It’s been a banner year for Amtrak. The system reported record ridership for a fifth straight year, with an increase of 1.5 million passengers over last year to 25.8 million. Total ticket revenue for the fiscal year climbed 11 percent to $1.5 billion, with the highest growth in the Northeast. Congress gave Amtrak $1.3 billion for the year after threatening to give only about $900 million.

Steep gas prices and relentless congestion gave the railroad opportunities to attract new riders in some of the major corridors like the Northeast, which links cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

And Amtrak has redone or reassigned contracts for service and parts, reducing high-profile breakdowns and delays.

But labor woes could halt the trains and the railroad’s momentum. The nine unions representing Amtrak workers turned down an offer for binding arbitration Friday from the National Mediation Board.

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That means a 30-day cooling-off period will start during which the Bush administration can get involved, and if the two sides fail to agree, another 30-day waiting period begins. After that, barring a solution, the unions could go on strike.

Most of the unionized workers have awaited a contract for nearly eight years.

Of course, during this time, Amtrak had been running up huge deficits, casting doubt on the future of the nation’s rail service.

The debut of Acela trains cost billions and didn’t result in as much revenue increase as expected. That’s largely because of equipment problems leading to delays and Acela’s failure to save significant time between New York and Boston. Tracks between the two cities have been in place a long time and couldn’t handle the demands of higher speeds.

The combined 30-day waiting periods provide some good news for passengers: Amtrak will still be available for Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday travelers.

But in the long term, the dispute comes down to money.

The White House has done its best to shut down Amtrak and sell it off to private entities.

Indeed, the Bush administration provides funding only after much debate and after cutting budgets (sometimes with good reason). Amtrak has wasted money and overspent through the years, reflecting historically sweet labor contracts in the railroad industry.

But it’s time for the Bush administration to divert some of the money being sent overseas to infrastructure here at home. Put some of those billions into roads, tunnel and bridge improvements. Put some of those billions into repairs needed by Amtrak and make sure the employees get a reasonable deal.

Passengers need Amtrak as a travel option more than ever.

Let’s hope labor and management can come to a resolution so more people aren’t forced to the roads. We don’t need any more congestion or emissions in our future.

Questions, comments, random musings? Write to Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com.