ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak appears to be backing out of a deal which would have provided high-speed rail service along the Empire Corridor which runs from New York City to Niagara Falls, state officials said.
The Albany Business Review reports that in a Nov. 18 letter to Amtrak Chairman John Smith, State Transportation Commissioner Joseph H. Boardman complained that Amtrak is no longer interested in upholding its part of a deal which was supposed to put seven rebuilt turbotrains into service in New York state.
“Amtrak’s actions call into question Amtrak’s commitment to deliver a quality passenger service to New Yorkers,” the letter said. “Amtrak is consumed with its survival, and is no longer focused on the nation’s inter-city rail passenger needs.”
“It is failing to honor its past partnerships and commitments,” Boardman’s letter said.
Clifford Black, Amtrak’s director of media relations, said only that Amtrak was in receipt of Boardman’s letter.
“We will respond to it in due time to the commissioner,” he said.
Under the New York-Amtrak agreement, the state and Amtrak were to spend $185 million in a five-year effort to speed up railroad passenger service in New York. Under the agreement New York was to pay to rebuild seven turbotrains at Supersteel in Schenectady, while Amtrak would upgrade track and signals.
But Amtrak is more than $14 million behind in its share of the work and has fallen a year and a half behind schedule for installing a double-track between Rensselaer and Schenectady, Boardman said in his letter.
Putting in a second track between the Rensselaer Amtrak station and Schenectady is a critical piece of the effort to put high speed trains into service in New York.
On top of that, Amtrak now appears to be saying that it is no longer satisfied with the Turboliner trainset it accepted.
“New York state recently received two letters signed by Amtrak officials accepting the first new Turboliner trainset, one indicating conditional acceptance, another indicating final acceptance. The state then received a message explaining that the final acceptance was in error, with a draft letter describing a new process for accepting the Turboliner,” Boardman’s letter said.
Now, Boardman’s letter said, “it appears that this retraction may be retracted!”
“Although Amtrak has contributed no money to this project, its staff is talking about reconfiguring the trains along the Empire Corridor, implying that unless all operating losses are covered, the Turboliner trainsets may never be used,” the letter said.
Amtrak is also more than eight months behind the project schedule for the final signal design and has also failed to order the turbines and transmissions for the remaining trainsets under construction at SuperSteel, Boardman’s letter said.
The program is in its fifth and final year.
The Department of Transportation has been negotiating in good faith with Amtrak, but the passenger rail operator hasn’t done it’s share and New York wants action, said DOT spokeswoman Melissa Carlson.
Amtrak officials were not immediately available for comment.
Amtrak has a list of 54 items it says need to be fixed before the Turboliner can be accepted. They include rusting screws, panel cracks, loose trim, misplaced toilet paper dispensers, peeling paint, and passenger doors that are rusting at the bottom.
The turbotrains date from the mid-1970s. Under the state’s rebuilding plan, they are being stripped to their metal shells and then rebuilt with new interiors, new electronics and controls, and new propulsion systems. The discovery of asbestos and lead paint slowed the rebuilding.
The first train set essentially has been complete for more than a year and has undergone several months of testing, culminating with a midnight run between Albany, N.Y., and New York City earlier this month.
New York wants assurances from Amtrak that it intends to honor its previous commitments, Boardman’s letter said.