(The following article by Summer Harlow was posted on the News Journal website on December 1.)
WILMINGTON, Del. — For the past 11 years, on the first weekend of December, Debra Panicucci has taken the train from Wilmington to New York for four days of shopping and shows with friends.
The train, she said, is part of the fun.
“Flying is flying,” said Panicucci, 54, of Salisbury, Md. “But a train has character. It has presence.”
Any other time she travels, though, Panicucci flies. Train tickets are just too expensive.
Choosing to take a train is all about weighing costs. It’s three times more expensive than driving. Amtrak travelers waiting Thursday on the platform in Wilmington also factor in conveniences over airports — like avoiding long lines or security hassles.
As the cost of riding the train continues to climb in the Northeast corridor, fewer travelers are opting for rail.
Ticket revenues in Amtrak’s busy Northeast corridor — from Washington to Boston — jumped 12 percent in the 2006 fiscal year to $1.37 billion. But ridership actually dropped 1.6 percent, in part because of reduced commuter discounts. The commuter discounts were decreased from 70 percent to 50 percent off the full fare, said Karina Romero, Amtrak spokeswoman.
The number of travelers who boarded or got off at the Wilmington station, the 12th-busiest Amtrak station in the nation, rose slightly from 748,379 in 2004 to 777,725 in 2005. The numbers for 2006 are not yet available.
The Northeast corridor line is the nation’s busiest, with more than 1,700 trains running along the route each day.
Despite the increase in revenue regionally, Amtrak was expecting an operating loss nationally of $550 million, forcing it to rely on federal subsidies to balance its books. Amtrak is owned by the National Railroad Passenger Corp., which was established by Congress.
To improve passenger rail service, a study released this week by the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University in New Jersey proposed that state and federal governments form a partnership to take control of Amtrak’s Northeast line. Such an arrangement would mean the federal-state partnership would be responsible for financing capital improvements on the line.
DelDOT lacks funding for partnership
The Delaware Department of Transportation, which already is facing a $2.7 billion shortfall, opposes any plan that would require the state to provide funding to Amtrak.
“The cost of rail is probably the most expensive mass transit option we have,” said Stephen Kingsberry, executive director of the Delaware Transit Corp., which is in charge of the state’s rail and bus service. “There is nowhere in the Delaware budget to pay for Amtrak service, and therein lies the challenge.”
Officials say that changing ownership has no bearing on operation costs. Amtrak, perennially in the red, carries more than $3.5 billion in debt.
“A change in ownership won’t change the underlying funding needs for the corridor or the process to obtain that funding — it just sidesteps the issue,” said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black in a statement.
Kingsberry said he isn’t sure how a Democratic-controlled Congress will alter the funding problem, but he said he believes it will be a priority.
Regardless of ownership, Amtrak prices, along with transportation costs in general, will continue to rise, Kingsberry said.
“No mass transit pays for itself,” he said. “Even traveling in your car is becoming more expensive. Any way you travel, you will have an increase in costs.”
With rail prices often comparable to air prices, sometimes it’s worth it to take a train, said Mike Siegel, 36, on his way home to Philadelphia.
“If you want luxury, it’s easier to ride a train,” he said. “You’re not packed in like a sardine, and there’s a whole meal cart. On a plane you just get a bag of peanuts.”
For Dave Cameron, though, while trains are a nice change of pace, they’re usually only worth it if they’re cheaper than flying.
“The convenience of trains is nice, but you have to consider the costs,” said Cameron, 38, of Towson, Md. He said he didn’t find out until after he’d purchased his train ticket to New York that a plane wouldn’t have been any more expensive.
Paying to avoid highway traffic
If the government does take control of Amtrak, it will take work to attract new riders, Cameron said.
“Maybe if there were faster lines and cleaner trains,” he said. “If they can guarantee improvements, guarantee arrival times, that’s all people want. If you travel in Europe, their on-times are impeccable.”
Amtrak’s Acela Express business passenger service improved its on-time performance in fiscal year 2006 by 8 percent. But the trains were still on time only 84.6 percent of the time.
Dennis Helms, 60, of Lake Wales, Fla., said if the government did take over Amtrak, perhaps rail capacity would improve, thus cutting down on the country’s petroleum dependence.
Over Thanksgiving, Helms said, he drove down I-95 from North Carolina to Florida. “Eight lanes of traffic stopped dead probably 10 different times,” he said. “I actually picked up my book and read. There’s no question I would ride the train if I could avoid 95. I’d do it in a heartbeat because driving on the highway is a battle.”