(The Department of Transportation issued the following news release on May 18.)
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta put the spotlight on the Administration’s intercity passenger rail reform plan on Wednesday with a visit to Amtrak’s Mobile, Alabama, station along the Sunset Limited line, the biggest money-loser per passenger in Amtrak’s long distance service.
Continuing his five-state bus tour of the Southeast in celebration of National Transportation Week, America’s transportation chief pledged to continue to work with Congress to pass a package of reforms this year, calling such legislation “vital to saving Amtrak and putting passenger rail travel back on track in America.”
He told reporters Amtrak squanders millions of dollars every year to run long distance trains in a way that no longer makes sense, so much so that flying cross-country gets travelers to their destinations quicker, for less money, and in a more reliable fashion than Amtrak will ever be able to provide.
To drive home his point that Amtrak is in urgent need of reform, the Secretary stood near the empty tracks where the Sunset Limited stops in Mobile. Last year the station served an average of three and a half passengers a day, which works out to about ten passengers per train, since Amtrak stops in Mobile only three times a week.
“When you consider these statistics, it is easy to understand why there are not more people in Mobile using Amtrak,” the Secretary pointed out. “They aren’t getting anything close to competitive service from the company. Mobile didn’t abandon Amtrak. Amtrak abandoned Mobile.”
The Secretary stressed that long distance trains could and should continue to plan an important role. He cited the Alaska Railroad as an example of a company that has developed a successful approach to long distance trains by meeting local travelers’ needs and bringing cruise ship passengers inland. “There is no reason that Amtrak couldn’t embrace the same entrepreneurial spirit and find a better business model for running long distance trains if it chooses,” Mineta noted.
Mineta said the Administration’s plan would provide federal matching grants to the states for rail infrastructure improvements, give states the responsibility of operating the lines, allow other operators to compete with Amtrak to offer service, preserve Amtrak as an operating company, and require that all routes be subject to sound economic measures.
>From Alabama it was on to Louisiana, where the Secretary visited a railway yard in Baton Rouge to again call attention to the Department’s action plan to boost rail safety. A highlight of the visit was a ride on a new vehicle designed to measure track strength and integrity. The vehicle will soon be pressed into service on major rail lines in the Gulf and Midwest areas of the country.
Mineta’s bus tour concludes on Thursday with a visit to Louisiana’s Port Fourchon, a vital conduit for the region’s oil and seafood industries.