The Washington Post.com Just reported that Amtrak President David L Gunn says he has developed a fiscal 2003 budget that calls for more personnel cuts, an end end to freight service and eventual end to state-subsidized trains unless the states agree to cover all of their operating losses.
The plan, which calls for $1.2 billikon in federal subsidies, reflects movement by Gunn and the Bush administration--whose relations have often been strained--toward common ground on stabilizing the railroad for the next year or two while they prepare for later decisions on the passenger train's long-term future.
Federal officials say they still want changes in an organization that has never made money in its 31-year history and long been criticized as inefficient. But Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael P. Jackson, who represents the administration on Amtrak's board, says the administration will work with congress to be certain that Amtrak avoids another cash crisis similar to the one that left passenger-train service within days of a nationwide shutdown in July.
"I don't think there'll be a fight over having enough money to survive," said Gunn, who has met with Jackson and other administration officials in the past few weeks.
He said that it will force Amtrak to delay many worthy projects, such as major track work on the Northeast Corridor. All new projects will be delayed or killed, including a plan by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to restore passenger-train service to his state's east coast through Daytona Beach. "All of that expansionary stuff is gone," he sais. He would not predict how many of the projects would be revive.
Gunn said he will insist, however, on continuing with a program to rebuild wreck-damaged passenger cars. More than 100 passenger cars have been sitting around for years, earning no revenue, because there was no money to repair them.
With anything less than the full $1.2 billion requested, "We're dead. Its over," Gunn said during an interview and in a meeting with Washington post editors and reporters.
All long-distance trains will continue to operate under the budget. Gunn said that the future of the long-distance train is a political decision for Congress and the administration but that he will not object if Congress sets financial performance guidelines for those services, with those that do not meet the standards being discontinued unless the states want to contribute.
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