(The following article by Herb Jackson was posted on the Bergen Record website on January 17.)
BERGEN, N.J. — Long-overdue improvements that would ease delays for Amtrak riders and North Jersey commuters would be funded under a $19.2 billion, six-year passenger rail funding bill introduced Tuesday by Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
The bill provides $4.9 billion between 2007 and 2012 for capital grants, including full federal funding to bring the Amtrak-owned Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston up to a “state of good repair.”
That means safety improvements to the Amtrak tunnels under the Hudson River, and long-delayed upgrades for bridges, switches, generators and power lines that have been responsible for many train delays.
About 6,000 NJ Transit commuters from Bergen and Passaic counties each day transfer in Secaucus to trains on the North- east Corridor to get into and out of New York, a figure that is expected to grow in coming years as new services are brought on- line.
The bill would give NJ Transit a bigger say over infrastructure and operational decisions affecting the Northeast Corridor. That could address the state agency’s complaint that when Amtrak trains are running behind schedule, Amtrak dispatchers give them preferential treatment, which then delays NJ Transit trains that had been on time.
Lautenberg said the idea pushed by President Bush and some Republicans in Congress that Amtrak could wean itself off public subsidies is dead.
“There isn’t a country in the world that doesn’t have a subsidized system,” Lautenberg, the new chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for rail transportation, said at a news conference in Union Station. “It’s a necessary thing.”
Lautenberg noted that the federal government spent $36 billion on highways and $15 billion in airports last year, but “barely over $1 billion” on rail.
Bush has been pushing for Amtrak to become self-sufficient, and even proposed no funding at all in the budget he unveiled in 2005. But Congress appropriated $1.3 billion that year, and the election of Democratic congressional majorities in November all but assures there will be no support for slashing funds in the future, Democrats and Republicans said Tuesday.
The bill Lautenberg introduced would provide $3.3 billion for operating subsidies between 2007 and 2012, with the amounts provided declining each year as Amtrak is expected to implement cost savings and make improvements that drive up fare revenue.
The proposal provides $1.4 billion to match state investments in new “intercity” rail service, but that money would be for regional and long-distance routes and not for new commuter routes, so it may not benefit New Jersey, a Senate aide said.
The last long-term Amtrak funding bill expired in 2002, which meant the railroad has had to survive on year-to-year appropriations.
“There’s been no policy that’s accepted by Congress and the executive as to what we should be doing,” said Martin Robins, director of the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University. “This at least could create a policy foundation and a funding foundation for the future of intercity rail.”
Joining Lautenberg at Union Station was Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi, a co-sponsor who predicted the bill would be passed with bipartisan support, whether President Bush likes it or not. Veto threats had derailed past efforts to enact a long-term Amtrak funding plan.
“My request, from the president right down through the Cabinet secretary and to Amtrak is: Work with us,” Lott said. “We need this system. Now, if you’ve got a better idea than what’s in this bill, let’s hear it.
“But here’s the other side of it. Hello, we’re sending it to you. … And if they want to veto it, then that would be another set of problems. But I don’t think it would come to that.”
Amtrak President Alex Kummant attended the news conference and thanked Lott and Lautenberg for their hard work on behalf of passenger rail, but stopped short of endorsing the bill. A White House spokesman did not return a request for comment.
The $19.2 billion in the bill would only authorize spending, and the actual funds would have to be appropriated each year. But officials believe an authorization makes it easier to get appropriations committees to provide the funds each year.
A similar bill was added as an amendment to a Senate bill in November 2005 by a 93-6 vote, but the Amtrak portion was deleted from the final bill by a House-Senate conference committee.
Supporters of the bill believe House Republicans who might have opposed the Amtrak funding in 2005 and 2006 out of loyalty to Bush and party leaders might be less inclined to do so now. The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., has said that Amtrak funding will be one of his priorities this year.
Lautenberg said hearings on the bill will begin next month.