WASHINGTON, D.C. — New Jersey, as dependent as any other state on Amtrak service, is bracing to fight for continued survival of the national passenger railroad, a wire service reported.
Several Garden State lawmakers blasted the Bush administration Thursday for proposing that states take over some of the responsibilities for passenger rail.
They also urged the administration to help Amtrak solve a budget crisis that could lead to a nationwide rail shutdown starting next week.
In a letter to Gov. James E. McGreevey, Sens. Robert Torricelli and Jon Corzine wrote that Amtrak’s immediate cash crisis and the administration’s reform proposals “could have dire consequences both in the short term and over time for mass transportation in New Jersey.”
New Jersey Transportation Commissioner James P. Fox said 80,000 passengers use Amtrak each day to travel between New Jersey and New York City.
Fox said an Amtrak shutdown would “put more people on highways and cause a nightmare in terms of people traveling to home and to work.”
He called the Bush plan an assault on the Northeast.
“To say the federal government does not have responsibility to subsidize trains is an outrage,” Fox said.
Rep. Mike Ferguson, R-Warren, vice chairman of the House Transportation subcommittee on railroads, criticized the administration for not acting more aggressively to help Amtrak avert a shutdown.
But he also said the Bush plan has “some interesting and imaginative long-term solutions” that are worth studying.
Rep. Rush Holt, D-Pennington, said it is “crazy” to expect states to take primary responsibility for intercity passenger rail.
“If there ever was an interstate responsibility, it would be rail travel,” Holt said.
Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, and Rob Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, also panned the Bush plan.
“I am a firm believer in a federally subsidized passenger railroad system and I support leaving Amtrak intact,” Andrews said.