Amtrak: Difference between revisions

Amtrak has argued that it needs to increase capital program costs in 2013 in order to replace old train equipment because the multi-year maintenance costs for those trains exceed what it would cost to simply buy new equipment that would not need to be repaired for several years. However, despite an initial request for more than $2.1&nbsp;billion in funding for the year, the company had to deal with a year-over-year cut in 2013 federal appropriations, dropping to under $1.4&nbsp;billion for the first time in several years.<ref name="FY13 business plan" /> Amtrak stated in 2010 that the backlog of needed repairs of the track it owns on the Northeast Corridor included over 200 bridges, most dating to the 19th century, tunnels under Baltimore dating to the American Civil War era and functionally obsolete [[Railroad switch|track switches]] which would cost $5.2&nbsp;billion to repair (more than triple Amtrak's total annual budget).<ref name="FY13 business plan" /> Amtrak's budget is only allocated on a yearly basis, and it has been argued by Joseph Vranich that this makes multi-year development programs and long-term fiscal planning difficult if not impossible.<ref name="Vranich 2004" />{{page needed|date=July 2015}}