(The following editorial appeared on the Newsday website on August 6.)
NEW YORK — Train travel has hit a perfect storm of popularity. With gas prices high and airlines cutting services, Amtrak had its best month ever in May, both in terms of revenue and riders.
Yet funding that would allow Amtrak to expand as well as repair its crumbling infrastructure is being derailed by a fight over the construction of a high-speed line between New York and Washington. Feuding lawmakers need to set aside this sketchy plan and approve an Amtrak expansion now.
The nation’s rail service has long been the focus of an ideological battle. Fiscal conservatives note that Amtrak receives federal subsidies but has never made a profit. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) wants the Department of Transportation to take bids from private companies to build a high-speed rail line along the Northeast Corridor, within Amtrak’s right-of-way. He wants the private sector to show Amtrak how to build a better railroad, but the Senate refuses to include Mica’s proposal in the Amtrak funding bill.
Ideology, shmideology. People want to ride trains now, and lawmakers should get out of their way. Trains use less fuel and emit less carbon dioxide than cars or planes, so the environmental argument is also on their side.
Depending on how a House-Senate conference goes, Amtrak could receive an annual $2 billion boost, up from $1.2 billion. This bill would also be the first multiyear commitment Congress will have made to Amtrak since 1997, giving the railroad the ability to order rolling stock as well as repair old tracks, bridges and tunnels.
Congress, and then the White House, should climb aboard.