DES MOINES — If Amtrak shuts down its long-distance rail service in October, as it has threatened, don’t look for major freight railroads to take up the slack, reports a wire service.
“Passenger trains lose money, and we are not interested in doing that,” said John Bromley, spokesman for Union Pacific Railroad. “And if the federal government subsidized the railroad and we were to run it, there would be lots of strings attached that we are very shy of getting involved with.”
Union Pacific operates a main line across Iowa’s midsection that has been studied by Amtrak as a possible passenger route between Chicago and the West Coast.
“We have no interest in getting back into the passenger train business at this time,” said Steve Forsberg, a spokesman for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which owns the Iowa tracks used by Amtrak.
“People have to remember that the reason Amtrak was created in the first place was that private carriers such as us got out of passenger service because we were bleeding red ink,” Forsberg said.
Amtrak officials have warned they will terminate service Oct. 1 for 18 money-losing passenger trains unless Congress provides $1.2 billion in federal money for next fiscal year.
The Amtrak Reform Council, a congressional advisory group, contends private companies should be given the chance to make passenger trains more efficient and successful.
The council said Amtrak, created in 1971, should be broken into three organizations. One would make policy and a second would oversee tracks, property and stations in the Boston-to-Washington D.C. corridor. A third would operate trains. After two to five years of transition, it would accept bids from private companies for franchises to run various routes.
Bill Schulz, Amtrak’s vice president for corporate communications in Washington, said he wasn’t aware of Amtrak receiving any inquiries from private companies wanting to take over long-distance passenger routes such as the Zephyr and Chief.
“Despite its ridership, the long-distance network is by itself inherently unprofitable. But it is a mandated service that Amtrak has been expected to carry for its 30-year history,” Schulz said.
Deirdre O’Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the Amtrak Reform Council, said some European-based train companies have sent letters to the council expressing interest in operating on Amtrak routes.
“They are not committed to bidding for anything, but they are saying that they would be interested should the circumstances work out the way in which they foresee themselves making a profit,” O’Sullivan said.
Though freight railroad executives in the U.S. profess no interest now, they may change their minds if a private operator runs a successful passenger train, O’Sullivan said.
A combination of the construction of the nation’s interstate highway system and the gravitation of travelers toward commercial aircraft destroyed what had been a relatively healthy rail passenger market, said Forsberg of the Burlington.
Another key factor was the loss in the 1960s of U.S. Postal Service shipping contracts, which had been a key source of revenue for passenger trains, he said.
“The basic fact is that there is not a passenger rail system anywhere in the world that is not subsidized by its government,” Forsberg said.