Safety at issue for LV Amtrak cars

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

Amtrak's planned high-speed passenger train service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, already pushed back indefinitely by track construction delays, may face a new delay over safety concerns.

Amtrak has asked the Federal Railroad Administration for an exemption to new federal crash-safety standards on railroad cars it plans to use for the daily service, which originally had been planned to start next month.

The FRA adopted its first-ever comprehensive passenger train car safety standard in May 1999. When the standards were adopted, the agency, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, allowed companies with existing noncompliant equipment to petition for a waiver.

That's what Amtrak is seeking. The FRA is due to rule on Amtrak's request by the end of the month.

The passenger cars planned for the Los Angeles-Las Vegas route are certified to handle 441,000 pounds of impact on both ends of the train. The new FRA standard is 800,000 pounds.

The train cars, manufactured by Talgo America Inc., the Seattle-based unit of Renfe Talgo SA of Spain, hold between 17 and 36 passengers and are lightweight and designed for high-speed travel.

Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the FRA, said an internal committee of safety and legal experts would make the final decision on Amtrak's request.

The decision is critical for Amtrak because it already operates a similar train in the Pacific Northwest. Flatau said at issue is whether the Talgo trains will be allowed to continue to operate on the Amtrak Cascade route between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, British Columbia. Amtrak has filed exemption requests on the Pacific Northwest route, the Los Angeles-Las Vegas route and one other it is planning along the California coast.

Amtrak has no backup plan if it is required to pull the Talgo trains out of service.

Jean-Pierre Ruiz, the chief executive officer of Talgo, said the matter has been pressed by one of his company's rivals and has more to do with competitive issues than safety issues.

Ruiz said Bombardier Inc., Montreal, the world's largest train manufacturer, has pressed the FRA to clamp down on Talgo.

"They are trying to do with regulatory means what they cannot do with competitive means," Ruiz said.

A representative of Bombardier could not be reached for comment.

Ruiz said the company stands by its safety record, in the United States and in Europe. A Talgo train, he said, has never been in a catastrophic accident, but a train once hit a 15-foot-high mudslide at 65 mph. The locomotive was derailed in the incident, but none of the passengers aboard the train suffered a serious injury.

The matter is the second setback for Amtrak's Los Angeles-Las Vegas service disclosed in recent weeks.

Late last month, Amtrak confirmed that a $28 million track improvement program scheduled to be completed earlier in the year hasn't even been started.

Union Pacific Railroad was scheduled to build a 26-mile section of track between Cima and Kelso, Calif., running parallel to the main line, to allow the passenger trains to pass the slower freight trains on the steep uphill grade.

The parallel track would pass through the Mojave National Preserve, a 1.6 million-acre desert area just south of the California-Nevada border, administered by the National Park Service.

The National Park Service said Union Pacific must file environmental assessment reports and possibly draft an environmental impact statement before it could start construction. Park service officials say the new track could impact habitat of the desert tortoise, an endangered species.