BOSTON — After 15 stormy years operating and maintaining the MBTA’s commuter rail system, Amtrak will not compete for another contract, officials said yesterday, arguing that new requirements would put the national railroad in jeopardy of violating federal laws, the Boston Globe reports.
The new five-year contract offered by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority would require the winning bidder to shoulder liability for passenger injury and equipment damage, as well as the cost of utilities, putting Amtrak “in real danger” of violating laws that prohibit the agency from subsidizing commuter services, Amtrak president David L. Gunn said in a letter to T officials.
“I am sure you will understand our predicament,” Gunn wrote to MBTA general manager Michael H. Mulhern.
By bowing out of contention, Amtrak will end its most lucrative commuter rail contract in the nation by June 30, handing the tracks, and some 1,600 union workers, to one of three companies positioned to bid on the estimated $150 million-a-year, five-year deal.
Cecilia Cummings, an Amtrak spokeswoman, said the decision does not reflect a desire on the part of the financially troubled national railroad to get out of the commuter rail business. Of the seven other systems Amtrak runs nationwide, Cummings noted, Amtrak is indemnified for liability by the local transportation authorities, “so what the MBTA is asking for would be a major departure for us.”
“If they decide to modify [the contract] and re-release it, we would love to respond,” Cummings added.
Mulhern said he respects Amtrak’s decision, but insisted he has no intention of changing the bid specifications to suit Amtrak.
“We are trying to construct a very good [request for proposals] that clearly outlines accountability to the taxpayers, but also ensures robust competition,” Mulhern said. “We’ve got three firms left, so I think we’re in good shape.”
Still, Mulhern expressed some concerns about the transition between Amtrak and the eventual winner of the new contract, as well as about complications involving rail lines shared with Amtrak’s high-speed intercity trains.
In 1987, when Amtrak took over for the Boston & Maine railroad, B&M dispatchers who still controlled freight lines refused to allow commuter trains to pass over the lines, causing some chaos for North Shore commuters. A Superior Court judge eventually ordered B&M dispatchers to allow the commuter trains through.
Cummings said Amtrak would work hard to make the transition smooth. “It doesn’t serve anyone’s interest to thwart MBTA’s attempts to find another willing contractor,” she said. “It’s not something we will engage in.”
Word of Amtrak’s imminent departure yesterday thrilled critics of the national railroad’s tenure at the T. Its track record includes a 1990 high-speed accident in Back Bay Station that injured more than 500 passengers; allegations in 1991 of accounting irregularities; a 1993 federal audit that showed that 40 percent of the T’s commuter-rail equipment was defective; and numerous threatened strikes.
Three years ago, Amtrak was outbid by a private contractor, Bay State Transit, to maintain the commuter-rail system’s rails and equipment. But because Bay State said it would ax 150 workers immediately, powerful lawmakers prevailed upon the MBTA to yank the contract award, and instead extend Amtrak’s contract by three years.
Charles Chieppo of the conservative Pioneer Institute said, “This is a beautiful day for Massachusetts taxpayers. We are free of an albatross that has cost us hundreds of millions of dollars more than we should pay for commuter rail service.”
Gunn listed 10 new stipulations in the T’s commuter rail contract that would differ substantially from the contract Amtrak currently holds, reaping about $180 million a year.
In addition to the liability and utility cost changes, the new contract will virtually eliminate incentives for on-time performance and fare collection — currently worth $130,000 a month to Amtrak — and replace them with 13 different penalties.