(The following article by Glenn Maffei was distributed by States News Service on June 30.)
WASHINGTON — The board of directors that governs Amtrak’s operations and signs contracts with suppliers, unions, and states has dwindled from seven to two members, making it difficult for the rail system to make the critical decisions about its already troubled future.
Michael S. Dukakis, a former board member who stepped down in June 2003, said this week the incomplete board leaves Amtrak in an awkward position.
“To permit a situation to deteriorate to the point where you end up with the board consisting of the secretary of transportation’s designee and one appointee of the administration is just irresponsible in my opinion,” Dukakis said.
The vacancies on the Amtrak board — and attempts to fill them now caught in partisan politics — is the latest in a series of crises facing the rail system. Amtrak has a long list of stories of ill-will on Capitol Hill: of how inadequate funding has threatened bridge supports and service in the Northeast corridor; of funding woes prompting service cuts; and of nearly half of its union employees threatening a one-day strike to protest the annual funding battles in Congress. And with no guaranteed annual funding source, the National Railroad Passenger Corp. is preparing yet again for an uphill battle against an administration that has suggested Congress allocate $900 million, half as much as the $1.8 billion the rail carrier requested.
Amtrak said the administration’s proposal would require it to shut down.
Such back and forth has become an annual rite, with calls in Washington for reform and change and, in the case of the Federal Railroad Administration, a gradual decline in federal support. The term expiration of board member Sylvia de Leon next month will leave the board in its latest jam.
Amtrak still can make decisions and legally enter into contracts because the full board last year created an executive committee that meets in place of the board when it lacks a quorum, the Transportation Department said. That has been the case every month since last June, with three members — de Leon, chairman David Laney, and Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta — failing to meet quorum requirements.
The severity of the board’s problems is up for debate as four of President Bush’s nominations await confirmation by the full Senate. But Amtrak proponents seized on the board’s situation as the latest example of the low standing of the nation’s rail system in Washington.
With scrutiny from the Bush administration, Amtrak has become more dogged in pursuit of federal tax dollars. Amtrak president David Gunn, who took the reins in 2002, in the wake of the corporation’s near bankruptcy, yesterday introduced a revised five-year plan that he hopes will grab Congress’s attention. The plan calls for federal subsidies averaging $1.6 billion for the next five years: $570 million a year in federal subsidies for operating expenses, with the majority request for capital improvements, Gunn said.
Meanwhile, Amtrak faces a battle with the Bush administration, which is sticking to its plan to break into separate categories Amtrak’s operation of rail service and infrastructure maintenance, and then leave support of rail service up to individual states.
“The status quo of intercity passenger rail is not working. Putting more money into the current system doesn’t get us anywhere,” said Steven Kulm, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration.
Gunn said he doesn’t know how Congress will receive his five-year plan and funding requests, which do not increase or decrease Amtrak’s existing system.
“I really think we’re approaching the moment of truth for Amtrak because the physical conditions need to be addressed,” Gunn said.