Amtrak has Big Plans … for Washington’s Union Station and Beyond.

The estimated price tag would be $7 billion. Wow! And in addition, the long-range plan envisions a huge expansion of business and commercial development in the surrounding area.

I confess my first reaction was that the Amtrak brass must be smoking something. After all, it’s an annual catfight just to get an appropriation out of Congress to subsidize the existing bare bones service. And Mitt Romney has said he’ll shut that off if he’s elected.

But wait! It’s reasonable to assume that at least some of the money would be coming from some kind of public-private partnership. Furthermore, and despite all the caterwauling from the conservative ideologues, Amtrak is a success. A big success. Ridership has been increasing steadily every year. Amtrak carried 30.2 million passengers last year and projections are for that to climb to more than 43 million over the next 25 years.

And rail service is expanding and improving elsewhere in the country. Amtrak will soon be running trains at more than 100 mph on the busy Chicago-St. Louis route, with similar upgrades on other routes to follow. Faster trains invariably means more passengers. And in California, Home of the Car Culture, there is now a passenger rail network, supplemented by connecting bus services, that covers most of that huge state … and it has become immensely popular.

Public officials – present and future – had better get used to the simple, unavoidable fact: Americans want trains!

So kudos to the Amtrak leadership for responding to that … and for having the guts in the current political environment to stand up to the nay-sayers. Go for it, guys! It’s the right thing to do!