It would take Amtrak up to 18 months to repair 56 of the 98 pieces of wreck-damaged equipment that have been languishing at the Beech Grove shop complex in Indiana, Amtrak Vice President Stan Bagley wrote in a letter to Sens.. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., and Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, last week.

The senators had inquired about the backlog of wreck-damaged cars. Bagley said Amtrak has 98 repairable pieces of equipment at Beech Grove's dead line. They include 42 Superliners, 33 single-level cars, 16 mail, baggage and express cars, and seven locomotives.

Of that rolling stock, 56 pieces could be repaired and placed in service within 18 months, mainly on long-distance trains where they are needed the most, Bagley said. The price tag for this priority work: $19 million.

To repair all of the equipment would cost $34 million. But in an attempt to reduce its costs while aiming to meet the December 2002 operational self-sufficiency deadline, Amtrak decided to mothball the equipment rather than repair it.

Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn said before taking office last week that he wants to chip away at the backlog of wreck-damaged equipment.

What would the late night TV "screamers" sound like? "No appropriation yet, COME ON OVER!!!".

Oh well, back to reality.

Even when Amtrak has ordered "off the shelf" equipment such as the Amfleet I's, there was still a two-year of "lead time" needed. If Beech Grove, Sanford, and (sorry, Mr. EGM) outside contractors, picked the most reparable ones first, I'm willing to bet that some could see revenue service for the summer peak. Five Superliner Sleepers would mean an extra line for at least one East - West train, Four would do it for the Starlight. Get the "telemarketers" busy contacting the Wait Lists, and as soon as you have 'em, you'll fill 'em.

It really boggles the mind that Warrington's "glidepath to self sufficiency" never budgeted for inevitable repair needs. I wonder how the cost of storing them compares to the losses in revenue from not having them in service. I would love to see those numbers.

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

I would like to think that Mr. Gunn would have declined the CEO position had there not been assurances that proper funding would be provided. Anyone remotely informed about the incorporating years of Amtrak would have known that all the "for profit" talk was nothing but a charade to ensure that the staffers of arch conservatives would tell "their man" to vote for it, as it won't cost any money. "you see, Senator, all you really are doing is voting for a proclamation declaring May 1 as 'National Rail Passenger Day'".

This glidepath charade caused Amtrak to enter into "self-liquidating" transactions, only one of which was failure to repair cars as they were wrecked (they're gonna happn, folks; sorry 'bout that).

Another was the barely noted 1999-2000 "Sale Leaseback" transactions involving practically all locos and cars - most of which were provided to Amtrak with Grants (i.e. appropriations). The lease payments could only raise the future cost of keeping Amtrak going.

The "hocking Penn Station" transaction of 2001 was obviously more visible. Anyone whom owns a home, understands that one. But the fact remains that Amtrak acquired Penn from Conrail in a cashless transaction to be paid for by allowing Conrail access to the Corridor for freight trains. Therefore, the "hocking" was one more self-liquidating transaction and the interest payments would simply raise of cost of Amtrak doing business even further.

So possibly playing charades will now be done by "street minstrels" and not in the halls of "60 Mass". There could be a "new beginning" at hand.