By Ron Thaniel
March 20, 2006

As Amtrak continues to just get by year-after-year without stable and reliable funding and operational guidance provided through the means of a long-term authorization, the railroad’s supporters are once again in an uphill fight just to maintain the current system.

The President’s Fiscal Year 2007 Amtrak Budget recommendation is $900 million, which is a 30 percent cut from current operations. Amtrak Chairman David Laney and Acting President and CEO David J. Hughes are requesting Congress to appropriate the railroad $1.598 billion for Fiscal Year 2007.

Appearing on Thursday, March 16, before the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Department of Transportation, Senior Economist with the Office of Inspector General Mark R. Dayton said, “To maintain the currently configured system in a steady state of repair and after accounting for the reform efforts already underway, the Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations for Amtrak would need to be about $1.4 billion.”

“Despite this being almost a seven percent increase over the Fiscal Year 2006 enacted level, it is a tight budget that would leave little or no margin for error in neither operations nor investment,” Dayton continued.

He told the Subcommittee, “If an operating problem arose that affected revenue or expenses, such as the Acela brake problem, or if an unexpected capital expense arose, such as a bridge failure on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak could face insolvency, particularly if the problem were to occur late in the fiscal year after the majority of funds had been spent or committed.”

In addition to the significantly lower funding request by the President, the Administration’s budget includes authorization language calling for the phase out of overnight trains and opportunities for competition, such as contracting with non-Amtrak operators.

As cautioned previously to the Administration and Congress, Conference of Mayors President Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill wrote, “Even a temporary disruption of intercity rail operations would overwhelm our already congested metropolitan areas.”

“Mayors across the nation, in cities large and small, on the corridor and off the corridor, have an economic, homeland security and social interest in preserving an integrated national intercity passenger rail system,” said O’Neill.