DALLAS -- The lack of reliable, multi-year investments in the Northeast Corridor's 100-year-old rail infrastructure is a one-way road to massive system failures, Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman warned in its fiscal 2015 budget request to Congress.
Amtrak, officially known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp., is seeking a 16% increase in federal funding in fiscal 2015 to $1.62 billion.
Maintaining the current level of federal passenger rail funding leaves the Northeast Corridor system between Washington, D.C., and Boston vulnerable to bigger, costlier, and far more damaging failures than ever, Boardman said.
"Infrastructure deterioration and changes in business patterns have reached a point where something has to change," Boardman said. "If America wants a modern, intercity passenger rail system, the problems of policy and funding must be addressed."
A new federal rail policy and funding arrangement is needed to provide significant, long-term capital investments to reverse the decay of the region's rail infrastructure, Boardman said.
Hundreds of rail tunnels and bridges in the corridor are more than 100 years old, he said, and major portions of Amtrak's electric power supply system date from the 1930s or earlier.
The Northeast Corridor rail system carries half of Amtrak's trains and 80% of all U.S. rail commuters.
Amtrak's revenues from corridor operations exceed expenses by $300 million a year, according to Boardman. The surplus is currently dedicated to covering some costs of state-supported and long-distance trains.
Congress should fully fund the operating and capital needs of long-distance trains so Amtrak could reinvest those revenues in the Northeast Corridor, Boardman said.
"By dedicating NEC revenue to meet NEC needs, it could be leveraged to pay for debt service on loans to address the most urgent infrastructure issues," he said. "It also could be used to finance other funding solutions such as public-private partnerships, grants of assistance, and state and commuter rail agreements."
Amtrak has $148 million of outstanding lease revenue debt issued on its behalf by the Pennsylvania Development Finance Authority in 2012. The debt is rated A1 by Moody's Investor Service and A-minus by Standard & Poor's.
Amtrak's fiscal 2015 budget request proposes $735 million of capital projects in the Northeast Corridor, rising to $1.6 billion in 2016 and $1.7 billion a year in 2017 and 2018.
"Funding at these levels will permit us to begin to address the problems of the Northeast Corridor, to stabilize the infrastructure, and to move ahead on important multiyear programs," Boardman said.
A new model is needed for federal financial support of passenger rail, said Amtrak Chairman of the Board Tony Coscia.
"The reality is that status quo federal funding levels put the Northeast Corridor infrastructure at increased risk of major failure with serious economic consequences for the nation," Coscia said.
A 2010 study of rail systems in the Northeast Corridor estimated $2.6 billion a year over 20 years would be needed to maintain and build the infrastructure needed to meet expected demand for passenger rail in 2030.
A report released in February by the Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Operations Advisory Committee said demand in 2030 will exceed 100% of available capacity on 186 miles of the 457-mile Northeast Corridor, even with the $52 billion of capital improvements recommended in the 2010 study.
"The NEC cannot continue to accommodate rising demand due to infrastructure that is highly congested and in need of repair," the report said. "With more than 2,000 trains per day and major segments at or near capacity, operating the NEC leaves little room for error, while capacity chokepoints preclude the increases in service necessary to accommodate growing demand."
Amtrak ridership in the Northeast Corridor topped 11.4 million passengers in fiscal 2013, the railroad said. Northeast Corridor tracks also host commuter trains run by local agencies between Washington and Boston.
Amtrak carried a record 31.6 million passengers in fiscal 2013, the 10th ridership record in the past 11 years. Ticket revenue totaled $2.1 billion.
