Congress Hears Pleas To Delay Amtrak Cuts

A worried mayor urged Congress Friday to delay Amtrak cutbacks for three months while studying the nation’s rail passenger needs.

Amtrak is needed in some places for commuters, in others to connect metropolitan areas to the countryside, and elsewhere to provide long-distance services, Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Miss., told a House subcommittee on railroads.

Smith complained that the nation’s mayors had no voice in Amtrak’s decision to cut back services by 21 percent. The cuts were announced in December.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., has proposed that Amtrak’s service be studied by a new commission, like that which made recommendations on closing military bases.

Smith asked the committee to impose a 90-day moratorium on ending or reducing services.