Federal anti-Amtrak policy is bad for Virginia

Date published: 2/20/2005

TWO WEEKS AGO, the Bush administration proposed eliminating Amtrak's operating funds, except for trains on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston.

This latest effort to eliminate or drastically reduce federal spending on passenger trains reflects an attitude that Amtrak has "unsustainably large operating losses," said Kenneth Mead, the federal Department of Transportation's inspector general, in a Nov. 18, 2004, memorandum.

This sort of talk suggests that operating passenger trains around the country (with generally sparse service outside the Northeast) is costing the taxpayers dearly. Just how big is this financial burden?

In fiscal year 2005, Amtrak is getting $1.2 billion in federal money. To me, this is a lot of money, but I am not personally providing transportation alternatives for 25 million passengers a year. In fact, compared to what Amtrak was getting only a few years ago, it is a lot of money.

Until David Gunn became Amtrak president in 2002, the national passenger railroad never got as much as a billion dollars in a year. Gunn "implemented a strategy of maintaining and building the existing Amtrak system," said Mead.

Gunn also told the president and Congress that operating Amtrak at a profit was a fantasy, no matter what the previous Amtrak presidents had said, and that the rail system had been so severely underfunded that he would have to shut it down unless it got adequate funding immediately.

After two years at the helm, Gunn stated that even $1.2 billion a year isn't enough to pay for essential capital investment. Amtrak owns and maintains most of the 451-mile Northeast Corridor. A lot of the electric power system dates to the 1930s. The tunnels are even older.

Gunn is an experienced, no-nonsense railroader who has been putting Amtrak's operations and finances in order. But he cannot feed 5,000 people with a few loaves and fishes, nor move 25 million people with what, to you and me, seems like a lot of money but is in fact just enough to keep things from falling apart.

Eliminating Amtrak operating funds outside the Northeast would certainly drive away David Gunn, the most capable manager Amtrak has ever had. It would also be a slap in the face to the states that Bush says should be paying for train service.

Date published: 2/20/2005