What does $1 Billion in emergency funds really mean to Amtrak?

[CMStPnP]

I am scratching my head over this amount because it was only $1 Billion for all of last fiscal year.    If it is again only $1 Billion for this fiscal year that will be two years where Congress significantly underfunded what Amtrak requested for emergency funds.      Nevermind that the airlines always get what they request or even more in some cases.     So I am wondering how in the heck is Amtrak continuing to run if it says it needs a lot more extra than $1 Billion a year and Congress only provides $1 Billion a year.     It just seems to me that either Amtrak is exaggerating the amount or its going heavy into debt and defferred maintenence which it will need to catch up on later once normal operations resume.

[MidlandMike]

My guess is that this money is in addition to the regular subsidy they already got this year, to help with the extra losses caused by the pandemic.

[JPS1]

MidlandMike

 My guess is that this money is in addition to the regular subsidy they already got this year, to help with the extra losses caused by the pandemic. 

Amtrak requested $1.475 billion in bailout funding for FY21 to meet the exigencies of the COVID-19 crises.  Whether this was what the company really needs to get through the pandemic or whether management played the budget game is unknown.  I suspect a bit of the latter.  Of the requested amount, the company says that it will get $1 billion to help see it through the pandemic.  Based on how the monies for FY20 were used, I suspect most of the $1 billion will go to support operations.

 

As per the September 2020 Monthly Performance Report, Amtrak received $3.1 billion in federal grants in FY20.  Of this amount $1.9 billion was for the National Network Account and $1.2 billion was for the Northeast Corridor Account.   

 

Of the $3.1 billion, $272 million was a carryover from FY19, $767.5 million was current year FAST Sec 11101 grants, $1.2 billion was for operations, $857 million was for capital improvements, and $9.5 million was a CARES Act grant.   

 

For FY19 Amtrak received approximately $2.0 billion in federal paid in capital and $294.3 million in federal and state capital payments.  The total amount was approximately $2.3 billion.  In FY18 the combined payments also were $2.3 billion.

[CMStPnP]

JPS1

MidlandMike

 My guess is that this money is in addition to the regular subsidy they already got this year, to help with the extra losses caused by the pandemic. 

 

 

Amtrak requested $1.475 billion in bailout funding for FY21 to meet the exigencies of the COVID-19 crises.  Whether this was what the company really needs to get through the pandemic or whether management played the budget game is unknown.  I suspect a bit of the latter.  Of the requested amount, the company says that it will get $1 billion to help see it through the pandemic.  Based on how the monies for FY20 were used, I suspect most of the $1 billion will go to support operations.

 

As per the September 2020 Monthly Performance Report, Amtrak received $3.1 billion in federal grants in FY20.  Of this amount $1.9 billion was for the National Network Account and $1.2 billion was for the Northeast Corridor Account.   

 

Of the $3.1 billion, $272 million was a carryover from FY19, $767.5 million was current year FAST Sec 11101 grants, $1.2 billion was for operations, $857 million was for capital improvements, and $9.5 million was a CARES Act grant.   

 

For FY19 Amtrak received approximately $2.0 billion in federal paid in capital and $294.3 million in federal and state capital payments.  The total amount was approximately $2.3 billion.  In FY18 the combined payments also were $2.3 billion.

 

So what is the accumulated total between FY 2020 and FY2021 that Amtrak has requested in pandemic relief?     I thought the tab was $3-4 Billion.    Of which it looks like they will only get $2 billion total.

[JPS1]

CMStPnP

 So what is the accumulated total between FY 2020 and FY2021 that Amtrak has requested in pandemic relief?     I thought the tab was $3-4 Billion.    Of which it looks like they will only get $2 billion total. 

The total federal funds transfer to Amtrak in FY20 was $3.1 billion compared to an average of $2.2 billion for the four years ended FY20.  The transfer in FY19 was $2.3 billion.  Presumably some of the difference was an infusion of additional monies to help the company cope with the COVID-19 fallout. 

 

I pulled the information from Amtrak’s Consolidated Cash Flow statements.  They show gross amounts transferred from the federal government to Amtrak, but they don’t provide account details.  One would need access to the company’s books for the details.

 

Frequently there is a difference between what the news reports Amtrak has requested, what was actually requested, and most importantly, what was received.  The annual statement of cash flows or monthly statements of source and use of funds are the best sources to determine what was transferred from the federal government to the company. 

 

As a guess, at the outside one could assume that some or all of the $.8 billion increase in the FY20 transfer compared to FY19 was emergency funds provided in response to the request Amtrak submitted to the Congress.  This amount plus the recently announced $1 billion would bring the total emergency grants to $1.8 billion.  But this is only a guess.  The key will be to see the results in the FY21 financial statements, which are a long way off.