In an interview with Travel Weekly senior editor Michael
Milligan, conducted before Amtrak restructured its travel agent
commission, Amtrak president David Gunn spoke about the rail line's
long-standing financial troubles and its efforts to win over
critics in Congress.
WASHINGTON -- If the idea of trains traveling at speeds of 150
mph between such cities as Chicago and Milwaukee or Dallas and
Houston is the stuff dreams are made of, dream on.
David Gunn, Amtrak's new president, said that kind of high-speed
service "is years, if not decades, off."
Gunn, who took over the embattled rail line six months ago, said
the notion -- previously the centerpiece of Amtrak's vision that
several high-speed corridors between major cities could be created
in the near future -- was, at best, a fanciful daydream.
"What happened here, I think, is people started to fantasize
about great leaps forward in terms of high-speed corridors," Gunn
said.
Such fantasies reached a fever pitch after the launch of Acela
Express service in the Northeast. Amtrak even rolled out a plan to
use Chicago as a hub for high-speed service to several nearby
cities.
But, Gunn said, it would cost billions to electrify tracks and
to acquire the high-speed trains to establish such services.
Add the environmental studies that surely would proceed the
service, and "it will be 10 years before you can even get on a
train," Gunn said, adding that a better way would be to use
existing "higher-speed" trains, which travel at 90 to 110 mph, and
develop the service over time.
High-speed service, he said, "is an enormous risk [for many
communities], and it doesn't solve the problem, such as the traffic
jams you've got today."
So Gunn isn't focusing on fantasies; since taking Amtrak's reins
in May, he has been mired in stark realities.
For instance, Amtrak lost more than $1 billion last year, has
dozens of trains sidelined for repairs and has mortgaged most of
its assets, including Penn Station in New York.
Weeks after taking over, Gunn already was warning Congress that
the railroad, unable to secure a loan from lending institutions,
would have to shut down in July if it didn't quickly get a $200
million cash infusion.
Eventually, the Transportation Department and Amtrak finalized a
deal that provided the line with a $100 million loan plus funding
from Congress.
Just as that problem was solved, Amtrak in August had to pull
all its Acela Express trains out of service for several weeks after
cracks were discovered in the locomotives' yaw-damper brackets,
where shock-absorbing devices are secured. The problems also were
found on other, non-Acela Express locomotives.
All of the locomotives were constructed by Bombardier-Alstrom,
which developed a temporary fix for the problem. Most Acela Express
trains have returned to service.
"It is sort of a bloody miracle," Gunn said. "We are running
them with all of their problems, and they are actually getting
better."
Still unclear is how funding problems will be resolved on
Capitol Hill. A 1998 law required Amtrak to wean itself from
operational government subsidies by 2002.
After years of telling lawmakers that Amtrak was on a "glide
path" to self-sufficiency, management earlier this year admitted
the rail line would be unable to achieve that goal.
Gunn concedes Amtrak has "lost credibility" with Congress over
the self-sufficiency promise, but rather than ask for less, Amtrak
is telling Congress it can't operate the current network with less
than $1.2 billion in federal support.
The Senate approved the request, but the House scaled it back to
$762 million.
"Maybe I am Pollyanna-ish," Gunn said, "but I think we are going
to get close to the $1.2 billion."