A Bush administration's plan to overhaul Amtrak by turning it over to states and private companies is being blasted by critics as a thinly veiled death sentence for national passenger rail service.

The plan, unveiled Monday and sent to Congress Tuesday, would shift operating expenses and 50 percent of infrastructure costs of the federally subsidized rail system to states within six years. States would award operating contracts to private companies. Service would end in areas where state governments failed to kick in and assume control.

BACKWARD THINKING A U.S. House of Representatives panel July 11, 2003 slashed funding for the Amtrak passenger railroad and transportation alternatives like bicycle routes to boost highway construction spending. Amtrak's Acela high speed train arrives at Boston's South Station from Washington, D.C. in this December 11, 2000 file photo. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)

Bush transportation officials said its plan was the answer to a more financially stable and efficient system that has received more than $26 billion from the government since being formed in 1971 from defunct passenger railroads. It also said the changes would make Amtrak more effective and responsive to Americans' travel needs.

Opponents of the plan, including some Republicans, don't see it that way. "If you turn Amtrak over to the states, it's gone," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, charged Monday.

Hutchinson and three other members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee announced a counterproposal yesterday that would continue federal operating subsidies and called for issuing bonds to raise money for repairs and track construction.

President Bush's plan is expected to meet with stiff opposition in Congress, where members are loath to pass additional costs to their home states, especially at a time when many state governments, including Pennsylvania, are facing budget crises.

"The last thing Amtrak needs is yet another reorganization," said the National Association of Railroad Passengers, whose executive director, Ross Capon, called the Bush proposal "hogwash" that would shut down the nation's passenger rail system.

Whatever the outcome, there's far less at stake in Pittsburgh than in Philadelphia and other neighbors to the east that rely much more heavily on rail transportation, with tens of thousands using it to commute to work.

The Pittsburgh station ranks as Amtrak's 75th busiest, with an average of 230 passengers boarding and departing trains each day. That compares with New York City, Amtrak's busiest, with more than 24,000 passengers a day, and No. 2 Philadelphia, which averages 10,000.

"The last thing Amtrak needs is yet another reorganization," said the National Association of Railroad Passengers, whose executive director, Ross Capon, called the Bush proposal "hogwash" that would shut down the nation's passenger rail system.

The Pittsburgh market is served by three daily long-distance Amtrak trains -- the Pennsylvanian, which runs from New York City to Pittsburgh; the Three Rivers, which extends from New York to Chicago; and the Capitol Limited, which runs from Washington, D.C., to Chicago.

Because there's no frequent, regular daily service for commuters, passengers here primarily use the railroad for leisure travel and for business excursions to the east.

Since the reform plan was unveiled Monday, Amtrak President David Gunn has declined comment, saying the railroad wasn't asked for input and had not seen the proposal.

In a terse statement, Gunn stressed that his more urgent concern was ensuring that Amtrak receives enough federal funding to repair and upgrade its ailing infrastructure.

"The gravity of this immediate need to maintain Amtrak's operational reliability vastly overshadows any debate over the [Bush] plan," he said.

Transportation officials said the White House is willing to give the railroad only $900 million next year unless it is restructured. Amtrak says it needs twice that much to keep the trains rolling.

Transportation officials conceded that Bush's restructuring plan required a "leap of faith" that it will work, and that long-distance routes were at greatest risk of vanishing if the plan goes through.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was "prepared to take a look at the proposal," but added that it would be "difficult to put all those pieces into operation."

"The question is, can you privatize it without a subsidy? It is a very detailed program and requires a lot of study and analysis."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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