Mineta asked Amtrak to convene a meeting of its board of directors to discuss whether, and how, the Transportation Department could help the struggling semipublic passenger railroad. The secretary also said Congress should be prepared to help.

"The administraiton is not interested in allowing Amtrak to shut down," Mineta said in a statement.

He offered no specifics about possible aid.

New Amtrak President David Gunn said last week he would begin shutting down the railroad without financial help to close a $200 million budget gap. Withou a grant or loan, he said, he will stop accepting passengers and will move trains to storage begginging Wednesday. In addition, Amtrak warned, a shutdown ofnits passenger trains could hurt commuter railroads serving hundreds of thousands of people, mostly along the Atlantic Seaboard.

The Federal Railroad Administration is reviewing Amtrak's request for a loan guarantee to help it borrow the needed $200 million. Amtrak has had trouble tapping its existing line of credit because lenders are unsure how long it remain in business.

If the FRA were to rule that Amtrak does not qualified for a loan gauantee, the only options would be a congressional directive ordering the railroad administraiton to grant one or an emergency appropriation from Congress

Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Friday that he proposed that $200 million for Amtrak be included in the anti-terrorism bill that is the subject of negotiations between the Senate and the White House. He said senators from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Delaware, MAryland, and Rhode Island have signed a letter to Mineta urging immediate Action.

Mineta proposed last week an end to the federal operating subsidies, allowing competion for passenger rail, making states more responsible for paying for train service, and replacing Amtrak as owner of the 366 miles of tracks running from Boston to Washington, known as the Northeast Corridor.