Complain about a product or service

Lone Congressman Can’t Kill Amtrak

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 26, 2007

The House of Representatives voted 328-94 against a move to end Amtrak’s federal subsidies.

The move to strip Amtrak’s support was made by Rep. Jeff Blake, a Republican from Arizona, a state with limited service from the national passenger railroad.

President Bush, a fellow Republican, has also been a vocal opponent of giving federal funding to Amtrak but is willing to provide federal funding for the airline industry.

According to Rep. John Olver of (D-MA), Amtrak has saved $100 million by streamlining sleeping-car service and making cost-saving cuts in food service.

Olver is the sponsor of a transportation appropriations bill that would meet Amtrak’s request for more than $1 billion in federal funding. Bush opposes the measure, which is expected to receive the support of the U.S. Senate.

"There’s no passenger rail system in the world that runs without some operating subsidy," said Olver.

Both houses of Congress have passed bills that would provide more at least $1.3 billion in operational subsidies but that’s $500 million more than President Bush has stipulated for Amtrak in his budget.

According to Amtrak CEO Alex Kummant, the system could keep operating if the congressional legislation, expected to pass sometime in September, evades a promised veto. But Bush, never a friend of Amtrak, says he’ll nix any bills that exceed his budget requests.

The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), would target even more money for Amtrak: $3.3 billion for operating subsidies and $4.9 billion for capital improvements, plus $1.4 billion for upgrades of other urban rail systems.

The grants would require states to supply an additional 20 per cent for each federal dollar.

The Lott-Lautenberg measure would keep Amtrak afloat for four more years, through 2012, rather than the year-to-year funding it usually receives.

Unless it gets funds soon, Amtrak will be forced to slash service even though ridership is rising. The rail network has reported 5.4 per cent more riders in 2007 than it had the year before but also said it is not taking in enough money to upgrade aging equipment, including bridges, tunnels, locomotives, and passenger cars.

If forced to slash service, everything outside the busy northeast corridor (Boston-New York-Washington) could be in jeopardy. That would mean elimination of all passenger train service in the west, midwest, and south – creating a much heavier demand on an airline industry that is already stretched to the breaking point.

Amtrak predicts it will carry 25 million passengers in 2007, as opposed to 24.3 million last year. With better and more reliable engines, cars, and facilities, ridership could rise even more.

Congress has not okayed a multi-year funding program for Amtrak since 2002, when the Republicans were in control. Now that the Democrats are in control of both houses, that could change – although the possibility of a presidential veto could kill any legislation.

The 2008 fiscal budget takes effect on Oct. 1, 2007.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |