European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 16, 1994 . The stars and stripes Page 9 Amtrak to Cut service Shelve lines Railroad officials hoping to Soltish costs keep subsidy by Stephen c. Fehr Washington Post Washington train service will be reduced on virtually every route and eliminated on a few in am Trak s 45-state system As part of a dramatic shrinking of the National passenger Railroad officials announced wednesday. About 5,500 of Amtrak s 25,000 employees will lose their jobs. Amtrak president Thomas Downs said the cuts Are needed to reduce Amtrak s expenses by about $430 million a year and to close a $200 million Cash shortfall before june. Congress and the Clinton administration have told Downs to slash costs or risk losing the Federal subsidies needed to support the Railroad Amtrak s Federal operating subsidy this year is $392 million and Downs has been told to expect less next year. Without these actions the possibility of us disappearing was very High Downs said at a news Confer ence. With these the possibility is much  even if the budget cuts Are successful he said there is no guarantee about our future. If this in t enough i Haven t got any other  upcoming Holiday travel will not be affected. The service reductions approved by Amtrak s Board of directors in a closed session tuesday will be phased in Between february and october. Only some cuts were announced wednesday the Board will decide on the rest before March. Hardest hit is the Midwest. Seven cities in Michigan and Missouri will lose Amtrak service and the Chi Cago to Milwaukee route is being axed. Overall the service reductions amount to 11 percent of Amtrak s passenger Miles which affect Revenue from fares and 21 percent of train Miles which affect costs in the Northeast three of the eight daily washing ton to Boston trains and one of 17 daily metro liners to new York will be Cut. Fewer trains will run Between Washington and Florida. The Atlantic City express which runs Between Rich mond va., and Atlantic City n.j., with stops in Washington and Baltimore will be eliminated. Service to Montreal through Vermont will be slashed leaving Vermont with no Amtrak service. A Amtrak conductor Bobby Niblett watches a Young passenger scamper aboard he train in Kansas City mo., on wednesday. Cuts announced by the railway will include the elimination of service Between Kansas City and St. Louis. Some ticket prices will go up and others will Godown. Officials have not determined those changes Al though they said the average increase would be about 1percent. Most fares probably will not be affected in areas where Amtrak is trying to compete with airlines which generally offer lower  of trying to serve most states and major Cit ies in part to gain political support for subsidies Downs said the new Amtrak would run trains Only inthe most densely populated areas and essential rail Cor riders. . States have the option of picking up the Cost of trains that Are Cut although some states would pay twice Smuch As they do now in subsidies. States Are restricted from using Federal Highway Trust fund Money for rail transportation. Downs said the decisions were based on economics not politics. If no changes were made Amtrak would be facing $7.3 billion in operating losses before subsidies during the next five years. Downs already has announced plans to trim 600 managerial jobs but that Only saves about $30 million. Marginal changes atone Are not enough said bets reveal Amtrak s chief financial officer. We have to make fundamental changes to reinvent this  Competition from airlines and publicity about crashes that apparently were not Amtrak s fault have contributed to the Railroad s decline. So pm of. Fiery train collision an official walks away from the site of a train wreck wednesday near san Bernardino calif., that left four people injured. The crash occurred when a runaway freight train barrelled Down the Steep Cajon pass and into a stopped Coal train. The 54-car Santa be freight train s brakes apparently began to fail about Halfway Down its descent on a 20-mile run that drops from 4,200 feet at the Summit to 1,000 feet in san Bernardino. Crew members on the 82-car Union Pacific Coal train were warned about the freight train headed their Way. Crews of both trains jumped free before Impact. Train shooting suspect wants defective of find real killer by the new York times Mineola . Colin Ferguson accused in last year s Long Island train massacre asked a court wednes Day for Money to hire a private investigator to find the real  i need the funds to locate wit Nesses and for an investigator to obtain the identity of the actual Cauca Sian gunmen said Ferguson who is acting As his own attorney. The judge Donald e. Belfi of Nas Sau county court said that when the request was submitted in writing he would sign it. Because Ferguson is an indigent defendant the court also is paying his other Legal expenses. Ferguson 36, has denied charges that he killed six people on a Long is land rail Road train dec. 7,1993. Ronald Kuby who is acting As Fer Guson s court appointed adviser and has described him As insane said after the hearing that the judge had no alternative but to approve the funds so that or. Ferguson can hire an investigator and go look for this mysterious caucasian that or. Ferguson claims did the  Kuby has Long urged Belfi to de Clare Ferguson mentally incompetent to stand trial. But the judge ruled last week that Ferguson was competent and could act As his own attorney. The judge also allowed Ferguson to dismiss Kuby and William Kunstler As his attorneys of record but Ferguson quickly agreed to accept both lawyers Back As his court appointed advisers. Doctors practice on fresh corpses Survey shows by the new York times at teaching hospitals throughout the country Doc tors learn resuscitation techniques and other proce dures by practising on people1 who have just died according to a new Survey. But family members Are rarely asked for permission. The Survey covered 449 training programs in adult and paediatric critical care. It was conducted by two specialists in Newborn intensive care or. Jeffrey p. Burns of the new England medical Center and or. Robert d. Truog of children s Hospital in Boston and a lawyer Frank e. Reardon of the firm of Hassan & Reardon in Boston. The investigators published their results in thurs Day s Issue of the new England journal of Medicine. Of the 353 centers that responded 39 percent said they used the bodies of people who had just died to teach medical procedures but just 10 percent required that the patients families give written or Oral consent. The most common procedure was putting a tube in the Trachea. Others included putting Needles in the liver or Bones siphoning fluid from around the heart and even opening the Chest to Massage the heart. Doctors said it could be difficult to approach a grieving family and ask for permission to use a relative s or baby s body to teach doctors medical techniques. Yet medical students and Young doctors have to learn these procedures and if they learn on the newly dead they cannot injure the patient or through inexperience has ten death they said. I think this is a True dilemma and people Are Strug gling with the Best Way to balance conflicting needs Burns said