Amtrak Infrastructure on Brink, DOT Warns

Funding Must Address Critical Needs, IG Says

Critics want Amtrak to eliminate or alter costly long-distance routes, such as the Chicago-to-Los Angeles Southwest Chief. (Amtrak)

The national passenger rail service risks a "major point of failure" if infrastructure needs remain unaddressed, the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in a scathing report made public today.

Infrastructure throughout Amtrak's rail system has reached "critical levels," the report concluded, and "no one knows when such a failure will occur."

Inspector General Kenneth Mead, who drafted the report, said Amtrak must focus its limited resources on addressing pressing problems rather than spreading dollars across its nationwide network. He chastised Amtrak management for spending millions of dollars to improve its sleeper cars while neglecting deteriorating bridges and tunnels.

Mead urged Amtrak to consider the "unsustainably large operating losses and poor on-time performance" as a "clarion call" for immediate attention.

The report was released shortly after Congress finished work on a major catch-all appropriations bill that included $1.22 billion for Amtrak for fiscal 2005. The federal government provided slightly more than that for fiscal 2004.

The IG's report noted Amtrak's success in increasing ridership and addressing costs. But for the past two years, Amtrak has bided time, postponing improvements along the tracks with the expectation of increased revenue and funding. But time has run out, according to the report, and Amtrak must maximize its current revenue.

The report also calls on Congress to provide Amtrak with clear direction in crafting a strategy that might include reducing service, investing in heavily traveled routes or increasing overall funding. He proposed that federal funding be tied to Amtrak's restructuring of its operations. Amtrak relies on a combination of passenger fees and state and federal subsidies to finance operating costs.

Without an increase in funding, Amtrak will continue to postpone capital projects to stay within its budget, Amtrak President David Gunn said in a written response to the IG's report.

If the budget remains stable, "we will be able to continue to operate the current system, but we have to make cuts in the capital program," Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said.

Cutting service will not produce the payoff to fund capital projects, he said, "because of shutdown costs, labor protection and continuing overhead." Service cuts also would jeopardize overall congressional support of Amtrak, he said, because lawmakers would object to service being discontinued in their regions.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and a longtime critic of Amtrak, said the passenger railroad must make tough choices and focus rail service on short-route corridors and restructure or eliminate the long-distance routes.

"If Amtrak won't follow this strategy," he said in a written statement, "then it is the responsibility of Amtrak's Board of Directors, the secretary of transportation, and Congress to make it happen."

Mead, however, applauded Amtrak's recent focus on infrastructure on the Thames River bridge in Connecticut and its success in reducing losses.

Amtrak's ridership last year exceeded expectations by nearly 500,000 passengers. Still, revenue decreased by 6.8 percent, and Amtrak has reported losses of $630 million annually for the past three years.

"The bridges are creaking," said Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, an advocacy group. "Every day that passes increases the odds that it will take a catastrophic failure to get this problem fixed."

Capon said most passengers don't know about the breakdown looming in the system, but should take note when their train is delayed -- it's pointing to larger problems somewhere along the tracks.