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Title: INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES: MAKING RAIL REVITALIZATION HAPPEN
Accession Number: 00748186
Record Type: Component
Availability: Find a library where document is available Abstract: The conflict built into Amtrak's institutional design as a "quasi-public, for-profit" corporation has long hindered passenger rail policy in America. Mandated to operate a national system with many economic and political constraints, the corporation has been dependent on Congress for increasingly scarce capital funds and operating subsidies. Debate over Amtrak's problems has been stalemated between "Skeptics" who see passenger trains as relics of the past and seek to end subsidies and privatize the corporation, and "Supporters" who emphasize social benefits and want to preserve as many trains as possible. While Amtrak has confronted financial crises before, today's combination of a cash crunch with this year's Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) reauthorization offers a unique opportunity to reinvent and renew the institutional framework of passenger rail policy. By interrelating the two key institutional dimensions of American policy making, Federal v. State government responsibilities and Public sector v. Private market dynamics, we construct five scenarios for the future of passenger rail policy. The "Partnership" scenario keeps policy leadership at the federal level and in the public sector. It depends on Amtrak being brought into the infrastructure trust fund system that has worked successfully for highways, airlines and urban transit. "Positive Privatization" would bring passenger rail service into the private sector, but would require a "dowry" of public expenditures to make it attractive to private operators. "Picking Up the Pieces" sees policy leadership shifting to the state level as the federal government fails to resolve Amtrak's fiscal difficulties. Service is more efficient and better tailored to local needs, but the national system is lost. The "For-Profit High Speed Rail" scenario might develop in parallel with other scenarios. It sees states investing in high speed rail infrastructure, and private operators buying the equipment and managing the service. Finally, "Liquidation" is always possible, but it may not be as cheap and clear cut as some hope, since litigation would be extensive and unpredictable court decisions could increase costs dramatically. Both "Skeptics" and "Supporters" are encouraged to break out of the impasse by envisioning a new balance of political responsibilities and a new division of economic labor for the future of passenger rail in America. By carefully weighing the capabilities and limitations of federal and state governments as policy leaders, as well as public and private sectors as implementing organizations, today's policy makers may achieve a new institutional framework for passenger rail policy that avoids the contradictions of the 1971 Amtrak charter. In particular, they should make provisions for a smooth transition between scenarios, and should discard the administrative and financial inflexibility for passenger trains that ISTEA is helping to overcome in the other surface transportation modes.
Supplemental Notes: Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Monograph Accession #: 00748171
Language: English
Corporate Authors: Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Authors: Dunn Jr, J APerl, A DPagination: p. 51-59
Publication Date: 1998-3
Serial: Conference:
National Conference on Critical Issues for the Future of Intercity Passenger Rail
Location:
Washington, D.C. Features: References
TRT Terms: Identifier Terms: Uncontrolled Terms: Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Public Transportation; Railroads; Society
Files: TRIS, TRB
Created Date: Apr 14 1998 12:00AM
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