(The following article by Sean Wolfe was posted on the Albany Democrat-Herald website on January 27.)
ALBANY, Ore. — Albany Area Chamber of Commerce members got an update on the state of the Northwest’s passenger rail system Wednesday during the organization’s monthly membership meeting at Lum Yen restaurant.
Tyrone Bland, Amtrak’s western regional director of governmental affairs, spoke on the need for greater federal funding for the railroad, and said that if its budget requests were met, it would be better able to honor its obligations to the city of Albany.
Albany has received a $9 million federal grant to upgrade its train station and develop a multimodal transportation hub at the Amtrak station. Amtrak and the city are providing required matching funds to help cover the estimated $11 million cost.
“With respect to the Albany situation, we’ve made it clear to cities that we will work to meet our financial commitments,” he said. Bland said so far Amtrak had contributed $500,000 to the Amtrak station project in Albany, and that another $500,000 would come, if its budget request to Congress was fulfilled.
“We’re encountering tough financial times on Capitol Hill, and that’s made it difficult to help our state partners,” he said. “But we’re wholly committed to meet our financial commitments we set forth two years ago.”
He said federal funding for Amtrak has been below requested levels since its inception in 1971, and that the rail service faces aging tracks, trains, and other infrastructure.
“We’ve always been under-funded, and we’re incapable of meeting all the fiscal and operational needs with respect to infrastructure and facilities. That puts us in a bit of a bind,” he said.
He asked the assembled business leaders to talk to “the Blumenauers and DeFazios of the world” to support fully-funding Amtrak’s $1.8 billion budget request for fiscal year 2005.
Without adequate federal funding, he said the railroad’s modest ambitions of maintaining and upgrading its infrastructure would have to be scaled back.
Increasing ticket prices aren’t the answer either, he said.
“Anyone who knows anything about operating a railroad knows that ticket sales will never be able to meet the operational costs of running a railroad.”
He also noted that ridership has been increasing since the events of September 11, 2001, which he said demonstrated the continued need for a robust consumer rail system.
He also acknowledged that when Greyhound Bus Lines dropped service to 35 Oregon towns as part of its service pullout that impacted 260 cities in 13 states, it created a ripple effect that significantly impacted Northwest travelers.
“That had repercussions throughout the entire region, and we’re just getting the first taste of commuter issues at the multi-modal level,” Bland said.
Bland said Amtrak can’t be expected to shoulder the commuter burden alone, though it has expanded its bus services. He said Amtrak expects to work with cities and counties to boost commuter services where possible “so we don’t end up with these transportation voids.”