COLUMBUS — Years of subsistence level funding for Amtrak is now contributing to the near demise of an Ohio steel supplier that provides the passenger railroad’s fleet with most of its undercarriage assemblies. This may result in the loss of hundreds of good-paying jobs, a nonprofit railroad advocacy association announced today.
Buckeye Steel Castings Corp. of Columbus says it has suspended operations as it negotiates for financing to continue operations. Buckeye Steel Castings once employed more 1,400 people. That number shrank to as few 400 two years ago. Business had begun to turn around slightly and employment rose to almost 700 today. But the post-Sept. 11, 2001 downturn in the economy and railroad industry has seen the domestic demand for Buckeye Steel products drop.
This drop in business is due in no small part to the fact that action to fully fund Amtrak, one of Buckeye Steel’s major customers, has been sidetracked by Congress and the Bush Administration.
Buckeye Steel’s closure and layoff of all employees follows the loss of another major Ohio rail industry supplier — a Timken bearings plant in Columbus, which also had Amtrak as an important customer.
Ohio has more than 100 rail industry suppliers, many of which serve Amtrak and commuter rail agencies nationwide.
“When the federal government starves Amtrak, it also starves Amtrak’s suppliers, their employees and local economies which depend on these manufacturing jobs,” said Stu Nicholson, administrative director of the Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers.
“Amtrak’s trains don’t even serve Columbus, and yet the ripple effect from starving Amtrak has had a direct and serious impact on our local economy. If the federal government provided enough funding to create a world-class passenger rail system, world-class economic development would be an obvious result,” Nicholson added.
Buckeye Steel, an OARP corporate member, began 121 years ago as the Murray-Hayden Foundry. Ironically, President George W. Bush’s great-grandfather, Samuel Prescott Bush, was president of Buckeye Steel from 1907-1927.
Yet, President Bush proposes a $571 million budget for Amtrak in 2003 that would result in its shutdown. Amtrak says it needs at least $1.2 billion for 2003 just to survive.
But the General Accounting Office reported earlier this year that Amtrak needs $2.4 billion per year to run the system as-is and begin returning the condition of its physical assets to a state of good repair. That includes the replacement of hundreds of worn-out wheel assemblies, called “trucks,” that Buckeye Steel would likely provide, as well as assemblies for new rail passenger cars. Buckeye Steel officials say this would immediately improve its financial situation and preserve valuable jobs.
“It’s ironic that President Bush’s lack of support for Amtrak is contributing to the fall of a company that his great-grandfather helped make a success,” Nicholson said. “President Bush and Congress can change this tomorrow by working to give Amtrak the funding it needs to rebuild.”
OARP is a nonprofit, educational organization founded in 1973 to advocate for service and safety improvements to intercity passenger rail and urban transit services.