(The following editorial appeared on the New York Times website on October 15.)
NEW YORK — Recall, for a moment, the latest monster traffic jam or hours wasted in airport purgatory. With each complaint, there should also come a question: Is there any way to take the train instead?
Only six years ago, the answer would have been pretty much an automatic “no.” Amtrak managers were talking about a bankruptcy filing, and for two years the White House presented a federal budget with zero dollars for the struggling passenger system — a ploy that nearly killed the railroad.
Fortunately, attitudes have changed in Congress and the White House — and just in time. Congress passed a bill earlier this month that could nearly double Amtrak’s modest annual subsidy and would authorize more than $13 billion over the next five years for passenger rail. President Bush is expected to sign the bill, a moment of real progress that reflects the increasing popularity of the Amtrak option.
This year’s surge in gas prices has shocked many travelers into taking a second look at railroad schedules. Amtrak ridership is now the highest ever, with more than 29 million passengers choosing the rails in the last year. A gruesome rail accident in Los Angeles last month, that left 25 dead, also gave new urgency to railroad financing. The law would authorize federal help to install advanced safety features that automatically stop or slow trains even if the conductor does not respond.
Amtrak hopes to use the increased support to fix some of its equipment and expand its higher-speed Acela service, which brings in about $460 million, a quarter of the railroad’s ticket revenue.
Amtrak still has a long way to go to match the high-speed trains in Europe and Japan, but those beauties have two things that are still a dream for American passengers: national leadership that values modern railroads and a public willing to spend money on them.