New Amtrak chief urges more funding

The new chief of Amtrak on Thursday nimbly averted the long-standing disputes that have marked the beleaguered history of the rail passenger line as he faced the House Transportation and Infrastructure Railroads Subcommittee for the first time since taking the job two-and-a-half weeks ago.

Alexander Kummant made clear only one thing for sure during a two-hour introductory session with the panel: even the most efficient rail passenger service, anywhere in the world, needs government subsidies to survive.

"Amtrak is both a business and a public enterprise," he told the committee. "Amtrak was created by Congress, it relies on funding from Congress, and in many ways you are the company's primary shareholders."

While Amtrak faces multiple problems -- from aging infrastructure to dirty rail cars and schedule delays -- its biggest challenge now, Kummant said, is lack of capital to finance such projects "as bridge and tunnel replacement" as well as doing "a better job of explaining the importance of these capital investments to [Congress]."

By now, most citizens are familiar with the annual struggle by Amtrak to wring enough money from Congress to maintain the service.

As House Transportation and Infrastructure Railroads Subcommittee Chairman Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, remarked, "Congress has a habit of giving [Amtrak] just enough money each year to fail."

Moreover, there is an ongoing battle between the Bush Administration (with its advocates in Congress) and rail-passenger devotees over whether to sell off major segments of its infrastructure -- effectively privatizing it -- or provide the wherewithal to make it a truly modern national passenger service run by a quasi-governmental agency.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., like Bush, favors the privatization route, on the theory, he explained Thursday, that Congress will not provide the massive infusion of capital -- estimated at between $18 billion and $35 billion over time -- to upgrade the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor alone. Mica said private investment will be needed to preserve Amtrak and make it an efficient, high-speed form of public transportation.

In his testimony and subsequent dialogue with the panel, Kummant stressed the need for "a federal and state partnership" to provide the money for infrastructure.

After the hearing, he told reporters there are several options, including private investment, that he will consider as he ponders ways of raising the needed money. He would not commit himself to a particular source of capital, though he said he would look at state-issued bonds and investment tax credits as possible ways to raise the money -- along with federal subsidies.

Looking down the road in forming what he called "a vision" for Amtrak's future, Kummant said, "We are at a pivotal point in the history of rail passenger service, particularly in this country. ... .At a time of high oil prices, growing highway and airport congestion and record rail freight volumes, we should be embracing rail [passenger] service and developing it as quickly and as responsibly as we can."