(Gannett News Service circulated the following article by Raju Chebium on March 12.)
WASHINGTON — States are rallying behind an Amtrak bill co-sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg because for the first time it would provide millions of dollars to run more trains between cities within 400 miles of each other.
Congress and the White House, which seldom see eye to eye over the future of the nation’s passenger rail network, are in rare agreement that it makes sense to expand Amtrak service where demand is the greatest.
Congress and President Bush are proposing giving states grants starting next year to increase service on rail corridors linking about 50 major cities such as Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif.; Indianapolis and Cincinnati; Houston and New Orleans; and Chicago and Milwaukee.
The Northeast Corridor is the most heavily traveled route in Amtrak’s system and the only one with high-speed Acela service. That’s the type of service other states want.
Many urban corridors are setting ridership records because people want an alternative to driving on congested highways or flying out of crowded airports, advocates say.
Previous support
Frank Busalacchi, chairman of the 29-member States for Passenger Rail Coalition, said federal lawmakers in the past expressed support for intercity passenger rail but failed to provide money to supplement the millions states already pay Amtrak to increase service between select cities in one state or those in adjoining states.
“This is the first time there’s been anything serious,” Busalacchi, who also is Wisconsin’s transportation secretary, said at a hearing this month. “Rather than get the whole system up and running, we’re asking the federal government to fund these corridors. We’ll do it piece by piece because we know there’s significant demand.”
Bush proposed $100 million for state rail grants in his budget for next year, on top of $800 million for Amtrak operations and improvements such as track and tunnel repairs on infrastructure the railroad owns in the Washington-to-Boston Northeast Corridor.
A $19 billion Amtrak bill by Lautenberg, D-Cliffside Park, and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., includes $1.4 billion over the next six years — $237 million a year — for state intercity rail grants.
House legislation introduced by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland would allow states to issue $1.2 billion worth of rail bonds over 11 years starting in 2008.
Lautenberg said his vision includes robust service along urban corridors, a viable cross-country service and for Amtrak to receive enough money for operations and make necessary repairs to the aging rails, tunnels and other infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor.
NJ Transit doesn’t pay Amtrak exclusively for intercity rail because frequent service is already a reality in the Garden State. Instead, New Jersey makes $115 million in annual payments to access Amtrak infrastructure and help pay for capital projects, NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said.
Lawmakers cautioned
Martin Robins, a Rutgers University transportation researcher who champions intercity rail, said the federal government should have partnered with states long ago because people want alternatives to clogged highways and crowded airports.
He cautioned lawmakers against dismantling the national rail network in favor of state-by-state service along urban corridors, which would leave rural America without rail service.
“It’s not an either or,” Robins said. “I think you could live with the national system and keep examining it and keep tweaking it while you’re developing the corridors.”
Amtrak President Alex Kummant told a Senate subcommittee considering the Lautenberg-Lott bill on Feb. 27 that intercity rail is essential to helping the railroad grow.
“State corridors are very much the future,” he testified.
Differences remain
Agreement on state corridors doesn’t mean Congress and the White House are of one mind on other rail matters. Significant differences remain on issues such as the size of Amtrak’s subsidy, whether to retain money-losing, long-distance routes and how to make Amtrak run its business more efficiently. While those debates continue, states are asking Congress to dedicate more money to those routes that are attracting record numbers of riders.
High usage in urban corridors is the main reason Amtrak is setting ridership records from one year to the next, David Johnson of the National Association of Railroad Passengers said. People took more than 25 million trips on Amtrak trains last year.
However, Busalacchi said the key to making the city-to-city network efficient is to ensure the trains run on time. Because freight railroads own rail lines outside the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak trains frequently are late as freight trains get priority usage. Last year, 40 out of every 100 Amtrak trains were at least a half-hour late.
States are looking first to run more trains. Later, they want high-speed service, that is, trains that will travel more than 79 m.p.h., the typical top speed for most Amtrak trains. The Acela is designed to reach top speeds of 150 m.p.h. though they almost never travel at top speed.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said states need federal support because Amtrak wants states to pick up more of the operating costs for intercity service.
“Asking the states to pay more just so the federal government can avoid its responsibility to support a first-class transportation system is just wrong,” he testified on Feb. 27. “If we improve it, people will come.”