(The following article by Ana Radelat was distributed by Gannett News Service on April 8.)
JACKSON, Miss. — When the City of New Orleans derailed Tuesday night near Flora, Amtrak was planning a strategy to battle White House efforts to cut its budget and allow other companies to compete for its choice routes.
Since Amtrak’s birth in 1971, the passenger rail company has not made one cent in profit, providing service coast to coast with the help of federal subsidies. In 1997, Congress got tough, passing legislation that required Amtrak to be self-sufficient by 2003 or face liquidation.
Amtrak failed to meet its deadline and was bailed out again. But President Bush proposed dismantling Amtrak and selling its passenger rail service outside the money-making Northeast corridor to private bidders. Under the president’s plan, states that want the service would subsidize it.
But Sen. Trent Lott and other lawmakers said the president’s plan would hurt rural areas like Mississippi that long-distance, unprofitable rail lines serve. Lott and Amtrak’s other supporters said the president’s plan would break Amtrak up into a few short routes. Their motto: “National or nothing.” Two other Amtrak lines serve Mississippi besides the City of New Orleans. The Crescent runs from the Northeast to New Orleans, stopping in Meridian; and the Sunset Limited runs along the state’s Gulf Coast from California to Florida.
Bush’s proposal hasn’t drawn much congressional support. But the company criticized the president’s budget proposal of $900 million to subsidize Amtrak next year as too little.
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said the company has requested twice as much to continue to operate, about $1.8 billion. He said the money it received from Washington last year, about $1.2 billion, constrained Amtrak from refurbishing its stations, equipment and the track the company owns in the Northeast corridor. Amtrak’s other routes use rails rented from freight companies like CN, formerly Canadian National, which owns the tracks in Mississippi where the City of New Orleans derailed.
Scott Leonard, assistant director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, said Amtrak’s derailment in Mississippi should not hurt its chances of getting Congress to boost its financing this year.
“It’s certainly not the first time there’s been a derailment,” Leonard said. “And the cause may be found to be out of Amtrak’s control.”
Third District U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering has voted to increase money to Amtrak and said he would do it again.
“We must provide funding to maintain the track lines, ensure security against potential threats and create a practical and responsible Amtrak,” he said.
But Sen. Thad Cochran, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he’s not made up his mind whether he’ll push for more money than the president wants for Amtrak.
Amtrak is proud its number of passengers increased last year. In 2003, a little more than 24 million people rode Amtrak, compared to 23.6 million the year before.
Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith, who stepped down in June as chairman of Amtrak’s reform board of directors, said he thinks Amtrak will survive its tough times.
“I found very little interest in Congress about chopping Amtrak into little pieces,” he said.