WASHINGTON -- Congress should abandon next year's deadline for Amtrak to become self-sufficient so the railway can concentrate on security improvements, a federal investigator said Thursday.

According to a wire service, the recommendation by Mark R. Dayton, the Transportation Department's deputy assistant inspector general, offered fresh support for lawmakers who want to get Amtrak out from under Congress' 1997 requirement that it wean itself from federal operating subsidies by Dec. 2, 2002.

"There is no truly national passenger train service in the world that makes a profit," said Senate Commerce Chairman Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., who has proposed eliminating the self-sufficiency requirement as a part of a multibillion-dollar package for the railroad.

George D. Warrington, Amtrak's president, said it has become even more difficult, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, for the railroad to make money while fulfilling a mandate to provide passenger service throughout the country.

Many lines outside the densely populated Northeast lose money, and Amtrak subsidizes them with money from profitable routes and other commercial activities.

"With the economy contracting and public expectations about security and safety rising, the self-sufficiency deadline will force us to choose very soon between two evils," he said. Those are: cutting back on service to save money, or keeping service with better security, only to lose more money and risk liquidation.

Amtrak critics in Congress have opposed any effort to devote more money to the railway until it proves it can cover operating costs.

"What they've done since 1973 is promise self-sufficiency every few years, and it's never been done," said Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the committee's ranking Republican.

The Amtrak Reform Council is charged with monitoring Amtrak's progress and will determine whether it has met the goal of self sufficiency. Government monitors have repeatedly said they don't expect the goal to be met.

If the council finds the railway hasn't met the goal, it would trigger the start of a 90-day period for Amtrak to develop and present to Congress a liquidation plan, and for the council to come up with a restructuring plan.

Eliminating the trigger "would allow Amtrak to keep its focus on improvement rather than dissolution," Dayton said.

For instance, Amtrak should take the lead on improving the ventilation and evacuation systems in six aging underwater tunnels to New York's Penn Station, Dayton said. Other lines use the tunnels, but developing a cost-sharing plan would result in dangerous delays, he said.

"Narrow, winding, spiral staircases and crumbling benchwalls are inadequate to support the successful evacuation of what could potentially be thousands of passengers," he said.

If the trigger is not scrapped, the 90-day window for creating and evaluating new plans should be expanded, he added.

Last month, the committee approved a compromise bill crafted by Hollings and McCain that provides $1.77 billion for Amtrak security upgrades, including funding for the New York tunnel improvements.