Editing Amtrak (section)

===1980s and 1990s: The Building Era===
{{Stack|
[[File:Amtrak 943 with a Metroliner at Seabrook, MD, November 12, 1987.jpg|thumb|right|An [[EMD AEM-7]] with a ''[[Metroliner (train)|Metroliner]]'' in [[Seabrook, Maryland]] in 1987. The AEM-7 was Amtrak's workhorse on electrified routes for over 30 years.]]
[[File:AMTK 315 Tun17 CZ Nwcstle Mar1995RP - Flickr - drewj1946.jpg|thumb|right|An [[EMD F40PH]] leads the ''[[California Zephyr]]'' in 1995. The F40PH replaced the unreliable SDP40F.]]
}}
In 1982, former [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] and retired [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] head [[W. Graham Claytor, Jr.|William Graham Claytor Jr.]] came out of retirement to lead Amtrak. During his time at Southern, Claytor was a vocal critic of Amtrak's prior managers, who all came from non-railroading backgrounds. Transportation Secretary [[Drew Lewis]] cited this criticism as a reason why the Democrat Claytor was acceptable to the Reagan White House.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wilner|1994}}</ref>{{Rp|page=7}} Despite frequent clashes with the Reagan administration over funding, Claytor enjoyed a good relationship with Lewis, [[John H. Riley]], the head of the [[Federal Railroad Administration]] (FRA), and with members of Congress. Limited funding led Claytor to use [[money market|short-term debt]] to fund operations.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://static.highbeam.com/f/fortune/october231989/stillchuggingwgrahamclaytorjrfortunepeoplecolumn/ |title=Still chugging |first=Mark |last=Alpert |date=October 23, 1989 |magazine=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]] |access-date=November 23, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050422084946/http://static.highbeam.com/f/fortune/october231989/stillchuggingwgrahamclaytorjrfortunepeoplecolumn/ |archive-date=April 22, 2005}}</ref>

Building on mechanical developments in the 1970s, high-speed Washington–New York [[Metroliner (train)|Metroliner Service]] was improved with new equipment and faster schedules. Travel time between New York and Washington, D.C. was reduced to under 3 hours due to system improvements and limited stop service.<ref name=":2" /> This improvement was cited as a reason why Amtrak grew its share of intercity trips between the cities along the corridor. Elsewhere in the country, demand for passenger rail service resulted in the creation of five new state-supported routes in California, Illinois, Missouri, Oregon and Pennsylvania, for a total of 15 state-supported routes.

Amtrak added two trains in 1983, the ''[[California Zephyr]]'' between [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] and Chicago via Denver<ref name=":2" /> and revived the ''[[Auto Train]]'', a unique service that carries both passengers and their vehicles. Amtrak advertised it as a great way to avoid traffic along the [[Interstate 95|I-95]] running between [[Lorton, Virginia]] (near Washington, D.C.) and [[Sanford, Florida]] (near Orlando) on the [[Silver Star (Amtrak train)|Silver Star]] alignment.<ref name=":2" />

In 1980s and 1990s, stations in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. received major rehabilitation and the Empire Connection tunnel opened in 1991, allowing Amtrak to consolidate all New York services at [[Pennsylvania Station (New York City)|Penn Station.]] Despite the improvements, Amtrak's ridership stagnated at roughly 20 million passengers per year, amid uncertain government aid from 1981 to about 2000.<ref name="NiceD" /><ref>{{cite book|title=1999 Annual Report |publisher=Amtrak}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, Amtrak tested several different high-speed trains from Europe on the Northeast Corridor. An [[X 2000#Exports|X 2000 train was leased]] from Sweden for test runs from October 1992 to January 1993, followed by revenue service between Washington, D.C. and New York City from February to May and August to September 1993. [[Siemens]] showed the [[ICE 1]] train from Germany, organizing the [[ICE 1#ICE train North America tour|ICE Train North America Tour]] which started to operate on the Northeast Corridor on July 3, 1993.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1993 |title=ICE Train North America Tour |journal=Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau |language=de |volume=42 |issue=11 |page=756}}</ref>

In 1993, Thomas Downs succeeded Claytor as Amtrak's fifth president. The stated goal remained "operational self-sufficiency". By this time, however, Amtrak had a large overhang of debt from years of underfunding. In the mid-1990s, Amtrak suffered through a serious cash crunch. Under Downs, Congress included a provision in the [[Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997]] that resulted in Amtrak receiving a $2.3&nbsp;billion tax refund that resolved their cash crisis.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amtrak Is Way Off Track Fiscally, Its President and the GAO Say |first=Don |last=Phillips |date=March 18, 1994 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> However, Congress also instituted a "glide path" to financial self-sufficiency, excluding railroad retirement tax act payments.<ref>{{cite speech |title=Intercity Passenger Rail; Amtrak Faces Challenges in Improving its Financial Condition (Report GAO/T-RCED-00-30) |first=Phyllis F. |last=Scheinberg |date=October 28, 1999 |location=House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Ground Transportation |url=http://www.gao.gov/archive/2000/rc00030t.pdf |format=PDF |access-date=June 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624184942/http://www.gao.gov/archive/2000/rc00030t.pdf |archive-date=June 24, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[George Warrington]] became the sixth president in 1998, with a mandate to make Amtrak financially self-sufficient. Under Warrington, the company tried to expand into express freight shipping, placing Amtrak in competition with the "host" freight railroads and the [[Trucking industry in the United States|trucking industry]].

On March 9, 1999, Amtrak unveiled its plan for the ''Acela Express,'' a high-speed train on the [[Northeast Corridor]] between Washington, D.C. and Boston.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 10, 1999 |title=Amtrak unveils high-speed shuttle trains for busy travelers – Service between Boston, Washington is designed to compete with airlines |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-6680582.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026120641/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-6680582.html |archive-date=October 26, 2012 |access-date=August 29, 2009 |website=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel}}</ref><ref name="overview2">{{Cite news |date=March 9, 1999 |title=Amtrak To Unveil High-Speed Service |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-23407520.html |url-status=dead |access-date=August 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026120633/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-23407520.html |archive-date=October 26, 2012}}</ref> Several changes were made to the corridor to make it suitable for higher-speed electric trains. The [[Amtrak's 60 Hz traction power system|Northend Electrification Project]] extended existing electrification from [[New Haven, Connecticut]], to Boston to complete the [[Railway electrification system|overhead power supply]] along the {{convert|454|mi|adj=on}} route, and several grade crossings were improved or removed.<ref name="overview2" /><ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 1, 1999 |title=At-grade crossings: Innovation, safety, sophisticated new technology |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-31928865_ITM |magazine=Railway Track and Structures |access-date=August 29, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Public Archaeology Laboratory |url=http://www.palinc.com/sites/default/files/publications/Amtrak_History.pdf |title=Amtrak's High Speed Rail Program, New Haven to Boston: History and Historic Resources |publisher=National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) |year=2001 |access-date=January 23, 2023 |archive-date=October 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005033406/https://www.palinc.com/sites/default/files/publications/Amtrak_History.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{clear}}