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A L S O+T O D A Y
Gun smoke
T A B L E+T A L K School reform is gaining momentum, but is privatizing education taking things a step too far? Take your side in the Education area of Table Talk
R E C E N T L Y Who says women never lie about rape? Where have we gone? $400 million and a mule? Genocide, and
drug-trafficking too Let the sexual healing
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Can Amtrak survive?
BY DAVID M. FINE | Amtrak finally unveiled its new bullet-train service this week, a $2 billion experiment dubbed "Acela," which, starting in December, will shuttle passengers from Boston to Washington at speeds of up to 150 mph. By electrifying the 470-mile route, straightening its curves and employing new trains, Amtrak will cut a half hour off its popular three-hour Metroliner service between Washington and New York, making it rival the time it takes to travel by plane, when travel to and from the airport is factored in. But the victory for Amtrak is bittersweet. It unleashes its pride and joy under the watchful eyes of the Amtrak Reform Council, created by the 1997 Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act, which demands that Amtrak be able to pay its own way by 2002 or face privatization. The council can write up liquidation plans as soon as December if it determines Amtrak will not meet those goals. What would Amtrak's privatization mean for train travel in America? "We shouldn't have any illusion that we'll have any rail service if we privatize," says Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), a rail advocacy organization. He bristles at the mention of an "Amtrak privatization debate." Joseph Vranich, however, wants the debate to take place. A former Amtrak employee who's a high-speed rail advocate and member of the Amtrak Reform Council, Vranich argued for privatization in his book "Derailed: What Went Wrong and What to Do About America's Passenger Trains." He blames Amtrak for poor business practices and blocking progress in high-speed rail, and despite Amtrak's good year, does not see things changing. "With reform hanging in the air like a big neon sign, it's business as usual at Amtrak. Look at the route system -- is there one money-losing route system that's been curtailed? Is there one money-losing route that has been re-routed to serve bigger cities? No." While he calls his solution privatizing, Vranich is no free-market purist. In "Derailed," he outlines a variety of incentives that states and the federal government could provide to entice private capital to operate trains in a post-Amtrak world. The public could buy the track and rights of way (airline and highway rights of way are publicly owned, as are rail lines in the Northeast corridor and some commuter rail lines). States could subsidize regional rail. Or states could be permitted to use federal funds from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) and the Surface Transportation Program. (Called "flexible funding," the money can be used for highways, bicycle trails or other projects, but currently cannot be applied to intercity rail.) Or the federal government could transform the highway trust fund into a general transportation fund. "Privatization as I see it," says Vranich, "is where government makes sure the service gets provided, but doesn't provide the service. Subsidies are still OK." One option would be just to give Amtrak more money. Even Vranich concedes that Amtrak has suffered from chronic underfunding. The current system is "designed to ensure that the huge highway and airways systems get bigger and Amtrak just limps along," says Capon of NARP. Along with the National Governors Association, he would like to see the "flexible" funds made available to rail. "When a rail advocate goes to a state legislature, the thing that cripples him is not the merit of his project, but that there's no federal funding," he says. Capon argues that it's no coincidence that Amtrak has been operating its fast trains, the 125-mph Metroliners, between Washington and New York for nearly a decade, and is pouring much of its budget into bringing that up to 150 mph. "[It's a] natural result of a directive they've been given from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue," says Capon. Still, if Amtrak were dismantled, public-private partnerships like the Florida Overland Express, where a consortium of private companies teamed up with the state of Florida to build 200-mph rail between Miami, Tampa and Orlando, might be able to obtain greater federal support. In the current climate, when newly elected Gov. Jeb Bush pulled the $70 million annual funding the state had planned on providing, there was not enough federal support to back the project. N E X T+P A G E+| Why take the train? |
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