For another view of the flawed Bush Administration's plan to save Amtrak, please read the following news release from the Ohio Association of Rail Passengers.
Bush Administration’s Amtrak reform plan is
fantasy
COLUMBUS -- Ohio’s only organization representing the
state’s rail travelers said it was deeply disappointed at a
Bush
Administration plan for restructuring Amtrak, revealed today by
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. The Bush plan
proposes requiring states to take on more passenger rail funding
needs and subjecting Amtrak services to competition from
private operators and franchises.
Meanwhile, Amtrak is just 10 days from running out of cash.
Amtrak CEO David Gunn said he will shut down the entire
system starting July 1, absent immediate federal help. If the
Bush plan is any indication, none will be forthcoming.
Yet, the federal government continues its dominant role in the
construction and maintenance of all other modes of
transportation, be it highways, airports/air traffic control and
waterways. According to the Bush plan, only passenger rail is
expected to be self-sufficient, with states taking a lead role in
funding and planning.
"This is free-market fantasy," said Stu Nicholson,
administrative director of the Ohio Association of Railroad
Passengers. "Nopassenger rail system in the world is self -
sufficient, least of all in the U.S. where the federal government
spends just one cent out of every transportation dollar on rail.
If this is the best the Bush Administration can do, they can do a
lot better. We need federal leadership, not a pass-the-buck
mentality."
Nicholson noted that during recent hearings of the Amtrak Reform
Council, state officials said they need federal funding to
realize their high-speed rail projects. Freight railroads, which
own most routes Amtrak uses, said they will not permit passenger
train franchises on their tracks. Labor unions said they will
oppose efforts to contract out union jobs. And rail passengers
oppose anything less than a national system.
OARP released its Amtrak’s restructuring plan, "21st
Century Unlimited: Moving a Nation Forward," earlier this
year and is
available at www.oarprail.org on the Internet. OARP calls for the
following:
Amtrak’s current situation be stabilized immediately;
A "kick-start" of federal capital and an ongoing source
of funding be provided;
That accountability be a major component of any plan for
passenger rail.
As for Amtrak reform, OARP contends it is already underway. CEO
Gunn is abolishing the corporation’s strategic business
units, returning Amtrak to a traditional railroad structure,
eliminating nearly 50 vice presidents, opening Amtrak’s
financial
books to public and congressional scrutiny and making other
overdue changes.
"I fail to understand why it's
okay for Congress and the Bush Administration to give a $15
billion federal bailout to the already troubled airlines, but
it's not okay for them to assume a leadership role in funding
railroads which helped rescue stranded travelers after Sept. 11,"
Nicholson added. "The good news in the Mineta
announcement is that the Bush Administration will help Amtrak
secure a $200-million dollar line of credit. This would help
close the financial gap Amtrak faces between now and the next
funding cycle, but it still falls $5-million short of what Amtrak
CEO Gunn says is needed."
"The Bush Administration is
playing Russian roulette with America’s national rail
system," he continued, "taking us to the brinkand over
the edge of Amtrak's bankruptcy and a nationwide shutdown of all
Amtrak trains. Their Ohio constituents, 80
percent of whom support public investments in rail passenger
service, will remember who was responsible for the breakdown of
the nation’s rail passenger system when next they
vote."
Nicholson referred to the Buckeye Poll conducted in 2001 by the
Ohio State University Center for Survey Research. The poll
showed:
80 percent of respondents support public investments in passenger
train services;
74 percent believe passenger rail would improve the quality of
life in Ohio;
65 percent said that if federal funding is available for
passenger rail improvements, state funds should be used to
attract them;
60 percent preferred taking the train as the next best option to
driving to places 75-300 miles from home (airplane
came in a distant second, at 19 percent);
53 percent said the best way to relieve traffic congestion is to
improve all forms of transportation, "including
high-speed rail" (28 percent said build & expand roads).
The Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers is a nonprofit
organization founded in 1973, and represents hundreds of
thousands of people who use Amtrak in Ohio each year. OARP
advocates the preservation, improvement and expansion
passenger rail and transit services in Ohio to raise our quality
of life and economic competitiveness.
Resources for rail passenger advocates
