If Amtrak
follows through with its threat to stop operations by the end
of June, the U.S. Postal Service says it has a plan in place
to continue rail mail delivery to its customers. Amtrak has
asked the feds for another $200 million bail out.
The 5
percent of mail volume shipped via Amtrak is mostly first-class
and periodicals that move along the Eastern corridor.
"We
have redundant service to all of those places with things like
surface trucking," said Paul Vogel, vice president of network
operations management at the USPS, "so if anything does
go wrong with Amtrak, there are other opportunities to move
mail."
Direct
Marketing News reported Amtrak President David Gunn said he
was optimistic the loan would be approved and that the borrowed
money would be repaid using a $1.2 billion federal subsidy Congress
is expected to approve for the next fiscal year.
