(The following editorial was posted on the Republican website on November 23.)
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The decision by Congress to give Amtrak only $1.2 billion for fiscal 2005 reminds us of a bad railroad joke.
Why is the railroad angry?
Because people keep crossing it.
Amtrak President David Gunn asked Congress for $1.8 billion for the next fiscal year, the minimum amount he believes is needed to provide safe and reliable service for the nation’s rail passengers.
Once again, Amtrak will get less than it needs.
Critics in Congress insist that Amtrak stand on its own, yet some members demand that it also provide routes that are sure money losers, as a condition for receiving government funding. As we’ve noted before, that’s no way to run a railroad. There isn’t a national passenger railroad in the world that operates without government support.
Congress keeps crossing Amtrak, giving it just enough money each year so that it will remain in a constant state of disrepair perilously near the edge of collapse.
The U.S. Department of Transportation urged Congress in a report released this week to set a direction for Amtrak or risk a major disruption in service. Congress should put Amtrak on the right track by giving it enough money to make passenger rail an equal partner in the nation’s transportation system.
Amtrak’s public subsidy is a tiny fraction of that offered to the nation’s highways because some members of Congress believe Amtrak’s operations should be self-sustaining. Yet, imagine if someone in Congress suggested that the nation’s highway system turn a profit before it received another dime from Washington. When it comes to the provider of the nation’s only city-to-city rail service, Amtrak is the poor orphan.
Even after the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, when Amtrak was a convenient alternative for millions of Americans who were afraid to fly, Congress still failed to recognize the value of a national passenger railroad and underfunded it that year.
In the wake of the attacks, after the nation became so dependent on Amtrak, it is difficult to understand why Washington isn’t on board.
Amtrak, it seems, lives on the wrong side of the tracks.