WASHINGTON -- Amtrak would lose its most significant assets under
three proposals being weighed by an oversight board considering
options to restructure the nation's money losing railroad, the panel
said on Thursday.
The Amtrak Reform Council, facing a Feb. 7
deadline to report its recommendations to Congress, has narrowed its
list of restructuring options from nine to three, and plans to
discuss them publicly at a meeting in Washington on Friday,
according to a wire service.
Under all three scenarios,
Amtrak's assets along the Northeast Corridor from Boston to
Washington would be turned over to the federal government or a yet
to be determined combination of states.
Amtrak owns more than
360 miles of track along that route as well as tunnels, stations and
bridges. Last year it mortgaged Pennsylvania Station in New York to
help pay operating costs. Amtrak also owns Union Station in Chicago,
some Midwest maintenance facilities and a limited amount of track
outside the Northeast.
The reform council, which determined
in November that Amtrak would not be able to wean itself from
federal operating subsidies by next December's congressionally
mandated deadline, has long argued that Amtrak should yield control
of its Northeast infrastructure system.
Amtrak is a private
company in which the government owns most of the stock. Mired in
debt, Amtrak lost $405 million in the first eight months of 2001,
the last available financial figures.
Under the proposals,
Amtrak would cede ownership of the Northeast Corridor to the
Transportation Department or a compact of states. The council
estimates that it would cost between $800 million and $1 billion to
maintain the corridor.
All three proposals also give the
government varying oversight roles and
responsibilities.
Amtrak has spent $140 million over the past
two years to maintain the Northeast Corridor. It is scheduled to
receive $521 million in federal operating subsidies this
year.
The differences in the council's plans largely fall
along how the trains would be operated.
One scenario would
maintain all or part of the national system Amtrak currently runs
with federal government oversight and subsidies.
A second
option would involve government oversight of the rail system and
allow private companies or states to bid to operate some or all of
the services but only after a transition period.
The third
option would open all of Amtrak routes to bids from private
competition and states without a measurable transition
period.
A reform council spokeswoman said several private
rail companies, including one from Britain, have expressed interest
in Amtrak routes.
Major freight companies, which got out of
the long haul passenger rail business 30 years ago -- when Amtrak
was created -- have taken no public position on whether they would
want to come back in.
But freight operator Guilford Rail
System of Billerica, Massachusetts, said it would be interested in
running service on Amtrak Northeast Corridor routes. `
“When
an economic opportunity presents itself, we certainly look at it,”
said company spokesman David Fink. “We'd look at anything. It
depends on what the reform council decides to do.”
The Bush
administration has promised to develop a strategy for inter-city
rail this year. The Transportation Department could unveil a plan in
its budget outline next month or soon after.
Congress will
have the final say in Amtrak's future and could decide to keep it
the way it is, at least temporarily, but fund its capital needs and
remove some money-losing routes.
Lawmakers voted in December
essentially to reverse a congressional requirement that Amtrak draw
up plans for its own liquidation while the reform council focused on
restructuring.