(The following appeared on the Detroit News website on July 14.)
DETROIT — Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger railroad, raised fares on 13 routes in the Midwest and Northeast by 3 percent to 5 percent, the Washington, D.C.-based company announced Monday.
The increases will affect all three train routes serving Michigan from Chicago: the Pere Marquette, to Grand Rapids; the Wolverine, to Pontiac via Detroit; and the Blue Water, to Port Huron. The increases will add about $3 or $4 to a one-way ticket from Michigan to Chicago.
The fares were increased this month because of agreements with labor unions reached this year and the rising cost of fuel on routes served by diesel locomotives, spokeswoman Karina Romero said in an e-mail.
“Our fares are set by supply and demand so the continued high demand and constrained capacity we are experiencing were also factors in the increase,” Romero said in the e-mail. She couldn’t immediately say when the railroad last raised ticket prices.
Amtrak carried a record 25.8 million passengers in fiscal year 2007 as crowded highways and surging gasoline prices pushed more Americans to use mass transit.
U.S. airlines, commuter railroads and other transportation services have also been raising fares because of increasing construction, debt, labor and fuel costs and ridership.
The U.S. House and Senate have not reconciled funding plans for Amtrak, while President George W. Bush’s has unsuccessfully sought to cut spending. The House in June approved a plan to more than double the railroad’s funding to $14.3 billion and to invite private-sector investment in high-speed rail service between New York and Washington.