<B> Washington Wire</B>
By Barbara Cook, Washington Correspondent
<B>Amtrak Looks Midwest</B>
Amtrak announced plans to develop a high speed Midwest regional passenger rail network, based on the Northeast Corridor model, with a central hub in Chicago linking Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Madison, Wis., Omaha, Neb., Des Moines, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Ohio, Detroit and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Minneapolis/St. Paul and Detroit, both major hubs for Northwest Airlines, have been hard hit by the carrier's pilots strike, making an alternative transportation system an attractive option right now.
An Amtrak official outlined the proposal, saying the trains would operate at speeds up to 110 mph on an improved track over a 3,000-mile network.
With an estimated $3.5 billion behind it, the regional rail system could begin operations by 2003 on a reduced network, with full service to be phased in by 2006. An Amtrak-commissioned study estimated that travel times by rail from Chicago to Detroit could drop to less than four hours, down from today's six hours.
<a name="story2"><B>FAA Buys More Bomb Detection Systems</B>
The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded a $6.3 million contract to InVision Technologies for another seven of the company's CTX-5500 DS Explosive Detection Systems (EDS). The systems, which are being purchased with funds reprogrammed from the 1998 Transportation Department budget, are scheduled to be shipped to major airports throughout the U.S. this year.
FAA so far has purchased 69 EDS systems from InVision for deployment at U.S. airports.
<a name="story3"><B>NTO Concept To Get Ad Boost</B>
For anyone keeping tabs on the efforts to obtain federal funding for a U.S. National Tourism Office, the Travel Industry Association plans to initiate a public awareness program through newspaper ads to boost support for the idea.
Just prior to the August congressional recess, Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) introduced S.2412, the Value of Supporting International Tourism Act of 1998, to authorize funding for the USNTO.
According to the National Tourism Act, which federally chartered USNTO two years ago as a public-private partnership, the office will cease to exist unless Congress provides funding by fiscal year 1999, which begins Oct. 1. The office is currently housed and funded by TIA.
<a name="story4"><B>Air Traffic Controllers Get Contract</B>
One good piece of news on the aviation labor front came from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, whose members ratified a five-year contract agreement with FAA.
The contract was negotiated under the personnel reform procedures adopted by FAA, which put the negotiations on a fast track. Among the provisions in the contract is an increase in the controller workforce to 15,000, followed by a 2 percent annual increase during the final years of the agreement.
The pact also establishes a new job classification system for the controllers, based on the complexity of their assignments.
NATCA President Mike McNally praised FAA Administrator Jane Garvey for her adept handling of the negotiations, saying she headed off a "potentially contentious and ugly situation.