(The Peoria Journal Star posted the following story by Mike Ramsey of Copley News Service on its website on May 19.)
CHICAGO — Illinois transportation officials are negotiating with Amtrak to maintain three subsidized passenger train routes through downstate at additional cost to taxpayers.
The discussions come as Amtrak argues in Washington, D.C., for more money to preserve its national rail system, which nearly shut down last summer because of a lack of funds.
The Illinois Department of Transportation’s proposed budget for fiscal 2004 tentatively earmarks $12.1 million for daily round-trips on a trio of rail corridors linking Chicago with St. Louis via Springfield and with Carbondale and Quincy.
The state’s current annual subsidy is $10.6 million, under a three-year contract that expires June 30.
IDOT Bureau of Railroads Chief John Schwalbach said Amtrak faces increased costs in providing the in-state service. A final amount still is being hammered out, and IDOT officials are evaluating Amtrak’s on-time performance and customer satisfaction to ensure “we’re getting a good value for our dollar,” he said.
“It’s just working out the details,” Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Van Veen said of the new agreement.
Besides the downstate routes, IDOT’s subsidy helps finance about one-fourth of the cost of Amtrak’s daily trains connecting Chicago and Milwaukee. The state budget estimates 678,000 people will ride the combined trains in the coming fiscal year at a public cost of $17.85 per person, an increase from the current $15.48.
Long-distance trains that pass through Illinois, including the Texas Eagle that stops in Springfield, are part of Amtrak’s national system.
The fate of that network is the subject of perennial debate in Congress, pitting Amtrak advocates such as U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., against policymakers frustrated by the railroad’s inefficiencies and decades-long reliance on federal funds.
Amtrak president David Gunn has asked for $1.8 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 while proposing a five-year plan for operations and long-delayed capital improvements.
The Republican White House has offered half that amount, $900 million, and has sketched out a plan to reorganize Amtrak, transfer ownership of its heavily traveled Northeast Corridor and require states to shoulder the costs of cross-country trains.
Durbin, who’s skeptical of the plan, wants to see more details.
“While I’m no longer amazed at the game of chicken this administration plays with Amtrak, I am surprised that they would intentionally slice the request this low without specifically outlining a ‘reform’ proposal or specifics on a plan for keeping intercity passenger rail operating,” Durbin said at a Senate subcommittee on transportation funding earlier this month.
Money problems nearly caused an Amtrak shutdown last summer before the White House authorized a bailout. Van Veen said similar complications won’t occur this summer because the railroad has enough money to last until October.
“It’ll be tight, but we’ll be able to make it,” she said.
Ambitious plans for a federal high-speed rail program have stalled, although the White House proposal would include some capital money for corridor development. IDOT officials and Gov. Rod Blagojevich hold out hope that Congress eventually will offer matching funds to help the state finish an upgrade of the Chicago-to-St. Louis corridor.
Illinois set aside $100 million for the high-speed rail project under former Gov. George Ryan, but the sum may pay for only about a third of it. The state is strapped for additional high-speed rail funds.
“This is still certainly a priority for this administration,” Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said last week. “Our goal is to ask the federal government to look at the investment we’ve made to date and make a match based on that.”