Still indefinitely delayed is the "Acela Express," a 150 mph service that is to shave two hours off the previously 5-hour NYC-Boston trip and 35-40 minutes from 3-hour NYC-Washington Metroliner service. Wheel-track compatibility problems continue to keep the express locomotives in testing. Though a builders' request last week to push back the train's inaugural run to mid-July was denied by its board of directors, Amtrak officials acknowledge they have no idea when the first train will be delivered. Eventually, the company hopes to run as many as seven regional and ten express trains per day between Boston and NYC.

Under a 1997 Federal law, Amtrak must fund its own operating budget by the end of 2002 or face liquidation. Federal appropriations would continue for capital projects. Amtrak is pumping the majority of its capital resources into its high-speed service, hoping that Acela will lure enough travelers off the roads and shuttle planes to bring solvency. Optimists focus on New England, where Amtrak carries less than 30% of NYC-Boston rail and plane travelers, compared to its 70% market share in the NYC-DC corridor. But the outlook overall doesn't look good.Amtrak has claimed it was only $480 million shy of breaking even last year - an impressive gain over previous years - but a report released last week by the Congressionally appointed Amtrak Reform Council pegged its deficit at almost twice that amount.

Critics say that the company has functioned in the red since its inception, consuming $22 billion in federal subsidies over the last three decades. To others, Congress' demand is unreasonable - no high-speed train system in the world operates without government subsidy. And no other form of transit or highway system in the U.S. does either, for that matter.

Amtrack Vice President, John Bennett, will discuss these challenges at a February 25th lecture:
"The Economics of Amtrak: Choices within the Policy Framework" (Click for calender).