DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa’s two biggest freight railroads are adamant that they won’t start operating passenger trains if Amtrak shuts down its long-distance rail service in October, as it has threatened.
“We have no interest in getting back into the passenger train business at this time,” said Steve Forsberg, a spokesman for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which owns the Iowa tracks used by Amtrak.
“People have to remember that the reason Amtrak was created in the first place was that private carriers such as us got out of passenger service because we were bleeding red ink,” Forsberg said.
Union Pacific Railroad spokesman John Bromley was equally negative. His company operates a main line across Iowa’s midsection that was studied by Amtrak in the past as a possible passenger route between
Chicago and the West Coast. The train’s stops would have included Clinton, Cedar Rapids, Marshalltown, Ames and Carroll.
“Passenger trains lose money, and we are not interested in doing that,” Bromley said. “And if the federal government subsidized the railroad and we were to run it, there would be lots of strings attached that we are very shy of getting involved with.”
Amtrak officials have warned they will terminate service on Oct. 1 for 18 money-losing passenger trains unless Congress provides $1.2 billion in federal money for next fiscal year.
The Iowa trains in jeopardy are the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief, both of which pass through southern Iowa daily on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s tracks. The California Zephyr is one of Amtrak’s most unprofitable trains, losing an average of $136 per passenger.
A total of 55,403 passengers got on and off Amtrak trains at six Iowa depots last fiscal year.
The Amtrak Reform Council, a congressional advisory group, contends private companies should be given the chance to make passenger trains more efficient and successful.
The council said Amtrak, created in 1971, should be broken into three organizations. One would make policy and a second would oversee tracks, property and stations in the Boston-to-Washington, D.C., corridor. A third would operate trains. After two to five years of transition, it would accept bids from private companies for franchises to run various routes.
Bill Schulz, Amtrak’s vice president for corporate communications in Washington, said last week that he wasn’t aware of Amtrak receiving any inquiries from private companies wanting to take over long-distance passenger routes such as the California Zephyr and Southwest Chief.
“Despite its ridership, the long-distance network is by itself inherently unprofitable. But it is a mandated service that Amtrak has been expected to carry for its 30-year history,” Schulz said.
Deirdre O’Sullivan, a spokesman for the Amtrak Reform Council, said some European-based train companies have sent letters to the council expressing interest in operating on Amtrak routes.
“They are not committed to bidding for anything, but they are saying that they would be interested should the circumstances work out the way in which they foresee themselves making a profit,” O’Sullivan said.
Although freight railroad executives in the United States profess no interest now, they may change their minds if a private operator runs a successful passenger train, O’Sullivan said.
Forsberg of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe said he is skeptical that profits can be made from railroad passenger service, based upon historic trends. A combination of the construction of the nation’s interstate highway system and the gravitation of travelers toward commercial aircraft destroyed what had been a relatively healthy rail passenger market, Forsberg said. Another key factor was the loss in the 1960s of U.S. Postal Service shipping contracts, which had been a key source of revenue for passenger trains, he said.
“The basic fact is that there is not a passenger rail system anywhere in the world that is not subsidized by its government,” Forsberg said.
Richard Welch of North Liberty, an activist with the Iowa Association of Railroad Passengers, said he is optimistic Iowa will ultimately keep both of its long-distance passenger trains. The train operator in the future may not be Amtrak, although there would be government oversight, he believes.
“I think there is enough public support nationwide that one way or another we are going to pull this out of the fire,” Welch said. “But just what the final result will be could be anybody’s guess right now.”