(The Arkansas City Traveler posted the following story by Foss Farrar on its website on September 5.)
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. — Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) and his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to send a message to Amtrak. Paraphrased briefly: You need to manage your money better.
Last year, Tiahrt sent a formal request to Amtrak, asking the railroad to consider re-establishing passenger rail through South Central Kansas, including Arkansas City. He has yet to hear back from Amtrak.
Amtrak discontinued service through Ark City in 1979. Ark City had been a major stop on the Santa Fe line since it was built through here in the late 1800s. Historically, Arkansas City was the headquarters for the Oklahoma Division of the Santa Fe.
“Related to Kansas, there is a market between Oklahoma City and Newton, but they (Amtrak) haven’t even evaluated it. It’s time to check up on them.”
Tiahrt and colleagues in the House Treasury Transportation Subcommittee have initiated a bill scheduled for action on the house floor today. Included in the bill is Amtrak funding for Fiscal Year 2004, which starts Oct. 1.
“They are asking for $2 billion, the President recommended $900 million, and we’re giving them $600 million,” Tiahrt said. “It (the funding amount) will probably go up in conference and it may go up in an amendment on the floor.”
Amtrak’s request for $2 billion in supplemental funding this year has risen from its usual request of $1 billion, Tiahrt said. The passenger railroad has received $26.6 billion in government subsidies during its 32-year existence.
“The financial situation Amtrak is in is very difficult,” Tiahrt said. “They’ve had a couple decades of management problems. They need to look at changing their cost structure — both in capital adjustments and labor agreements, which are — shall we say — secure.”
Tiahrt added that current labor agreements make it financially difficult for Amtrak to lay off any of its workers.
Amtrak most recently has been focused on rail service in the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak’s most profitable route, Tiahrt said. The railroad is developing a high-speed route from Boston to Washington, including stops in New York and Philadelphia.
Tiahrt said he is concerned about Amtrak’s operating losses. “When you look at airlines operating at a loss, they have to go back and look at their cost structure and adjust it,” he said. “Being competitive, they have do those kind of things. But Amtrak is monopolistic in its design, and they just haven’t had to do that.”
Tiahrt and others in Congress are trying to get Amtrak to adjust its cost structures in part by re-evaluating its routes.
“They don’t have the same type of motivation to adjust their cost structure (as competitive businesses),” he said. “They want to keep everything the same. They are operating like a regulated entity — operating certain routes and they say, ‘We’re going to continue operating these routes without any change.'”
Tiahrt said he has heard from constituents about extending a North-South passenger rail route north from Oklahoma City through Ark City and Wichita to Newton, where East-West connections can be made. He said he favors such a route extension.
Oklahoma wants the current Southwest Chief route changed so that trains would run south from Newton through Ark City, Ponca City, Perry and then turn west to Enid, and Woodward, then on to Amarillo, Tex., and on to Albuquerque, N.M.
However, according to Tiahrt, Amtrak has no plans to reroute the Southwest Chief.
Another group of passenger rail enthusiasts — the Missouri-Kansas Rail Passenger Coalition — has contacted the Congressional delegation from Kansas, including Tiahrt, to object to any rerouting of the Southwest Chief.
“Recently, members of the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation have approached both Amtrak and BNSF urging a more circuitous and much slower routing of the train,” a letter signed by the coalition president, John Mills, states. “I hope your reaction to this attempted ‘larceny’ is what is best for Kansas. This reroute would not benefit the traveling public.”
Tiahrt said picking one route over the other is not really the point. The point is for Amtrak to come up with a more cost-effective routing system.
“Is it an either-or situation, or is there justification for both (the Oklahoma-favored reroute and the route through western Kansas)?” he said.
“Look at Amtrak’s New Orleans to Los Angeles (non-profitable) route. We subsidize them $400 per passenger. We might as well get (passengers) an airline ticket and not run the train. So we need to look at the route and see where the profitable routes are.”