Bush administration fights Amtrak funding; Despite White House resistance, senators vow to pass bill providing $3.2 billion a year for system.(Business)

Byline: JENNIFER A. DLOUHY - Times Union Washington bureau

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Tuesday blasted a plan by a group of rail-riding senators to overhaul Amtrak and give the passenger railroad an annual subsidy of $3.2 billion to repair aging lines and start new service.

Joseph Boardman, administrator of the Federal Railroad Ad ministration, told a Senate Commerce Committee panel that the administration has serious reservations about the proposal and that the federal government must stop subsidizing Amtrak.

Giving the railroad more money undermines the incentive for the railroad to become more efficient and businesslike, Boardman told …