The latest news, though good for the exisiting employees of Amtrak, is that Amtrak will maintain their participation in the railroad retirement plan for exisiting employees. All new hires, starting when - we don’t know, will pay into the social security fund.
But, their are plans to look into having outside maintainence forces - meaning: well, we’re not sure about that one either. Does this mean Amtrak is going to go the same route as the British Railway did? Maybe. Of course, we’ve all heard how “well” that worked for them!