FY2017 Federal budget news is good!

[neroden]

So, I don't know if anyone remembers, but Amtrak got $1.39 billion from the Feds in 2016. For 2017, Amtrak is getting $1.5 bilion if the House budget passes -- and historically that number either stays the same or increases in the Senate. There does seem to be more stupid micromanagement (limits on overtime == having to hire more employees).

With Amtrak's continued improvements in internally covering costs, and an extra $110 million, this is looking pretty good. Amtrak pays off the Penn Station mortgage in June which is another shot in the arm for the budget. And Amtrak has access to commercial borrowing. It is completely plausible that Amtrak might have enough funding to start to order some new rolling stock.

TIGER grants are funded at $500 million. There are $98 million in general rail safety grants (grade separations, etc.) some of which might benefit Amtrak. FTA funding is up from last year (by a little), which is excellent for urban rail.

 

[jis]

Here are some numbers that were quoted to me:

Amtrak NEC: #328M grant - together with above rail profits works out to a total of $725M, of which $50M is slated for ADA work

National Network: $1.167B

TIGER: $500M

FRA: $218M

RR R&D $40M

SOGR: $25M

Consolidated Rail Infra and Safety: $68M

Restoration and Enhancement: $5M

FTA, while the top line looks good, there are some disturbing riders and limitations.

But good news is that there is a major New Start item funded at $1.4B

Additionally there are two "fixed guideway" related items funded at $2.401B and $117M. Not clear which is intended for what use.

In general this is a little better than the original 2017 appropriation that expired last week.

I will post additional info and corrections as I learn more about it.

 

[Anthony V]

From what source did you get this good news?

 

[afigg]

I just posted this in the Trump and Amtrak budget cutting thread, but if we will have a thread for the actual FY2017 appropriations, it is more relevant to this thread for those interested in the actual language.

A link to a House committee webpage with what is supposed to the final appropriations bill. Excerpts from Division K PDF (warning nuts and bolts details):

NORTHEAST CORRIDOR GRANTS TO THE NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION

The agreement provides $328,000,000 to allow the Secretary to make grants for activities associated with the Northeast Corridor (NEC), defined as the main line between Boston, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, and the facilities and services used to operate and maintain the line. In addition, the agreement directs all operating profits related to the NEC to be assigned and used on the NEC, as required by section 24317©(l)© of title 49, United States Code. Amtrak projects a fiscal year 2017 net operating profit of $397,400,000 on the NEC, yielding a total funding level of $725,400,000 for the NEC.

The agreement allows Amtrak to undertake new capital projects and encourages Amtrak to prioritize strategic rail infrastructure improvements at critical points in the rail network that would improve current services or create new capacity.

The agreement allows Amtrak to transfer funding between the NEC and the National Network consistent with requirements under section 24317(f) and (g) of title 49, United States Code and requires Amtrak to report the amount of any transfer, the purpose, and effect on services consistent with section 24317(g)(2) of title 49, United States Code.

The agreement allows the Secretary to retain up to one-half of one percent of the total provided to Amtrak for project management and oversight costs and requires not less than $50,000,000 to bring Amtrak-served facilities and stations into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also allows up to $5,000,000 of the Northeast Corridor Grants to fund the Northeast Corridor Commission expenses.

NATIONAL NETWORK GRANTS TO THE NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION

The agreement provides $1,167,000,000 to allow the Secretary to make grants for activities associated with the National Network. National Network Grants provide operating and capital funding for expenses of Amtrak's entire network, including long-distance routes that operate on the NEC. The agreement also provides that the Secretary may retain up to an additional $2,000,000 to fund expenses associated with the state supported route committee.

Other stuff:

The agreement directs Amtrak and FRA to submit a detailed congressional budget justification consistent with the structure authorized in P.L. 114-94, to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations for fiscal year 2018. The agreement also directs FRA to coordinate with Amtrak to complete the feasibility study on establishing service at airports that are adjacent to the mainline of the Northeast Corridor no later than 60 days after enactment of this Act, and directs Amtrak to provide a report no later than 120 days after enactment of this Act comparing actual food and beverage savings for fiscal year 2016 with projections.

TIGER grant program survives for FY2017.

The agreement provides $500,000,000 for capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure, commonly known as the "TIGER" program, to remain available until September 30, 2020. The agreement does not include funding for planning or design Activities.

For the FY17 TIGER grant program, the grant award decisions will be under the guidance of Trump Administrations appointees (well, when they get around to appointing someone) who are likely to favor a different selection of types of projects (ie tilt toward roads & highways)

 

[jis]

NARP, which got it from the HIll and other sources.

 

[Texan Eagle]

Can someone confirm what happened to the proposal to eliminate funding to ALL long-distance trains that was reported heavily in media?

Do all LD trains stay, are some of them getting the axe, or is there still a risk we may lose ALL LD trains?

 

[afigg]

Can someone confirm what happened to the proposal to eliminate funding to ALL long-distance trains that was reported heavily in media?

