Letter To Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Shelby

To Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Shelby

August 13, 2004

The Honorable Richard C. Shelby, Chairman
Subcommittee on Transportation and Treasury and General Government
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Dear Mr. Chairman:
We strongly support Amtrak’s FY 2005 budget request of $1.798 billion.  We understand the tight budgetary situation facing the subcommittee.  Nonetheless, we must highlight the importance of Amtrak receiving enough funds to maintain the momentum of its capital program.  If that momentum is lost, there would be a serious, negative impact on the quality of the rolling stock Amtrak can field systemwide.
Such a failure also would significantly increase the risk of a bridge problem east of New Haven that would force complete shutdown of New York-Boston service.  Amtrak said a year ago that the Thames River and Niantic River bridges were “built in the early 1900s” and “designed for occasional openings, but with current rail and boat traffic, their combined total openings are more than 6,000 times per year…they no longer open and close reliably…and caused 1,462 minutes of train delay from 44 separate failures during the past year.”
We note continuing strong demand for Amtrak service; the sharply rising number of seniors in the U.S.; the prospect of oil prices remaining high indefinitely; continuing highway, airport and airway congestion (reflected in last week’s FAA meeting with air carriers about O’Hare congestion); and the new levels of accountability achieved by Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration over the past two years.  All of these factors argue for providing Amtrak the funding it says is needed to maintain the established momentum of the capital program.
Failure to provide such funding would create a bigger, more conspicuous problem than would result if other parts of DOT received a funding reduction of equal amount.
Thank you for considering our views.
Sincerely,

Ross B. Capon
Executive Director

Identicle (customized) letters also send to the following on August 18, 2004:

Senator Arlen Specter (PA)*
Senator Christopher Bond (MO)
Senator Robert Bennett (UT)
Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (CO)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Senator Mike DeWine (OH)*
Senator Sam Brownback (KS)
Senator Patty Murray (Ranking Member) (WA)
Senator Robert C. Byrd (WV)
Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD)*
Senator Harry Reid (NV)*
Senator Herb Kohl (WI)*
Senator Richard Durbin (IL)*
Senator Byron Dorgan (ND)*

* Indicates inclusion of the following:
P.S.  We thank you for your signature on this year’s pro-Amtrak Senate letter.