BUSH BUDGET WITH NO AMTRAK MONEY GALVANIZES
SUPPORTERS
Amtrak's David Gunn on Feb 7 issued the following statement
to Amtrak employees:
Dear Amtrak Co-workers:
Earlier today, President Bush sent to Congress his
proposed budget for FY ’06. It provides no funding for
Amtrak. In contrast, this year we are spending $1.4
billion, of which $1.2 billion is from a federal
appropriation to support our operations and capital
programs across the country.
The President’s proposal does provide $360 million to
the Surface Transportation Board for continued commuter
and freight operations on the NEC only after forcing
an Amtrak bankruptcy. It also isn’t accompanied by any
kind of plan for how Amtrak could continue operations.
In a word, they have no plan for Amtrak other than bankruptcy.
Obviously, the proposal is irresponsible and a surprising
disappointment. It doesn’t acknowledge all the hard work
you’ve done over the past two years to run a tighter and
better ship. Our costs are more under control than ever
before - that’s quite an accomplishment.
It is critical that reforms and improvements must continue,
however. Amtrak’s management is engaged with its board,
the Department of Transportation and others for this purpose.
That work continues. We are committed to an efficient and
productive rail passenger system. The plan to force us into
bankruptcy would be counterproductive to this goal.
The President's proposal is only the start of a long
legislative process, and we are taking it very seriously.
This process has a lot of twists and turns, and it always t
akes six to nine months to sort out. It won’t have any
impact through the ’05 fiscal year, but there’s going to
be very little cash left at the end of this year. Rest
assured that after all we have been through, I am committed
to doing everything I can to secure adequate funding for ‘06.
We have strong support in Congress and a lot of support
across the country.
The best thing that all employees can do is to do their
jobs professionally, delivering the highest quality
passenger service we know how. If we really care about
our passengers, others will care about us. As I travel
in the Midwest this week, you can bet that I’m going
to be looking at service standards. Stay safe out there,
and keep your heads up.
The National Association of RR Passengers issued this statement
on Feb 7 (revised Feb 8):
2006 DOT BUDGET WOULD ELIMINATE ALL INTERCITY PASSENGER
RAIL SERVICE
The Administration's Fiscal 2006 budget proposal eliminates all funding
for Amtrak. The National Association of Railroad Passengers condemns
this proposal as radical and irresponsible.
It would end virtually all intercity rail passenger service in the
nation, including through service on the Northeast Corridor between
Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. This places the burden of funding
intercity passenger rail entirely on states that do not have the
financial resources to assume such an unfunded mandate.
States with limited resources would place first priority on saving the
commuter operations within their borders. The $360 million the
Administration proposes is to allow freight and local commuter rail
operations over the Northeast Corridor to continue. It is not clear
that
this would be enough to accomplish these purposes, and not even the
Administration claims it would allow continuation of any Amtrak trains.
Past experience suggests that the only way to fund services which cross
multiple state lines is at the federal level.
The Bush Administration misleads the public by saying that a
"restructuring" based on zero federal support "should lead to the
development of short-corridor routes between major population centers."
On the contrary, the existing system has provided the framework and
infrastructure for the significant corridor development we have seen
on
the West Coast, the Midwest, and in upstate New York.
Eliminating Amtrak would jeopardize many of those improvements, and
would preclude the possibility of improvements elsewhere. It completely
disregards the nation's growing need for the rail travel alternative.
Even if every short-distance corridor survived, the resulting "network"
would be four isolated units serving a total of 21 states. Travel
options would be dramatically reduced even in those states.
Administration claims that an Amtrak bankruptcy would eliminate
"inefficient operations" and lead to the emergence of a "more rational"
passenger rail system that served routes where there is "real ridership
demand" and "support from local governments--such as the Northeast
Corridor" are false.
Clearly they are targeting Amtrak's long distance services and
misrepresenting crucial facts.
*Far from lacking demand, the long distance routes handle 59% more
travel than the Northeast Corridor (NEC). In FY 2004, the long-distance
routes accounted for 2.7 billion passenger-miles, the Northeast Corridor
for 1.7 billion. (A passenger-mile is one passenger traveling one mile.)
*The per-passenger-mile operating grant required for conventional,
Northeast Corridor trains is comparable to that of the long-distance
network. It is a common misconception that the long distance trains
are
"money losers" while the NEC trains are "profitable." None is, including
the new high speed Acela Express.
*The amount of federal funding needed to run the entire, nationwide
network is only about 20% greater than what would be required to run
the
Northeast Corridor alone.
The Administration compares $521 million in FY 2001 federal funding
with
$1.2 billion in FY 2004 to imply that things have skyrocketted out
of
control. The numbers below show that FY 2001 was the aberration, not
FY
2005. (The first two years also include separate Northeast Corridor
capital funding.)
Federal funding for Amtrak
FY 1997 -- $842.5 million
FY 1998 -- $1.7 billion
FY 1999 -- $1.7 billion
FY 2000 -- $571 million
FY 2001 -- $521 million
FY 2002 -- $826.5 million
FY 2003 -- $1.0 billion
FY 2004 -- $1.2 billion
FY 2005 -- $1.2 billion
The low funding in FY 2000-2001 allowed for no capital investment and
helped create today's deferred capital problem.
One indication that the Administration is not serious about intercity
passenger rail of any kind is the zeroing out of the Federal Railroad
Administration's "next generation high speed rail" programs of research,
development, planning, and technology demonstration. This modest program
was funded at $39 million in FY04 and $31 million in FY05.
-----------------------------------------
Individual rail advocates, besides contacting
their legislators with messages of support for Amtrak, can join the National
Association of Railroad Passengers, the only nationwide organization
fully devoted to advocating Amtrak support.
RAIL ADVOCATES VOW TO FIGHT BUSH MOVE TO
ZERO OUT AMTRAK (Feb 4)
GLENDALE METROLINK WRECK STIMULATES SAFETY
DISCUSSIONS
AMTRAK SCHEDULE CHANGES EXPECTED IN APRIL
AN AMTRAK UPDATE ON WESTERN TRAIN PROBLEMS
UNION PACIFIC STATEMENT ON TRACK DAMAGE
HUGE STORM DISRUPTS TRAFFIC IN CALIFORNIA'S
SIERRA (Jan 10)
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