AMTRAK AUTHORIZATION MONDAY, MARCH 20, 1978 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND COMMERCE, COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 2218 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Fred B. Rooney, chairman, presiding. Mr. ROONEY. Today we begin hearings on the fiscal year 1979 funding authorization for Amtrak as well as a review of Amtrak's performance pursuant to the oversight responsibility of this subcommittee. Amtrak stands at a watershed in its history. Amtrak deficits continue to mount. Amtrak predicts that for fiscal year 1979 its operating loss will be $613 million assuming its route structure remains the same. Losses such as this must certainly be closely scrutinized by Congress. There is obviously a limit to which the taxpayers are willing to support this service. We must ascertain what that limit is and also determine that we are getting the best value that can be expected for these funds allocated by the Congress. The ICC reported last week that for the year ending September 30, 1977, Amtrak lost 14 cents for each revenue passenger-mile. I cannot help but keep wondering when are we going to see some improvement. After 7 years and over $3 billion drawn from appropriations and loans, it seems to me we have a right to expect some improvement soon. Although a public opinion survey released by Amtrak last week indicates an increasing segment of the American public interested in developing passenger train service, that same poll reveals that many Americans remain critical of the quality and availability of rail passenger travel and that cars and airplanes remain the preferred mode of transportation on trips of 100 miles or more. The growth in Amtrak deficits continues to outstrip improvements in the speed, comfort, reliability, and efficiency of its trains. Notwithstanding an annual subsidy in excess of over half a billion dollars, my colleagues and I continue to hear from irate constituents about extremely bad episodes on Amtrak-incidents of unreasonable delay, misinformation, or a lack of information on the part of passenger service employees, poor food services, and the mistreatment of passengers. (1) We have certainly not seen an improvement in this regard as the ICC reported that passenger complaints increased about 50 percent last year. The level of the number of complaints was unacceptable before, now it is obviously critical and warrants our immediate attention. Amtrak has responded to this problem by reducing fares to a level which it is alleged constitutes predatory pricing against competing bus operators, impairing bus company earnings, and thus, their ability to meet their own common carrier obligations to bus passengers throughout the country. Moreover, these fare reductions have not resulted in appreciable increases in ridership. In these hearings we will examine two bills-H.R. 11493, introduced by Chairman Staggers, and H.R. 11089, introduced by Mr. McFall, Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over Amtrak. As cosponsor of H.R. 11493, I recognize that a major restructuring of the American passenger train system is indicated by the facts at hand. In addition to funding requirements and a route structure study provided in these bills, there are a number of other issues we must address during these hearings. These include changes in the institutional structure for administering our passenger train system, intermodal cooperation through the extensive development of joint terminals and joint ticketing, a determination of what constitutes a reasonable fare policy requirement, the use of intercity trains for commuter services and passenger train carriage of the mails. Without objection H.R. 11493, H.R. 11089 and all Agency reports thereon will be placed in the record at this point. [Testimony resumes on p. 39.] [The text of H.R. 11493, H.R. 11089, and Agency reports thereon follows:] 95TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 11493 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 13, 1978 Mr. STAGGERS (for himself, Mr. Moss, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. ROGERS, Mr. ROONEY, Mr. MURPHY of New York, Mr. CARNEY, and Mr. METCALFE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce A BILL To amend the Rail Passenger Service Act to extend the authorization of appropriations for an additional fiscal year, to provide for public consideration and implementation of a rail passenger service study, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 4 SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Amtrak 5 Improvement Act of 1978". 6 AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 7 SEC. 2. Section 601 (a) (1) of the Rail Passenger Serv 8 ice Act (45 U.S.C. 601 (a) (1)) is amended 22 2 2 2 2 2 2 (1) in clause (1) thereof (A) by striking out "and" immediately after "1977,", and (B) by inserting", and not to exceed $550,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1979" immediately after "1978”; (2) in clause (2) thereof (A) by striking out "and" immediately after "1977,", and (B) by inserting ", and not to exceed $341,388,000 for the fiscal year 66 ending September 30, 1979, and with respect to such fiscal year 1979, the amount authorized includes money for expenditure for compatible equipment under section 703 (5) of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976" immediately after "1978"; (3) in clause (3) thereof (A) by striking out "and" immediately after "1977,", and (B) by inserting ", and not to exceed $83,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1979" immediately after “1978”; and (4) in clause (4) thereof, by inserting ", and not to exceed $25,000,000 for the fiscal year ending Septem ber 30, 1979" immediately after "1978". ROUTE REEXAMINATION SEC. 3. (a) The Secretary of Transportation (herein 23 after in this section referred to as the "Secretary"), in co 24 25 operation with the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (hereinafter in this section referred to as the "Corporation”), |