Date: 1990-05-09
Speaker: THOMAS A. LUKEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. It was nearly 1 year ago when I introduced H.R. 2364. Last fall. the full House voted by an overwhelming majority29693in favor of the bill. When our colleagues from the other body passed the bill later in the year. they made only minor revisions to it. I am pleased to report that conferees from both Houses have now reached a consensus on this Important measure. Amtrak was created in 1970 when Congress passed the Rail Passenger Service Act. By piecing together operations from private companieswhich no longer found passenger service profitableAmtrak gradually put together the framework for a national rail passenger system. Today. Amtrak operates about 220 intercity trains each day over 24.000 miles of track in nearly every State of the Union. It provides service to over 480 communities across the United States. It is the only intercity rail passenger carrier in the United States. It should come as no surprise to any of us that the administration is threatening to veto this bill. President Bush doesnt want Congress to give Amtrak any financial support. Its the same old song and dance we have heard for many years now. Year in and year out. Presidents Reagan and Bush have shown us what their idea of a national transportation policy for Amtrak is by telling Congress we should abandon Amtrak. And what would happen if we agreed with the President? Amtrak would go under. pure and simple. This country would lose its national rail passenger service. Let us take a look at some of the facts about Amtrak. Over the last decade. Amtrak has taken great strides in providing a costeffective operation. In 1981. its revenuetocost ratio was only 48 percent. In each year since. Amtrak has Improved its ability to generate revenues and hold the line on Its cost. Last yearthe second year in a row that Amtrak earned more than $1 billion in revenuesits revenuetocost ratio had increased to 72 percent. At the same time. Federal support for Amtrak has decreased dramatically. In 1981. Amtraks appropriation was almost $900 million. For the current fiscal year. Amtraks appropriation is about $600 million. In other words. Federal funding for Amtrak has declined about 35 percent in nominal terms. and more than 50 percent in real terms. since the bgeinning of this decade. But the fact of the matter is that we have been allowing Amtrak to bleed. slowly but surely. If this slow but inevitable trend continues. Amtrak will eventually fail. While Amtrak continues to set recordslast year. ridershp and passenger miles reached alltime highsthe system is straining to keep up with its increased demands. At our subcommittees hearing last year. Amtraks President. Graham Claytor. told us that Amtrak needs to replace and augment its current fleet of passenger cars in order to meet that growing demands on Amtraks passenger operations. About onethird of Amtraks existing fleet of passenger cars consist of cars acquired from freight railroads which were constructed before 1971. These old cars are expensive to maintain and operate. To upgrade and replace a portion of its aging fleet of cars. Amtrak estimates it will need to acquire about 450 cars during the next 5 years. Without these and other Improvements. Amtraks ability to generate revenues through increased ridership will be jeopardized Amtraks systemwide ontime performance has faltered during this decade. A major reason for this is the companys necessary strategy of conserving funds by deferring maintenance on its locomotives. which In turn results in more enroute breakdowns. If left unchecked. this shortage of capital funds ultimately threatens safety on the railroad. As one advertisement says. "You can pay me now or pay me later." We can stop the downward spiral caused by deferred maintenance. outmoded equipment. and inadequate capital. By making modest shortterm investements now. we can help make Amtrak more selfsufficient over the long haul. We need to invest in the future of our Nations transportation needs by making prudent decisions now. When you look at the billions and billions of dollars we regularly pour into our Nations highways and airports. one must wonder at the relatively modest investment we are making in Amtrak. With increasing highway and airport congestion. concerns for our environment. and the need for safe and efficient transportation. Amtraks role in our national transportation system is more important than ever. H.R. 2364 provides enough assistnace to Amtrak to keep the trains rolling while the fiscal constraints we face. The simple fact of the matter is that some level of Government assistance is required to sustain a national rail passenger operation. Other countries. such as Germany. Great Britain. France. and Japan. have made a much greater financial commitment to rail passenger service than we have in the United States. For example. the 12 members of the European Community have embarked upon a $50 billion capital improvement program to improve rail passenger service over the next 6 years. Our fianncial commitment to Amtrak pales by comparison. A few weeks ago. President Bush and Secretary Skinner unveiled the muchtouted national transportation policy. The policy recognizes that our country faces a deteriorating transportation infrastructure with increasing demand and burgeoning congestion. particularly on our Nations highways and airports. Given these stark realities. it seems logical that modest investments in Amtrak will help to relieve congestion. improve utilization of our transportation resources. and save all of us money in the long run. The Presidents policy recognizes the tremendous strides Amtrak has made in becoming more efficient and selfreliant. And the Presidents policy specifically recognizes Amtraks need to replace locomotives and cars. But what is the Presidents national transportation plan for Amtrak. based on these findings? He recommends no Federal funding for Amtrak. Today. we need to demonstrate our commitment to a plan that makes sense. instead of gutting the resources which can make a difference in our national transportationsystem. I want to comment very briefly on one other provision in this bill that allows the Interstate Commerce Commission to review acquisitions of major railroads. This provision was developed on a bipartisan basis. It merely closes a loophole in existing law. Do not be persuaded by the red herring arguments the administration has raised in opposition to this legislative clarification. The conferees on this bill received a letter from Secretary Skinner last week that says that this provision constitutes unnecessary regulation. With all due respect. Mr. Secretary. you have got to be kidding. Without this provision. we will be faced with the ludicrous result that the ICC will have the authority to review and approve a 1mile sale of railroad line. but not a takover of a Fortune 500 railroad system. The ICC will be able to review and approve any railroad merger. consolidation. lease or line sale between carriers. but not the sale of one of the 14 largest railroads in the country. The ICC will be able to review and approve the proposed purchase of two or more carriers. but not the takeover of one of our class I railroads. We should not allow any investor to ignore the public interest and use major railroad companies as cash cows that can be milked at the publics expense. Our bill recognizes this fact and merely provides an expedited and limited administrative fitness review of proposals by nonrailroads to buy major railroad companies. Let us not overlook the difference between railroads and other modes of transportation that use public rightsofway. If an airline or trucking company goes belly up. some other company can come in and provide service. The air routes and highways are not torn up. But if railroad tracks are abandoned. the shippers and communities they serve are out of luck. The tracks will not be built again. This bill simply recognizes the overriding public interest we have in our major railroad companies that employ over 200.000 workers and which serve thousands of cities and shippers. Again. do not be persuaded by the administrations rhetoric that this provision somehow changes the face of railroad regulation. It does not. It merely provides a mechanism. consistent with current law. for recognizing the public interest in continuing rail service. This report represents the combined bipartisan efforts of many Members of the House. I commend the chairman and ranking member of the full committee. Mr. DINGELL and Mr. LENT. for their leadership in crafting this measure. as well as Mr. WHIzAKER. the ranking member of our subcommittee. Mr. BoucHER. Mr. BLILEY. Mr. SwIrT.