(The following article by Mac Daniel of the Boston Globe was posted on April 30.)
WASHINGTON — A top transportation official in the Bush administration proposed a national rail plan yesterday that would drastically restructure Amtrak, the long-suffering national rail carrier, as a for-profit corporation. The proposal could mean the end of Amtrak’s long-distance rail routes.
Under the plan announced by Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson before the Senate Commerce Committee, funding of Amtrak’s money-losing long-distance routes would become less dependent on federal sources and more dependent on a combination of federal, state, and private funding.
Passenger rail advocates say that such changes would probably curtail many national rail routes and could cut national rail service from 48 states to 21. ”The comment that the states are going to fund the long-distance routes is a polite way of saying let’s get rid of the long distance routes,” said Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.
Jackson also suggested establishing a federal-state group to split off and oversee the popular Northeast Rail Corridor. The Northeast Corridor Compact would be funded by federal grants and have the authority to fund capital projects along the popular rail corridor stretching from Washington, D.C., to Boston.
At the same time, Jackson suggested making Amtrak a for-profit company that would contract with the new entity to run trains in the corridor.
He said the administration will probably issue more specific proposed changes in about two months. Still, he said, changes must be made.
”Amtrak’s core business design suffers from structural rot,” Jackson said. ”For decades, the federal government has embraced perverse incentives that consistently impel Amtrak to make irrational business decisions.”
While Amtrak serves a valuable role in the transportation system, the states served should have more say and more fiscal responsibility for service, he said. Jackson’s remarks opened the door to private rail companies to begin providing such service.
In the end, however, the states would bear more responsiblity for rail funding when state spending on transportation is being cut back nationwide. ”It would be irresponsible to eliminate Amtrak altogether, but it would be equal folly not to reform a corporation suffering such a persistent and thoroughgoing crisis,” he said.
Amtrak will receive a $1.05 billion subsidy this year after losing more than $1 billion in 2002, according to federal officials.
Amtrak is a federal corporation established to provide the nation’s only city-to-city rail service. Its current five year authorization expires in September. Congress is weighing proposals to reorganize the railroad, as well as chart a new course for a national rail system. The Bush administration has said it will approve Amtrak’s reauthorization at about $900 million this year, a figure that Amtrak officials would like to see doubled.
”Any changes to Amtrak’s national system mandate or any fundamental shift in how US intercity passenger trains are operated and paid for must come from public deba te among users, the states, and the federal government,” said Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel.
Jackson’s plan contrasts sharply with a plan released last week by Amtrak that concentrates on fixing much of the rail system’s antiquated infrastructure and freezing new rail services nationwide. ”The word `reform’ is like catnip to those interested in a quick fix to Amtrak,” said Amtrak president David Gunn. ”It’s going to take years to reach a conclusion, and meanwhile the ties are still rotting.”