The U.S. Dept. of Transportation office of the Inspector General released its Congressionally-mandated annual report on Amtrak Nov. 22, 2004.

In the report, USDOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead is critical of plans to continue operating Amtrak in its current manner.

“Unsustainably large operating losses, poor on-time performance, and increasing levels of deferred infrastructure and fleet investment are a clarion call to the need for significant changes in Amtrak’s strategy,” Mead wrote in a memo accompanying the report. “Continued deferral brings Amtrak closer to a major point of failure on the system but no one knows where or when such a failure will occur.”

A copy of the report is available on the USDOT website.

The National Association of Rail Passengers issued a press release critical of the D.O.T. report Nov. 22. It is located at http://www.narprail.org/r04.htm.

Check MARP’s news page for the national and local media’s news perspective on the report.