2001 news archives

Photo gallery

Subscription info

Rail gift shop

Rail Travel News is a twice-monthly print publication, published since Dec 10, 1970.
Publisher: Message Media Company,
PO Box 9007,
Berkeley CA 94709.
Website copyright © 1997-2005 by Message Media Co.

Contact us
Site map

NARP issued the following "fact check" based on Secretary Mineta's comments in Boston March 23. It is also found at www.narprail.org

  Mineta's March 23, 2005, remarks in Boston: "Governor Romney and I agreed that Amtrak urgently needs reform. It is dying, and if we
continue down this current track, there is no hope for recovery...It is important to recognize that a primary reason why Amtrak is dying is its neglect of the Northeast Corridor - its single most valuable asset and single most lucrative market." 

  Fact: Amtrak's Northeast Corridor capital improvement program is in better shape than ever, thanks to President and CEO David L. Gunn.
Amtrak will install 183,000 concrete ties this year, up from 104,000 in FY04, and zero in Y01-FY02. [More details in attachment to Amtrak's February 17, 2005, annual report to Congress at www.amtrak.com (click "Inside Amtrak," then "Government Affairs," then "Other Reports.") Amtrak's board on March 17 approved advance orders for FY06 work that includes replacement of the Thames River bridge in Connecticut; Phase Two of the new Oakland (CA) maintenance facility; the Baltimore tunnel replacement project; and materials for overhauls and remanufacturing work on Amfleet and Superliner cars. 

  Mineta/Boston:  "The Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] owns the tracks and stations on the Northeast Corridor, and they have operated them successfully."

  Fact: Amtrak dispatches trains and maintains tracks on the Massachusetts part of the Boston-Washington Northeast Corridor, as on the rest of the Corridor (except for New Haven-New Rochelle).

  Mineta/Boston:  "We [would transfer] the tracks and stations owned by Amtrak today to state and local control. Commuter trains constitute the majority of traffic on Amtrak's tracks, so it just makes sense to put state and local officials in charge of the tracks and stations that are so vital to their economies."

  Fact: The majority of train-miles on the Northeast Corridor are Amtrak's. Amtrak passenger trains are the only passenger trains on these Corridor segments: Springfield-New Haven, rovidence-New London, Newark (DE)-Perryville (MD), Harrisburg-Coatesville. (There are more Amtrak-only segments on weekends, when some commuter services do not run.) 

  Only Amtrak trains run the length of the corridor, across territory shared with multiple regional transit authorities. Viable intercity service requires pathways for hourly "memory pattern" services, pathways that would be jeopardized if the regional transit authorities exercised more control over scheduling. For more detail on corridor usage, go to www.narprail.org click on "Resources," "More Resources," then scroll down to "Formal comments and selected letters written by NARP to public officials" to our October 6, 2000 comments to the Amtrak Reform Council.

  Mineta/Boston: "Massachusetts also provides us with an example of how competition can revitalize and reenergize rail service. Three years ago, the Commonwealth shopped around for its commuter train service. A private company won that competition, and despite predictions of doom and gloom, the T's commuter trains have been a reliable and profitable system ever since."

  Fact:  MBTA commuter trains are not "profitable." Amtrak no longer operates the service partly because of its own choice not to bid in light of the liability provisions MBTA sought. 

Mineta/Boston:  "Amtrak may in fact be America's last monopoly. Today, if the Commonwealth of Massachusetts wanted a better deal on Boston-to-Springfield trains, it could only choose from Amtrak or... Amtrak. Our plan will instead allow states to choose who runs their intercity trains. Amtrak will compete with private companies and public operators to run routes. And this healthy competition will give Amtrak a reason to run the trains on time, to keep them clean, and to provide better service."

  Fact:  Most tracks Amtrak uses, including Boston-Springfield, are owned or dispatched by private freight railroads, who strongly oppose
competitive bidding for passenger service. The "Association of American Railroads Principles Regarding Amtrak Restructuring" include this:
"Safety and the integrated nature of railroading require that intercity passenger rail be provided by one entity - Amtrak.  Further, Amtrak's right of access, preferential access rates, and operating priority should not be transferred or franchised." 

  Speculation: In this matter, the railroads almost certainly would beat back any attempt to change federal law in a way that they regard as hostile. Indeed, the administration's own 2003 "reform" legislation would end Amtrak's "right of access" to freight tracks except for trains (routes and frequencies) in existence at time of enactment.

  Mineta/Boston:  "I reassured Governor Romney that, under our plan, the Department of Transportation will continue to invest in intercity
passenger rail. But instead of handing the taxpayers' money to a company in Washington, D.C., we will partner with states so that investments are made in repairing, rebuilding, and improving the Nation's networks of tracks, tunnels, bridges, and stations."

  Fact:  Mineta sits on the board of the "company in Washington," whose four-member/three-vacancy board now consists entirely of Bush Administration appointees. Only that company has the experience of maintaining and running an elderly electric railroad, under the highly-regarded management team that David Gunn brought in.

  Comment: "Partnering with states" is code for shifting some of the financial burden to the states. There is no evidence that OMB will change its position on intercity passenger rail funding for FY06. It is unlikely that Congress would restore Amtrak funding if it is understood that trains would only serve blue states such as in the Northeast Corridor, California, Washington and around Chicago, and it is not clear that even those states could absorb new cost burdens. Mineta testified March 15 before a Senate subcommittee that "we know that there is going to be an added burden on the states through the reform legislation."

  Mineta/Boston:  "Washington state, North Carolina, and my own home state of California already have been making substantial investments on their own to upgrade tracks and improve service. Under our plan, for the first time, they will be eligible for federal matching grants. These capital grants are the key to revitalizing passenger rail travel in America. When the Nation's tracks are maintained, when they can handle state-of-the-art passenger train service, when service is reliable, then ridership will increase, making trains more popular and more profitable."

  Fact: If, as the administration proposes, existing federal operating grants (provided through Amtrak) come to a halt, chances for continuation of intercity passenger rail service will dim greatly. 

Amtrak issued this statement March 23 in response to reporter inquiries:
"In addition to the work already underway on the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak plans to spend nearly $2.5 billion in federal grants over the next five years on track, bridges, tunnels, signals, and other facilities, including the Thames River Bridge, New Jersey interlockings and Hudson River tunnel projects. This plan has been approved by the Amtrak board of directors, of which Secretary Mineta is a member. Currently, thousands of Amtrak Engineering Department employees in the Northeast Corridor supervise and perform this work while the corridor is used by multiple railroads, including Amtrak's own high-speed operations. Plans to transfer this responsibility and the obligation to fund it will certainly be scrutinized by all passenger rail policymakers and stakeholders in the months to come."
Source: NARP

Join or donate to the National Association of Railroad Passengers.

 Help the victims of the South Asia earthquake and tsunami:
Donate to tsunami relief
Site map