INDIANAPOLIS — Our position is: Congress will have to address the Amtrak mess when it returns after Labor Day.
Amtrak’s trains are running late again, but better late than not at all, according to an editorial in the Indianapolis Star.
Rail travel in the nation’s busiest commuter corridor turned into chaos last week when Amtrak canceled more than a fifth of its trains along popular Northeast routes because of mechanical problems.
More than 10,000 commuters who regularly ride the speedy bullet trains among Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other cities were forced to abruptly find alternate transportation when Amtrak officials discovered cracks in the engines of their high-speed Acela trains.
By Monday, half of the Acela fleet was back on line after some temporary repair work. On the bright side, the repair facility Amtrak operates in Beech Grove stands to benefit from long-term maintenance work needed to fix the locomotives.
Amtrak’s latest mechanical problems come at a time when the cashed-strapped carrier seemed to be moving toward addressing its perennial financial problems. The company had hoped to become profitable after more than three decades of red ink. The Acela trains, which travel up to 150 mph, have attracted thousands of new commuters over the last few years.
The nation’s largest passenger rail came close to a different kind of shutdown earlier this summer, but was kept afloat while Congress considers a plan to try and make Amtrak profitable and end the subsidies. For that to occur, Amtrak must make some difficult choices and lawmakers must be willing to accept fewer train routes serving their constituents. In the three decades of Amtrak’s existence, this has yet to happen.
Part of the answer to Amtrak’s woes could be in the Acela and the expansion of high-speed rail lines in other areas. East Coast commuters have given high-speed rail generally good reviews and are impressed by the Acela’s speed, comfort and convenience.
Still, that’s the future. There are not enough customer data to indicate that high-speed rail would work in areas of the country where Amtrak is less profitable. The long-term solution may include selling at least part of Amtrak to private operators, letting local governments bid on some of its routes or asking states to increase subsidies to railroads.
With highways becoming ever more congested and air travel less convenient and more costly, America would be foolhardy to give up on the passenger train.
When it returns from summer recess, Congress will have to put Amtrak’s impending financial crisis at the top of its agenda.