I’d suggest that this is the death knell for “status quo” Amtrak. I’d bet this is the base case from which legistation to reform Amtrak will be based.
I’d bet that just about any bill Congress passes to reform Amtrak, regardless of the cost, will be signed by Bush and victory will be declared.
I really hope they can puhrough the 80/20 funding for new service. I think that would really puhe states to finding funding on their part and we’ll wind up with more and better train service.
Now that is a plan. There is a good deal of put up or shut up type of stuff in there. For example, Amtrak has said that the “corridor” or short distance trains should be open to competition for the choice of operators. That should end the arguements over whether others are out there willing and able to operate the trains at less cost than Amtrak.
They also agreed that the long distance trains should be subject to an earnings test. They would have to meet some sort of statuatory criteria for a cost/revenue ratio, through fares and state contributions, or be subject to discontinuation.
One of the things I liked was the plan to make the Empire Builder as good as it can get-equipped with the latest rebuilt equipment, crews getting customer relations training, etc, and see how that impacts passenger counts.
I think the competition item will allow states to bid out the operations much like they do with commuter service today. The tricky part will be conveying Amtrak’s operating rights to another operator.
There is lots of room for contencious arguement over the LD trains. The financial test is a good idea, but when someone’s ox is gored you’ll hear:
-The Amtrak cost allowcation method isn’t fair.
-The frt RR knew they could kill the train with bad service.
-The train really didn’t get good support from Amtrak compared to others
-This is a vendetta against (fill in your state here)
To that, I say, “Get over it, Life isn’t fair. If you are waiting for “perfect”, you’ll be waiting a long time. Just be glad for “better”.”
I’m glad that Amtrak finally put out a realisitic plan as a strawman/starting point. I wonder if it would have happened if Minetta/Bush hadn’t done what they did, though. What do you think?
NY Times editorial for today,26 April. Even though folks here don’t like the NYT, it is sympathetic to the needs of AMTRAK while trying to find a “number two track”.
Erik
Keeping Amtrak Going
Published: April 26, 2005
For Amtrak’s 25 million riders each year, the most distressing news in recent days has been about the faltering Acela - the high-speed train that was supposed to be Amtrak’s salvation. The Acelas are now off the rails because of problems with the brakes. As The Times outlined on Sunday, the trains have been a classic Amtrak problem from the beginning, a mishmash of a design that never quite fit America’s needs.
But an even larger emergency is threatening Amtrak, America’s coast-to-coast passenger railroad. The Bush administration is proposing to spend as little as nothing - a big ominous zero - to support the future of Amtrak. If Washington comes close to carrying out its threat or even stalls next year’s contribution to the railroad, Amtrak could be forced into bankruptcy - a mistake of historic proportions.
For some time, the Bush administration has pushed for Amtrak reforms, which almost everybody supports in principle. But the administration’s most recent proposal is more like a death sentence - a slow dismantling of Amtrak into regional services while costs currently paid by the federal government would be forced onto cash-starved states. The fatal flaw in the administration’s thinking is the idea that the railroad should be self-sufficient. That’s impractical and unnecessary, given the benefits it provides in taking cars off congested highways and offering an alternative to air service in the post-9/11 era. The administration’s other big concept, breaking up Amtrak into smaller units, might end up like the mess in Britain, where officials are trying to put their Humpty Dumpty system back together again.
Amtrak’s board, whose members were all appointed by President Bush, has suggested a plan that looks like a
Since outside of the NEC A/trak is dispatched by RRs that have no interest whasoever in maintaining a passenger schedule. To me it sounds like A/trak is on the same merry go round it has been on since its inception. [:(]
IF the Japenese rail system is really showing a profit, my guess is that it is an operating profit that does not take into consideration the enormous cost of the investment to build and equip the system. I’ll stand corrected if I am wrong, but I will bet that the amount of government money put into the that system would make our $25 billion dropped on Amtrak look like chump change. Mineta might be impressed by what he saw, but fat chance that he will get his boss to offer to budget money for that kind of system.
…Next time He {Mineta}, should invite the President along on a trip on the Bullet train but then I doubt it would impress him much…After all when Air Force One is one’s main mode of transport…Enough said.
At least there is SOME HOPE, that long distance service will survive. It would be insane to eliminate it, especially now that many people are booking reservations and actually riding the trains.
History Channel had a show on hi-speed trains & they said how the Japanese bullet was funded. Sorry though I forgot exactly what you said but I do believe some of the funding was borrowed thru the World Bank if I remember correctly. I would agree though with your post no matter how it was done. [:o)][:D][:p]
Do we keep spending a billion or two each year pouring money into this rat hole, or do we spend more and get a state of the art modern railroad… There is no reason why America cannot afford TGV/ICE HSR from New York City to Chicago, down to Florida, and in California, and eventually from Chicago and Florida to Texas… We can over a period of years, its just that we got to start planning and building, nevermind the costs…
That would cost Trillions, not billions. While many of us would support it, there are “oodles” of groups that would stubbornly fight it. Not helping is the fact that we no longer have the “surplus” of a decade ago. 9/11/01 put a serious economic “tail whipping” on us and we’re in a growing defecit.
High Speed rail is still coming, but it will likely be within state corridors.
I am absolutely certain that David Gunn would not have handled the Acela program the way it was handled. He would have argued against some of the more flakey requirements the FRA added after the contract was signed with Bombedier that added weight and complexity. I know this because of his practical and efficient approach with regard to clearing up messes and having new equipment designed at the commuter and transit operations he ran before joining Amtrak. He has a mess on his hands now, but there isn’t anyone better to get the trains back into operation. I am sure he will take into account the opinions of the practical people in the Wilmington shops and not allow anything that is either unsafe or that will fail again so quickly.
One of the cool thing in the Amtrak’s own reform package is that new corridor work could be funded 80/20 with the states and the states could hire anyone they wanted to operate it. This is the most exciting part of the whole deal.
While I personally believe an incrmental approach is better than clean sheet of paper HSR, this proposal would leave those decisions to the states. In some cases, new ROW would be a good idea, but for many others, the money is best spent on incremental improvements. Check out the studies done in GA, NC and VA to see how this could play out.
I agree with you 100% on the new corridor work. Interesting thing about the 80-20 ratio suggested for funding. With that ratio, states will really scramble to find the funds. Getting jobs at 20% on the dollar is often very politically attractive. I think in a subtle way Amtrak is also saying we have the expertise to run these operations, but if you (feds and states) think somebody can do a better job-go for it.
In many respect, I think Amtrak is telling Congress (and the Administration) that it doesn’t make much difference if the job of getting the service up to snuff is done by Amtrak or or somebody else. These are the bucks needed to get the work done.