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Indiana open to continuing ‘Hoosier State’
Death by a thousand bureaucratic paper cuts…
If the Indiana Department of Transportation decided to use Amtrak equipment instead of Iowa Pacific, would Indiana still be classified as a rail operator?
FRA is likely only following language that Congress wrote, and to some degree the FRA’s hands are tied. This is what happens when know-nothings who think they know everything write legislation. But they are good at getting elected.
I wonder what would happen if Indiana just from their nose at the FRA and went ahead and ran the train anyway?
For years Indiana has enjoyed the benefits of the Hoosier State, but now that they need to pony up the money form their own budget instead of the Fed budget, they aren’t interested. True, Amtrak uses the Hoosier State to shuttle equipment back and forth between Chicago and Beech Grove, so there should be some sort of offset there.
I sincerely hope this gets resolved. What I would really like to see is a daily Cardinal, supplemented by multiple Hoosier State frequencies continuing to Cincinnati or Louisville, along with faster schedules. But we need to get there one step at a time. I personally would not have reason to rider the Hoosier State, but would consider it if extended to Louisville.
It must be understood, that the FRA has already tried this tactic before, most notably with North Carolina (in 2008 I believe) with a stunning lack of success. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result…oh wait, this is Washington bureaucracy we are talking about here…