SACRAMENTO — As part of its bid to survive, Amtrak is asking California and other states to sell Congress on a new state-federal cost-sharing plan, the Californian reported.
Amtrak staff has outlined a possible plan calling for states to pay operating costs of in-state lines, such as the Coast Starlight, which offers service to Salinas, and for the federal government — for the first time — to pay most of the capital costs for new or upgraded service.
Right now, California pays most of the operating cost and well over half the capital costs of these lines.
But this varies nationally, with some states paying nothing to run their in-state lines and varying amounts of capital costs.
As outlined by Amtrak, the federal government would continue to pay the cost of long distance trains like the Coast Starlight, which runs through Salinas.
Gil Mallery, Amtrak’s vice president of planning and business development, said the plan recognizes that the current way of financing Amtrak can’t continue. Last year the nation’s passenger rail line suffered what he called a “near death experience” when it almost ran out of money.
“Amtrak’s current business model is not sustainable,” Mallery said in an interview.
A collapse of Amtrak could be bad news, not only for the national passenger line and its long distance service but also for states with popular in-states lines operated by Amtrak.
But Mallery insisted that Amtrak isn’t lobbying states to sign on to any particular plan, even though he’s outlined the new state-federal proposal for officials from 27 states in a series of meetings.
Instead he said that as part of upcoming debate on the future of Amtrak, states need to present Congress with a plan to keep their in-state trains running.
“The issue is not about Amtrak but about what the states such as California want in terms of their transportation system and what is their relationship with the federal government,” Mallery said.
California is paying $73 million this year to help cover most of the cost of operating three Amtrak trains beyond what is collected in fares, said Dennis Trujillo, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
The federal government still pays about 5 percent each of the operating cost of the San Joaquin, which runs between Bakersfield and the San Francisco Bay area, and the Capitol Corridor, which operates between the Bay Area and the Sacramento region, he said.
He added federal funds cover about a third of the cost of the Pacific Surfliner, operating in coastal Southern California.
When it comes to the cost of new track, better signs and stations, California has been paying the bulk of the costs — $1.7 billion out of the total $2.7 billion spent since service began in 1976-77.
While the new plan outlined by Mallery would cost the state some additional operating funds, it could be a big gain in capital costs. The plan calls for an 80 percent federal and 20 percent state split of these costs, which, he said, is similar to the way they share highway and other transportation related costs.
Eventually, this would mean about a $3.5 billion federal pot of money for in-state capital construction projects nationwide.
“If that (cost-sharing plan) is the result, it would be silly for us not to support it,” Trujillo said of the Amtrak proposal.
He said Caltrans officials are studying the plan and Amtrak’s future, but stressed that it’s far too early for the state to take a position on any plan. He said the state needs more information on various options, other states’ views and the federal outlook.
Mallery acknowledged that states are far from settled on his proposal — which isn’t a formal Amtrak board plan — or any proposal.
“There are almost as many proposals from states as there are states,” Mallery said.
But what’s important, he stressed, is that states, as well as the federal government, seriously address this issue if they want to keep Amtrak running in their states.
He said the issue is particularly important for states like California, which already heavily subsidizes very popular in-state trains.
That compares with a state like New York, where the federal government covers the entire $50 million annual operating costs beyond farebox collections for the Empire line. The reason: the New York line was part of the original Amtrak system.
Generally, he told a recent California train conference, western states pay more for their in-state service because they got into the system later.
“The enthusiasm for this increase dramatically increases as you move from the East toward the West,” Mallery said of his proposal.
With its popular in-state trains and existing subsidy program, he said, California is Amtrak’s most important state partner and it hopefully will help lead the effort to develop a viable new financing system for Amtrak.
“California has much to gain and nothing to lose from this,” Mallery said.