Do all LD trains stay, are some of them getting the axe, or is there still a risk we may lose ALL LD trains?

The news is for the fiscal year 2017 appropriations. The LD trains and national network are funded through end of September. What will be in the FY 2018 appropriations is yet to be decided. But based on the outcome of the FY2017 appropriations process, odds are that most of Trump's administration "budget" slashing proposals will be ignored on the Hill.

 

[A Voice]

Can someone confirm what happened to the proposal to eliminate funding to ALL long-distance trains that was reported heavily in media?

Do all LD trains stay, are some of them getting the axe, or is there still a risk we may lose ALL LD trains?

Losing the long-distance trains was never a realistic possibility. They remain safe.

It should be noted, however, that this is the FY2017 budget, which should have been in place by October 1st of last year during the final months of the Obama administration, which did not propose sharp cuts to Amtrak funding. But since Congress cannot pass real legislation until the 11th hour - or later, it is now President Trump's watch. The first budget for which his policies and agenda would expect to be effectively implemented is FY2018 which begins this October (2017).

It would be a pleasant surprise if Congress could actually pass a budget on time this year, of course. The horse trading to get many of the President's programs and ideas funded has only just begun.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

Can someone confirm what happened to the proposal to eliminate funding to ALL long-distance trains that was reported heavily in media?

Do all LD trains stay, are some of them getting the axe, or is there still a risk we may lose ALL LD trains?

Can someone confirm what happened to the proposal to eliminate funding to ALL long-distance trains that was reported heavily in media?

Same thing that happened to repealing Obamacare.

The right wing billionaire haters want to cut, cut, cut. But when people figured out they would lose their medical coverage, or the trains they ride, and started raising hell, Congress remembered it was supposed to represent the people.

The billionaire zealots won't give up, of course, but LD trains survive to another day.

 

[jis]

Can someone confirm what happened to the proposal to eliminate funding to ALL long-distance trains that was reported heavily in media?

Do all LD trains stay, are some of them getting the axe, or is there still a risk we may lose ALL LD trains?

The President proposed it for the 2018 fiscal year budget. The general consensus is that the President's proposed budget, like most President's proposed budgets is DOA.

There is always a risk until the proverbial fat lady sings. But at present, at least through September, everything is safe. At the rate Congress operates, we stand a significant chance of a CR come end of September just extending the 2017 numbers until Congress can get its act together. So stay tuned.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

... Amtrak got $1.39 billion from the Feds in 2016. For 2017, Amtrak is getting $1.5 billion if the House budget passes ...

With Amtrak's continued improvements in internally covering costs, and an extra $110 million, this is looking pretty good. Amtrak pays off the Penn Station mortgage in June which is another shot in the arm for the budget. And Amtrak has access to commercial borrowing. It is completely plausible that Amtrak might have enough funding to start to order some new rolling stock.

Emphasis added.

Ordering new single-level coaches etc will cost many Billions, tho spread out over about 7 or 8 or 10 years.

Likewise for new bi-level equipment.

Similarly for new locomotives.

Nobody is ready to commit to funding those kinds of programs, certainly not in the current swamp air atmosphere in D.C.

But a lousy $150 million oneshot, or better $200 million, would cover the "option order" for more Viewliner IIs. Another 25 sleepers would allow still another sleeper on every train set. (The current CAF order will add one sleeper on each consist, so I'm talking about a second one.)

Or get more bag-dorms to get half a sleeper for trains that maybe could not fill two more full sleepers, but one-and-a half would work for them. Or get a few more baggage cars; I've read hereabouts that the current baggage car fleet is kinda stretched already. I'm not sure about more Viewliner diners when Congress is still obsessing about food & beverage losses. Maybe an order for 5 or 10 more diners could be tacked on at the very end of the "option order".

Anyway, this is an affordable order, for a couple hundred million or less, not billions. In a few years it would make possible a few expansions, like a daily Cardinal, flipping the Capitol Ltd to single-level consists and sending its bi-levels to add capacity on a few Western trains, a restored NYC-Philly-PGH-CLE-TOL-CHI route, or a ATL-Birmingham-Meridian-Jackson-Monroe-Shreveport-Dallas-Ft Worth.

If we don't grab more Viewliner IIs while we can, we will surely regret it after CAF's Elmira production lines shut down and the trained labor force is scattered.

 

[jis]

Keep in mind that the real money that we get out of this is roughly 5/12 of the amounts mentioned, since funding has already been disbursed for the period upto April based on the original CR, and these numbers are not all that different as far as the Amtrak numbers go.

 

[jis]

Here is NARP's analysis of the entire thing ...

https://www.narprail.org/news/blog/amtrak-fast-act-rail-programs-and-transit-receive-boost-in-omnibus-budget-released-today/

 

[Lonestar648]

This bill completes FY 2017, but it also sets up that the House is for status quo, no cuts, but no investment. Basically kick the bucket further down the line. It is good that Amtrak is being funded for now. Will be interested to see if there are any troubling details/requirements for Amtrak.

