Amtrak CEO pleads with Congress for billions in Covid-19 aid

Amtrak’s chief executive pleaded with House lawmakers Wednesday to approve $2.84 billion in additional funding for the national railway system as Congress and the White House fight over another round of coronavirus stimulus.

Citing a ridership decline of more than 80% compared to a year ago, before the pandemic, CEO Bill Flynn said Amtrak needs the money by Oct. 1 to avoid dismissals and service cuts.

“We recently updated our forecast and now anticipate needing up to $4.9 billion in funding to operate and invest in our network, support our partners, and address various congressional concerns like avoiding employee furloughs and maintaining daily long-distance service,” Flynn testified during a hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

After Flynn spoke, Amtrak spokeswoman Christina Leeds clarified that the figure referenced by the railway’s CEO included approximately $2 billion in base appropriations in addition to the requested coronavirus aid.

Amtrak received more than $1 billion from the government’s coronavirus stimulus package that was approved in March, known as the CARES Act. The money came with a caveat that Amtrak had to avoid furloughs and layoffs at least until the end of September.

Flynn said the railway needs more help now to avoid cuts that he said are otherwise unavoidable as the pandemic stretches into a new fiscal year.

“With the CARES Act funding running out, and the increasing recognition by everyone in the travel industry that it will be years before travel demand returns to normal, we recognize that we cannot ask Congress and the taxpayers to continue to pay all of the employees for whom we will not have any work in the foreseeable future,” Flynn said.

Flynn added that states that pay for shorter routes to improve commuter rail service in their communities are also strapped for cash due to the costs of containing the spread of Covid-19. “They will not be able to continue to pay for those services unless we reduce our costs to reflect the significant reductions in the number of trains operating, and the much greater losses in ticket revenues,” he said.