DES MOINES, Iowa — A wire service reports that the head of the National Association of Railroad Passengers warns that Amtrak’s financial troubles could mean the end of at least one of Iowa’s two long-distance passenger rail routes.
“When you look at the little clues as to where the administration is heading and when you look at some of the critics of Amtrak, particularly on the House side, it is hard to sleep real easily,” said Ross Capon, the association’s executive director.
Kevin Johnson, an Amtrak spokesman in Chicago, said it’s hard to predict what Congress and Amtrak will decide. Debate is expected next year, he said.
“Certainly, one of the options thrown out there has been to keep the Northeast corridor and to blow up everything else,” Johnson said. “But Amtrak generally doesn’t think that is going to happen.
“We believe in providing long-distance train service, and we know there are a lot of people who can’t drive or who prefer not to fly.”
A federal council last month ordered Amtrak to come up with a liquidation plan and voted to declare that Amtrak will not meet a December 2002 deadline to cover operating costs without government help.
A recent study by the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think tank, concluded that a government-owned Amtrak will never be financially solvent.
Amtrak has collected more than $25 billion in taxpayer subsidies since it was created in 1971, the report said.
Amtrak’s California Zephyr stops in Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston.
The Southwest Chief stops in Fort Madison.
The Iowa Association of Railroad Passengers’ top priority is to maintain passenger rail service in Iowa.
The group’s president, Henry Wulff of Urbandale, said Amtrak must be an important part of the nation’s passenger transportation system if Americans are going to enjoy the mobility essential to a free society.