(The following story by Gordon Dickson appeared on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on November 9.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Record numbers of passengers are boarding Amtrak trains, but the future of many long-distance routes in Texas and nationwide remains uncertain as Congress debates whether to shut them down.
A conference committee of House and Senate members is trying to reach a compromise this week. The House has authorized $900 million for Amtrak, and the Senate has authorized $1.346 billion. Both figures are well below the $1.8 billion Amtrak has requested.
The fate of routes such as the Texas Eagle, a Chicago- San Antonio route with a Fort Worth stop that recorded a 20 percent jump in ridership in the past year, is expected to be decided before Thanksgiving.
Amtrak Chief Executive David Gunn has warned that the nation’s only passenger rail service will shut down some time in early to mid-2004 if it doesn’t receive at least $1.346 billion from Congress.
In the midst of the debate, Amtrak is reporting its highest number of riders ever — 24 million nationwide. Among the most-improved routes was the Texas Eagle, which boarded 155,003 riders in fiscal 2003, which ended Sept. 30.
The Sunset Limited, which serves Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, increased ridership by 7.9 percent.
Amtrak attributed the improvements in long-distance ridership to factors such as lower fares and better on-board service.
In the past year, more than 46,500 riders boarded the Heartland Flyer, which offers daily service from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City, an 11 percent decrease from the year before. The Heartland Flyer is subsidized by Oklahoma, but likely would have to discontinue service if the Texas Eagle shuts down. A majority of Heartland Flyer passengers arriving at Fort Worth are connecting to the Texas Eagle for destinations throughout the United States.
Mike Krienke, 55, of Enid, Okla., rides Amtrak from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth at least four times a year. He says he will continue to do so as long as the rail service survives.
Krienke, who has arthritis, began using a three-wheel motorized scooter about five years ago, and because of the hassle of traveling by airplane, he stopped making regular trips to Branson, Mo. Instead, he and family members regularly ride Amtrak to North Texas, where they like to visit Grapevine Mills mall, The Ballpark in Arlington and the Fort Worth Stockyards.
“There is so much to do in the Metroplex, I think we could spend the rest of our lives scouting it out,” Krienke said.
Texas lawmakers are divided over whether Amtrak should remain intact.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is a strong Amtrak supporter who wants to infuse $60 billion over six years to make the service state-of-the-art. She serves on the House-Senate conference committee that is meeting this week.
U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Highland Village, voted in favor of the House’s $900 million appropriation. He supports President Bush’s position that low-performing Amtrak routes should be broken into regional corridors, perhaps privatized, or with states agreeing to cover operating losses.
Krienke, a regular on the Heartland Flyer since the route began in 1999, said he doesn’t know what he would do with his vacation time if Amtrak service shuts down.
But traveling by airplane won’t be an option, he said. The last time he went through an airport security checkpoint, screeners damaged his scooter.
“I tried flying, but they brought my three-wheeler back to me with the chain off,” he said.