Brake trouble fuels larger debate over Amtrak

Some critics believe that Acela's current problems, tiny cracks in its break discs, could have been exacerbated by the poor condition of the tracks. On learning of the problem, Amtrak quickly pulled its Acela trains out of service.

But Laney and other Amtrak officials make it clear that improving track conditions in other parts of the country as well is central to creating a more efficient and profitable passenger rail nationally.

"The future of intercity passenger rail, if we can pull this off, is going to be much brighter," says David Gunn, Amtrak's president and CEO.

The Bush administration's proposal to eliminate funding for Amtrak came in for harsh criticism at the hearing, even from the subcommittee chairman Trent Lott (R) of Mississippi, who referred to the "ridiculousness of that proposal."

"I was stunned and disappointed that such a proposal was set up here by this administration," he said.

Before the hearing, Senator Lott also made it clear he believes Amtrak has to be reformed, but not at the expense of states who have rail systems that are unprofitable.

"Residents of states like Mississippi are not going to subsidize the ride exclusively for folks in the Northeast Corridor," he said. "If Americans nationwide are going to pay for Amtrak, then it must be preserved as a true nationwide system."

That highlights yet again the challenges facing Amtrak: It's expected to be profitable at the same time it's expected to keep running very unprofitable lines. Some analysts call that its Catch-22. Others contend that any talk of a national rail system as being self-sustaining is "wrongheaded."

"I was aghast when Washington started talking about self-sustainability [for Amtrak]," says Martin Robins, director of the Voorhees Transportation Policy Institute at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "That got us off completely on the wrong foot because the issue is improperly framed, and so it makes it difficult to find proper solutions."

That vast ideological gulf in funding perspectives was also on prominent display at Thursday morning's hearing. Jeffrey Rosen, the Bush administration's general counsel to the Department of Transportation, noted that "the federal taxpayers have infused more than $29 billion during the last 34 years as Amtrak has lurched from crisis to crisis without ever achieving a stable and viable business model." Whereas Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) of New Jersey noted that this is less than a billion dollars a year - a paltry sum when compared with, say, Germany, which spends an estimated $9 billion of taxpayers' money a year on its rail service.

In the end, no analysts interviewed thought Congress would eliminate Amtrak's funding completely. The open questions, they say, are how Amtrak will be changed and whether Congress is willing to provide the kind of funding needed to improve infrastructure and operate efficiently.

"Somebody with some smarts has to decide what Amtrak is supposed to do. They've been fumbling with it for 30 years," says George Smerk, professor emeritus of transportation at Indiana University at Bloomington. "It has a good beginning to build on, and it could have a good future."

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