(The Southern Illinoisan published the following story by Brian Peach on its website on September 28.)
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Cheryl Heberer is new to Carbondale and doesn’t have a car, so she relies on Amtrak to take her home to Chicago.
But if the federal government gets its way, Amtrak routes to Chicago and throughout Illinois may be in jeopardy, which means Heberer and thousands of others who travel by train each month may be forced to find alternative transportation.
“I hope they don’t cut back (the Chicago route),” said Heberer, a freshman at Southern Illinois University Carbondale who will take the train home this weekend for the second time in a month. “I’ll probably go home as often as I can. The train’s a lifesaver.”
The Bush administration introduced a bill July 28 that would require individual states to cover all operating losses by the now federally funded Amtrak. Some states would likely have to turn the train operations over to multistate compacts to run, which means transportation by train would be out of the hands of the government.
If the bill is passed by Congress, the plan could lead to dropped routes or decreased service as new operators look for ways to cut costs. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, so Congress will be trying to fit the bill discussion into its agenda before then.
Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, said he doesn’t think the bill will be adopted because Amtrak, with its long-distance interstate routes, is too big for individual states to manage. But if the bill is passed, Capon said it likely will affect intercity passenger routes in Illinois, including those that thousands of Southern Illinoisans use to travel to and from Chicago.
“I just don’t think states are able to handle that,” Capon said. “No one believes this will actually happen.”
Though routes could be cut if the states are put in charge, Capon said passengers should not have to worry about an increase in ticket prices to make up for the millions each state or organization would have to pay to keep the trains operating.
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“I don’t know if they’d be able to raise the ticket price without driving off passengers,” Capon said.
Amtrak in August released figures saying it is seeking $1.8 billion from the federal government to cover its annual operating costs. Amtrak said it requires $1.5 billion each year to operate at a minimum, but the extra $300 million would go toward backlogged dollars that were not provided in recent years.
In an effort to cut federal spending and reduce the national debt, Bush proposed the bill, which would save the government money but come at a loss of control over the National Passenger Railroad Corp. Amtrak provides service to 500 communities in 46 states, and operates on 22,000 miles of track.
Larry Crist has worked for Amtrak for 30 years, including two at the Carbondale station. He said a decrease in funding could bring with it fewer routes, which would come at a time when ridership has gone up statewide.
On Tuesday, Amtrak said the number of passengers in Illinois is up 7 percent from a year ago.
“In Carbondale particularly, people come from all around to take the train,” Crist said, and it’s not uncommon for Chicago-bound Amtrak passengers to travel to the Carbondale station from Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana.
“Lots of people rely on it,” he said.
Crist said if routes out of Carbondale had to be cut, the first would probably be the one that travels to New Orleans, because it doesn’t carry as many people as the trains to Chicago.
Sharla Funk, a 13-year Amtrak worker, said personnel cutbacks have been discussed for at least two years, but nothing has been done. If multistate compacts take over, cutbacks could follow budget cuts.
Roy Benton of Johnston City was at the Carbondale station Thursday to buy a ticket to Chicago to visit his three children. He said he makes the trip twice a year, and though he’s driven his car to Chicago hundreds of times, he said he now takes the train when he can.
“It’s the most boring trip because it’s all flat land,” Benton said. “It isn’t the length, it’s just so boring.”
As is the case for many Southern Illinoisans, Benton said cars and buses are an option, but it’s just easier to take the train.
He said the train is almost always full when he makes the trip, but he said it’s nothing compared with the traffic he runs into when he drives. If the route were to be canceled, Benton said he’d still make the trip, but it would be more stressful and he would arrive more tired.
“It’d be more of an inconvenience than anything else,” he said.