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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS ALERT


 

Recent alerts from the National Association of Rail Passengers:

From the National Association of Rail Passengers: 

To NARP Members in Missouri, February 11, 2004-
The Missouri House of Representatives Budget Committee voted to strip the supplemental Amtrak funding from H.B. 1014.

It is still possible to restore the Amtrak funding when the bill comes up for consideration on the floor of the House, thus it is timely to
contact your Representative.  In addition, several State Senators, including John Greisheimer (R-Washington) and Michael Gibbons
(R-Kirkwood) pledge to restore these cuts when H.B. 1014 comes to the Senate.  Please contact your Senators and urge them to join Senators
Greisheimer and Gibbons in this fight.

Contact both your Representative and Senator by visiting the Missouri General Assembly website at <http://www.moga.state.mo.us>.   Since time
is of the essence, faxes or phone calls are the preferred methods of communication, although e-mail is better than nothing. Whatever method
you choose, be sure to include your regular Postal Service address.

In your message to your elected representatives, be sure to point out the following facts:

-These trains will play a key role in moving people around Missouri during this year's Lewis & Clark celebration. 

-Union Pacific finally has agreed to track upgrades on the St. Louis-Kansas City line (which should lead to improved timekeeping). 

-In spite of bad on-time performance, the elimination of station agents at Jefferson City and Kirkwood, and uncertainty over service
continuation, ridership from August-December 2003 was up 7.3% from a year earlier. 

-The need for this service will only grow in the future. 

-Failure to win this funding effort likely means Amtrak's Mules would stop running as early as March 1.

Again, thank you for your continued efforts to save the Mules service!

-David Johnson
Transportation Associate

To NARP Members in Missouri, February 5, 2004-

We've known since the Missouri legislature originally provided 2004
funding that more money would be needed to keep both trains running
through June 30, 2004, the end of the state's fiscal year. (NARP
Hotline, May 23, 2003, <http://www.narprail.org/h0305.htm>.)

Missouri DOT indicates that the "Mules" will end around February 29
unless a supplemental appropriation of $885,000 comes through. Please
send a message along these lines (using your own words where possible)
to your state legislators:

--------------

Please work for passage of H.B. 1014 which provides $885,000 to continue
both St. Louis-Kansas City trains through June 30. Without this funding,
one of the two round-trips likely will end February 29.

These trains could play a key role in moving people around Missouri
during this year's Lewis & Clark celebration this year. Also, Union
Pacific finally has agreed to track upgrades on the St. Louis-Kansas
City line, which should lead to improved timekeeping. 

In spite of bad on-time performance, the elimination of station agents
at Jefferson City and Kirkwood, and uncertainty over service
continuation, ridership in the May-December period was down only 0.7%
from a year ago. The need for this service will grow in the future.

Please also work to approve the Fiscal 2005 appropriated request of $6.2
million, for the same reasons listed above.

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