Amtrak told Congress Friday it will comply with the law and end the century-old practice of dumping human waste along tracks - if Capitol Hill provides $85 million.
The rail passenger line is under a deadline of Nov. 15, 1996, to have its nationwide fleet equipped with waste-holding facilities.Tim Gillespie, Amtrak's vice president for government affairs, said the railroad is developing and testing the first full waste-retention systems designed for long-distance passenger trains taking up to 72 hours to reach their destinations.
"We are pleased to report that the research program has been successful," Gillespie said in a letter to Sen. Tim Wirth, D-Colo., sponsor of the provision approved earlier this year forbidding Amtrak from dumping raw sewage.
Gillespie said the process of retrofitting the fleet has already begun and "we expect to comply with the 1996 deadline."
But, he added, retrofitting 544 cars will cost about $85 million.
Amtrak has a fleet of 1,409 passenger cars. Of these, 492 Amfleet cars, which make short runs, have already been fitted with retention systems.
The railroad intends to retire 348 unequipped cars built before 1971 before the deadline.
The line is seeking the $85 million to modify 544 cars built after 1971 and to build facilities at the end of routes to hold and treat the sewage.
Sue Martin, a spokeswoman for Amtrak, said there never has been any evidence of a health hazard from the waste dumping practice.
"It's been going on for more than 100 years," she said, adding that there were many more trains then than now.
But she acknowledged that there has been controversy.
In recent years, members of the public have complained that the practice was unsightly and potentially unhealthy. Complainants included rail workers in Utah who claimed they were sprayed with sewage while working along railroad rights of way.
Both former Rep. Howard Nielson, R-Utah, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, both had proposed bills that will halt the practice. In 1989, the Utah Legislature passed a law that would make dumping sewage along rights of way a criminal offense. No one has been prosecuted under the law, although other states have brought court action under similar laws.