(The Associated Press circulated the following on April 19, 2009.)
POCATELLO, Idaho — Amtrak has made some decisions that make restoring the Pioneer Route through Idaho more favorable, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, says.
Amtrak has hired a consultant to spend the summer conducting a study on returning the train route. Crapo inserted the Pioneer study as part of an amendment on a funding bill for Amtrak.
“When we started this, it was a difficult proposition but it was a good idea,” Crapo told the Idaho State Journal. “Clearly we are seeing positive movement not only in context of Congress directing that this study be done, but (Amtrak) seems to be much more willing to establish parameters that are much more fair and the type of parameters that should have been used when they made the initial decision to close the line.”
The Pioneer Route between Salt Lake City and Seattle with stops in Idaho was discontinued in 1997 after losing $20 million the previous year. Amtrak started the Pioneer in 1977, about six years after Union Pacific got out of the passenger rail business.
Crapo said Amtrak officials last week told his staff the company is no longer seeking financial assistance from cities and states served by the train route. He also said Amtrak has dropped a requirement that the route break even financially and now plans to compare the line with similar routes in its system.
“One of the initial points I made was when they made the decision to close the Pioneer line, it was more financially productive than a number of the lines they kept open,” Crapo said. “There was a very, very big question as to why they kept some open that were less productive financially and closed the Pioneer line.”
Amtrak has hired J.L. Patterson & Associates, based in Oakland, Calif., to conduct the study, which is expected to be finished in October.
Crapo also said Amtrak will be allowed to use money it received from the federal stimulus package to refurbish old rail equipment.
Lindsay Nothern, a spokesman for Crapo, earlier this month said the stimulus package allocated $1.3 billion to Amtrak, which plans to spend more than half of that money on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston.