Recommendations for Change
Assessment by the Amtrak Reform Council
The Amtrak Reform Council has concluded that Amtrak’s structure should be fundamentally changed. Amtrak is behind in achieving the revenue and expense goals of its own Strategic Business Plan and, according to recent congressional testimony by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General (DOT IG), will have difficulty achieving operating self-sufficiency. At the same time, there is a resurgence of interest in passenger rail service, particularly higher-speed service to connect inter-urban corridors. Building high-speed corridors, however, will entail a large new Federal commitment to rail passenger service and require a predictable long-term source of…
