(The following article by Susan Wood appeared in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on July 22.)
LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Come next fall, a House transportation plan may derail Amtrak service — including South Lake Tahoe’s bus connection to and from Sacramento.
As part of the 2004 spending plan, the federal budget proposal allocates $580 million for the national passenger railroad’s traditional annual subsidy.
“That’s not going to work for us (next year). As days go on, we’ll know more, but it’s too early to tell,” said Sarah Swain, spokeswoman for Amtrak’s Western Regional office in Oakland.
The subsidy falls far short of the $1.8 billion the rail line needs to operate in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
“The bottom line is there will certainly be cuts. We don’t know what those cuts will be,” Swain said. She expects reductions to be spread nationwide.
Swain was unable to say what types of services would head to the chopping block first. The spending appropriation shows a sentiment in Congress that prefers Amtrak be more self-sufficient.
Richard Wiggins, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency transportation planner, said the expectation by Congress to ignore the needs of the nation’s rail service is shortsighted.
“For some reason we can bail out the airlines for millions of dollars but not help the rail service,” Wiggins said.
Richard Robinson, spokesman for Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, countered the airlines loss in revenue is directly attributable to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Doolittle would like the rail service to take more steps in becoming self-sufficient.
“Absolutely, there aren’t many agencies out there that ask for an 80 percent increase and receive it — especially at a time when we’re concentrating on homeland security and defense,” Robinson said. “It’s an ongoing issue. At some point, Amtrak has to stand on its own two feet.”
Amtrak was formed in 1971 from defunct passenger railroads. The rail line services 500 communities in 46 states on 22,000 miles of tracks.
Those tracks and other segments of the infrastructure have joined the nation’s road system in being in a state of disrepair, where engines and tracks need replacing.
And if cutbacks occur, they’re more likely to be aimed at service rather than personnel, Swain said.
Greyhound Bus service was discontinued last spring when the national transit company found it difficult to find a spot to run its route to the lake and failed to sustain an economically sufficient passenger count.
Amtrak relief driver Sandy Swendle said the Capitol Corridor route has received more traffic since Greyhound left the area, but there are added inconveniences.
The city-run transit station at the “Y” provides no place to buy Amtrak tickets.
“All the people who used to take Greyhound get stranded up here,” said Swendle, who drives the route three days a week. The daily route includes weekday westbound departures at 8:55 a.m., 12:50 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. On the weekends, the schedule runs 9:25 a.m., 12:50 p.m. and 4:50 p.m.