(The following story by Dave Zweifel appeared on the Capital Times website on January 4.)
MADISON, Wisc. — Despite the many attempts by this administration to financially choke it to death, the nation’s passenger rail system, Amtrak, wound up having a good year in fiscal 2005.
Amtrak ridership shot past the 25.3 million mark, making it the third straight year of ridership gains.
And that was accomplished this past year despite going five months without its heralded Acela Express service in the Northeast and the disruptions by hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. The fast trains had to be taken out of commission temporarily to fix cracks that had developed in some of its braking systems.
What is becoming apparent is that more and more Americans, faced with unpleasant flight experiences and choked interstate highways, are opting to take the train. But what is so painful is that the federal government continues to financially starve the rail system, forcing it to make cuts in service and conveniences which would otherwise attract even more passengers.
Thankfully, Congress at least funded Amtrak at last year’s subsidy, rejecting the Bush administration’s plan to completely cut off any aid, forcing it into bankruptcy and then allowing it to be taken over by private companies.
What the Bush people forget, of course, is that Amtrak exists because the private railroads wanted to get out of the passenger rail business years ago. There is a lot more money and a lot fewer headaches by dealing only in freight. It’s hard to fathom what makes the anti-Amtrak people think that private companies would do any better job.
Wisconsin’s piece of the Amtrak system, incidentally, had an even better year. The Milwaukee to Chicago Hiawatha service carried 525,239 passengers between the two cities in this past fiscal year, a whopping 14.1 percent increase compared to the year before. Both Wisconsin and Illinois contribute to that line, which runs seven trains in each direction daily. That’s one of the reasons it is doing so well people have a choice of different times to get to their destinations.
If Amtrak got the funds to upgrade tracks and equipment and to add more trains, growth like the Hiawatha is experiencing could occur elsewhere, too.
And the Empire Builder, the long-distance line that runs from Chicago to Seattle and stops in Milwaukee, Columbus, Portage, the Dells, Tomah and La Crosse, did receive equipment upgrades and a higher level of customer service in an experiment to see how that might impact ridership. The first month September showed a nearly 5,000 increase in passengers, 40,269 versus 35,391 for September of 2004.
Americans are starting to realize the need and the value of alternative transportation. Too bad our political leaders don’t.