(The following editorial was posted on the Atlanta Journal Constitution website on October 17.)
ATLANTA — The Bush administration speaks out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to Amtrak. While publicly claiming to support interstate rail service, the White House has repeatedly tried to starve Amtrak of federal funding and dismantle it piece by piece.
That double-talk reached a low point recently amid reports that the Amtrak board had taken an official vote last month that wasn’t disclosed for weeks, and then only in an obscure newsletter. The four board members — all appointed by the president — quietly decided to divide Amtrak in two, splitting the railway’s popular service between Washington and Boston from its long-distance operations in the rest of the country.
Under the proposal, Amtrak would continue to own and control its rail cars, tracks, bridges and other equipment along the 456-mile Northeast Corridor, which it now shares with numerous freight and commuter rail lines. However, states and cities outside that corridor that wished to continue Amtrak service would be required to pick up more of the operating and maintenance costs.
Breaking Amtrak into its component parts is a bad idea that would needlessly jeopardize the national rail service. How do we know that? Because the board basically reached the same conclusion itself in April.
In a document titled “Strategic Reform Initiatives” the Amtrak board found that “the costs, complexities and risks of such a split within Amtrak outweigh the benefits.”
Those risks and costs are obvious. Residents in parts of the country that aren’t served by a major airport rely heavily on Amtrak. Even with federal grants to subsidize Amtrak service promised by the Bush administration, it’s unlikely local governments could afford to keep it running.
While the Bush administration “zeroed out” funding for Amtrak, Congress has prudently appropriated $1.17 billion to keep the struggling rail service on track, at least for now.
That support must continue. With commercial airlines failing and gasoline prices rising, the American public deserves some straight talk from the White House about how to create the kind of first-rate rail service that our nation so desperately needs.