(Reuters distributed the following article on October 23.)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved $1.34 billion for Amtrak this year, but the final amount is up to congressional negotiators who must consider a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would give the railroad some $400 million less.
The Senate amount was included in a larger bill funding transportation and Treasury Department programs for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Amtrak has said the $900 million approved by the House in September and supported by the White House would force it to shut down. But the nation’s only city-to-city passenger railroad said it could live with the Senate figure even though it had requested much more money.
House and Senate negotiators will determine the final amount.
“The (Senate) level will allow us to operate the existing system and hopefully not worsen the amount of deferred maintenance,” Amtrak President David Gunn said in a letter to lawmakers before Senate approval.
Gunn had requested $1.8 billion to fund operations and increase spending on track, train cars and other improvements he says the railroad desperately needs.
The Bush administration has proposed dismantling Amtrak and giving states responsibility for determining the size and frequency of rail service. Some Amtrak routes could be opened to private competition under that plan.
Congress has responded coolly so far to that idea and is wrestling with other proposals that would lay out long-term national rail priorities with Amtrak as a central component. There is no timetable for completing work on that bill.
Amtrak serves about 65,000 passengers daily on 265 trains nationwide. It has never made money in its 32-year history and is mired in debt.