Hutchison, likewise, said she doubted that Amtrak will get any more than $1.4 billion from the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House Appropriations Committee approved a $900 million budget.
"There's a real serious problem" with $1.4 billion, and $900 million would shut down all passenger service, Amtrak President David L. Gunn said. He said Amtrak needs $870 million just for operating funds and debt repayment. Even the $1.4 billion figure would cut the capital budget to $394 million from $794 million, he said.
Senators Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) proposed granting Amtrak $12 billion in operating funds over six years and making available $48 billion in federally backed bonds.
(Ray Lustig -- The Washington Post)
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1 ET, Thursday: Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, discusses the President's plan for Amtrak.
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Amtrak received $1.2 billion in the current fiscal year. But Gunn said most of the spending for capital improvements was ramped up toward the end of the fiscal year, and capital projects require long lead time. He said supplies have already been ordered for the new fiscal year, and Amtrak is already spending at a $1.8 billion rate.
"They're going to be faced with a problem," Gunn said. "I'm not going to stop unless the board stops me. Then they'll have to tell me what not to do."
The administration bill would break Amtrak into three companies -- a private company to operate trains under contract to states or compacts of states, a private infrastructure company to maintain and operate the Northeast Corridor under contract to a multi-state compact, and a government corporation that would retain Amtrak's current right to use the tracks of freight railroads. States would be responsible for all operating losses; the federal government would provide matching funds for capital improvements and all funding required to catch up on deferred capital needs in the corridor.
The plan would likely mean the end of most, if not all, long-distance trains because federal operating subsidies would be phased out and all states on a route would have to agree to keep running it.
Rutter said Bush understands that the states could not take over service immediately, and all changes would be phased in gradually. He said the administration is committed to spending money on the Northeast Corridor and spreading passenger service to regions where it will help relieve congestion.
One of the administration's reasons for releasing its bill now, Rutter said, is to start a serious debate on the structure of Amtrak, rather than limp along from crisis to crisis. "Absent our involvement, nobody wanted to talk about that," Rutter said.
