If You Ain’t Got an ‘Ask,’ You Ain’t Got a Chance.

I’ll be in Washington, DC, at the end of next month for a meeting of the National Association of Railroad Passengers … specifically, NARP’s Council of Representatives, of which I’m a member. There are two such meetings every year, but this is the more important one because it gives us all a chance to visit key members of Congress and bang the drum for passenger rail.

You really have to spend some time tromping among the various offices to appreciate the one great truth of life as an elected official there: An endless stream of people coming to your door and every single one of them wants something. They all, in Washington speak, have an “ask.”

NARP is no different and discussions are already under way among Council members to figure out what our “ask” is going to be this year.

There are a lot of options … a lot of choices to be made. Amtrak recoups 80% of its operating costs from fares and other income, but still needs something like $592 million in federal support to break even. (By the way, that 80% figure is the best in the world among national rail passenger systems.)

But Amtrak also needs to replace much of its rolling stock. The average useful life of a passenger rail car is about 50 years and the typical bi-level Superliner car being operated by Amtrak on trains running west of Chicago, whether coach or sleeper, is something like 37 years old. And Amtrak continues to run cars – euphemistically referred to as “heritage equipment” – that are between 50 and 60 years old.

So there are a lot of very legitimate needs … a lot to “ask” for … but full funding for Amtrak operations and additional money for new equipment will certainly be at the top of NARP’s list.