WASHINGTON — Amtrak, while seeking $1.2 billion from Congress to keep its trains operating this year, is quietly informing federal government officials it will need much more next year: $1.5 billion to $2 billion to start addressing long-neglected capital needs on its heavily traveled Northeast Corridor and other parts of the system, Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal reported.
The passenger railroad said the higher funding levels are required to fix tracks and bridges on the corridor that connects Washington, New York and Boston and is Amtrak’s busiest route. Amtrak would also use the additional funds to purchase new cars and locomotives and to fix existing equipment. Amtrak said the upgrades are necessary to reverse deterioration on the corridor and maintain it as a high-speed operation.
“We’re trying to tell people what it will take to stabilize the system and get it in a state of good repair,” Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer David Gunn said. He added that he will seek the higher funding levels in each of the next five years.
Mr. Gunn said Amtrak has told the Office of Management and Budget in Washington that it will have to secure funds to replace about 70 miles of track that still have wooden cross-ties rather than modern concrete ties, rebuild decaying interlockings where trains switch from one track to another and replace several aged bridges on the corridor.
The call for additional money next year comes as Mr. Gunn struggles to secure funds from Congress to keep its system operating through the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30. A House committee has recommended $762million for Amtrak, and the Senate passed an amendmen tlate last week to the omnibus spending bill currently under consideration that would give Amtrak $1.2 billion. These figures have to be reconciled, and Mr. Gunn said that at the lower figure he would have to shut down the entire Amtrak network this spring or sooner.
Amtrak received about $1.1 billion in federal funds last fiscal year, including a $205 million congressional bailout and a $100 million emergency loan. The $305 million averted a shutdown of the Amtrak system last July.