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"In theory, the administration wants to someday allow private train
operators to take over certain Amtrak routes and have state governments help subsidize the service. In reality, however, it
has proposed a paltry $900 million subsidy for fiscal 2004 that would bring all trains to a halt within months, and force
the dismantling of a system that could not easily be put back together again. The amount is not enough to cover operating
deficit, debt service and other fixed expenses, yet House Republican leaders want to hold Amtrak to it."
The New York Times
November 3, 2003
Amtrak's Budgetary Crapshoot
The complete article is currently (4/2/04) available on the New
York Times website at-- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/03/opinion/03MON2.html?ex=1081054800&en=75fbc8ecf66ffd5c&ei=5070 [found through a Google search by article title on this date]
Excerpt--
... In theory, the administration wants to someday allow private train operators
to take over certain Amtrak routes and have state governments help subsidize the service. In
reality, however, it has proposed a paltry $900 million subsidy for fiscal 2004 that would bring all trains to a halt within
months, and force the dismantling of a system that could not easily be put back together again. The amount is not
enough to cover operating deficit, debt service and other fixed expenses, yet House Republican leaders want to hold Amtrak
to it. ...
...Refusing
to invest enough in Amtrak's infrastructure now is to deny any plausible future for passenger rail in this country.
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