WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amtrak President George Warrington said on February 1 that he will shut down most of the Amtrak system on Sept. 30 unless Congress appropriates at least $1.2 billion to keep the system going while the government debates the long-term future of passenger trains, the Washington Post reports.
Even if Congress matches this year’s $521 million appropriation in fiscal 2003, Warrington said, Amtrak could operate only the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor and state-supported services, most of them in California. Anticipating a shutdown, he said Amtrak on March 29 will post the required six-month discontinuance notices on all long-distance trains.
Warrington also announced the layoff of 300 managers and 700 union employees and a 23 percent cutback in capital improvement projects, including equipment overhauls, new technology and station improvements. Station hours of operation will be reduced at 73 locations, he said, and the company will freeze or reduce hiring, nonessential training, travel, computers, and other materials and supplies.
Warrington’s statement came just six days before the Amtrak Reform Council is expected to make its recommendation on restructuring Amtrak. Hearings on Amtrak’s reauthorization are expected to start late this month in the Senate. A House hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14 on the Amtrak Reform Council plan.
Warrington said he could keep the whole current system going next year for $1.2 billion, but that would be only a temporary fix. He said Amtrak has dropped behind in capital spending by $5.8 billion, and Congress must decide whether Amtrak is a public service or a for-profit corporation, which he said it can never be if it must operate a nationwide system.
“We cannot be all things to all people,” Warrington said at a news conference.
In 1997 Congress required that Amtrak be “operationally self-sufficient” by this December. Several government investigating agencies, including Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth M. Mead, have said that won’t be possible without “draconian” cutbacks that would threaten the future of the passenger train.
Mead said yesterday that Amtrak had no choice other than to do what it did yesterday, and he wished that Amtrak had done so much earlier, before its system and finances deteriorated to this point.
“It’s a call that should have been made some time ago,” Mead said. “Amtrak took about as much rope as there was.”
Amtrak’s only other option, Mead said, would be to continue to mortgage whatever property it has left and to draw down a $250 million line of credit. This would be a much worse option, he said.
Warrington could not say what services might be cut if Amtrak received more than $521 million but less than $1.2 billion. But he said that in general it saves no money to cut a few long-distance trains because the cost of terminals and reservation centers remains the same. The only way to save any significant amount of money is to shut down the entire system, he said.
Initial reaction from Capitol Hill was heavily pro-Amtrak, although Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, accused Warrington of blaming policymakers for Amtrak’s management problems. Young, who has strongly supported the passenger train although not Amtrak as a company, called Warrington’s comments “irresponsible.”
Rep. James L. Oberstar (Minn.), ranking Democratic member of the committee, said he will fight to get Amtrak the money it needs. Rep. Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.), chairman of the committee’s railroad subcommittee, said it is “imperative” that Congress support Amtrak as a viable transportation alternative.
Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) issued statements strongly supporting Amtrak and saying they will work for more funding.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers called the current system “skeletal,” while the U.S. Conference of Mayors supported Warrington and said he was only saying what mayors had known for some time: that Amtrak can’t survive on its current level of funding.