Trainsmag.com just reported that a stop-gap bill would grant Amtrak's $1.2 billion appropriations krequest - plus tack on $775 million for security and life-safety tunnel improvements - was introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday.
The reauthorization bill, authored by Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, and railroad subcommittee Chairman Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., also would make Amtrak more accountable for how the money is spent.
Essentially, the bill would allow Amtrak to limp along for another year while giving Congress ant the White House the time to craft a long-term solution to the passenger rail problem.
The bill would authorize $1.2 billion for fiscal 2003, which is the amount Amtrak said it would need in order to stave off route cutbacks involving at least 18 long-distance trains beginning after October 1.
Specifically, the measure incudes $800 million for capital expenditures, $200 million for Amtrak's excess Railroad Retirement system obligations.
It goes beyond Amtrak's budget request by including $373 million for a grant program for rail security projects on Amtrak and $400 million for a grant program to make life-safety improvements in Amtrak's Northeast Corridor tunnels in New York, Baltimore, and Washington. The tunnels leading to New York's Pennsylvania Station, which lack adequate escape routes, ventilation, and fire systems, have been a particular safety concern.
"Amtrak has been getting blank checks for the past 30 years since 1972 and is near bankruptcy," Young said. "Amtrak's management says it needs $1.2 billion to continue operating next year and we're giving them this amount. But we're also going to make sure that this increase in funding is spent where it is supposed to go and we're going to ensure that the Department of Transportation can carefully monitor where and how the funds are spent.
The bill would require Amtrak to submit capital funding project plans to the secretary of transportation for review and approval. Amtrak also would be required to present a business plan for approval by September 1.
"This should be viewed exactly as what it is - a stop-gap bill that provides Amtrak with the level of funding necessary to continue its current operations, preventing any disruptions in service," Quinn said.
The bill, Quinn added, sends a message to the Senate and White House that Amtrak is vital to the national transportation network.
In the Senate, Sen Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., has filed a measure that would authorize $1.4 billion in one-time security improvements: $850 million annually for Amtrak's existing long-distance and short-distance trains: $1.3 billion annually for the capital needs of theNortheast Corridor: and $1.5 billion annually for the Department of Transportation to develop new high-speed corridors thoughout the country.
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