
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, August 1, 1994                   TAG: 9408010065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

AMTRAK SEEKS PRIORITY FOR ITS TRAINS

Amtrak has asked the Clinton administration to initiate federal court action to force Conrail, Burlington Northern and other freight railroads to give passenger trains priority consistently over freights on increasingly congested track.

The passenger railroad also is threatening to ask the Interstate Commerce Commission to be certain that the planned merger of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroads does not adversely affect passenger trains.

Amtrak's actions are an escalation of a struggle that will culminate in 1996, when its contracts for rights to run trains on freight railroads must be renegotiated.

Conrail has been outspoken about the need for more money to operate Amtrak service and has petitioned the ICC for greater payments from Amtrak.

The immediate issue is on-time performance, particularly on Conrail's New York-Chicago line and Burlington Northern's St. Paul-Seattle route. Freight railroads are enjoying a traffic boom that is straining capacity on many main lines, including some that carry major Amtrak routes.

Some passenger trains are late almost all the time. Except for the Amtrak-owned Washington-Boston line, almost all Amtrak trains operate over freight railroad tracks.

Amtrak President Thomas Downs said he is happy that freight railroads are prospering, but ``we just don't want to be lost in the victory parade.''

Charles N. Marshall, Conrail's senior vice president for development, said, ``I am very concerned about what looks like a declaration of war. What we have here is an apparent signal from Amtrak that they want to place on Conrail and the freight railroads a lot of problems that don't come from the freight railroads.''

The Amtrak board on Wednesday directed Downs to seek legal remedies of the type last used in the early 1980s against the Southern Pacific Railroad. Downs subsequently met with Deputy Transportation Secretary Mortimer Downey to ask the department to contact Attorney General Janet Reno. That would be the first step toward litigation under the Rail Passenger Service Act, which requires freight railroads to give priority to Amtrak trains.

The board resolution specifically mentioned the train that is becoming the cause celebre in this struggle, the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago to New York and Boston. It was late on about 60 percent of its trips in the three months ended June 30, and Downs said freight-train interference accounted for 24 percent of the delays.

Amtrak, which gets most of its capital budget and about 20 percent of its operating budget from federal funds, has been in a budget squeeze that has led to deterioration of equipment and service.

by CNB