AMTRAK SHOULD LISTEN TO FEDERAL PANEL

Although the plan hasn't been given a green light, a federal panel has suggested that Amtrak's financial problems could be reversed if it were allowed to shed its government responsibilities and focus exclusively on commercially viable train service.

The Amtrak Reform Council, a federal committee, recently proposed that the perennially cash-poor passenger rail company divide its responsibilities among a profit-focused company responsible for train operations, a separate government-owned corporation to oversee assets such as tracks and stations, and a consolidated government oversight agency.

Congress formed the council in 1997 as part of the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act, which provided billions of dollars to support Amtrak but gave it five years to prove it could run without annual operating subsidies.

Amtrak's problem, according to the panel, is that it is performing 12 distinct functions including rail equipment manager, real estate developer and a designer of public policy.

The council detailed several options to achieve the division of responsibilities, including giving states authority over new high-speed rail corridors and assigning train operations to the highest bidder.

The report was released three days after an Amtrak train derailment in Iowa that killed one passenger in the latest of a number of accidents through the years that have caused deaths and injuries, and have cost the company substantially.

The Amtrak Reform Council didn't explore whether the proposed changes would affect the rail system's safety.

Full privatization is not being considered, in part because of Britain's rocky experience with the concept.

Amtrak officials took issue with the idea of giving up current responsibilities.

One said that in the long run passengers benefit from the integrated company. And the president of Amtrak, George Warrington, voiced concern that the proposal would create "a new federal bureaucracy" that would interfere with Amtrak's efforts to act more like a business.

To the contrary, it sounds as if Amtrak doesn't want to give up current responsibilities because by doing so it also might have to give up much of its federal subsidies.

The panel's plan would put the company on the road to operating like a real business, and by doing so it could decide where to provide passenger service, thereby eliminating a lot of non-profitable routes.