(The following editorial was posted on the Detroit Free-Press website on February 17.)
President George W. Bush’s plan to give Amtrak about half of what it needs next year is a train wreck waiting to happen.
Nearly half of the $1.8 billion Amtrak President David Gunn requested of Congress would replace dangerously worn track, repair bridges and overhaul rail cars and other equipment. Bush’s $900-million proposal would leave the railroad almost nothing to make those long-delayed repairs.
Gunn wasn’t bluffing when he said the Bush plan would shut the railroad down, just as more passengers are riding. A record 25 million people will take Amtrak during the current budget year.
Gunn, who took over the railroad 20 months ago, has improved service, cut more than 3,000 jobs and eliminated unprofitable express freight and mail services.
Congress is right to push for more accountability from the previously mismanaged railroad. But Amtrak’s biggest problem now is a lack of dedicated funding and a commitment to a national rail policy. Those failures will continue to cost the nation in highway congestion and wear, dependence on foreign oil and dirty air.
The current debate ignores the fact that even the best run and most used public transportation systems need operating subsidies. Highways and aviation get a lot more help, and few people complain about that. Consider that the entire $1.8 billion Amtrak is requesting would build only about 25 miles of urban freeway.
Amtrak must continue to improve, but not giving the railroad enough money to make necessary repairs will just make it impossible to further improve service.