Rail commuters get reassurance
Plans to rescue Amtrak in works

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 6/25/2002

WASHINGTON - Amtrak will keep running this week, and so will Boston's commuter rail service, the Bush administration declared yesterday, even as it continued to grapple with Congress and Amtrak for a solution to the national railroad's chronic funding problems.

Congressional Democrats, sensing public support for the railroad, pledged to add a $200 million grant for Amtrak to a homeland security appropriation bill, regardless of whether the Federal Railroad Administration grants a request for $200 million in loan guarantees for the railroad. Amtrak president David L. Gunn said last week the railroad would go bankrupt and he would have to begin shutting it down tomorrow without the guarantees. The direct cash grant Democrats propose would save the railroad from accruing additional debt in the fiscal year that ends in October.

The Bush administration, anxious to adhere to its proposal last week to privatize elements of the system and weed out underperforming routes, reportedly is proposing $100 million in loan guarantees to keep Amtrak operating through August, when it will revisit the issue, according to congressional aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

But with commuters in the Northeast, Chicago, and California jittery about a midweek shutdown, and Democrats already laying the blame at the doorstep of the White House, both President Bush and Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta stepped forward to say that commuters will not suffer as a compromise is sought. Nationwide, Amtrak serves 60,000 riders and hundreds of thousands of commuters each day. In Boston, 70,000 commuters daily rely on Amtrak because it operates commuter rail lines under contract with the MBTA.

''I am confident that we will be able to avoid a shutdown of services,'' Mineta said in a statement delivered during a recess in an emergency meeting of Amtrak's board of directors. ''Everyone who depends on this vital rail service needs to understand that this administration and Amtrak will work together with Congress to make sure passenger rail service continues as outlined in my speech last week.''

Earlier in the day, Senator Robert Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey, said Bush told him during a visit to New Jersey - a state that relies heavily on commuter rail and Amtrak for transportation - ''that Amtrak will not cease operations on Wednesday.''

In a statement issued during the board meeting, Gunn said, ''There has been no reconciliation of the simple fact that Amtrak is running out of cash. And [there is] no agreement on how to provide a loan guarantee or appropriation that will continue train service to the end of the fiscal year.''

Since its founding 31 years ago, Amtrak has hobbled along. It has never operated without a government subsidy, and yet it has never gotten all of the operating money promised by congressional appropriators. In 1997, Congress agreed to give it more than $2 billion in additional capital funding, but with an agreement that Amtrak would become self-sufficient by the end of this year. Congress also created a watchdog group, the Amtrak Reform Council, which concluded last year the railroad would not meet the deadline.

This year the administration appropriated $521 million for Amtrak. It proposed a similar amount for next year, but the railroad is seeking $1.2 billion.

In a speech last week, Mineta said the administration continued to support Amtrak's role in providing intercity train transportation, but only with reforms that include having private companies compete to provide service on select routes. He also called for Amtrak to relinquish its ownership of stations and tracks along the Northeast Corridor running between Boston, New York, and Washington, and to let market conditions determine the railroad's route structure.

Gunn criticized the proposal, labeling plans to restructure or privatize Amtrak ''exercises in problem avoidance.'' Yesterday, congressional Democrats held a news conference at the Capitol to complain about the administration proposal.

''The administration is playing chicken with transportation needs,'' said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. His home-state colleague, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, said, ''This should have been taken care of long ago. We need redundant systems of transportation. It's a national security issue.''

Later, Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, called a meeting of Northeast Democrats on the issue. They agreed with a plan, drafted by Senator Robert W. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, to add emergency funding to the homeland security bill, which Congress is expected to approve shortly.

Emerging from the meeting, Senator Edward M. Kennedy said: ''For the administration to play games with this vital transportation system is the height of irresponsibility.''

Mineta refused to take questions, so there was no explanation for his confidence a shutdown would be avoided. Yet in his statement, he made it clear any solution would have to be a joint one.

''In the final analysis, this must be a team effort. The burden is not on the administration alone to save the rail system from bankruptcy, nor should it be,'' he said. ''It will take all parties - including the Congress - to show initiative to building the solution to Amtrak's fundamental problems.''

This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 6/25/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
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