Train backers try to save Cascades run.

Byline: DIANE DIETZ The Register-Guard

The loopy logic in Salem this week says the lawn mower in your garage could save the popular 9:30 a.m. train that takes Eugene passengers to Portland and points beyond.

The state-sponsored Cascades run may be cut from the budget if voters turn down the Measure 28 tax increase in the Jan. 28 election.

That would mean that the midmorning train would roll for the last time in mid-April; the 11:45 p.m. arrival would be canceled, too.

But some lawmakers advocate saving the train with a little-known pool of tax dollars collected when Oregonians buy gas for their lawn mowers, leaf blowers, rototillers and chain saws. Fuel used for machinery or vehicles that do not run on roads is exempt from the 24-cents-a-gallon gas tax. Since it is impossible to determine exactly how much of the gasoline sold in Oregon does not go into road vehicles, experts had to come up with an estimate.

Money diverted into this so called "lawn mower" fund is based on a per-family usage of 11.9 gallons of small-engine fuel per year.

Oregon State University researchers calculated how much the average family pours into its outdoor equipment by surveying 1,729 Oregonians last October.

In other words, "it's a guess," said state Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Aloha, the vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, who favors using the lawn mower money to save the train.

The law actually allows Oregonians to get a rebate from the fund for all tax money the state collects when they buy gas for their lawn mower, but few except large landscapers ever apply. So, the fund accumulates about $7.6 million in a two-year budget cycle.

If lawmakers decide to tap into the lawn mower fund, it would be just one more piece of good news for the Cascades train corridor, which runs from Eugene to Vancouver, B.C.

The Oregon Passenger Rail system was cut by about $1 million during five budget-trimming special sessions of the Legislature last year.

But the system was able to make up the losses by rerouting some train-bus links and shifting federal funds - and no train runs were cut.

If the rail line is canceled, it would be the first loss of passenger rail service since the Oregon program began in 1994, train officials said. Otherwise, the train has made steady gains in runs and ridership. Many of the train stations have been spruced up.

Making the argument that trains are a "modern, slick, comfortable" way to travel, the Cascades route made a 1 percent gain to 577,000 riders last year, with a 4 percent uptick in December, compared with the same month in the previous year.

"When you consider we're in a down economy, the fact that you have any growth is good," said Bob Krebs, the state's passenger rail coordinator.

Communities along the route are pumping millions into station renovations, including Oregon City, Salem and Albany.

Eugene claimed possession of its historic station Nov. 29 through an order by Lane County Circuit Court Judge Lyle Velure.

Proceedings to determine the fair market value that the city must pay owner Jenova Land Co. for the property will continue this spring, said Russ Mecredy, the city's project manager.

Crews have cleared asbestos from the station's attic, and construction on the $4.6 million renovation project will begin in August and end in July 2004.

"It will sit as a gem at the end of Willamette Street," said Amtrak official Tony Buscemi at Friday's Oregon Passenger Rail Advisory Committee meeting in Salem.

Meanwhile, rail officials say the Legislature has shown an "amazing" level of support for trains in the past couple of years.

Earlier this month, for instance, state rail division manager Claudia Howells asked the Legislature's emergency board for money to buy trains for a special Portland-to-Astoria run for the next three summers to celebrate the Lewis and Clark bicentennial. She came away with $400,000.

"I walked out of there almost stunned that we got anything at all," she said. And later, "This was hard sell until two sessions ago."

Former Eugene Mayor Ruth Bascom, chairwoman of the rail advisory committee, said the trains have turned a corner.

"It's basically a rather exciting time," she said. "This little flame of interest in passenger rail seems to be burning a little brighter every year."

Still, the problems ahead are significant both on a state and national level. Amtrak's national budget has been uncertain since July, when the quasi-private train operator came within days of shutting down its long-distance lines.

President Bush calls Amtrak a costly failure; some members of Congress advocate privatizing the profitable regional runs and shutting down all the rest.

But supporters, including the States for Passenger Rail Coalition, representing 22 states, are pushing for a $1.2 billion cash infusion to keep the trains running through fiscal year 2003 - and then a dedicated funding source to keep them rolling in the future.

The organization's efforts got a boost late Thursday when the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a bipartisan plan to give Amtrak its full request for this year.

"We're fighting both fronts (state and national) but the war's the same," Howells said. "We're rebuilding credibility and rebuilding belief in rail."

At the state level, the train's fate is far from certain. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Rick Metsger, D-Welches, said that the Legislature is unlikely to restore the endangered run if Measure 28 fails.

Any extra money in the lawn mower fund would be likely to go to the Department of Transportation, freeing up general fund dollars for critical programs, such as human services or public safety, he said.

"As important as the train is long term, it certainly would not be in the top priority list," Metsger said.

"We might have to use the money to sustain some police officers for a few months."

But Starr, a train enthusiast who has ridden the rails on every continent except Antarctica, said the state should save the lawn mower money for the trains.

"It's important we have a transportation system that's balanced and gives Oregonians choices. One of those options ought to be a rail system that works," he said. "Anytime you've got folks riding the train between Eugene and Portland you're taking vehicles off the highway."

Still, it'll be months before the Legislature finishes its work and lawmakers have two biennial budgets to adopt and finalize before the last gavel falls.

"Anything can happen, and it often does," Howells said. "I wouldn't want anyone to think we have a safe ride."