(The following story by Cathy Woodruff appeared on the Times Union website on August 14.)
ALBANY, N.Y. — The state Department of Transportation is suing Amtrak, claiming that the national passenger railroad has failed to deliver on its promise to bring high-speed rail service to New York state.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, begins a new chapter in the six-year saga of attempts to get fast trains on track between the Capital Region and New York City. Announced in 1998 by Gov. George Pataki, the program was to slice 20 minutes from the two-hour, 20-minute travel time from Rensselaer to New York City, using seven rebuilt 1970s-era Turboliners that were to roar over upgraded tracks and bridges.
“What we’re seeking to do is to get Amtrak to live up to its obligations,” said DOT spokeswoman Jennifer K. Post. “They have a contractual commitment to this program, and we are looking for that program to function.”
The DOT lawsuit asks the court to order Amtrak to carry out its part of a $185 million high-speed rail contract.
Amtrak’s responsibilities were to include installation of a crucial second track between Albany and Schenectady, ending a bothersome bottleneck in the New York-to-Buffalo freight and passenger route, and a variety of technical and financial contributions to the rebuilding of the turbo trains by Super Steel Schenectady.
As an alternative, the suit seeks $477.3 million from Amtrak. That is the state’s estimate of what Amtrak’s full contribution to a successful high-speed rail program would be worth, including the $300 million cost of operating seven Turboliners for 15 years.
Amtrak has put just two of the Turboliners in service so far, but sidelined them in June, citing inadequate air conditioning.
But even when they do run, the trains cannot approach their top speeds of 125 mph because track improvements called for in the contract were not done.
An Amtrak spokesman declined comment, saying company officials had not yet seen the lawsuit and the railroad does not generally comment on pending litigation.
Amtrak publicly acknowledged its desire to pull out of the New York deal nearly seven months ago, saying it could no longer afford it.
“Amtrak found itself in a financial condition that made it doubtful whether it could continue as the national passenger rail company,” let alone invest in major infrastructure upgrades, spokesman Cliff Black said in December.
In March, Amtrak CEO and President David Gunn said he expected that just four of the turbos would be used, with each of the five-car trains would be expanded with an extra car.
Since then, DOT and Amtrak have said they were working to craft a modified agreement.
“We’ve worked diligently with Amtrak to attempt to implement this agreement and enhance passenger rail service across the state,” Post said Friday. “Unfortunately, those talks were not successful and we were left with no alternative but to sue.”
Post said DOT was willing to make “a variety of significant concessions,” in view of Amtrak’s financial problems, including reducing the number of trains to be reconditioned. There were two sticking points, however.
The first was Amtrak’s demand that the state insure the trains and pay for future repairs, Post said. The second was a demand that the state cover the extra cost of running the more powerful Turboliners.
A state comptroller’s audit released in June 2003 was highly critical of the DOT’s handling of the Turboliner project, saying the department embarked on it without proper engineering expertise or experience. The cost of rebuilding the trains, originally pegged at $53 million, had swollen to more than $74 million.
In its lawsuit, the state alleges that Amtrak’s foot-dragging, failure to supply critical parts and payments and failure to improve tracks are the reason New York’s high-speed rail program is in jeopardy.
In addition to the Schenectady double track, the infrastructure work assigned to Amtrak included a new Livingston Avenue Bridge providing two-way traffic over the Hudson River at Albany and a freight bypass at the Rensselaer Rail Station.