John_Perkowski wrote:Robert,True, but you were talking about David Gunn's request, which won't find on Thomas.
Looking very quickly at bot Thomas and Google, I saw neither an Authorization nor an Appropriation Act for DOT for FY05.
Those are what we need to find; they'll say what the money is to be spent for.
John
Per Amtrak's FY05 request, found here: http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/fy05grantlegisrequest.pdf
David Gunn wants $349 million for "fleet." It does not elaborate on what that means, however.
The five-year plan, on which the funding requests are supposedly based, (found here: http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/strategic05.pdf on page 43) says that there will be 94 new equipment acquisitions in FY05. That includes 14 rail diesel cars, and 80 auto-carriers. Page 35 says that the FY05 fleet acquisition funding needs will be $82 million, and lists a total fleet funding need of $312 million. So, there's a discrepancy in there of $37 million, but Gunn is actually requesting $37 million more than the 5-year plan suggests. This is either an error/misprint, a change from the time when the budget was released and when the five-year plan was released, or the budget number includes something the five-year plan does not.
In any event, I strongly believe that, if Amtrak receives its full funding next year (plus $20 to buy the devil a sweater), there will be new equipment purchased. It may not arrive by the end of the FY, but there will at least be a contract signed.
Also, the funding bills won't say, line by line, what the money is to be spent for. Funding used to be split between operating and capital grants, but no longer is.
AmtrakFan wrote:If they got their $1.8 Billion would the $$$ Allowcated into the Fund be enough to repair all the Cars sitting at Beech Grove? Also how many Cars are still sitting there?It's not going to all happen at once. A check of the five-year plan will tell you the estimated number of out-of-service cars, which includes wrecks, storage, etc.
AmtrakFan
