KANSAS CITY -- A leader of Missouri and Kansas'
primary organization representing the state’s rail travelers
said his organization was deeply disappointed at a Bush
Administration plan for restructuring Amtrak. 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 close to running out of cash. Amtrak CEO
David Gunn said he will shut down the entire
system 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 Doug Ohlemeier,
vice president of the Missouri-Kansas Rail Passenger Coalition.
"No passenger 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."
Ohlemeier, of Lawrence, Kansas, 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.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers, Washington, D.C., has urged a
bold and new approach to upgrading and expanding the nation's
"largely neglected rail system to modern 21st Century
standards" so rail is a real travel choice for Americans.
The association favors creating a "broad long-range vision
for an expanded intercity rail network that connects all regions
and metropolitan areas of the country and serves all important
transportation routes," and funding that vision partly
through creation of a rail trust fund.
Regarding Amtrak's cash crisis, the report urges giving Amtrak
"an immediate emergency grant" to insure maintenance of
"all current routes and services" and "repair and
return to service [of] all passenger rolling stock now idled
..."
The report echoes Department of Transportation Inspector General
Kenneth Mead who says the cost of running long-distance trains is
"chump change" compared with Northeast Corridor
infrastructure investment needs. NARP favors transfer of
ownership (but not control) of Amtrak infrastructure to the DOT,
emphasizing that the Secretary would be "responsible for
funding the maintenance and development of these assets as
publicly owned facilities to support" all forms of rail
service.
The report urges mandating "that Amtrak's Board of Directors
be appointed to represent all regions" and include
"elected officials, business leaders and consumers."
The association supports improving and expanding all types of
intercity passenger rail services: "Even though public use
of Amtrak's existing trains is high, lack of adequate capital
funding over the three decades of Amtrak's existence has greatly
limited its ability to satisfy the nation's growing demand for
transportation…"
The report urges debate to "focus on strategies that will
allow rail to realize its full potential in serving public needs,
not on ones that seek only to reduce further -- or eliminate
entirely -- federal support of intercity rail service."
Other key recommendations include:
"Create a broad long-range vision for an expanded intercity
rail network." This vision "would outline policies for
allocating public funds by regions and types of service and
establish guidelines for balancing volume growth with farebox
recovery."
"Fund the vision…NARP urges the Federal Government to
establish a Rail Trust Fund … so that intercity rail is not
entirely dependent on the annual appropriation process for its
funding. The Federal Government would fund 100% of the national
system and 80% of state sponsored regional services..."
End the "operating self-sufficiency" mandate, and set
realistic performance targets based on growth in usage and
"realistic farebox recovery levels." "Maintain
Amtrak as the agency responsible for managing and dispatching the
Northeast Corridor as
well as the other lines and stations it currently owns ..."
NARP President Alan M. Yorker, Atlanta, emphasized that the
association's primary focus is on results. "We are happy to
defer to the greater wisdom of Congress if different approaches
can produce the truly balanced transportation system we firmly
believe America wants, and Americans need."
As for Amtrak reform, MOKSRail contends it is already underway.
Amtrak's new 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,"
Ohlemeier 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," Ohlemeier continued, "taking us to the
brinkand over the edge of Amtrak's bankruptcy and a nationwide
shutdown of all Amtrak trains.
"Their national constituents, in nearly every poll taken,
overwhelmingly support public investments in rail passenger
service. They will remember who was responsible for the breakdown
of the nation’s rail passenger system when next they
vote."
“
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