 

[dlagrua]

I always thought that the budget proposal to discontinue LD trains would never go through. It would be political suicide for both parties to cut these trains . That proposal was probably not Trumps idea but somehow the budget proposal authored by the idiots at the Heritage foundation was sent to congress. While government is essential to the operation of certain things, those folks at Heritage want government out of everything. The new budget is good news but no one can tell us what happened to the CAF order.The entire order was supposed to have been delivered by now. I can only guess that CAF is hoping that it will be cancelled.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Losing the long-distance trains was never a realistic possibility. They remain safe.

They remain every bit as safe as the long distance trains that have already been cut in the past. This wasn't even the big showdown budget and you're already claiming perpetual victory. I guess you just choose to believe whatever lets you sleep at night.

 

[neroden]

For the FY17 TIGER grant program, the grant award decisions will be under the guidance of Trump Administrations appointees (well, when they get around to appointing someone) who are likely to favor a different selection of types of projects (ie tilt toward roads & highways)

Trump actually likes trains and has been quoted three times as complaining that the US doesn't have a train system like China's. Furthermore he isn't bothering to staff the lower levels of the departments, so it's probably going to be the permanent bureaucracy making the decisions.

Don't be surprised if we still get quite a few "multimodal" TIGER grants, probably for the stuff which is heavily backed by state governments which couldn't find another pot of money for it. They're specifically *not* supposed to be for straight-up highway work. CREATE in Chicago will probably make a push to get grants again, and with the freight component, they might.

 

[jis]

A lot of due diligence and work remains to be done to get as close as possible to the FAST Act Authorization for 2018. This is no time to slack off. Nothing is secure.

 

[neroden]

I'm not sure about more Viewliner diners when Congress is still obsessing about food & beverage losses. Maybe an order for 5 or 10 more diners could be tacked on at the very end of the "option order"

FWIW when I estimated long-term single-level dining car needs with a whole bunch of expansions, I still really only came up with a need for 5 more. (I was operating on the presumption that one train on each route would have the dining car and the secondary trains would only have a cafe. I was also assuming that some operational method could be devised to serve a second table car out of the dining car if needed.)

So, yeah, about 25 more sleepers, 5 more diners, and more baggage and bag-dorms. That would be enough for a long time. Then, more coaches, and to get a reasonable price, apparently it has to be 100 coaches per year...

 

[tommylicious]

Better food!!!

 

[A Voice]

Losing the long-distance trains was never a realistic possibility. They remain safe.

They remain every bit as safe as the long distance trains that have already been cut in the past. This wasn't even the big showdown budget and you're already claiming perpetual victory. I guess you just choose to believe whatever lets you sleep at night.

There are valid reasons and historical precedent to believe Amtrak's long-distance routes are realistically safe.

There are rather weak and implausible reasons to believe the sky is falling in regard to these same services just because of a change in political agendas.

 

[jis]

Losing the long-distance trains was never a realistic possibility. They remain safe.

They remain every bit as safe as the long distance trains that have already been cut in the past. This wasn't even the big showdown budget and you're already claiming perpetual victory. I guess you just choose to believe whatever lets you sleep at night.

There are valid reasons and historical precedent to believe Amtrak's long-distance routes are realistically safe.

There are rather weak and implausible reasons to believe the sky is falling in regard to these same services just because of a change in political agendas.

That is what some said in 1979 too. Feel free to believe whatever you like. Fortunately many are not as sanguine.

 

[jis]

In other good news ...

... the bill directs the DOT to move ahead with specific FFGAs, including $150 million for Maryland’s Purple Line rail project, and $100 million for the Caltrain Peninsula Electrification project that the Trump Administration had indefinitely suspended.

 

[A Voice]

Losing the long-distance trains was never a realistic possibility. They remain safe.

They remain every bit as safe as the long distance trains that have already been cut in the past. This wasn't even the big showdown budget and you're already claiming perpetual victory. I guess you just choose to believe whatever lets you sleep at night.

There are valid reasons and historical precedent to believe Amtrak's long-distance routes are realistically safe.

There are rather weak and implausible reasons to believe the sky is falling in regard to these same services just because of a change in political agendas.

That is what some said in 1979 too. Feel free to believe whatever you like. Fortunately many are not as sanguine.

I wasn't aware all the long-distance trains were cut in 1979. Good thing Amtrak restored most of them, gives me hope for the Floridian.....

I think we're arguing degrees of possibility, for which draconian Amtrak cuts are a minor, unrealistically tiny possibility. "Belief" is probably the wrong word; My statements are based upon history and objective fact.

 

[jis]

Yes it is a matter of degrees. But there is no certainty that all will survive. It is more than likely that some will definitely survive. However, such hairsplitting does not help in getting people to participate in engagement with the legislature, so I tend to refrain from such. Each to his or her own world view I guess.