Does Amtrak Have Its Future On Track?

Since it was created by Congress in 1970, Amtrak has come close to being permanently derailed any number of times. In August, a dispute between Congress and the Clinton administration over Amtrak employees’ severance pay led Congress to withhold the $2.3 billion in capital funds that it had voted for the railroad, and soon after that crisis passed the subsidy narrowly escaped a presidential line-item veto.

Now if Congress completes action on a bill to streamline Amtrak, and if the railroad and about 2,500 of its maintenance workers use the 60-day cooling-off period imposed by President Clinton on Aug. 21 to settle a threatened strike, Amtrak should have a pretty good indication by this time next year whether it can actually become self-sufficient by 2002, as Congress has decreed it must.

Almost no one thinks that self-sufficiency will be easy. The American love affair with the car shows few signs of abating, and frequent deeply discounted fares for off-peak airplane travel do not bode well for long distance train travel. Furthermore, Amtrak is saddled with $1 billion in long-term debt, most of it for new trains and equipment.

But by operating more than 200 trains a day to more than 500 destinations in 44 states, and carrying 20 million passengers a year, Amtrak provides basic transportation for people of all income levels and accessibility to communities with few alternatives, in the opinion of the nonprofit National Association of Railroad Passengers.

Furthermore, the railroad has recently introduced a host of innovations. They include allowing passengers to book reservations on the Amtrak Web site (http:/ /www.amtrak.com) and permitting passengers on certain routes to store their bicycles in racks instead of taking them apart and putting them in boxes. Reduced rates are now available for passengers who ride Amtrak to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm in Orange County, Calif., Sea World in San Diego and Marine World Africa U.S.A. in Martinez, Calif.

In parts of Oregon, Idaho, New Mexico and Texas, Amtrak has teamed with bus operators to provide connections with its trains along discontinued routes. And it has formed a partnership with United Airlines to offer air-rail vacation packages that allow travel from any Amtrak station in the United States, as well as up to three stops along the way at no extra charge, with a return flight from any airport served by United Airlines or United Express.

But as important as those promotions and innovations are for keeping the Amtrak name in front of the public, it is widely acknowledged that the railroad’s future is most heavily dependent on the success of the high-speed Northeast Corridor - from Boston to Washington. And the overall success of the corridor depends on upgrading the final 165-mile stretch between Boston and New Haven for the introduction of 150-mph trains.