	Overview

Amtrak—officially, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation—is the nation's primary provider of intercity passenger rail service. Amtrak is structured as a private company, but virtually all its shares are held by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to preserve a basic level of intercity passenger rail service, while relieving private railroad companies of the obligation to provide money-losing passenger service. Most of that track is owned by freight rail companies; Amtrak owns about 625 route miles. Amtrak also operates commuter service under contract with state and local commuter authorities in various parts of the country. Appropriations Status

Amtrak's expenses exceed its revenues each year. Roughly, the operating grant can be thought of as relating to Amtrak's annual cash loss, and the capital grant as relating to Amtrak's depreciation loss, as well as an amount for Amtrak debt repayments. Authorization Status

Amtrak funding was authorized through FY2013 in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (Division B of P.L. 749 , the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015, as passed by the House of Representatives, and the actual amount of funding provided to Amtrak through appropriations. Amtrak has long sought some measure of certainty in its level of federal funding. The level of federal funding that Amtrak receives could not be provided solely from a tax on Amtrak passengers; to provide the same level of federal funding Amtrak currently receives, the tax on passengers would have to be roughly two-thirds of the current ticket cost. NEC Improvement Plans

The NEC is Amtrak's flagship corridor, with its fastest service. Amtrak does not actually own much of its rolling stock. This authorization expired in October 2010. Its current load factor, 52%, is near the record load factor Amtrak reported in FY1988, and higher than has been achieved since FY1993. Amtrak is able to cover about two-thirds of its operating costs from its revenues. It is not clear to what extent more infrastructure (parallel tracking, upgrading signal systems, etc.) Amtrak has stated that providing food and beverage service is essential to meet the needs of passengers, especially on long-distance trains, and it has interpreted the law as requiring that revenues cover the costs of food and beverage items and commissary operations but not the labor cost of Amtrak employees providing food service on board trains. Privatization of Intercity Passenger Rail Services

In the 112 th Congress, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee conducted hearings on privatization of intercity passenger rail service. Amtrak itself can be considered a privatized rail provider, as it is legally a for-profit company which receives grants from federal and state governments. Passenger Train Access to Freight Rail Tracks

If a state or a private passenger rail operator other than Amtrak wished to begin passenger service over freight-owned right of way, it would likely have to pay more than Amtrak does to gain access to freight property. Recent Congressional Action

On March 4, 2015, the House passed H.R. This bill would authorize $7 billion in funding for passenger rail programs, including $5.8 billion for Amtrak and $1.2 billion for grants to states for passenger rail activities (including states along the NEC) over four years, and would make a number of changes to federal intercity passenger rail policies. Creating a program to provide grants to states for passenger rail service improvement projects on the NEC (§301). Streamlining of environmental review for passenger and freight rail construction projects in order to reduce the time required for review (§401). Federal Funding for Amtrak
Amtrak is the nation's primary provider of intercity passenger rail service. It was created by Congress in 1970 to preserve some level of intercity passenger rail service while enabling private rail companies to exit the money-losing passenger rail business. It is a quasi-governmental entity, a corporation whose stock is almost entirely owned by the federal government. It runs a deficit each year. Congressional appropriations cover about half its total loss, and represent essentially all of its funding for capital maintenance and improvements.
Amtrak can be divided into three parts. There is its Northeast Corridor (NEC) service between Washington, DC, and Boston, where Amtrak owns much of the infrastructure and operates frequent service using its fastest trains. There is its long-distance service, in which infrequent trains crisscross the country over tracks owned by freight rail companies. And there is its state-supported service, in which Amtrak operates shorter-distance trains under contract with states. Amtrak was last authorized in 2008, in the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act. That authorization expired at the end of FY2013. Amtrak's annual appropriations do not rely on separate authorization legislation, but authorization legislation does allow Congress to set multiyear Amtrak funding goals and federal intercity passenger rail policies.
Since Amtrak's inception, Congress has been divided on the question of whether it should even exist. Amtrak is regularly criticized for failing to cover its costs, and thus requiring federal assistance. The need for federal financial support is often cited as evidence that passenger rail service is not financially viable, or that Amtrak should yield to private companies that would find ways to provide rail service profitably. Yet it is not clear that a private company could perform the same range of activities better than Amtrak does. Indeed, Amtrak was created because private-sector railroad companies in the United States lost money for decades operating intercity passenger rail service and wished to be relieved of the obligation to do so.
By some measures, Amtrak is performing as well as or better than it ever has in its 44-year history. For example, it is carrying a record number of passengers, and its passenger load factor and its operating ratio are at the upper end of their historic ranges. On the other hand, Amtrak's plans do not envision significant decreases in its need for federal funding. Among the perennial questions that Congress may examine in considering reauthorizing Amtrak are whether Amtrak should continue to exist, what range of services it should offer, the appropriate level of federal financial support for Amtrak, its relations with states and with private rail companies, and its level of accountability to Congress.
On March 4, 2015, the House passed H.R. 749, the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015. This bill would authorize $7 billion for federal passenger rail programs over FY2016-FY2019, including $5.8 billion for grants to Amtrak and $1.2 billion for grants to states. It would also restructure Amtrak's financial structure, provide grants to states on the NEC for passenger rail improvement projects, streamline environmental review for passenger and freight rail construction projects, and make a variety of other changes in federal passenger rail policies.