(The following editorial was posted on the Asbury Park Press website on November 15.)
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — The firing of Amtrak President David Gunn, a strong advocate of a national rail network, is bad news for the 185,000 New Jersey commuters who ride NJ Transit trains along Amtrak tracks. It removes a vocal opponent of the Bush administration’s plans to split off the Northeast Corridor to federal-state management, with the states sharing in maintaining the heavily traveled lines that Amtrak would continue to operate.
It is an arrangement New Jersey cannot afford. With its Transportation Trust Fund nearly depleted, the state is struggling to keep NJ Transit afloat. It doesn’t have any extra money to take on partial maintenance of Amtrak lines and equipment.
Keeping Amtrak alive would keep NJ Transit alive. Shutting down the commuter rail line would force its riders onto the roads, further taxing the state’s highways, bridges and air quality — and drivers’ patience. Businesses also depend on the Amtrak lines to get their products to market.
The Gunn dismissal last week is being played out in Washington amid fears by rail advocates that President Bush wants to eliminate federal subsidies to Amtrak and privatize the nation’s rail system. But ending the federal aid does not have support in Congress. The House has approved nearly $1.2 billion for Amtrak this budget year. The Senate earlier this month authorized more than $11 billion over the next six years to reduce Amtrak’s debt.
Amtrak’s managers must monitor its performance and oversee its finances to help stem its operating losses, as recommended by the General Accountability Office. But the national rail system that serves 25 million passengers a year must be saved. New Jersey’s congressional delegation must join the fight. It can’t allow its colleagues or the Bush administration to forget that Amtrak is an essential element in the engine that drives the state’s economy.