Amtrak last September after the end of the 2012 Fiscal Year ballyhooed the fact that they had recovered 85% of their OPERATING costs and only needed $361 million extra in 2012 to cover operations. But the final figure for Federal funds for Amtrak is $1.418 billion. The biggest chunk at $623 million is for Capital mostly for track and catenary projects on the NEC. In 2010 Amtrak estimated that $5.2 billion was needed to get the NEC is a “good state of repair” and that at about $700 million a year over the next 15 years would be needed to repair the NEC. The $255 million for Debt service is likely needed to pay off much of the debt Amtrak ran up in the late 1990’s to start up the Aclea trains which was the reason Amtrak almost ceased operations in 2002. The DOT charges Amtrak $10 million from their funding to pay for the DOT’s oversight of Amtrak. What is missing is any money for more equipment which is needed if Amtrak is to increase ridership and revenues to cover more of their costs. NB

February 4, 2013 Part 1  February 4, 2013 Part 2

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