National Association of Railroad Passengers: www.narprail.org
Federal Funding for Amtrak Capital Investment
Amtrak Basic System and Northeast Corridor Together
(millions of dollars)
Notice how, when adjusted for inflation, federal investment in Amtrak capital items provide only one-third the purchasing power now (2003) as it did in the late 1970's. No wonder Amtrak was not able to modernize itself rapidly enough, or expand its services!
Only with the passage of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (with Amtrak
funding in 1998 and 1999) does capital investment get back up to former
levels (only to plummet again in 2000). But there is a lot of ground to
make up -- Amtrak estimated early in 2002 that it needed $850 million a
year just for the current system (not counting expansion or a capital backlog
of $5.8 billion).
| FEDERAL FUNDING FOR
AMTRAK CAPITAL INVESTMENT |
||
|---|---|---|
| In Current
(Non-adjusted) Dollars (millions) |
In Inflation-
Adjusted 2003 Dollars (millions) |
|
| 1971-72 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 1973 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 1974 | 2.5 | 9.3 |
| 1975 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 1976 | 189.2 | 611.8 |
| 1977 | 318.1 | 965.8 |
| 1978 | 555.0 | 1566.3 |
| 1979 | 610.0 | 1546.0 |
| 1980 | 553.0 | 1234.9 |
| 1981 | 537.1 | 1087.2 |
| 1982 | 346.6 | 660.9 |
| 1983 | 145.0 | 267.9 |
| 1984 | 194.5 | 344.4 |
| 1985 | 79.9 | 136.6 |
| 1986 | 14.0 | 23.5 |
| 1987 | 43.0 | 69.6 |
| 1988 | 73.7 | 114.6 |
| 1989 | 49.0 | 72.7 |
| 1990 | 108.0 | 152.0 |
| 1991 | 311.0 | 420.1 |
| 1992 | 380.0 | 498.4 |
| 1993 | 394.1 | 501.8 |
| 1994 | 420.0 | 521.5 |
| 1995 | 430.0 | 519.6 |
| 1996 | 345.0 | 404.6 |
| 1997 | 478.0 | 548.8 |
| 1998 | 1341.8 | 1514.7 |
|
|
1701.0
|
1878.7
|
|
|
571.0
|
610.1
|
|
|
521.0
|
541.3
|
|
|
621.0
|
635.2
|
|
|
528.0
|
524.6
|
|
|
462.3
|
462.3
|
Though Taxpayer Relief Act funds have helped in 1998 and 1999, Amtrak
and the Northeast Corridor never fully recovered from the virtual elimination
of federal capital grants between 1985 and 1990. At their lowest point
-- 1986 -- federal capital grants totalled only $14 million.
Amtrak estimated in 2002 that it needed $850 million a year in capital just to keep the current system operating -- that did not count the $5.8 billion in unmet capital backlog, nor capital that would be needed to facilitate service expansion. Amtrak has not gotten $850 million (or its inflation-adjusted equivalent) in any but a few of the years it has existed.
Chart by Scott Leonard