Word: rails
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...role. Hopkins' companions are a Palm Springs horse breeder and a journalist. Across America, weekend hoboes include a Connecticut schoolmarm, a Florida minister, a Washington State college professor, even a Denver shopping center developer who hops freights to find remote fishing spots. They are among some 500 weekend rail riders on Hopkins' home computer and part of the 2,000-member association, which also publishes a newsletter. Not surprisingly, the railroads are appalled. In January the Association of American Railroads labeled the hobbyists part of a "dangerous trend." They cite 1987 "trespassing" statistics that report 582 deaths and 673 serious...
...have been no surprise. Transportation Secretary James Burnley pointed out that since the drug-related Amtrak crash in Chase, Md., that killed 16 passengers in January 1987, there have been 37 railroad accidents in which one or more employees tested positive for illegal substances. "We don't need another rail disaster involving drugs to tell us that the railroad industry is not exempt from the drug epidemic," said Burnley, who has proposed random testing for workers in safety-related jobs...
...reforms is being questioned, not their necessity. Last week State Councilor Song Ping proposed recombining 14 existing ministries and commissions into ten new ones. If adopted, the proposal would cut 10,000 people, or 20%, of the State Council staff by the end of the year. The state-owned rail, oil, coal and nuclear industries would become public corporations under ministerial supervision but responsible for their own profits and losses...
...decrepit equipment, bad management and public disdain, Amtrak has come into its own. Most of the filthy, ever late, steamy-in-summer, frigid-in-winter rattletraps that Amtrak inherited at birth in 1970 have finally been refurbished or retired. Last year for the first time, Amtrak covered its above-rail operating costs. Its 2,400 cars rolled along 24,000 miles of track in 43 states, carrying 21 million passengers, 12% more than the previous year. "You can't get sleeping accommodations for the summer going west," says Chicago Travel Agent Jacqueline Zarnek. "They're already sold...
Though more people are asking for sleeping quarters than ever before, Amtrak simply does not have the equipment to accommodate them and Washington does not appear ready to provide any additional ones. "It takes political support, public support to maintain a viable rail system," says Michael Barosso, a Sacramento farmer and frequent rider. Since it came under the leadership of W. Graham Claytor Jr. in 1982, Amtrak has reduced its subsidy and improved its service to the point that the system is operating at just about capacity. But without new equipment and restoration of the tracks, Amtrak will...