BOSTON — The following editorial, written by Alex Beam, was published in today’s issue of the Boston Globe.
To: Michael Dukakis
Vice Chairman
National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak)
Dear Michael,
We haven’t been in touch since late December of 1988, when I wrote a piece urging you to stop apologizing for your presidential election loss to George Bush Sr. You were moping around town, playing the hangdog – for no reason! You fought the good fight; you played clean; you got my vote. That’s something Al Gore can’t say.
I know you and I both love railroads, our shared, doomed passion in 21st-century America. (Fifteen billion for the Big Pig and not one penny for the promised North Station-South Station rail link? But I digress.) So I decided to start writing this column from compartment 3 of the Twilight Shoreliner heading for Washington, D.C. This is the overnight sleeper that leaves Boston every night for Newport News, Va., and one of the 18 Amtrak lines facing possible elimination by the end of this month.
The game of chicken has begun. Just as wily city pols close down libraries during budget crises – because bookworms can be counted upon to write letters to the newspaper and agitate for more funding – so Amtrak’s most recent president, George Warrington, fired 1,000 employees and threatened to close down several politically popular long-distance rail connections. The Shoreliner, which the conductor told me had only about 50 northbound passengers two nights ago, is on the hit list, along with the legendary City of New Orleans, which balladeer Steve Goodman predicted 30 years ago would eventually be singing ”the disappearin’ railroad blues.”
Congress wants Amtrak to turn a profit, but senators and representatives still want rail service for their constituents, even if the trains operate in the red. Senator John Kerry, for instance, intends to plead for the money-losing Boston-to-Chicago line, the Lake Shore Limited. ”Ending Amtrak service from Boston to Chicago would be an enormous national mistake,” he huffed to the States News Service, voicing concern about rail service for Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield. Amtrak president Warrington complained about Congress’s conflicted priorities at a press conference last month: ”We cannot be all things to all people.” Then, a few weeks later, he quit.
The short-term betting is that Congress will spring the $1.2 billion that Amtrak needs to get through the year. After that – who knows? Thank heavens that Amtrak has been doing some things right. The Portland-to-Boston Downeaster seems to be exceeding expectations. I haven’t ridden the Acela to New York, but I hear it’s great. (Like you, I am no stranger to parsimony; I take the bus.) But my sleeper ticket did entitle me to savor Union Station’s Club Acela, with its free Internet access and all the Danishes I could down. Underneath the blare of CNN, I heard the quiet gurgle of a fountain echoing off the polished marble floors. Paradise by Marriott?
How was my round trip to Washington? It was OK. Amtrak is certainly trying hard with the resources it has. In a nod to the late 20th century, the sleeping compartments now have tiny video screens in them, but there are only two channels, and no one seems to know what is playing. The service was good, and I appreciated the free meals, something you don’t see much on airplanes anymore. I wish people would stop asking me how I slept; there was an odd rasping sound coming from one of the vents in my room. Let’s just say I would have preferred not to have been awake to notice the Christmas wreath hanging off of the Old Saybrook station yesterday at 4 a.m.
The journey cost me $430, which is roughly double the price of a cheapo round-trip air ticket to the DC area. Of course, I saved a lot on transportation to and from the airport, and I did receive two nights’ accommodation, not to mention those microwaved McBreakfast buns. Is this service worth saving?
Reluctantly, I would have to say no. At that price, I would expect a premium service, which Amtrak can’t deliver. I suspect that delivering the same service at a lower price is out of the question.
But Amtrak is worth saving, and I am certain that you will be fighting hard. I know you recently ceded the Amtrak chairmanship to a politically better-connected Southerner; that was a classy and smart thing to do, Michael. That’s why you always get my vote.