for the annualization of the FY 1983 pay increases and related CONRAIL LABOR ASSISTANCE PRA is requesting $20 million for FY 1984. This will ensure that funds are available to provide benefits to additional Conrail employees affected by further abandonments, and facility consolidations, and will cover any remaining claims due to the transfer of commuter services and Amtrak's employment of intercity passenger crews on the Northeast Corridor. SETTLEMENTS OF RAILROAD LITIGATION In FY 1984, $38,545,000 is requested for settlements of railroad litigation, in contrast to a level of $87,467,000 in PY 1983. Although the funds are contained in FRA's budget, responsibility for the settlements rests with the United States Railway Association. NORTHEAST CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM We are requesting an appropriation of $100 million to bring the total amount appropriated to the full $2.19 billion level approved by the Administration. The remaining focus will be on completing the track improvement program, building new service facilities, installing signals, hazard detectors and switch heaters, and renovating stations. 17-540 0-84~~~2 AMTRAK For FY 1984, FRA is proposing an appropriation of $682 million to cover operating expenses, capital acquisitions and improvements, and labor protection. For the second consecutive year, Amtrak and FRA agree on the factual premises of the budget submissions, including the dollar differences under various legislative assumptions. ALASKA RAILROAD No funds are requested for the Alaska Railroad in FY 1984. The Alaska Railroad Transfer Act of 1982 authorizes the transfer of the Alaska Railroad to the State of Alaska. It is anticipated that the transfer will take place before the statutory deadline of July 14, 1984. Mr. Chairman, this completes my prepared statement. I will be happy to answer any questions the Subcommittee may have. NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION (AMTRAK) STATEMENT OF W. GRAHAM CLAYTOR, PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN ACCOMPANIED BY DON BRAZIER, GROUP VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION INTRODUCTION OF WITNESSES Senator ANDREWS. Mr. Claytor, I understand you have a statement. Incidentally, congratulations on the great job you are doing on Amtrak. You were running during the blizzard when the underground railroad known as Metro could not. I do not know why the snow happened to penetrate those tunnels, get down there and louse up their underground run. But as you know, people in Washington could not get to the station where you had the track free above ground and the trains running. I guess that is testimony that somebody knows what he is doing. Mr. CLAYTOR. Well, I was very proud of the job our people did there. They did a real professional job in keeping operating all the way to Boston when everything else was shut down, and that is the way I hope we can keep on doing it. Mr. Chairman, I have with me Mr. Don Brazier, our group vice president, finance and administration, and chief financial officer. I would like to ask that my statement be included in the record if I may. Senator ANDREWS. It shall, as you know, just as though every word was given. Mr. CLAYTOR. Thank you. It is a great pleasure and privilege to be here. My principal goal at Amtrak is to provide better service for essentially our present national system, at lower cost to the Government. We have made a great deal of progress in this, and much of it was made by my very distinguished and able predecessor, Alan Boyd. What we have been able to do in improving our revenue to operating cost ratios, our labor productivity through new contracts and otherwise, and emphasizing and implementing our training program, have been spelled out in my prepared statement. In the interest of time I will not further summarize them here. I cannot resist the temptation, however, of mentioning our ontime performance, because I picked up my morning report before I left the office, reporting on yesterday's trains. Of our 10 express Metroliners, 1 was on time, 8 were 1 to 6 minutes ahead of time, and 1 was 2 minutes late. That is the kind of service we are going to try to perform regularly. (15) AMTRAK BUDGET REQUEST Now, what I would like to do is to turn directly to our appropriation request. The administration's budget request for Amtrak comes to $682 million, consisting of $614 million in operating funds and $68 million in capital funds. Amtrak agrees that, given certain stated assumptions made as the basis for the administration's request, we can join in going for this figure. However, we have to examine the assumptions fairly carefully. We all agree that these figures are based on the assumption that Amtrak will continue to be excused from interest payments to the Federal Financing Bank this coming year; that we do not include any increase in railroad retirement or railroad unemployment tax; and that inflation will not exceed 8 percent in railroad labor and materials. To reach the administration budget figure of $682 million, however, some additional assumptions must be made. The 403(b) and 403(d) statutes would be amended to include full long-term avoidable costs; a lump sum ceiling of $20,000 would be imposed on labor protection payments, as has been done with Conrail labor protection; and substantial earmarked capital funds will not be spent or will be otherwise funded. Now, Mr. Chairman, if I may, could I ask you to turn to attachment 1 that is contained at the end of my prepared statement, and I think I can rather quickly show the reconciliation between our request and the FRA request. Amtrak's operating and labor protection is set at $652 million-$649 million for operations, which is slightly below what we asked last year, and $3 million for labor protection. The administration figure of $614 million is really the same as that if we subtract from our figure the savings that would result from the three legislative proposals that would affect operating costs made by the administration-the full costs for 403(b) and either repeal or full costs for 403(d) trains and labor protection, adding up to $38 million. That is the difference between our $652 million and their $614 million. CAPITAL FUNDS Now, if we look at capital, we have a figure of $148 million; they have a figure of $68 million. But again, they come together. In fiscal year 1983, in the Rail Safety Act, Congress directed that the Atlantic City track reconstruction of $30 million be funded basically from the existing NECIP program and that the West Side Connection in New York City be financed in the amount of $30 million from Amtrak's capital programs. Amtrak has funded the first $10 million for the West Side Connection from its fiscal year 1983 program, leaving $20 million to be provided to complete the program in 1984. If all of these items are otherwise funded or if we were not required to spend these funds, $50 million can be cut from our figure of $148 million, to $98 million. Now, in our budget justification we have listed capital items that we plan to do in 1984 amounting to $98 million. However, another statute, the DOT Appropriation Act for 1983, earmarked Amtrak capital funds for the Shelbyville, Ind., track reconstruction of $25 million and Hyannisport, Cape Code, track reconstruction of another $5 million, making $30 million. We have set those funds aside from our 1983 budget and if we are not required to expend that amount, it can be applied to capital in 1984. That $30 million would then reduce our $98 million to the $68 million that the administration requested. So in summary, Mr. Chairman, we can join the administration's request for a total of $682 million for 1984, if all the assumptions I have discussed become realities. If none of them occurs, our request must be for $652 million operating and $148 million capital, for a total of $800 million. Mr. Chairman, I would now be glad to try to answer any questions the committee has about anything I have covered, about anything in my prepared statement, and, in fact, about anything else in which the committee is interested. Thank you. PREPARED STATEMENT Senator ANDREWS. Well, thank you, Mr. Claytor. We have your prepared statement and it will be placed in the record. [The statement follows:] |