(Reuters distributed the following article on June 25.)
WASHINGTON — A key House of Representatives committee approved on Wednesday a bipartisan $6 billion proposal for Amtrak for the next three years.
“It is my hope that the funding authorized in this bill will allow a last-chance window of opportunity for an Amtrak turnaround,” said Rep. Don Young, an Alaska Republican and chairman of the Transportation Committee.
The measure would meet the first three years of Amtrak’s five-year, $8 billion budget to operate its trains and repair the infrastructure of its heavily traveled line between Washington and Boston.
The nation’s only city-to-city passenger railroad is a for-profit federal corporation that has never made money in its 30-year history. It has $4 billion in debt, and the Bush administration has proposed dismantling it over the next several years instead of continuing to subsidize it.
As a condition of its $1.05 billion subsidy for the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, the administration has required that Amtrak reform its business practices.
The administration, in a long-term rail plan to be detailed this summer, wants to phase in responsibility for Amtrak to the states over the next several years. They would eventually have the option of contracting service to private rail companies.
“Although serious disagreements still exist about Amtrak’s long-term management strategy and structure, there is a common understanding of the need for near-term funding,” Young said.