(The following article by Dianne Whitacre was posted on the Charlotte Observer website on February 23.)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Bush’s hard line on cutting off funding for Amtrak is a way to force Congress to reform the nation’s struggling passenger train service, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said Tuesday in a trip to Charlotte.
The president wants Congress to approve his 2003 plan that would spend federal money only on infrastructure such as improving track, buying trains and building stations, Mineta said. Amtrak or its competitors would pay operating costs in an effort to privatize the service, with help from the states.
Train routes that didn’t attract enough riders or state subsidies would fail. But Mineta said highly traveled regional routes like those in the northeast and northwest would continue.
The federal government would match dollar for dollar the money that states spend to improve track and other infrastructure.
Mineta argued Amtrak is doomed to fail in its current structure, which relies heavily on federal subsidies.
“Amtrak is on financial life support,” Mineta said. “It is fundamentally flawed and needs reform from top to bottom.”
Mineta, who is visiting U.S. cities to talk about Bush’s plan, said a wholesale change of the nation’s passenger railroads would end up serving areas where demand is greatest and where states are willing to help pay.
States that did not help financially would not receive any train service. “We would run the trains without stopping or opening the doors in those states,” Mineta said.
He said North Carolina was heavily involved in improving city-to-city service, spending $150 million over the last 10 years on buying a railroad, improving track and remodeling stations.
North Carolina spends $4.5 million annually to help subsidize the Piedmont and Carolinian trains, which carry a half-million passengers annually. Those trains, operated by Amtrak, each make a daily round trip between Raleigh and Charlotte, with the Carolinian also serving Washington and New York.
Opponents, who picketed Mineta’s appearance at Charlotte’s North Tryon Street train station, say Bush’s plan would drive Amtrak into bankruptcy and cripple national train service.
“This plan is completely unworkable,” said Bob Bischoff, an organizer of Citizens for Efficient Mass Transit in Charlotte. Many states will not spend money on trains and that will truncate some routes, further reducing ridership, Bischoff said.
North Carolina and other Southern states could work together on regional service, said David King, N.C. deputy transportation secretary.
King wants the federal government to pay half the cost of building a new train and bus station on West Trade Street in uptown, a project that would cost more than $100 million.
Bipartisan Congressional support in the past has provided subsidies for Amtrak. In the Charlotte area, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has not taken a position on Bush’s proposal and Rep. Sue Myrick could not be reached for comment.
Amtrak carries 25 million passengers annually. Last year, 37 percent of Amtrak revenues came from the federal government.