(Yahoo News published the following story by Reuters on its site on February 14.)
WASHINGTON — Amtrak said on Friday that it could maintain all of its service this year even though Congress gave it $150 million less than the railroad said it needed.
Congress on Thursday gave Amtrak $1.05 billion in subsidies for the fiscal year that runs through Sept. 30.
The nation’s only city-to-city passenger railroad had said it probably would begin shutting down service this spring unless it received $1.2 billion.
“The amount appropriated by Congress only reinforces that sustaining Amtrak operations will be an ongoing challenge,” the railroad said in a statement.
“Though the budget will be extremely tight, this funding level should be sufficient to operate the national system for the remainder of the fiscal year,” the statement said.
Lawmakers allowed Amtrak to defer payment on a $100 million loan granted by the Bush administration during last summer’s budget crisis.
To get money this year, railroad management will have to submit grant requests to the Transportation Department, which now has full control of Amtrak’s finances.
Amtrak had made its own spending decisions since 1994.