Issues in the Reauthorization of Amtrak (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
March 11, 2015 |
| Report Number |
R42889 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
David Randall Peterman, Analyst in Transportation Policy; John Frittelli, Specialist in Transportation Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Amtrak is the nation’s primary provider of intercity passenger rail service. It was created by
Congress in 1970 to preserve some level of intercity passenger rail service while enabling private
rail companies to exit the money-losing passenger rail business. It is a quasi-governmental entity,
a corporation whose stock is almost entirely owned by the federal government. It runs a deficit
each year. Congressional appropriations cover about half its total loss, and represent essentially
all of its funding for capital maintenance and improvements.
Amtrak can be divided into three parts. There is its Northeast Corridor (NEC) service between
Washington, DC, and Boston, where Amtrak owns much of the infrastructure and operates
frequent service using its fastest trains. There is its long-distance service, in which infrequent
trains crisscross the country over tracks owned by freight rail companies. And there is its statesupported
service, in which Amtrak operates shorter-distance trains under contract with states.
Amtrak was last authorized in 2008, in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act. That
authorization expired at the end of FY2013. Amtrak’s annual appropriations do not rely on
separate authorization legislation, but authorization legislation does allow Congress to set
multiyear Amtrak funding goals and federal intercity passenger rail policies.
Since Amtrak’s inception, Congress has been divided on the question of whether it should even
exist. Amtrak is regularly criticized for failing to cover its costs, and thus requiring federal
assistance. The need for federal financial support is often cited as evidence that passenger rail
service is not financially viable, or that Amtrak should yield to private companies that would find
ways to provide rail service profitably. Yet it is not clear that a private company could perform the
same range of activities better than Amtrak does. Indeed, Amtrak was created because privatesector
railroad companies in the United States lost money for decades operating intercity
passenger rail service and wished to be relieved of the obligation to do so.
By some measures, Amtrak is performing as well as or better than it ever has in its 44-year
history. For example, it is carrying a record number of passengers, and its passenger load factor
and its operating ratio are at the upper end of their historic ranges. On the other hand, Amtrak’s
plans do not envision significant decreases in its need for federal funding. Among the perennial
questions that Congress may examine in considering reauthorizing Amtrak are whether Amtrak
should continue to exist, what range of services it should offer, the appropriate level of federal
financial support for Amtrak, its relations with states and with private rail companies, and its level
of accountability to Congress.
On March 4, 2015, the House passed H.R. 749, the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of
2015. This bill would authorize $7 billion for federal passenger rail programs over FY2016-
FY2019, including $5.8 billion for grants to Amtrak and $1.2 billion for grants to states. It would
also restructure Amtrak’s financial structure, provide grants to states on the NEC for passenger
rail improvement projects, streamline environmental review for passenger and freight rail
construction projects, and make a variety of other changes in federal passenger rail policies.
