Here’s Some Good News about Amtrak and Passenger Rail Service.
If you’ve been fighting the good fight on behalf of passenger rail for more than a few years, you have a hard time accepting positive news. But there is indeed good news … more than a little and it’s coming from a number of sources. Here are just a few examples.
In Kansas, for instance, the state Department of Transportation has joined city officials from Wichita in the effort to have Amtrak extend its Heartland Flyer service to Wichita. The train currently runs daily between Forth Worth and Oklahoma City.
In Virginia, members of the General Assembly from the western part of that state have announced that they will request funds to help pay for extending Amtrak service to Roanoke.
Elsewhere, in cities and towns in the east and Midwest, old train stations are being restored and new inter-modal facilities are being built.
In the meantime, Amtrak has just released ridership figures for last month and they are up across the board. Compared to December of 2011, Acela and Northeast Corridor trains were up 2.5 percent. Short haul and long distance trains were each up 4.4 percent. System-wide, ridership increased 3.7 percent.
And guess what? Amtrak’s CEO Joe Boardman has announced that the railroad has decreased its operating loss by 19 percent to $361 million. That’s the smallest loss since 1975.
That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that Amtrak is managing to produce those excellent numbers in spite of the fact it’s running old equipment that’s becoming more and more expensive to maintain. That simply cannot go on.
And worse yet, the cut-cut-cut factions in Congress are continuing their efforts to reduce or even eliminate Amtrak’s pitifully small subsidy. If that should happen, of course, all the efforts to increase rail service would be for naught and operating losses would start getting ugly almost immediately.
One way you can help: Support NARP, the National Association of Railroad Passengers. Check our web site to learn about what we’re doing to promote more and better and faster trains. And do consider becoming a member. Thanks!
