Judgment Day For Amtrak

"The Amtrak Reform Council, a federal oversight board, last month formally concluded what most observers have known for years: the nation's floundering passenger-train operator has no chance of becoming self-sufficient by the end of 2002, as Congress mandated five years ago. Now that it's clear Amtrak can't go it alone, Congress and the Bush Administration will have to decide whether to invest up to $100 billion in the kind of high-speed trains that glide along at up to 180 m.p.h. in Europe and Japan -- or essentially give up on intercity passenger service altogether."