(Reuters circulated the following article on March 16.)
WASHINGTON — An effort to defy the White House and back continued subsidies for Amtrak passenger rail service failed in the Senate on Wednesday.
The chamber defeated an amendment to budget legislation proposed by Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, to provide the beleaguered service with $1.4 billion in aid for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
The measure failed 52-46.
The Bush administration has proposed ending subsidies for Amtrak as part of an ambitious plan to change the way passenger rail service is managed and delivered.
Amtrak, which has never made money in its 34-year history and lost more than $600 million last year, is considered to be an outdated and inefficient system by administration budget and transportation planners.
The administration says it will subsidize a passenger rail network only if Amtrak is dismantled and its routes and planning are taken over by states and opened to competitive bidding.