After taking a closer look at the Amtrak funding in the Obama stimulus bill, don’t expect any big passenger service changes soon. This money is going right into maintenance of the current system. It is not too sexy, but its necessary.
The Amtrak funding that will do the most for the economy is for capital improvements that won’t be seen by the riders, but that are vital to its survival and operation. The rail system needs some plain old tender loving care.
An earlier column by Ned Levi noted the 19th Century train tunnels under Baltimore Harbor need at least $1 billion alone to bring them up to today’s standards. That’s just one of many choke points at Amtrak needing substantive, expensive work. Amtrak inherited an aging, neglected patchwork of rail systems from bankrupt railroads, and has never been adequately funded to bring the system up to European standards, to which it was constantly compared by a whining Bush Administration.
Amtrak will receive $1.3 billion in funding with a third of the money earmarked for security. The remaining $800-something million will barely put a dent in maintenance needs. But Amtrak’s funding has been enhanced by clever wording and by the late inclusion of billions for high-speed rail.
Some of the most interesting facets of this bill and the portion that affects Amtrak are the small changes in syntax that yield hundreds of billions of dollars in additional funding. This bill alters the definition of “high-speed rail facilities.”
Under existing law, states can issue private-activity bonds for high-speed rail facilities that transport passengers between major metropolitan areas using vehicles that “are reasonably expected to operate at speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour between scheduled stops,” according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Under the stimulus provision, facilities with trains “capable of attaining a maximum speed in excess of 150 miles per hour” would qualify.
The result of changing “expected to operate” to “capable of attaining,” according to budget experts, means Amtrak can expect almost $300 million more in bond financing. “Amtrak’s swiftest offering, the Washington-to-Boston Acela service, briefly hits a top speed of 150 miles per hour but averages only 62 mph between New York and Boston,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Aahh! The magic of three little words.
There are also some $8 billion being set aside for high-speed rail projects across the country. However, those projects are still in the environmental impact statement phases and realistically won’t see a shovel of dirt turned for another decade. Maglev sounds sexy, but is a long way off.
However, much of this high-speed rail funding will necessarily have to be poured into incremental rail improvements (read current rail line maintenance) since $8 billion can’t absorbed by environmental impact statements though lawyers will surely try.
After all is said and done, Amtrak will look about the same. Most of the money will be used for repairing old rail cars, replacing bridges, installing new signals, renovating rails and adding sidings. Travel times between cities won’t change much. Even with all of the planned improvements, travel time between D.C. and New York City will only be shortened by 20 minutes under the most optimistic projections.
The passenger experience won’t change much. However, what the customer doesn’t see and railway workers do see will be improved more dramatically than anytime in the past two decades (if bridge repair and new signals ever can be dramatic).
The Amtrak infrastructure improvement projects are probably as shovel-ready as any in the nation. They have been been put off for years. They are indeed projects can inject money right into the economy. Improving our passenger rail system is one part of the stimulus money that can be put to work immediately.
Unfortunately, this “stimulus money” looks a lot like a normal Amtrak budget line item. The Bush administration approved about the same amount only last October. The biggest change is one of attitude. This money was appropriated enthusiastically, rather than reluctantly.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
If only one penny of every transportation dollar was allocated to Amtrak, we could have a railway system second to none. I just took the Acela NY/Boston and back, and boy, it was so much better than flying. Long live the railroad…..Julie Morringello
Ah yes, change the name and somehow you change the expectations. But here’s something to consider. The bulk of Amtrak’s fleet IS NOT capable of attaining 150mph. Amtrak’s front-line locomotive, the P42 GENESIS, tops out at about 110mph. Amtrak’s aging fleet of “Amfleet” cars (1970s vintage) and “Horizon Fleet” cars (1980s vintage), in their best condition, also top out at around 110mph, and what’s left of the “Heritage Fleet” (cars that pre-date Amtrak, created in 1971) aren’t even capable of 100mph anymore. The only equipment Amtrak has “capable of attaining” 150mph are the Acela Express trainsets (capable of 200mph but limited to 150mph max by the Federal Railway Administration) and the HHP-8 electric locomotive (also capable of around 200mph, but pulls cars capable of 110mph max). The only solution to trains attaining 150+mph would be to construct, from scratch, new right-of-ways. Something that will be next to impossible given the bureaucratic impotence of this country.
Amtrak is useless in the Pac NW. There is one train a day that goes through Spokane and it leaves at 1:30am. So if I want to go to Seattle for the weekend I have to leave at 1:30 and arrive at Seattle at 8am, and return at 2:00am and get back around 9am. Must be better on the east coast cause it is worthless where I live.
Amtrak’s stimulus of $1.3 billion out of a $800 billion program is less than two cents of the ten dollars spent. Its so insignificant in the total picture its laughable….. But since Amtrak has been starved for so long, this amount is significant to bringing Amtrak back into a reasonable mechanical state. HIghways and airports got much more than Amtrak….
Curt, Washington state could pay Amtrak four million a year to run a train during daylight hours to Seattle everyday. That is, if Burlington Northern has any train spots open for a train on their very busy main line….
That is what the state of Oklahoma and Texas pay Amtrak to operate the Heartland Flyer. Unfortunately, Amtrak doesn’t plan the trains time schedule for Spokane as much as they do for Chicago…..