(The following story by Erika Bolsgtad appeared on the Idaho Statesman website on September 19, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The train service through Idaho and neighboring states that stopped 12 years ago could be running within four years, say consultants asked by Congress to study the possibility of its return.
The report said Amtrak would need to spend:
• About $374 million to bring existing rail lines along the route back up to its safety standards, buy locomotives and passenger cars, and train employees.
• $25 million a year or more to subsidize the train’s operation.
Amtrak has no opinion on whether it would like to see the line restored, said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham. That’s up to Congress, which asked for the Pioneer study and several others, including reviving the North Coast Hiawatha route across southern Montana.
“There has to be a funding stream,” Graham told the Idaho Statesman. “Quite a few things have to be done for this to happen. It requires a level of capital and operating funding. There’s a lot that needs to go into this.”
Most passenger rail service loses money. Amtrak has seen six straight years of passenger growth, but none of its lines operate without federal subsidy.
“The reintroduction of the Pioneer would require significant capital/mobilization expenditures for infrastructure improvements, new equipment, station restoration, and employee training and qualifying,” wrote the consultants with J.L. Patterson and Assoc. of Orange, Calif.
Of the four options studied, the minimum annual operating cost would be about $36 million, the report found, with an estimated 102,000 passengers riding each year from Salt Lake City to Seattle.
The four options include service from:
• Salt Lake City to Seattle, with stops in Ogden, Utah, and then Pocatello, Shoshone, Boise and Nampa before entering Oregon and heading to Portland and then Seattle.
• Denver to Seattle, sending the train though Wyoming before connecting in Ogden and then on to Portland and Seattle through Idaho.
• Salt Lake City to Portland, with stops in southern Idaho.
• Denver to Portland, with stops in Wyoming, southern Idaho and Oregon.
Buying the necessary equipment would be one of the most significant hurdles, Graham said. Until recently, Amtrak has had a maintenance and equipment backlog that has made it hard to add new routes. The rail line received $1.3 billion in economic stimulus money to repair and return to service 70 damaged passenger cars.
The costs of restoring the Pioneer are “higher than anticipated,” acknowledged Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who wants service restored and who sponsored legislation requiring Amtrak to study the route, along with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Both Crapo and Wyden on Friday urged anyone with an interest in restoring train service to submit comments to Amtrak between now and Oct. 2. By Oct. 16, the consultants will issue a final report to two congressional committees: The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House of Representatives and the Senate Commerce Committee.
“Southern Idaho residents remain underserved by commercial air carriers and mass transit,” Crapo said in a statement – a point echoed by the consultants. They said public transportation options – already severely limited – have diminished since the Pioneer went out of service 12 years ago.
“The reintroduction of the Pioneer would strengthen the nation’s passenger rail system by enhancing network connectivity and providing direct service between the Intermountain West and the Pacific Northwest,” they wrote.