Once again, Amtrak is considered expendable in federal budget planning ["Bush Calls for Familiar Trims," news story, Feb. 8]. Fuel costs are rising, our large cities are choked by automobile exhaust and stressed by crowded freeways and interstates, and airlines are dropping service to smaller cities to avoid bankruptcy. Yet billions of dollars are spent supporting air and highway travel every year. Amtrak would need only $2 billion or $3 billion a year to develop a national system of rail travel that would provide an environmentally sensitive, convenient and accessible mode of travel for Americans.
I'm all for cutting the deficit, but let's not derail our nation's transportation security in the process.
WES REEVES
Amarillo, Tex.
