Ax for Amtrak

Ahead: rail reduction

When Congress formed Amtrak in 1971, the idea was that a national passenger rail service would make money. But the federally supported rail system has been a steady loser and a growing drain on the public purse. The Government subsidy in 1978 reached $578 million, or about $2 in taxpayers' funds for every $1 taken in fares. Last week the Senate Commerce Committee began hearings to decide just what to do about it.

With Amtrak's annual deficit expected to climb to $1 billion or more by 1985, the austerity-minded lawmakers are in no mood to shout down a new Administration plan that will sharply cut both the cost and the size of the passenger train network. Transportation Secretary Brock Adams would eliminate 12,000 lightly traveled miles of Amtrak's 27,500-mile network, mostly in the South and West. Five states (Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Vermont and Alabama) would lose all passenger train services. But Adams claims that the summed Amtrak could still serve 91% of its present customers and all of America's 25 or so largest cities (except Atlanta, Cincinnati and Dallas-Fort Worth).

Some of the grand old trains would disappear, however, including the Crescent, from Washington to Atlanta and New Orleans; the Montrealer, from Washington through New England to Canada; the National Limited, from New York to Kansas City; the North Coast Hiawatha, from Chicago to Seattle; and both the Silver Meteor and the Champion, from New York to Florida. All the cuts, Adams estimates, would save about $1.4 billion in taxpayers' money over the next five years.

The plan is supported by Amtrak's president, Alan Boyd. He argued last week to a Senate Commerce Subcommittee that the average age of locomotives and cars is 28 years, the average system-wide speed is 45 m.p.h., and that maintenance costs are "out of sight. We've got a lot of junk." Added Boyd: "A smaller system will enable the railroad to provide much better service."

Unless either house of Congress moves to vote down the Adams plan by May 22--and that now seems unlikely--it will go into effect automatically this October. While Amtrak is a prune candidate for surgery, Congress in this instance may be acting overhastily. A new oil crunch is here, and Amtrak offers about the only energy-efficient alternative to cars. The Adams plan commendably seeks to save cash, but it might be better if it were part of some larger strategy to rebuild and restructure Amtrak to match the fast, comfortable and dependable services of Europe and Japan. Unfortunately, no such plan is under serious discussion.

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