(The following editorial appeared on the Lansing State Journal website on August 27.)
LANSING, Mich. — More people in Michigan are taking to Amtrak trains to get around. Ridership increases from October 2007 to July 2008 ranged between 5.9 percent and 7.2 percent on the three lines in the Great Lakes State.
But Michigan wouldn’t have three Amtrak routes had state government not struck a deal with Amtrak to subsidize those routes a few years back. For the coming fiscal year starting Oct. 1, Michigan again plans to pump $7.9 million into Amtrak service to mid-Michigan, among other places.
Yet mid-Michigan Congressmen Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, and Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, voted against a federal Amtrak funding bill in June.
Talk about working at cross purposes.
The bill received bipartisan support in the House; only 104 representatives voted against it. And Rogers and Walberg were two of them.
Now, it’s fair to think Amtrak isn’t all it can be. It’s fair to wonder if there’s a better way on passenger rail.
But if mid-Michigan’s federal lawmakers are going to vote against Amtrak, should they not have a congressional coalition ready to go for what should replace it?
And, frankly, Michigan votes against Amtrak can’t be about subsidies or management woes or customer service.
The people of Ingham County, for example, pay property taxes to subsidize Capital Region International and, through it, major airlines. Would Rogers or Walberg wish to laud the business practices of airlines right now?
Roads are subsidized. Airports are subsidized. Passenger rail is subsidized. In fact, HR 6003 carries a provision that would eliminate the previous congressional requirement that Amtrak become self-sufficient.
The bill also calls for numerous reforms at Amtrak, which has been criticized for poor service and on-time performance.
But Amtrak labors with a big disadvantage: priority access to rail lines.
Imagine if the air system was built on private airports owned by UPS or FedEx. Imagine if passenger flights that missed an assigned take-off time had to give way to a freight flight. That’s the world Amtrak inhabits.
Starting from scratch, the obvious rail policy would be to maintain high-quality tracks for anyone to use, just as is done with highways and airports.
That choice wasn’t made when Amtrak was formed nearly 40 years ago. Congress has been trying to make a cheap fix ever since.
Rogers, Walberg and the rest of Congress should continue to seek rail reform. But it does not serve Michigan’s interests to be voting against Amtrak in the meantime.