[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4214 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4214

        To provide for certain cost cutting measures for Amtrak.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 2005

   Mr. Sessions (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, and Mrs. 
  Blackburn) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
        To provide for certain cost cutting measures for Amtrak.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reforming Amtrak's Inefficient Lines 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDING.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) according to data from Amtrak's Monthly Performance 
        Report for October, 2004, the 5 Amtrak trains that have lost 
        the most money (the Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Empire 
        Builder, Coast Starlight, and Silver Star) have accounted for 
        losses of $274,500,000 during fiscal year 2004;
            (2) during the last 35 years, Congressional funding support 
        for Amtrak has amounted to roughly $29,000,000,000;
            (3) President Clinton signed into law the Amtrak Reform and 
        Accountability Act of 1997, which required Amtrak to operate 
        without Federal subsidies after December, 2002; and
            (4) according to the Department of Transportation's 
        Inspector General, eliminating sleeper cars, dining cars, 
        onboard entertainment, lounge seating, checked bag service, and 
        food and beverage service on Amtrak's long-distance routes 
        could save between $75,000,000 and $158,000,000 per year in 
        operating costs and avoid an additional $79,000,000 in planned 
        annual capital expenditures, which would result in savings of 
        between $375,000,000 and $790,000,000 in operating expenditures 
        and $395,000,000 in avoidable planned capital expenditures over 
        5 years.

SEC. 3. COST CUTTING MEASURES.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 
Amtrak shall--
            (1) discontinue service on the Southwest Chief, California 
        Zephyr, Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, and Silver Star 
        routes;
            (2) discontinue food and beverage service unless the 
        revenues from such service exceed the cost of providing the 
        service, including labor costs associated with providing the 
        service, as required by section 24305(c)(4) of title 49, United 
        States Code; and
            (3) eliminate sleeper cars, dining cars, lounge seating, 
        checked baggage service, and onboard entertainment.
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