(The following article by Jeff Amy was posted on the Mobile Register website on May 19.)
MOBILE, Ala. — U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta came to Mobile on Wednesday to promote the Bush administration’s plan to change how Amtrak operates passenger train service.
Mineta said the plan, which would block federal operating money for Amtrak unless Congress realigns the federal passenger rail service, is essential to improving service in places such as Mobile, where the train stops in the middle of the night and passengers are few.
“The sad fact is Amtrak is failing to serve Mobile’s residents in any truly meaningful manner,” said Mineta, who was on a multi-state bus tour to mark national transportation week.
The plan has been attacked by rail passenger advocates, who say the administration would destroy train service. It has also gotten a cold reception from some in Congress.
“This plan would eliminate passenger rail service in the Southeast altogether,” said Todd Stennis, chairman of the Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission, which advocates for better train service in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The Gulfport man attended Mineta’s speech.
Mineta gave the speech at Mobile’s current Amtrak stop, in the CSX railroad building at the foot of Government Street. While speaking, Mineta began losing his voice and coughing. Robert Johnson, a spokesman, said Mineta had allergy problems from pollen during a boat tour of Mobile’s port.
Mobile’s only Amtrak service is the three-times-a-week Sunset Limited, which runs from Orlando, Fla., to Los Angeles. The train’s scheduled westbound stop in Mobile is at 3:29 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The eastbound stop is at 2:20 a.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Monday.
The key issue is whether the federal government should subsidize Amtrak, formally the National Passenger Rail Corp.
At its 1971 founding and at various points since, leaders of the service have promised it will become self sufficient, but its current president, David Gunn, says self sufficiency is a “myth.” His supporters say the government also subsidizes highways and airlines, and it’s unfair to treat Amtrak differently.
Mineta disagrees, and the administration’s plan calls for an end to operating subsidies for Amtrak. The plan also focuses on service in short-distance corridors, calls for private operators to bid on running trains and would create matching grants for states to improve rail facilities.
Corridor service would allow trains to run from Mobile to places such as New Orleans during the daytime. Amtrak and the states have twice put a daytime Mobile-New Orleans train on the tracks since 1984 but killed it both times because subsidies were withdrawn. A Mobile-Birmingham service ran from 1989 to 1995 when Alabama pulled funding.
Mineta said Amtrak should aim for shorter-distance, more frequent service “between cities that make sense.”
But Amtrak’s protectors say that without long-distance service, trips along the Gulf Coast will have limited appeal.
“There’s nothing to connect it to if the national network is gone,” Stennis said.
Mineta also pitched ideas for private companies to run luxury cars along Amtrak routes, what many have called a “cruise on rails.” But privatization could have obstacles. The law that created Amtrak gave it special rights to run on private freight railways, including CSX. But the American Association of Railroads has said it doesn’t want to have to deal with multiple operators.
The president proposed only $360 million in his budget for Amtrak, down from the $1.2 billion it’s getting this year. That amount envisions a total shutdown of Amtrak and only enough money to keep state-run commuter trains on tracks that Amtrak owns in the northeast and Michigan.
Mineta and other transportation officials have at times suggested that the Bush administration would support additional money for Amtrak if Congress agrees to its reforms.
Support for Amtrak and its long-distance service remains strong in Congress, where lawmakers have long demanded a national system that serves as many states as possible.
Alabama representatives are not among the top advocates. U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, said it’s hard to back Amtrak when service in southwest Alabama is so poor and said he wasn’t sure demand was there even when Mobile had better service.
“Unfortunately, we’re facing record deficits and something has got to be cut,” Bonner said.
U.S. Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, both supported the president.
“I have serious concerns about Amtrak’s operations and do not believe that simply infusing cash will cure their problems,” Shelby said in a statement.
“I have been a strong advocate of efforts to reform Amtrak because the system has failed to attract customers but continues to demand more money from the taxpayer,” Sessions said in a statement.