The Budget Problems

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Washington lawmakers are haggling over next year's budget for passenger rail. They could force Amtrak to shut down, allow it to limp on while deferring important maintenance, or cover its needs. The right choice — covering its needs — is clear. But Amtrak is vulnerable because unlike all other intercity transportation, rail does not have a trust fund with a steady stream of public funds.
This is more than a little shortsighted. The development of high-speed trains along a few heavily traveled corridors is crucial in the long term to alleviating highway and airport congestion. But neither the Bush administration nor Congress has a realistic vision for pursuing this goal.

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If I may opine...

It is nice to see a publication of the caiber of the NY Times advocate for proper funding of Amtrak, especially for infrastructure repair which is probably the most often overlooked thing by government and always the first thing to go into defered maintenance.