NEWS National Railroad Passenger Corporation Amtrak Intercity 210 South Canal Street Chicago, Illinois 60606-5715 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ATK-96-139 June 28, 1996 Contacts: Marc Magliari 312-655-1338 AMTRAK PRESERVES DAILY SERVICE AND ECONOMICAL FARES FOR DOWNSTATE ILLINOIS TRAVELERS CHICAGO -- Amtrak will continue to provide daily service on Illinois routes from Chicago to Carbondale, Chicago to St. Louis and Chicago to Quincy in partnership with the State of Illinois without the service reductions and fare increases proposed by the state for their 1997 fiscal year, July 1, 1996, through June 30, 1997. Amtrak has been working with representatives of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) over a several month period to provide daily passenger train service along these downstate routes and to maintain current service levels between Chicago and Milwaukee. A series of cost-cutting proposals and revenue-building plans reduced the state's original contribution requirement from $8.3 million to $6.97 million, a figure somewhat higher than the $6.5 million appropriated by the Illinois General Assembly. The estimated loss for the downstate Illinois services and for the Illinois Amtrak share of the Chicago-Milwaukee route was projected by Amtrak to be $18.2 million for FY 1997. Of this amount, Amtrak would contribute $9.9 million, or 55 percent of the estimated loss and Illinois would contribute $8.3 million, or 45 percent of the estimated loss. The amount requested of the Illinois General Assembly by IDOT was determined without the benefit of Amtrak participation and did not reflect Amtrak's estimate of the operating loss of the services for FY 1997. - more - - 2 - ATK-96-139 Suggestions today by IDOT of Amtrak "cost overruns" are in error. In fact, Amtrak estimated the FY 1996 loss on these services to be $19 million and the FY 1997 loss is estimated by Amtrak to be $18.2 million, not the $15.5 million IDOT has cited as the estimated loss.. "While I'm happy Amtrak is able to continue offering daily service and competitive fares on these routes, I am deeply disappointed that Illinois' public position suggests Amtrak has not been working in a cooperative fashion with IDOT," said Mark S. Cane, President, Amtrak Intercity. "Amtrak has a mutual interest in retaining these trains, as evidenced by our willingness to cover more than half of their losses and our agreement to many of the cost savings proposals developed with IDOT." Congressional appropriations for Amtrak are being scaled back annually and the corporation is expected to operate without a federal subsidy by 2002. In an effort to maintain a national rail passenger network, Amtrak has asked states to bear a larger portion of the operating losses associated with state-supported services. "Amtrak Intercity is not in a position to assume any more loss if it is to meet its target of improving the bottom line in FY 1997 by $87 million," Cane said. "I'm very pleased with the efforts of Amtrak Intercity to make this work for the State of Illinois," said Thomas M. Downs, Amtrak Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "I'm also disappointed that after months of discussions with the state, Illinois has chosen to characterize this as an Amtrak failure. Good partnerships are not based on that kind of finger-pointing, especially when the allegations are not true." Of the suggestions proposed by Amtrak and IDOT, implementation of three of the cost-saving ideas is already underway: the elimination of the Loop (Trains # 311 & 312) between Chicago and Springfield, effective today; the solicitation of an outside vendor to provide food service on state-supported trains and working together to meet with numerous Illinois communities on sharing the costs of local station operations.- more - - 3 - ATK-96-139 Although Illinois had proposed that Amtrak reduce frequencies along the state-supported routes, Amtrak did not accept this proposal because its experience with such reductions in 1995 has shown that they do not eliminate the underlying costs as quickly as revenue is reduced, resulting in higher losses. Illinois also requested a 10% across-the-board fare increase on all four routes. But Amtrak market research findings showed that the fare increase proposal, on top of pricing increases already taken, would result in deepened losses for the trains since total revenue would actually fall. An IDOT consultant had a similar finding. IDOT's actions today mean the continued operation of the State House (Trains # 305 & 300), with daily morning northbound departures from St. Louis for Chicago and a mid-afternoon/evening return southbound trip to the same destinations; the Illini (Trains # 391 & 392), with daily afternoon/evening departures to and from Carbondale and the Illinois Zephyr (Trains # 346, 347 & 348), with daily morning eastbound departures from Quincy and an evening return trip westbound to the same destinations. With Illinois' decision to remove its financial support for the Chicago to Milwaukee Hiawatha Service (Trains # 330-340), Amtrak will work with the State of Wisconsin to continue current service levels on this route. Please see an authorized Amtrak travel agent, visit a staffed Amtrak station or call 1-800-USA-RAIL for details on these or any other Amtrak services. Amtrak Intercity operates passenger rail service throughout much of the United States, including Midwest corridor trains for the Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City and St. Louis markets as well as most other Amtrak long-distance services. Headquartered in Chicago, Amtrak Intercity employs nearly 6,200 people in 39 states and is one of three Amtrak strategic business units. # # #