January 19, 1970

Israel stages 4th air raid near Cairo this mo, with attacks on Huckstep mil installation, 12 mi E of Cairo, and on arms depot at Gebel Hof, 16 mi S of Cairo and few mi N of major indus city of Helwan; pilots rept meeting light AA fire but not aerial interceptors; Israel also repts daytime air raids on all secs of Suez Canal; repts all planes return safely, repeated attacks near heavily populated areas support growing belief in Israel that raids are being conducted as much for psychological as for mil gains; passengers at Almaza, Cairo's internatl airport, rush to shelters as AA guns fire at Israeli planes attacking Huckstep base; UAR repts rockets fired at camp missed target; repts attack on Wadi Hof; says 1 Israeli plane was downed, 2d damaged during attacks at Suez Canal; repts its jets took to air to battle Israeli planes; Cairo remains calm; scene at Almaza described; Israeli bombs start 2-hr fire at fringe of civilian sec of airport that includes mil plane hangars and mil encampment, single plane involved apparently penetrated air defenses undetected, because AA guns did not fire until bombs were dropped, map

Agreement to merge with Amer Airlines announced by Amer chmn Slater and Trans Caribbean chmn Chalk; proposal will be submitted for approval to CAB and to Pres Nixon, who must approve any internatl merger involving a US co; terms of $18-million deal involve exch of 17 1/2 shares of Amer for each 100 shares of Trans Caribbean

Nixon Adm to propose legis to create semi-public corp, similar to Communications Satellite Corp, to take over and modernize notion's intercity passenger train service; corp, called Railpax, will initially be owned by rr indus with rrs required to buy stock in corp or to donate equipment in exch for Railpax operation of intercity lines, or both; will receive $100-million in Fed aid over 3 yrs to buy new trains and equipment and about $200-million in revenue and equipment from rrs; will stress improved service on medium-haul runs in population corridors; will have ability to discontinue runs

Article on Penn Central New Haven div; commuters score frequent delays, breakdowns and use of old, crowded cars; see decline in service under Penn Central mgt; NYS PSC repts on-time performance under Penn Central mgt declined to 81% in '69 compared with 90% under New Haven mgt in '68; Penn Central official J M McGuigan estimates line spends $2-million a mo to upgrade rr and equipment between Boston and NYC; says 40-50% is used for improvements on New Haven-NYC runs; rr modernization plans discussed; illus

McKay, David O: 96