The Senate Appropriations Committee just approved money for Amtrak. Basically, status quo money. This is a close match to what the House did a few weeks ago. So, all the “you-know-who hates trains” crowd can relax a bit.
I think Amtrak is much safer now than it was when Reagan/Stockman ruled the roost.
They can also vote for supplimental funding later in the year (although I realize this is rare). My concern with the status quo funding is Amtrak needs to either start with a rebuilding program on the Superliner I and Amfleet I cars or a replacement program…some of them are looking very worn inside.
Status quo funding would only be desirable if Amtrak weren’t in such dire need. As it is now, it is fundamentally inadequate as a national passenger rail system: shabby equipment in many cases, a ROW that is using 80-year old catenary and chronically late trains, sometimes as much as 12-20 hours because of dependence on using host freight RoWs as an unwelcome/incompatible guest.
They also won’t make major changes either so it will continue to slide further as the current status quo is a slow decline for the long-term.
I believe if Amtrak was willing to change its basic structure and try new ideas it would have far more support. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. I only know one Amtrack employee but he believes that Amtrack exists to provide him a job and see nothing that he wants changed unless it puts more money in his paycheck. We have discussed the proposal to have someone else other than Amtrak provide the food service (which makes sense to me given its deteriorating quality). He doesn’t care if the food service is given to a non-Amtrak company (doesn’t affect him) but he believes all the unions would fight it because it might lead to other future changes.
Let me agree with oltmannd that Amtrak probably is safer today than it was 30+ years ago. That’s a good thing.
It’s another good thing that Amtrak is likely heading for status quo funding for another year.
But as First Assistant Deputy Vice Chairman on the “you-know-who hates trains crowd,” I can not only “relax a bit,” but console myself that the 2016 election will bring resolution to this issue: Either we re-build our infrastructure (e.g. trains & their infrastructure) or we don’t. One party favors the former, the other party favors the later.
The politics is as much regional as partisan. The ancient northeast corridor states that lost dozens of Congressional districts to the sunbelt states still need trains because 1-95 can’t cope.
Politics, Politics, Politics! Can the 21st Century and ‘I Like Ike’ coexist?
Yes – to me equipment is right behind the crumbling NE Corridor as the urgent problem. And what does Amtrak do with its one-time money gift for equipment a few seasons ago but buy a lot of baggage and baggage-dorm cars! That one still rankles.
I wonder … just how many accidents and how much disabled equipment will it take before Amtrak has to start paring its usual offerings? (Maybe a sleeper to Portland on the Builder only 3 days a week, etc.) I can’t believe there is much slack left to be run in.
I’m not entirely sure the next President won’t be influenced partly by this one on rail investments regardless of party. We’ll see.
I do think there are some issues in House and the Senate though that need to be overcome.
That and the fumbling with dining service expenses are handing opponents a silver bullet.
The bottom line is congress is still killing Amtrak. Starving it of needed capital. A long term death spiral.
Wisconsin Plans from a 2013 Document. No idea where this stands now:
Expansion Planning Second Chicago-Twin Cities Train: Amtrak has been participating in all facets of a Minnesota DOT and Wisconsin DOT-sponsored effort for a second daily frequency between Chicago and St. Paul on the current Empire Builder route. An additional frequency would provide cities along the route two trains in each direction, seven days a week. Amtrak is conducting an analysis of potential ridership, revenue, and operating costs, expected to be completed in 2014. Discussion between the states, communities, Amtrak, and Canadian Pacific Railway are ongoing.
Additional Hiawatha Frequencies: The addition of three Hiawatha frequencies daily in each direction between Chicago and Milwaukee is in very preliminary discussions. This would make for a total of ten daily trains in each direction. Additional frequencies likely would be phased in one at a time in coming years.
Article about Richmond and how Congress not helping the city
http://www.richmond.com/opinion/our-opinion/article_8acd079e-fca4-5de9-945c-0d7baccf42bc.html
In the deadest of dead letter backwaters, I’m afraid…until we have a complete political reversal in our state government.
Excerpt from The Hill, Sept. 7
http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/252728-biden-run-could-be-a-boon-for-amtrak
A 2016 presidential run by Vice President Joe Biden could provide a boost for Amtrak, which for years has drawn fire from Republicans in Washington…
Biden is so much of an Amtrak supporter that he is sometimes referred to as “Amtrak Joe” or in his former Capitol Hill life as “the Senator from Amtrak.”
Amtrak supporters said the potential presidential run by Biden could help raise the company’s fortunes in Washington with budget fights looming.
“He knows more about Amtrak than anybody else running for president, or anyone that is thinking about running for president,” AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Ed Wytkind said in an interview with The Hill.
I like Joe Biden. I’m glad he rode Amtrak from Wilmington to Washington all those times over all those years.
But as a Democrat and an Amtrak passenger, I have to say Joe Biden has been Missing in Action since about Inaguration Day, 2009. After the videos on TV of the Amtrak crews on Acela wishing him well, I can’t think of any important Amtrak initiative or support that can be linked to him. I wish I could. But I can’t.
This is the conundrum of Amtrak: The GOP Presidents seem always to want to kill Amtrak, but don’t. The Democratic Presidents seem always to say they support Amtrak, but don’t.
Have a nice retirement, Joe. You served the nation well, even if you forgot about Amtrak once the black SUV’s showed up to transport the Vice President of the United States of America.
As others have said Congress won’t kill Amtrak outright but they will severly wound it by a thousand cuts, requirements, & por service and food…
Thats true he could have taken a more active interest in $8-10 Billion HSR then letting it fall to pieces like he did. The big issue with that which was explained by Republican Governors but ignored by some here and by the MSM was the fine print.
I fully understand why the Obama Administration and Ray LaHood wrote the provisions into the fine print that they did. Because in the past grants to the states for rail improvements were widely abused and in some cases directed somewhere else…Heck we had two to three Democratic bimbos in Wisconsin State Legislature attempt to redirect the $800 million in rail funding offered to highway funds (they did n
Amtrak should really paint the roof of all their equipment red.
They are the redheaded step child of American politics. Nobody wants them and nobody has the guts to kill them.