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The More Things Change . . .
Amtrak's new president, Thomas M. Downs, had his hands full
from the start. Bare-bones funding during the eight-year Reagan
administration had continued under the first George Bush and
was taking its toll. Replacement and maintenance for locomo-
tives and railcars were being deferred because of a lack of money.
As a consequence, equipment failures—the same problem that
had plagued Amtrak in its start-up years—were happening all
over again. President Bill Clinton was vocally pro-rail, but his
budget requests for Amtrak (which were generous compared to
those of the Reagan and Bush years) were drastically reduced by
a conservative Republican Congress.
During his first year at Amtrak's helm, Downs moved quickly
to streamline the company's operations, transferring both respon-
sibility and authority farther down toward the frontline employ-
ees. With that shift of responsibility and with reduced costs
clearly part of the picture, some 600 middle-management people
were laid off. Then, in December 1994, Downs had the dubious
distinction of announcing the most drastic reduction in service in
Amtrak history—a reduction of more than 20 percent.
The mid- to late '90s was not a great time to be carrying the
Amtrak banner into the halls of Congress. In order to keep des-
perately needed federal dollars coming, earlier Amtrak executives
had assured members of Congress that it was just a matter of time
before Amtrak could wean itself off any federal subsidy. In fact, a
document known as Amtrak's Road Map to Self-Sufficiency had
been floating around for some time. Pro-rail people used it to get
continued funding, even though most realized it was a pipe dream.
Anti-rail people used it as an eventual justification for choking off
those federal dollars on the grounds that Amtrak had been unable
to meet promised goals. As one pro-Amtrak observer said at the
time, “Congress put a gun to Amtrak's head and said, 'Lie to us!'”
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