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States would take control of Amtrak under administration's plan

http://www.jewishworldreview.com | (KRT) Laying the groundwork for a major Amtrak overhaul, the Bush administration Monday proposed turning over the national rail system to the states and private companies that would run it for profit. The plan calls for states lying along Amtrak routes to pick up much of the cost of keeping the passenger trains rolling.

Along the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, states would take over operations 2 ½ years after the plan is enacted, said senior Transportation Department officials, who briefed reporters Monday.

Service would end in regions of the country where state governments decline to step in and take over Amtrak operations.

"Our nation's current system of intercity passenger rail has failed to deliver on its promise for American travelers," Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said in a statement. "Our proposed legislation will yield a more financially stable and effective network of intercity passenger rail."

The transportation officials said the proposal aims to make Amtrak - which is three decades old and heavily dependent on federal money - more efficient and responsive to changing American travel patterns.

But those officials also made clear that Amtrak service would continue only in regions where state governments were willing to invest in it - and where private-sector operators could be found to provide it.

"Right now, as long as the federal government keeps (financing the system), there is no incentive for change," said one official.

The Bush administration has long suggested that many Amtrak lines, particularly in the West and the South, are inefficient and underused. It has repeatedly tried to cut Amtrak's budget as a way to force changes.

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But the proposed cutbacks have met with stiff resistance on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress jealously guard lines that traverse their states.

A similar response seems likely this time around, since the administration's plan calls on states to pick up a much greater share of the costs at a time when state governments are reeling from financial setbacks.

At 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, the second-busiest rail station in the country, some 10,000 passengers get on and off Amtrak trains every day, a huge and vocal constituency.

The transportation officials who briefed reporters Monday acknowledged that some long-distance Amtrak lines, those greater than 300 miles, may not survive if the proposal is enacted.

Yet they said the current system, in which Amtrak lurches from year to year without a long-range fiscal plan, needs radical change.

"The present system has created an absolute disincentive for members (of Congress) to do anything but sit on the sidelines," said one official.

The administration plan does provide some financial incentives for the Northeast.

In the initial years, the federal government would spend billions to pay the cost of years of deferred maintenance on tracks and signals and other equipment, but over time, states would be required to pick up part of that cost.

Passenger fares more than cover the expense of operating service on the Northeast Corridor, but the line has routinely fallen behind in replacing and repairing its infrastructure. So such federal payments would amount to a substantial, if temporary, boost for it.

It was unclear Monday whether those additional contributions would be enough to overcome concerns among local officials that Amtrak cannot function absent large infusions of federal cash.

"It is going to be difficult to put all these different pieces into operation, but I am prepared to take a look at it," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R., Pa. "We face the reality that every industrialized society has (rail subsidies). Can you privatize it and run it without subsidies?"

Amtrak president David Gunn declined Monday to comment on the plan, saying he had not seen it. But Gunn, who has been pushing Congress to nearly double Amtrak's current $1.8 billion federal subsidy, said the system urgently needs to rebuild bridges and other equipment.

Malfunctioning equipment in New York two weeks ago disrupted service between New York and Boston for a day, Gunn said in a statement, and bridges over the Thames and Niantic Rivers in Connecticut are "in danger of failing."

The plan comprises two major restructuring initiatives. Service between Washington and Boston would initially be operated by Amtrak, which would be split into two companies: one for maintaining equipment, and the other for running trains, selling tickets and other functions.

Eight states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware plus the District of Columbia would be responsible for overseeing the service.

Six years after enactment of the plan, the states would seek and contract with private firms to run the service and maintain the equipment. The states would be responsible for a portion of the capital costs, and for covering any shortfalls in the operating budget.

Similarly, Amtrak's long-distance lines would be turned over to states that wished to continue the service. But those lines face different problems: They cover much greater distances and have much smaller riderships. States would not be responsible for maintaining the tracks in most instances because the tracks are owned by commercial rail lines.

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