new Postal Service contract to haul mail between Chicago and Phoenix. Apparently the mail is being hauled in trucks south of Winslow, where a long "express" stop is scheduled. (There is triple-track at the Winslow station; the Flagstaff station, which is closer to Interstate 17, lacks a passing track or siding.)
• Amtrak clues elusive" by Mark Shaffer, The Arizona Republic, 12 October 1998, page A1.
• "Break in Amtrak Case? Mine shaft may hold clues to 1995 derailment" by Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic, 11 October 1998, page A1.
• "Officials hike reward in train crash case" by Jill Jorden Spitz, The Arizona Daily Star, 11 October 1998
• "High-rises for along train route suggested" by Richard Dyer, East Mesa Independent, 7-13 October 1998, page 1. QUOTES: "If a light-rail system is constructed to connect Mesa with Tempe and Phoenix, high-rise apartment building in downtown Mesa should follow, city officials said." ... "Tracks for the electric trains could be in the outside lanes, to the side, or in the center of Main Street." "'...I think we, as a council, need to be forward-thinking enough that we address our General Plan and increase the density levels that are allowed along those areas', Councilman Keno Hawker said Sept. 22."
• "Tempe defers finding a home for transit center" by Bob Petrie, The Arizona Republic, 3 October 1998, page EV1. QUOTE: "'It's better to defer (building) it than build it in the wrong place,' said Mary O'Connor, Tempe's transit manager... Tempe is starting a light-rail study, which will take at least 18 months to complete. O'Connor says if light rail happens, the city would like to locate the transit center on the rail line."

September

• ARPA Board Endorses Andrew C. Selden for Amtrak President: 26 September
• "Amtrak rider, 73, left behind after stop in desert" Tucson Daily Star, 29 September
• "Light-rail impact study has shortcoming for Mesa", by Robbie Sherwood, The Arizona Republic, 18 September 1998, page EV1. QUOTES: "The corridor running from north-central Phoenix through Tempe would be a swell place for a light-rail line... The Mesa City Council will vote Tuesday (22 Sept.) to approve its $300,000 portion of the $4 million in matching funds for the study... The study... ends at Dobson Road in Mesa rather than the proposed end of line at Mesa Drive in downtown..."
• "Widening U.S. 60 brouhaha" Editorial, Mesa Tribune, September 3, 1998, page A14. QUOTE: "And another important but often forgotten option is rail transit, which is our best hope for accommodating the thousands of additional commuters as the East Valley continues to sprout rooftops... Rather than getting locked in a pointless flap over widening the Superstition [Highway US 60], East Valley cities should concentrate on getting our other freeway links built and launching a commuter rail project."

August

• "$1.7 million transit windfall" by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic, 22 August 1998, page B1. QUOTES: "Valley transit has finally struck a jackpot, thanks to record-setting Powerball sales in recent months. The regional transit aggency has recevied $1.7 million from its hsare of Powerball proceeds in Arizona... [for] the first - and last - time. the regular Lottery games generate about $23 million a year for transit and transportation purposes statewide."
• "Tempe buses hit streets: New routes include Broadway, Baseline" by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic, 15 August 1998, page B1. QUOTE: "The Tempe changes are the result of a half-cent transit tax that Tempe voters approved in 1996. 'It's the first real tangible product from the sales tax becuase we now have new buses,' said Rich Nola, chairman of Tempe's Transportation Commission."
• "Amtrak wants state, Kingman, county to pay in derailment," The Arizona Republic, 12 August 1998, page B1.

July

• "Rapid transit mark of great metropolis" Letter, Brent D. Yonkovich, The Arizona Republic, 24 July 1998, page 6EV. QUOTES: Regarding the comment that a light-rail system along Apache Blvd. in Tempe would average 'only' 13mph: "The residents along Apache Boulevard must not have realized that the 'average' speed of a car traveling on a congested Apache Boulevard is much slower than 13mph... A rail system is a much better alternative than the wiping out of whole neighborhoods to lay more blacktop."
• "Rail proposal deserves a chance" Editorial, Mesa Tribune, 18 July 1998, page A18. QUOTE: "Tempe is floating a plan for what could be the first link of a regional rapid transit system. If the Valley is to launch a rail system - and at some point we should - this may be the best way to go about it."
• "Light-rail proposal takes flak: Tempe officials, residents debate mass-transit issue" The Arizona Republic, 17 July 1998, page 1EV. QUOTE: "So far, Tempe has shelled out $125,000 of the $800,000 study. The entire light-rail project would cost $360 million."

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