(The following column by Tim Woodward appeared on the Idaho Statesman website on September 20, 2009.)
BOISE, Idaho — Restoring Amtrak’s Pioneer train that once rolled through Boise would be expensive, but money well spent for communities across southern Idaho.
A consultant’s draft report released Friday projected higher than expected costs. It also said the Pioneer would fill a conspicuous gap in Amtrak’s network, provide “environmental and energy efficiencies,” and serve rural communities now severely limited in transportation options.
That includes dozens of small southern Idaho towns whose residents have to travel long distances to airports.
“Amtrak is now saying the Pioneer needs to be restored as part of a regional network,” Lindsay Nothern of Sen. Mike Crapo’s office said. “That’s a 180-degree turnaround from their previous position.”
The previous position was that cities along the route had to prove there was support for the train before Amtrak would consider it. A requirement that new routes be self sufficient has been dropped.
That’s welcome news for those who used the train and miss it, as well as new riders seeking alternatives to gridlock, high gas prices and unfriendly skies.
Discontinued in 1997, the Pioneer linked Seattle with Chicago, via Portland, Boise, Ogden, Denver and Omaha. Today’s Amtrak, with more and better equipment and a bigger budget, represents the best chance since then of getting it back. It will come at a price, but what doesn’t? All Amtrak routes, even in the Northeast, require subsidies.
Whether the train would stop here again depends on whether the spur line into Boise is returned to Amtrak’s safety standards. Part of it is owned by the city, part by Union Pacific Railroad. Neither part meets the standards. If the tracks aren’t upgraded, Boiseans would have to go to Nampa to catch the train. Nampa is on the main line.
Union Pacific, according to Corporate Communications Director Tom Lange, would have no interest in paying to upgrade tracks for passenger service. Whether Amtrak would pick up the tab isn’t clear yet, but it’s possible that the city would need to pay for some of the work.
Adam Park, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bieter, said it was too soon to know whether that will happen. But he added that “the mayor and council feel strongly that the train needs to come through Boise.”
Whether the city should help pay to get the train back depends on your point of view. Some people are against spending any money on Amtrak, even though its benefits in terms of fuel efficiency, the environment and travel enjoyment are well known.
Those people are entitled to their opinion, but we subsidize other things that make less sense. And compared with what some places have done, we’d be getting off easy.
Washington and Oregon invested hundreds of millions in the Amtrak Cascades train, which I took on vacation last month. One stop was in Olympia, Wash., where the crude shelter I remembered from years ago has been replaced by a nice little station – built and staffed by volunteers. One of them volunteered that it saves Amtrak more than $250,000 a year in salaries.
When I mentioned the Pioneer to a ticket agent in Salem, she said the staff there was rooting for it because “it tied the Northwest together.”
Salem was where I chatted up Frederick Griffith, a fellow passenger who said he traveled by train because it was “less cumbersome. It’s relaxed, and you don’t have to fight with the airlines.”
The reason I remember him saying that weeks later was his occupation. Griffith is a pilot. A test pilot who travels by train.
If you’ve traveled by train, you know why. There simply isn’t a better way to relax and see the country. We enjoyed our short ride so much we’re thinking of taking a long one next summer.
Amtrak will accept public comments on the draft report until Oct. 1, with a final report to be submitted to Congress by Oct. 15.
That’s not much time. You can comment by sending your thoughts to Crapo. Go to http://crapo. senate.gov/contact/email.cfm and click on transportation. Then click on Amtrak. Or write to him at 251 E. Front St., Suite 205, Boise, ID 83702. He’ll forward your comments to Amtrak.