U.S. Wants States to Aid Rail Service April 29, 2003 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 3:58 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration urged the states on Tuesday to take more responsibility for designing and financing the country's passenger train service. Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson told the Senate Commerce Committee the administration favors breaking up Amtrak into separate organizations and letting states decide which intercity routes to keep over the next six years. Compromises over the years have produced a system that limps along, never in a state of good repair, and perpetually one, two or three steps from the edge of collapse,'' Jackson said. ``This year we're on the brink of doing something different.'' Jackson said the administration still is about two months away from introducing legislation with specifics for revamped rail service. The administration already has submitted a budget that would grant Amtrak a $900 million subsidy next year, half of what the railroad says it must have to avert continuing financial crises. Several senators, led by Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Democrat Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., said the government should spend more on passenger rail, not less. We've allowed Amtrak to be nibbled to death by ducks,'' said Hutchison, chairman of the Commerce surface transportation subcommittee. ``We should either have a great system or do away with it.'' Hollings sponsored a bill to create a national railroad system with high-speed corridors that would cost about $5 billion annually for the next four years. The administration's plan would lop off the Northeast Corridor from the rest of the system and divide it into three entities to invest in, maintain and operate the railroad from Boston to Washington. That would leave states or groups of states to form regional railroads that would hire Amtrak to run the trains. Later, companies would compete to run them. David Gunn, Amtrak's president, said the plan would cause service to suffer because it muddles the question of which organizations have authority over the track structure. Gunn introduced a 5-year capital plan last week to repair tracks, renovate stations and rebuild cars and locomotives. It's going to take years to reach a conclusion, and meanwhile the ties are still rotting,'' he said. Separately, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said more aid for the airlines is not on the agenda. During the pasts 1 1/2 years, Congress agreed to give struggling airlines $7.5 billion in cash assistance. Another airline bill is not in the future that I know of,'' DeLay said. ``The industry needs to shake out and develop itself.''
As rail fans, we are obviously biased. But considering all the money has been pumped into every other transportation venue, they then compete directly with rail service, something needs to be done. Should have been done years ago. We also need to investigate, ASAP, a national railbanking program. So that local freight and passenger service can eventually be restored. Without these branches, there is no alternative available to the use of cars and trucks. Boxcab E50
