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TechnographAmtrak president speaks at UI, rails against Bush budget proposal
By Nate Sandstrom
Posted: 2/11/05 Section: News
President Bush's budget proposal would remove all federal funding for Amtrak, eliminating inter-city train travel in the United States, said Amtrak President David L. Gunn during a speech at the Beckman Institute on Thursday.
The White House budget proposal criticized Amtrak for high debt and low ridership. Amtrak has received $29 billion from taxpayers since its inception in 1971, according to the proposal.
The administration has said it would not fund Amtrak until reforms are made, but Gunn said he has not been given specific requests as to what reforms are wanted.
Gunn also criticized the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for not having a long-range plan for rail travel in the United States.
"Tell us what you want us to do and we can do it. ...The fact of the matter is they (the USDOT) do not have an implementable plan," he said.
Gunn said it was unrealistic to expect to have a rail system in the United States that is not federally subsidized, and that it is a mistake for the federal government to fund highways and airlines but not railways.
"Do you want to chew up scarce airport capacity, or do you want to get them on a train?" Gunn asked.
The proposed cut comes at a time when Amtrak has made progress, Gunn said. The number of Amtrak passengers has increased since Gunn took over in 2002.
More than 25 million trips were taken on Amtrak in 2004, an increase of more than a million and a record high. More than three million of those trips were taken in Illinois, and 76,633 were from the Champaign station, according to Amtrak's Web site.
The administration has proposed splitting Amtrak's service in the Northeast Corridor, the area between Washington D.C. and Boston, from Amtrak's long-distance service in the rest of the country. The company would then turn rail service outside the Northeast to individual states, which would bid contracts for other operators.
The proposal to split service has a practical obstacle, said Ross Capon, University alumnus and executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.
The White House budget proposal criticized Amtrak for high debt and low ridership. Amtrak has received $29 billion from taxpayers since its inception in 1971, according to the proposal.
The administration has said it would not fund Amtrak until reforms are made, but Gunn said he has not been given specific requests as to what reforms are wanted.
Gunn also criticized the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for not having a long-range plan for rail travel in the United States.
"Tell us what you want us to do and we can do it. ...The fact of the matter is they (the USDOT) do not have an implementable plan," he said.
Gunn said it was unrealistic to expect to have a rail system in the United States that is not federally subsidized, and that it is a mistake for the federal government to fund highways and airlines but not railways.
"Do you want to chew up scarce airport capacity, or do you want to get them on a train?" Gunn asked.
The proposed cut comes at a time when Amtrak has made progress, Gunn said. The number of Amtrak passengers has increased since Gunn took over in 2002.
More than 25 million trips were taken on Amtrak in 2004, an increase of more than a million and a record high. More than three million of those trips were taken in Illinois, and 76,633 were from the Champaign station, according to Amtrak's Web site.
The administration has proposed splitting Amtrak's service in the Northeast Corridor, the area between Washington D.C. and Boston, from Amtrak's long-distance service in the rest of the country. The company would then turn rail service outside the Northeast to individual states, which would bid contracts for other operators.
The proposal to split service has a practical obstacle, said Ross Capon, University alumnus and executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.
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