AMTK is Liked in Oregon

[kenneo]

From the Portland Oregonian
Editorials

Amtrak is always the caboose

The national passenger railway system comes last once again as Congress prepares a massive transportation bill

02/15/04

While the White House and Congress argued this week about whether to lavish as much as $378 billion on transportation projects in a bloated highway bill, both sides seemed prepared to make Amtrak tootle along with far less money than last year.

That's simply not good enough for a nationwide transportation system that will be used by an estimated 25 million people this year.

Amtrak President David Gunn asked for $1.8 billion for fiscal 2005, including about $800 million for long-overdue maintenance projects, such as replacing rails and ties, repairing bridges and refurbishing sleeper cars.
The Bush administration proposed giving Amtrak $900 million -- half of what the national passenger railway says it needs.

Gunn calls the president's budget proposal a "shutdown number" for Amtrak. Congress won't let Amtrak come to a complete halt -- passenger rail is too popular with the public for that. However, lawmakers have shown before they are perfectly willing to starve the railway system to the point where it can do little more than limp along.

Several train supporters in the Senate scrambled this week to get some intercity rail money tucked into the huge highway bill before Congress. However, that bill is headed straight for a presidential veto, and it's likely that when lawmakers cut it down to size, the rail money will be among the first to go.

Leaders in Congress and the White House still are unwilling to make the same commitment to railroad infrastructure as they do to highways and airport runways.

Meanwhile, there never has been a stronger case for Amtrak. The rail system is setting records for ridership. New financial controls put in place by Gunn last year have left the railroad with $148 million in the bank. Gunn has cut Amtrak's work force by 3,500.

Now Amtrak needs a major federal investment that would allow it to make long-overdue capital improvements and expand service in key intercity corridors. For example, Oregon, Washington and Amtrak have agreed on a much-needed plan to improve rail service between Portland and Seattle. Everyone agrees the rail service would help reduce the terrible congestion on Interstate 5 between the two cities. All that's needed now is a commitment of money from the federal government.

Congress and the White House are debating spending between $258 billion and $378 billion in a budget-busting highway bill that might go far beyond available gas-tax revenues. Yet they seem to begrudge every dollar spent on passenger rail.

Amtrak must be more than an afterthought in the debate about investments in the nation's transportation system. For millions of Americans, passenger rail is an essential service.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

It should be noted the Senate's Transportation Efficiency Act reauthorization bill with the $258 billion highhway tag passed the Senate 76 - 21 which is a veto-proof majority. That bill has $2 billion for Amtrak which is much more than it ever got. So what's to worry? The House wants to give Amtrak $900 million so there will be a compromise somewhere, and Amtrak is going to have to live on what it gets. There are some essential intercity passenger rail services and there are some essential repairs that must be made so Amtrak will have to select the most important items, and put the money there. In my experience as a retired Federal Government manager you don't get all you ask for. There is an old saying,"On Wall Street bulls get something, bears get something, but pigs get slaughtered. Amtrak will never overtake air or highway as a dominant mode of intercity transportation