(The following article by Ledyard King appeared in USA Today.)
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s budget plan for next year would eliminate Amtrak’s ”underused and inefficient” long-distance trains. That could reduce, and in some cases eliminate, passenger rail service for communities across the country.
The White House has been pressing for reform of the financially beleaguered, federally subsidized company since summer. But the budget plan President Bush (news – web sites) released Monday is his most pointed call for canceling lines.
Under Bush’s plan, Amtrak would get $900 million in fiscal year 2004, which begins Oct. 1. That’s up 73% from $521 million this year, but it is only about half the subsidy Amtrak says it needs to pay for repairs, upgrades and operating costs.
The proposal does not state which lines should be shut down. But the budget lists, as an example of the subsidies the government pays, six long-distance lines that lost the most money per passenger in 2001.
At the top is the Sunset Limited, which runs from Los Angeles to Orlando. The line lost $347 per rider in 2001.
The other top money-losers: the Pennsylvanian ($292 loss per rider), the Texas Eagle ($258), the Three Rivers ($245), the Southwest Chief ($237) and the Kentucky Cardinal ($212).
Amtrak has announced that the Kentucky Cardinal, which runs from Chicago to Louisville, will be shut down in July.
And beginning next week, the Pennsylvanian will change its route to improve efficiency. It will run from New York City to Pittsburgh rather than from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.
If the five highest money-losing lines were terminated, several communities would no longer have Amtrak service, including Pensacola, Fla.; El Paso; Palm Springs, Calif.; Tucson; Lafayette, La.; and Maricopa, Ariz., which serves Phoenix.
The proposal is expected to draw stiff opposition from Congress, where Amtrak has powerful allies.
Many Midwestern and Western lawmakers support the rail service because their rural constituents want the trains to come to their communities. Many lawmakers in the Northeast also are strong supporters because both they and their constituents use the heavily traveled Boston-New York-Washington lines.
Michael Jackson, deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation, said the proposal wasn’t a hit list of lines the administration wants to shut down.
”The underlying problem is that we just cannot afford to provide subsidies of this sort,” he said.
The administration rescued Amtrak from bankruptcy last summer. As part of a $100 million loan, the administration proposed reforms designed to improve the company’s financial management.
”Without fundamental reform, Amtrak will not function without continued substantial subsidies,” the administration’s budget proposal said.
In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Amtrak President David Gunn said that management reforms since his appointment last spring have reduced the number of company executives; canceled a failed venture into freight shipping; and reached out to states for money to pay for service to their communities — all moves the administration has applauded.
”These reforms show clearly that Amtrak’s administration is not conducting business as usual, and they will continue,” said the statement, from Gunn and Amtrak Board Chairman John Robert Smith.
Ross Capon, director of the National Association of Rail Passengers, said he’s used to yearly budget battles.
”When was I ever happy with an administration’s request for Amtrak? I’m not sure that I ever was,” he said.
”Resources are tight. We’re probably going to have a tough fight no matter what they do.”