The Willamette Valley Rail
Study Committee's proposed
commuter train service may
have been derailed permanently
by red tape
The proposal would add
twice-daily runs between
Eugene and Portland to sup
plement the Los Angeles-to
Seattle Coast Starlight with in
termediate stops at Albany,
Salem, Woodburn and Oregon
City
Committee members had
hoped to have the rail service
operating by January, but Wed
nesday they learned of several
procedural hurdles which must
first be cleared
Formal agreements between
Amtrak and the state transpor
tation department will probably
be completed this month, but
the project is stalled until Am
trak can initiate negotiations
with Southern Pacific Railroad
Although Amtrak has agreed
to supply the rolling stock and
will operate the trains, Southern
Pacific must concede right of
way on its lines and the railroad
unions must supply crews, ac
cording to federal law, before
the project goes any further
The transportation depart
ment. however, has established
a 5-member task force to ex
pedite the commuter service ef
fort
Jack Graham, the task force
leader, says his group must first
respond to questions and con
cerns voiced last month by the
Legislative Emergency Board
and the State Transportation
committee members
The emergency board last
month reserved $1 million in
state funds to match $5 million
in rederal funds for financing
the 18-month trial project
Graham says he anticipates
few problems in satisfying
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emergency board and transpor
tion commission questions —
the task force is to establish
standards for judging success
of the project and develop a
method of determining its
worthiness of future support
but negotiations with Southern
Pacific and the railroad unions
may be a problem
Already the unions have
reportedly criticized a state
suggestion that the size of tram
crews be cut and schedules be
altered to save money South
ern Pacific officials have also
expressed concern that the
commuter trains might interfere
with scheduled freight runs
However, at least one Amtrak
official says if an agreement is
reached with Southern Pacific,
it may be able to begin the tram
service without a labor
agreement
But that shortcut may be the
last hope for the commuter rail
project
Amtrak and transportation
department officials both say
state residents will be lucky if
the new runs begin by April
And that s the good news
The bad news is that Amtrak
officials expect massive fuel
shortages next year, possibly as
early as April or May
If shortages establish
demands for Amtrak equipment
and service in other parts of the
1
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country, an Amtrak official says
Oregon's proposed Willamete
Valley rail service is not a top
priority
Wire reports say the Carter
administration's newest efforts
to cut American fuel consump
tion may mean either raising
gasoline taxes by as much as 50
cents per gallon or imposing
some type of rationing
Although studies of both op
tions have yet to cross Pres
Carter s desk, aides say admin
istration officials have indicated
some form of gasoline-saving
will be included in the 1981 fis
cal budget, which will be sent to
congress in January
The wire reports say adminis
tration officials believe now is
the time for such proposals
because American are anxious
to cut their dependency on for
eign oil — particularly in light of
the dismal situation in Iran
But the crisis in Iran and the
mood of Americans are not the
only motivations behind this
much-needed examination of
ways to immediately cut our
dependence on foreign oil sup
plies
Treasury Secretary William
Miller brought back from a
recent 5-day trip through the
Middle East a message from
several of his Arab hosts —
America must make additional
efforts to curtail oil consump
tion
The Arab oil officials have
reportedly said they may have to
cut oil production it no progress
is made
The Saudis recently made
their request even more strin
gent
Either the United States must
take steps to soak up some of
the profits of the oil companies
— through a windfall profits tax
— or they will increase prices
Miller reportedly told Saudi
officials that the United States
would take new undisclosed
actions' to curtail oil consump
tion and relieve pressure on
world oil prices
The windfall profits tax is
having a hard time in the Sen
ate, and now we may have got
ten a sneak preview of what the
new undisclosed actions are to
be — rationing or a big tax,
neither of which comes as any
surprise
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