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New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers Supports Full Federal
Funding of Amtrak
CHATHAM, N.J., Feb. 22, 2005 -- The New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers
(NJ-ARP) disputes the Secretary of Transportation's Amtrak analysis. If Secretary
Norman Y. Mineta believes "... the federal ... partnership ... with Amtrak
... has failed," primary fault lies with the Federal Government, which has
not provided essential funding for passenger rail infrastructure and rolling
stock, and thereby limited service expansion and inflated operating costs.
The Administration's zero-budget request, if enacted, means the end of
all intercity passenger rail service, including Amtrak's Northeast
Corridor (NEC), which bisects New Jersey.
Amtrak requires $1.2 billion for the NEC, debt service, and excess payments
to the railroad retirement system. Just $250 million-to-$300 million in
additional funding is required to operate the long-distance trains in the
national network. They generate 47% of system passenger miles and 31% of
system revenue. New Jersey is served by five of these trains, which is about
one-third of all nationwide.
Any service that crosses state lines, whether it be the NEC or the
national network, is a federal responsibility, according to the Interstate
Commerce clause in the Constitution, due to the difficulty of allocating
costs among states. Running trains "closed door" through states that don't
pay is impractical. The market damage that any route would suffer from running
"closed door" through such a state could be devastating.
NJ-ARP, founded in 1980, is the statewide not-for-profit citizens' advocacy
group.
These files were created by Bob Scheurle.
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