Senate Subcommittee Provides Hope for Amtrak, Slashes Investment in High Speed Rail

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (#10-11)

July 22, 2010

Contacts: Sean Jeans-Gail – 202-408-8362

Senate Subcommittee Provides Hope for Amtrak, Slashes Investment in High Speed Rail

Washington, D.C.—The Senate Appropriations Committee met today to mark up the Fiscal Year 2011 budget, approving a transportation bill that would give Amtrak breathing room in the face of possible service reductions and furloughs, providing some possibility of near-term flexibility in meeting surging demands in ridership, but would more than halve the funding for the popular high speed rail program.

The committee, headed by Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), approved a “Chairman’s mark” that would provide $1.963 billion for Amtrak, $666 million short of what the passenger railroad requested, but $196.5 million more than House appropriators—who approved their bill at a hearing held yesterday—and roughly $363 million over what the Obama Administration requested.  It is unclear how these numbers would fit into Amtrak’s financial plan, which contains key elements of a critical fleet renewal and reinvestment strategy, necessary to replace their aging fleet of railcars.  Fleet renewal would enable Amtrak both to accommodate rising public demand for trains (the railroad set a new record for ridership for the first half of this fiscal year), and to revitalize the U.S. passenger railcar production industry, creating much needed domestic manufacturing jobs.  Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO), the Transportation subcommittee’s fiscally conservative ranking member, acknowledged yesterday the necessity of Amtrak’s fleet request, while expressing disapproval of the manner in which it was presented.

The Senate took a big step backward with the high speed rail program, however, providing only $1 billion—$400 million less than what the House Appropriation Committee approved, and less than half the $2.5 billion the program received last year.  States have lined up to apply for high speed rail grants at roughly the rate of $54 in applications for every $1 available.  The grant money in this inaugural program has recently started to flow, creating engineering and construction work on high and higher speed lines beginning in Florida, Vermont, North Carolina, and Chicago/Missouri.  The lack of infrastructure investment in this transformational program is a missed opportunity, and—with the U.S. construction industry unemployment rate hovering around 20% in June—foregoes a much needed job creation initiative.

Trains Make Strides in Energy Efficiency

The case for increased passenger train investment was strengthened by the Department of Energy’s latest annual Transportation Energy Data Book (released June 30), which shows that Amtrak’s trains are now an even more energy efficiency way to travel, especially compared to cars and planes.

In 2008—measured on a per-passenger-mile basis—Amtrak improved from 2007 both in absolute terms and relative to cars and domestic air service.  Amtrak in 2008 was more energy efficient than cars and airlines, respectively, by 20% and 30% (up from 19% and 28% in 2007).  Amtrak’s 2008 performance was 4.7% improved as the railroad used 2,398 BTUs per passenger-mile, down from 2,516 in 2007.

It is also noteworthy that Amtrak in 2008 was 34% more energy efficient than personal trucks; personal trucks account for a significant amount of travel – 1.7 trillion passenger-miles vs. 2.6 trillion for cars.

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