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PO Box 9007,
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     It has come to light that DOT Secretary Norman Mineta phoned Amtrak President David Gunn and his Board of Directors and instructed them not to submit a budget request for the next fiscal year. An Amtrak spokesperson said that the Board had been undecided about whether to submit a budget request.

AMTRAK BOARD WAFFLES ABOUT 2006 BUDGET (Feb 21)

     The Amtrak Board of Directors, which currently consists of four Bush Administration appointees, has alarmed rail advocates by missing a Feb 15 deadline for submitting a budget proposal for Amtrak. Rail advocates interpret this as indicating that the Board is leaning toward the Administration plan of vastly reorganizing Amtrak with an aim to ending the national system and keeping only a few corridors in heavily populated areas. The Administration aims to force Amtrak into bankruptcy in order to take control of the rail corporation and trim it down or kill it off.

     On the other hand, 35 Senators have prepared a letter highly supportive of full funding for Amtrak in the 2006 fiscal year, which begins Oct 1.

DOT SECRETARY MINETA DELIVERS MAJOR STATEMENT ON BUSH PROPOSAL FOR AMTRAK

   DOT Secretary Norman Mineta held a press conference Feb 14 at Chicago Union Station while rail advocates demonstrated outside for full Amtrak funding. Mineta's remarks can be found here: http://www.dot.gov/affairs/minetasp02142005.htm

   Responding to Mineta, the National Association of Railroad Passengers said "NARP is encouraged to hear that the DOT is supporting the concept of a federal funding match for rail infrastructure investment. However, we are concerned about many other elements of Mineta's speech, including the statements that Amtrak:
  a. '(runs) trains that nobody rides between cities that nobody wants to travel between' (despite clear statistical proof to the contrary--both in ridership and passenger-miles) and
  b. that Amtrak 'could actually save money by not running the train and buying the riders an airplane ticket instead' (which ignores the fact that hundreds of Amtrak cities not only have no commercial airline service, but do not have an airport within fifty miles of their city and that many Americans cannot or choose not to fly)."

   The Mineta talk was in part an apparent effort to counter the many voices that quickly arose in strong support of Amtrak after the Feb. 7 announcement of Bush's zero Amtrak budget. NARP also reported that a letter with the signatures of 35 Senators to Senate budget leaders in support of full Amtrak funding was delivered today. The letter was written by Senators Burns and Lautenberg.

   Though Amtrak's budget may be zeroed out, highways are proposed to receive a massive funding increase. 

   While the DOT is complaining about "nobody" riding trains, the fact is that Amtrak patronage has increased to a new record level in the past year. This fact has been well-publicized in the media, and may be a strong talking point for Amtrak support. Not only ridership but also political support from citizens, state and local officials has been steadily increasing, making it harder to kill Amtrak without vast political fallout.

BUSH BUDGET WITH NO AMTRAK MONEY GALVANIZES SUPPORTERS

The National Association of RR Passengers issued this statement on Feb 7 (revised Feb 8):

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     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.

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