(The Statesman Journal posted the following editorial on its website on August 4.)
SALEM, Ore. — Two state-funded train runs between Eugene and Portland may chug to a halt because of budget problems. If that happens, it will be Oregon’s loss.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s proposed two-year budget included $10 million for the service, which connects passengers to trains bound for Seattle and elsewhere. However, the subsidy is missing from the spending plan favored by legislative budget writers. Given the many needs competing for state money, that’s understandable — but short-sighted.
The two daily round-trips reflect a quarter-century of state efforts to build interest in rail travel, which is efficient, safe and environmentally friendly. All that work could be undone in a matter of weeks if Oregon must unload the Talgo trains that it uses. Recovering the needed equipment and rebuilding public interest in train travel could take years.
Eliminating the two state-sponsored trains could mean the end of the Amtrak Thruway buses as well. These clean, punctual buses fill in the gaps between trains in the Willamette Valley. They’re even more important to residents of smaller cities from Astoria to Burns. They connect 30 communities with one another and with Amtrak s national trains.
The Willamette Valley trains and their bus backups are popular with Willamette University students, elderly travelers and commuters. June ridership on the trains was up 15 percent to 23 percent overall from the year before, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
These figures don t include riders on Amtrak’s regular Coast Starlight run between Los Angeles and Seattle. Oregon doesn’t underwrite this long-distance run, which would continue regardless of the state’s budget crisis.
The Eugene-to-Seattle trains help build Oregon s reputation as a forward-looking, livable state — just the kind of place that progressive employers would like to move to.
They also provide an alternative for drivers who dislike freeway traffic or are no longer capable of handling it safely. That issue will gain urgency as aging baby boomers consider whether to keep driving.
Mass transit also will help avoid gridlock as the population rises in Western Oregon and Washington. The more people who ride trains, the longer states can postpone adding freeway lanes or expanding airports — both phenomenally expensive projects.
Unfortunately, all of the Northwest’s efforts to encourage train travel may come to nothing unless Congress and the president commit to supporting the national Amtrak system. President Bush wants to reduce federal support and turn the system over to multi-state compacts — a move that would doom long-distance train routes.
Six Republican senators countered last week with a proposal to help Amtrak improve and expand service nationwide. If there’s money in the federal treasury to bail out airlines, surely there are dollars for rail.
Trains haven’t come close to enticing most Americans from their cars — yet. As freeways become more crowded, gas becomes more expensive, or airlines fold, that could quickly change.
Prudent planners will find a way to help rail service survive until then.