(The following story by Bob Withers appeared on The Herald-Dispatch website on March 30.)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — CSX Transportation rolled out the red carpet for Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., Monday afternoon, and they liked what they saw.
“He was in the area and wanted to visit the Huntington Locomotive Shop, which is CSX’s largest heavy locomotive repair facility,” J. Randolph Cheetham, CSX’s vice president of state relations for West Virginia, said as the tour got under way. “Employees here are the winners of CSX’s 2003 Most Improved in Safety Award. We’re very proud of our employees and the efforts they’ve made. We’re very excited for Secretary Mineta and Congressman Rahall to see our professionals in action.”
After a safety briefing, General Plant Manager Chuck Arwood took Mineta and his party through the heavy repair shop, electric shop and wheel shop, ending the tour with a visit to the cab of a 4-month-old 4,400-horsepower diesel locomotive.
“He loved the place,” CSX Chairman, President and CEO Michael J. Ward said after Mineta departed. “He liked the attitude and enthusiasm of our people. He’s also impressed with the cleanliness of the facility, its modern machinery and its very impressive safety record.”
Ward said that the shop force of 400 incurred four reportable injuries last year.
Answering a reporter’s question about the future of Amtrak, Mineta said there is room for a national passenger train system in general — and, specifically, the Cardinal — if Congress passes the reform bill that the Bush administration proposed last year.
The plan replaces subsidy payments to Amtrak after a transition period, with direct federal matches for capital investment to be paid directly to the states. States and multistate compacts would submit proposals for passenger rail capital investment and train operations to the Department of Transportation. Ultimately, states would be free to choose the train operations provider of their choice — whether a private company or a public transit agency.
“The administration has proposed $900 million for Amtrak in fiscal 2005, but if Congress passes the reform legislation, we will propose $1.4 billion per year for 2006 through 2009,” Mineta said. “Last year, they got $1.2 billion and were able to operate on that, so we think $1.4 billion is sufficient.”