(The following editorial appeared on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website on August 8.)
ATLANTA — There’s little disagreement that Amtrak is broken and needs to be fixed. But a Bush administration plan to starve the national railway to death and auction its remains to the highest bidder is short-sighted and wrong.
Despite carrying a record 25 million passengers last year and a national poll showing Amtrak has widespread support, the railroad continues to be bad-mouthed by the administration and others who complain that it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.
After Amtrak officials requested $1.8 billion in federal funding this year, the White House countered with a $360 million “drop dead” proposal that would have essentially shut down the railroad’s 15 long-distance routes except for portions of the popular service between Washington, New York and Boston.
The presidential nose-thumbing was no surprise. Under the flimsy guise of reforming Amtrak, the White House has in recent years proposed turning over control of the railroad’s most cost-effective routes to private contractors, leaving the rest to those cities and states willing to pay to continue service.
That’s unlikely, however, because passenger rail service is a dicey business that few for-profit companies would undertake without deep public subsidies. Furthermore, cash-strapped states shouldn’t be left to shoulder the burden of interstate transportation.
Congress, thankfully, seems inclined to keep Amtrak from going bust; the House approved about $1.18 billion while the Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to $1.45 billion. A deal on the final amount will likely be struck when lawmakers return from vacation.
In addition, a bill introduced last month by Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) would commit the federal government to funding Amtrak for six years.
During that period, federal subsidies for Amtrak would increase to about $1.9 billion a year, allowing the railroad to fund overdue improvements and service enhancements. In a reasonable offset, federal subsidies for Amtrak salaries, food service and other costs would be cut to about $556 million annually.
While far better than the Bush plan, the Senate bill isn’t perfect. Freight lines would be allowed to bid for Amtrak’s passenger routes as a means of encouraging competition, which makes sense. But to truly level the playing field, Congress would need to ensure that union employees of Amtrak and its prospective competitors were bound by the same set of work rules, which is no mean feat.
Also missing from the bill is sufficient funding to improve railroad security. In the wake of the terrorist bombings in London and Madrid, girding the nation’s transportation infrastructure against attack will require much more than the $123 million in the committee’s plan.
When airline flights were grounded in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Amtrak kept running and kept the nation moving. With those and other threats to our national security, the United States should invest more in this vital transportation asset, not doom it to failure.
“National rail service isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity for giving Americans another transportation choice, while reducing traffic, air pollution and our dependence on foreign oil,” said Lautenberg. “Amtrak is always coming forward with a cup in its hand. We can’t do it that way forever.”