(The Times of Trenton posted the following editorial on its website on March 20.)
TRENTON, N.J. — What a difference a Congress makes.
Amtrak, the punching bag of several past federal budgets, may actually get what it is asking for in the proposed new fiscal year budget. And if Sen. Frank Lau tenberg, D-N.J., gets his way, the nation’s train passenger service would actually get more.
Sen. Lautenberg, a long- time supporter of rail passenger service, announced last week that the Senate Budget Committee would consider a $1.78 billion request for Amtrak. That’s nearly twice what the Bush administration proposed for the train service and $10 million more than the amount Amtrak requested.
Congressional observers predict that federal lawmakers probably will be amenable to the amount sought by Amtrak. And that’s because the Democrats regained majority status in both houses after last November’s election. Amtrak has no friends in the Bush White House and few supporters among the old Republican majority in Congress. While major subsidies have gone to airports and the trucking industry holds sway on Capitol Hill, Amtrak was treated as a stepchild. In fact, the administration at one point called for an end to all federal subsidies for the struggling passenger train service. Fortunately, Congress rejected that short-sighted proposal.
With a far more realistic appropriation, things will change this year. The amount actually matches an appropriation requested in a far-reaching six- year Amtrak authorization bill introduced in January by Sen. Lautenberg and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. About $100 million of the $1.78 billion would be used for matching grants for states to use to develop rail service on their rail corridors. In addition, another $50 million would be allocated for train station renovations that would include improvements for disabled passengers.
“We’re on our way to building a 21st-century rail system, one that continues to serve travelers like those in New Jersey, but that will serve new passengers as we expand our corridor service,” Sen. Lautenberg stated in a press release. “We’re finally giving people a real- world choice between the congestion of our highways and airports and the convenience of a train.”
This is long-overdue good news for New Jersey, one of the busiest passenger train service states in the union. The inability of air passenger service to meet arrival and departure times at our regional air hubs makes it increasingly clear that the traveling public, business travelers and people traveling for pleasure alike, need a reliable alternative. Train service should be that alternative, but it never will be if there’s no investment at the federal level.
For Amtrak, though, the in fusion of more subsidies makes it imperative that fares be kept stable, perhaps even reduced, to attract more passengers.