(The following column by Jon Hilkevitch appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on February 14.)
CHICAGO — U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta comes to Chicago on Monday–flying into congested O’Hare International Airport, then fighting traffic on the Kennedy Expressway–to deflect widespread criticism of the Bush administration’s proposal to gut Amtrak.
He will have a whole lot of explaining to do.
President Bush provides no funding for Amtrak operations in the fiscal 2006 budget proposal he sent to Congress last week. Influential members of the Senate and House immediately declared the plan dead on arrival but expressed frustration that the Bush budget appears intent on forcing Amtrak into bankruptcy.
“I have never understood the concept that we can walk away from passenger rail service and not be worse off as a nation in terms of congested roads and pollution,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday.
“The biggest problem I see is that Amtrak is most important to the economy of `blue’ states,” Durbin added, referring to California, Illinois and some Northeast states where Democrats did well in the last election and Amtrak service is more extensive than in other parts of the U.S. “This administration is willing to challenge the blue-state congressmen and senators to come up with Amtrak cuts of their own.”
A Mineta spokeswoman said the secretary will address criticisms of the administration’s proposal to “reform Amtrak.” He also will announce legislative plans to reform intercity passenger rail service and provide details about how the reforms will “directly benefit Chicagoland commuters.”
The reference to commuters appeared directed at Metra operations, but Metra officials said they were not consulted about what the federal government has planned.
Mineta will make the announcement at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Union Station, which is owned by Amtrak.
Passenger rail supporters say they will turn out to protest the administration’s plan, which they say ignores Amtrak improvements.
Amtrak carried more than 25 million passengers in fiscal 2004, breaking the 2003 record by 1 million riders despite hurricanes across Florida and other major disruptions. Ridership is also showing big gains on Amtrak routes serving Illinois.
CTA sets Brown Line meeting
The Chicago Transit Authority will hold a community meeting from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday to provide details on the renovation of the Belmont Avenue and Fullerton Avenue rail stations during the $530 million rehabilitation of the Brown Line. The meeting will be in the Olson Auditorium of Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, 836 W. Wellington Ave.
Construction will start later this year at the Belmont and Fullerton stations, which will remain open, along with the Western Avenue station, during the project.
But 15 other Brown Line stations will close temporarily–some for up to a year–to rein in higher-than-expected construction costs, despite an earlier CTA pledge that no stations would be shut.
CTA officials said they will schedule more meetings to inform the affected communities of station closings and about contingency plans for riders.
But some aldermen, residents and business owners who protested the decision to temporarily close stations have not dropped their opposition and are demanding that the CTA come up with an alternative.
Les Kniskern, an officer with the Greater Rockwell Organization, said the CTA’s planned closing of the Brown Line station at Rockwell Street–for six to eight months plus 10 weekend closings–would be a severe setback to the revitalization of businesses in the neighborhood over the last three years.
Dan Ryan update
The Garfield Boulevard exit ramp from the inbound Dan Ryan Expressway and the 57th Street Bridge over the highway are set to close Monday for reconstruction, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The work at both locations is scheduled for completion in the summer. Until then, drivers who normally use the Garfield ramp can get on or off the Ryan (Interstate Highway 90/94) at 51st or 59th Streets, IDOT said.
O’Hare flight cuts to stay
A 13 percent reduction in flights during peak hours at O’Hare will be extended for an additional six months under an agreement reached between the Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines and United Airlines. Through October, domestic airlines serving O’Hare will continue to be limited to 88 scheduled arrivals per hour between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. The flight caps were set to expire at the end of April.
The number of flights arriving at O’Hare on time increased about 10 percent since the flight restrictions were imposed in November, the FAA said.