New York Times
February 27, 2003

Amtrak's Future

After flirting last year with the idea of derailing the nation's passenger railroad, Washington seems to have come to its senses. Thanks largely to the perseverance of senators from both parties, Amtrak fared well in the recent budgetary battles that belatedly allocated federal spending for the current fiscal year. Congress appropriated $1.05 billion for the railroad, 10 percent less than it had asked for, but far more than either the White House or conservative House leaders had sought.

Nobody, however, should confuse Amtrak's survival with the long-term enhancement of passenger rail that the country desperately needs. We are still running a railroad on the cheap. Congress has ensured that Amtrak will be able to hobble along for another year, but little is being invested in long-deferred capital needs, including upgrades of antiquated tracks and equipment along the Northeast Corridor. And nothing is being done to create new high-speed corridors across the country.

David Gunn, Amtrak's president since last May, has gained a great deal of credibility on Capitol Hill for taking on the railroad's notorious inefficiencies. Still, his assessment that Amtrak will need $2 billion or so a year if it is to repair and properly care for its deteriorating assets will meet with much resistance.

The trouble is, intercity rail, victimized for so long by the convenient fiction that it could somehow become uniquely self-sufficient, does not benefit from the types of dedicated capital funding that take care of highway, airport and mass transit projects. Although the Bush administration claims to believe in the importance of passenger rail to meet the nation's transportation needs, it has failed to offer any concrete ideas how to resolve the nation's chronic underinvestment in rail. It ought to do so before the next budget battles.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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