[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 7]
[Revised as of October 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR700.2]

[Page 101-102]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
      CHAPTER VII--NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION (AMTRAK)
 
PART 700_ORGANIZATION, FUNCTIONING AND AVAILABLE INFORMATION--Table 
of Contents
 
Sec. 700.2  Organization and functioning of Amtrak.

    The creation of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation 
(``Amtrak'') was authorized by the Rail Passenger Service Act, as 
amended, 84 Stat. 1327, 45 U.S.C. 541 et seq. (``the Act''). The Act 
requires that Amtrak be operated and managed as a for-profit 
corporation, that it be incorporated under the District of Columbia 
Business Corporation Act, and subject to the provisions of that statute 
to the extent not inconsistent with the Act, and that it provide a 
balanced transportation system by developing, operating, and improving 
intercity rail passenger service. The Act also states that Amtrak will 
not be an agency or establishment of the United States Government. 
Amtrak thus is a corporation created by Congress to compete for the 
transportation business of the intercity traveller, to the end that the 
travelling public will have a choice of travel modes. The address of its 
headquarters is 400 North Capitol Street, NW., Washington, DC 20001. 
Telephone: (202) 383-3000.
    (a) Board of Directors. Amtrak's major policies are established by 
its board of directors. The nine members of the board are selected as 
follows: The Secretary of Transportation serves as an ex-officio member 
and Amtrak's President, ex-officio, is Chairman of the Board; three 
members are appointed by the President of the United States and 
confirmed by the Senate (representing labor, State Governors, and 
business); two represent commuter authorities and are selected by the 
President from lists drawn up by those authorities; and two are selected 
by the Corporation's preferred stockholder, the Department of 
Transportation.
    (b) Officers and central management. Amtrak is managed by a 
President and a Management Committee consisting of four Executive Vice 
Presidents. Reporting to the Executive Vice Presidents are eleven vice 
presidents representing sales, transportation marketing, planning and 
development, computer services, labor relations, finance and treasurer, 
personnel, passenger and operating services, government affairs, 
operations and maintenance, engineering, and the General Counsel. Areas 
handled as special matters with the authority of vice presidents, such 
as corporate communications, safety, real estate, procurement, materials 
management, police and security, contract administration, and internal 
audit are supervised by assistant vice presidents and directors.
    (c) Regional and field structure. The need for decentralization of 
functions in the areas of passenger services and transportation 
operations has led to the creation of Amtrak's regional and field 
structure. Field offices are located in major cities such as Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Los 
Angeles. Pursuant to overall policies established at headquarters in 
Washington, DC, these offices handle matters like the assignment and 
scheduling of employees who work on board moving trains; purchase, 
stowage and preparation of food for dining service; maintenance and 
rehabilitation of rolling stock; and daily operating arrangements such 
as the make-up of trains or the cleaning and repairing of cars on 
trains.
    (d) Route system. Amtrak's basic route system has been established 
pursuant to statutory guidelines, and in some cases by specific 
statutory directive. Out of a route system covering about 23,000 route-
miles, Amtrak owns a right-of-way of about 2,600 track miles in the 
Northeast Corridor (Washington-New York-Boston; New Haven-

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Springfield; and Philadelphia-Harrisburg) and small segments of track 
near Albany, New York, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the Northeast 
Corridor Amtrak trains are run by operating crews consisting of Amtrak 
employees. On other routes, Amtrak operates trains on the tracks of 
about twenty different privately owned railroads and compensates the 
railroad for the use of their facilities and for the services of their 
employees, including engineers, conductors, and maintenance personnel. 
Those private railroads are responsible for the conditions of the 
roadbed and for coordinating the flow of traffic over their lines.
    (e) Operations. Amtrak provides about 250 trains daily, serving 
about 500 stations in over forty states. Amtrak owns most of its cars 
and locomotives, some of its stations, and most of its repair 
facilities. Its capital improvements and almost half of its operating 
losses are supported principally through Federal financing, with some 
State, regional and local financial support for some trains and 
stations. Congress requires Amtrak to earn revenues equivalent to at 
least fifty percent of its operating costs, and it currently does so.
    (f) Revenue production. The sale of tickets for transportation and 
accommodations, Amtrak's principal source of revenue, is accomplished 
through Amtrak ticket agents at stations, travel agencies, and five 
central reservation offices which service a nationwide telephone 
network. National Timetables contain basic information about routes, 
stations, and services.