OMAHA — Short-term prospects for continued Amtrak long-distance passenger service, including through Nebraska and Iowa, improved this weekend, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Amtrak, citing signs of help from Congress, backed away Friday from its threat to issue notices allowing it to cut long-distance train routes this fall.
The long-distance routes, including the California Zephyr that serves Nebraska and Iowa, remain at risk, said Brian Rosenwald, general manager of Amtrak’s Western Business Group. The Zephyr runs from Chicago to Emeryville, Calif.
But, he said, the short-term outlook is less grim.
“My sense is there’s a stronger possibility that we’ll be able to get through,” Rosenwald said.
Alan Yorker, president of the National Association of Rail Passengers, said key U.S. representatives and senators agreed Friday night to find a way to meet Amtrak’s request for $1.2 billion.
“The will of Congress that it should be funded is no longer in question,” Yorker said.
However, he said that doesn’t guarantee that Amtrak will get the future federal funds it needs, or that the long-distance routes will continue after September.
“It’s too early to tell, but the percentages are improving,” Rosenwald said.
Yorker and Rosenwald spoke Saturday in downtown Omaha to about 65 people attending a joint meeting of ProRail Nebraska and the National Association of Rail Passengers.
Dan Lutz of Lincoln, president of ProRail Nebraska, an organization that supports passenger service in the state, said he is cautiously optimistic.
Rosenwald said ridership is increasing even with Amtrak fighting for its life and trimming services. Nine percent more people rode the California Zephyr in March 2002 than in the previous March. Zephyr sleeping cars are fully booked for 40 days in Amtrak’s summer season. Overall, summer bookings on the three lines he oversees are up slightly.
Nationally, Yorker said, travel by rail is up 11 percent since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
He said Congress is taking more notice of the public demand for rail travel and the need to have it as an alternative to highway and air transportation.
Amtrak President George Warrington, in a letter to the governors of the 46 states Amtrak serves, wrote that he is encouraged by the response of federal lawmakers.
However, Warrington added, “uncertainties associated with the legislative process” mean Amtrak must prepare for the possibility that it will not receive enough money to maintain current service.
He reiterated that the 18 trains in its long-distance network, including the Zephyr, are “at high risk.” Other routes could be cut, too.
Warrington had announced Feb. 1 that Amtrak would issue formal notices by March 29, reserving the authority to cut routes this fall. Amtrak generally is required to give 180 days’ notice before cutting service.
Warrington told the governors that Amtrak still may discontinue train routes with 30 days notice.
Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead reported in January that Amtrak lost $1.1 billion in 2001, the largest loss in its 30-year history. It also had made no progress toward meeting an order to wean itself from federal subsidies by this December.
The Bush administration has proposed $521 million for Amtrak in fiscal year 2003, which Mead said isn’t enough.
Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson told Congress it will take $2.5 billion to $3 billion “just to keep what we have.”
A Senate proposal would devote $4.6 billion a year for the next five years to operations, renovations and development of high-speed corridors.
A House proposal would authorize $1 billion for capital and operating expenses next year. Congress also would cover $160 million in pension benefits.
In exchange, Amtrak would have to submit a business plan listing ridership and revenue and expense targets.
The bill would buy Congress one more year to come up with a long-term plan for passenger rail.