(The following editorial appeared on the Battle Creek Enquirer website on August 30.)
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Last year, 54,238 passengers boarded or got off Amtrak trains at the Battle Creek station. That’s 6,453 more than the previous year, and the number of local riders has been climbing steadily for the past five years.
Statewide, Amtrak ridership increased 8.6 percent between 2005 and 2006.
Clearly, there is a strong demand for passenger railroad service in southern Michigan. But some fear that a plan to sell the stretch of track that Amtrak uses between Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti could jeopardize passenger service.
A proposed deal between current owner Norfolk Southern Corp. and Watco Cos. Inc. would create Michigan Central Railway LLC, which would own and maintain the Kalamazoo-Ypsilanti section of rail. Watco would be the parent company of Michigan Central, which would be headquartered in Kalamazoo.
Because the smaller Watco is a Class Three railroad, critics of the deal fear that it would not be able to provide the necessary support and maintenance to keep the track viable for passenger service.
Those fears were allayed somewhat this week when railroad officials met with leaders from communities along the rail line – including Battle Creek, Albion, Marshall, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Portage and Ann Arbor – to assure them that Amtrak service will continue after the change in ownership.
Watco officials told local leaders Wednesday that the plan, already submitted to the federal Surface Transportation Board for approval, calls for passenger service to continue, with possibly as much as $20 million spent in the first three years to maintain or upgrade the track.
That is reassuring, but we think local officials are right to continue to press for ironclad guarantees that Amtrak service will continue, even if the business deal fails to be profitable for Watco. Such guarantees are necessary because the plan is not business as usual. There are virtually no other places in the nation where Amtrak runs on track maintained by short-line railroads, such as Watco.
Southern Michigan cannot risk losing passenger rail service. That can only be assured if any change-of-ownership agreement includes clear, indisputable language guaranteeing it.