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(The Associated Press circulated the following article on November 3.)

WASHINGTON — Amtrak needs to improve the way it monitors performance and oversees its finances to reach solid financial ground, and it will probably need outside help to do so, Congressional investigators said Thursday.

“Amtrak’s management may be able to correct a number of these issues on its own,” said the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress, but it strongly suggested that Amtrak enlist help to improve its financial operations.

“While Amtrak has recently reduced costs, revenues are declining faster than costs, leading to operating losses exceeding $1 billion annually,” the report said. “These losses are projected to grow by 40 percent within four years.”

The agency recommended that the transportation secretary direct the federal railroad administrator to require Amtrak to submit a plan laying out specifically how it will improve its financial operations. It also called for the administrator to provide Amtrak with direction on how to do so, as well as to monitor the railroad’s performance and to report to Congress on Amtrak’s progress.

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta called the agency’s report “unusual, if not unprecedented, in the scope of its review and the severity of its indictment.”

As its response, Amtrak made public a letter dated Sept. 2 from its president, David L. Gunn, to the agency. In the letter, Mr. Gunn said that in the last three years, the railroad had focused on “maintaining liquidity, cleaning up the books, rebuilding plant equipment and building an organization that can manage the budget and control costs.”

Amtrak has never made money in its 34-year history, and an operating loss of more than $550 million was expected for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The railroad has a debt of more than $3.5 billion.

The Bush administration has called for no subsidies for Amtrak, but the House has approved an appropriation of nearly $1.2 billion for this budget year.

The Senate voted 93 to 6 on Thursday to include an Amtrak overhaul amendment in the budget bill.

The measure, sponsored by Senators Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, and Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, would cut Amtrak’s operating subsidies by 40 percent, leaving it with $3.3 billion in subsidies over six years.