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   Nothing like it has been seen before in the annals of American passenger railroading. The Governor of Montana and Amtrak are holding a whistle- stop tour today on the route of the Empire Builder to drum up support for Amtrak funding.

  On the eve of this tour, DOT Secretary Norman Mineta held a telephone conference call with reporters in Montana in another attempt to persuade them that the Administration is not trying to kill Amtrak off, but only to improve the mobility of Montanans by forcing them to pay unstated amounts for unidentified "corridor" rail service.

  To rail advocates, it seemed odd that Mineta was choosing one of Amtrak's most successful trains to badmouth. If it were the Sunset Limited, a long-distance train with problems, Mineta might have a bit more believable case. 
                              * * *
 Here is the prepared text of Mineta's conference call May 31:

Thank you all for joining me today. I wanted the opportunity to speak with all of you since I am unable to be in Montana tomorrow and Thursday
with the Governor for his Whistle Stop Tour.

I want to discuss President Bush's plans for Amtrak--plans that will save Amtrak and breathe new life into intercity passenger rail in this
country and the state of Montana.

The bottom line is that Amtrak is failing to service all Montana residents in a truly meaningful way.

As you know, the only Amtrak train that runs in Montana is the long distance Empire Builder which operates on a line that was built in the
late 1800's and hasn't changed much since.

In fact the 12 Montana cities with stops on the Empire Builder represent just three and a half percent of Montana's population. The train
bypasses the entire southern part of the state, including residents living in Billings, Great Falls, and Missoula.

In addition to skipping much of the state, the Empire Builder runs just once a day in each direction and is late over one third of the time.

As a result fewer than 13,000 Montanans are able to use the train to travel within the state each year.

When you look at those numbers, you have to wonder if Montana is getting the service it deserves.

I understand the significance of the Empire Builder, and while it doesn't lose as much money as other long distance lines, it still loses
money. Last year it was $75 million in the red, costing Amtrak and Montana tax payers an average of $172 per paying passenger.

Montana isn't the only state to get a bad deal from Amtrak. Nationwide Amtrak lost over $908 million last year on its long distance trains,
costing Amtrak and tax payers an average of $214 per paying passenger.

These trains cost millions to operate, keeping Amtrak from providing shorter distance, more frequent corridor service in states like Montana.

For example, the Alaska Railroad runs long distance trains that combine first-class travel cars owned and operated by cruise lines, along with
its own cars.

This innovative approach allows Alaskans to travel from one town to the next while bringing cruise passengers to places that ships are not able
to reach.

The Alaska Railroad's model works, bringing profits to the company and travel and tourism dollars to landlocked communities.

And there is no reason that Amtrak could not embrace this same entrepreneurial spirit and find a better business model for running trains in places like Montana that service local travelers and bring in valuable tourism dollars.

But candidly, Amtrak is not operating like a business because it doesn't have to. Every year, taxpayers have been forced to provide more than one billion dollars for Amtrak.

And Amtrak, instead of making prudent investments in support of passenger rail service, insists on wasting its money on running trains
in a way that has long since ceased to make any business sense.

People in Montana, after all, want the opportunity to take the train to shopping centers or the doctor-- a job better served by a corridor train
running shorter routes, more often, not a long distance route running on a timetable determined by the bigger cities along the line.

The President and I believe in the value of inter-city passenger rail and that is why a month ago, we sent an Amtrak reform bill to the Congress.

This plan will give Montana and other states the freedom and the resources that they need to make passenger rail work for their residents.

Under our proposal all states will be eligible for federal matching grants to improve rail systems and would introduce competition to provide a powerful incentive to Amtrak to deliver a reliable, on-time service that actually meets travelers' needs.

Our plan will make intercity passenger rail healthy and strong, well into the future. Ours is an optimistic vision of the future of rail travel in America, and a vision worth the taxpayers support.
 
 
 
 

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AMTRAK APRIL 25 SCHEDULE CHANGES
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