WASHINGTON -- A panel studying Amtrak's future favors stripping
the railroad of the tracks and stations it owns, but still must
decide whether and how to open train operations to competition,
reports a wire service.
The Amtrak Reform Council, which will
deliver its recommendations to Congress on Feb. 7, gathers Friday
for what could be its last meeting. On the agenda: scenarios for how
to break Amtrak's 30-year monopoly on intercity train
travel.
The panel has drawn praise from free-market reformers
who say Amtrak is responsible for its financial problems. Amtrak
supporters say the real problem is a paucity of federal funding for
an overlooked mode of transportation.
The council's
recommendations hold no legal weight but will help frame the debate
in Congress on Amtrak's future.
Under one scenario, private
companies would submit bids for certain train routes. Government
subsidies would be available as long as they are lower than those
Amtrak is receiving.
Every scenario under consideration
envisions transferring ownership of Amtrak's tracks, bridges,
tunnels and stations, said Tom Till, the council's executive
director.
The new owner would likely be one or more new
subsidiaries of the National Rail Passenger Corporation -- an
existing federal entity that, until now, has been synonymous with
Amtrak. Under the council's plans, Amtrak would function only as an
operating company under the federal corporation.
Eventually,
ownership of the stations and track could be transferred to states
or cities.
Amtrak owns 730 miles of track, mostly in the
Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, plus in Michigan.
It owns stations along the Northeast Corridor, plus Union Station in
Chicago.
Amtrak serves 500 stations over 22,000 route miles.
Most of the tracks are owned by freight railroads, which receive
usage fees from Amtrak.
The railroad uses its assets to raise
revenue. It plans to build a hotel inside Baltimore's Penn Station
and an office tower or hotel near 30th Street Station in
Philadelphia.
But the assets also impose substantial costs.
The reform council estimates that it takes $800 million to $1
billion each year to keep the Northeast Corridor in a state of good
repair. It says Amtrak has spent just $71 million on Northeast
Corridor maintenance each of the past two years.
The National
Association of Railroad Passengers said Thursday that
recommendations to separate Amtrak from its non-rail assets “bear a
disturbing similarity to the early steps in the process that led to
Britain's current railway crisis.”
A 1997 law gave Amtrak
until Dec. 2, 2002, to begin operating without federal subsidies. It
created the reform council to monitor the railroad's
progress.
A majority of council members concluded last month
that Amtrak will not achieve that goal. That finding meant the
council had 90 days to draw up a plan for a restructured national
rail system.
Amtrak posted a cash loss of $405 million in the
first eight months of 2001 and has consumed more than $25 billion in
subsidies since its inception in 1971.