To rebuild New York and the Pentagon and restore confidence in the airline industry, President Bush and Congress approved $40 billion for emergency relief package and $15 billion to help airlines account for the four-day shutdown of national air travel.  Unfortunately, some organizations saw the crisis as an excuse to take advantage of government’s helping hand and open wallet, including Amtrak, the government's train monopoly.

Within days of the terror attacks, Amtrak requested $3.2 billion in new funding for security and expanded service.  Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) upped the ante, saying the private, for-profit company may need up to $37 billion as a result of the attack.  In contrast, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said he doubts the threat to rail stations resembles the threat to airports, and questioned Amtrak’s request.

Unlike the airlines, Amtrak was not forced to shut down in the days after September 11.  In contrast, the rail service, which serves 500 communities in 45 states and normally carries 61,000 passengers a day, has seen its ridership increase by one-third to an average of 80,000 passengers per day.  Instead of developing a plan to put these increased revenues to productive use, Amtrak officials and their allies at the Consumers Union and the High Speed Ground Transportation Association have used the national catastrophe to secure more funds to offset its decades of waste and mismanagement.

Amtrak hasn’t turned a profit since its birth in 1971.  It has received more than $23 billion in federal subsidies since, including more than $360 million for basic operating expenses last year.  A 1979 study showed Amtrak passengers were the most heavily subsidized travelers in the U.S.  In 1994, at Congress’s behest, Amtrak’s board of directors opted to end these subsidies and be free of federal support by 2002. 

That plan was later modified by the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act (ARAA) of 1997, which, while authorizing $5.2 billion for freight rail retirees, operating expenses, and capital expenditures, extended Amtrak’s deadline for self-sufficiency to 2003.  Just a year later, General Accounting Office (GAO) reports in March, May, and June stated that Amtrak probably would not meet this goal and would need federal subsidies well after Jan. 1, 2003.

How prescient were these reports?  In 2001, well before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Amtrak proposed a 20-year expansion and modernization plan that would cost federal taxpayers $30 billion. 

Amtrak and its supporters are simply using the September 11 attacks as a convenient excuse for a proposal they made months ago [to promote their agenda].  While would-be air travelers are pleased to have the peace of mind the rails have provided during this time of national crisis, Amtrak should not be looking for an excuse to dip into the pockets of American taxpayers.

For claiming to be a private entity while still almost-wholly supported by the Department of Transportation, for not taking every step necessary to be self-sufficient by 2003, and for using a national tragedy to supplement its bottom line, Citizens Against Government Waste names the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) as its October Porker of the Month.