(The following article by Shane Graber was posted on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website on March 10.)
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The president’s reform plan for Amtrak would improve passenger rail service in St. Louis and other Midwest cities, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said Thursday.
Mineta spoke outside St. Louis’ downtown Amtrak station as part of a nationwide campaign to win support for President Bush’s plan to have states pay for a large part of their passenger train service costs
Mineta’s tour comes on the heels of the president’s proposed budget that would end taxpayer subsidies for Amtrak. The plan has drawn criticism from several passenger rail advocacy groups.
“If I wanted to kill Amtrak, all I’d have to do is do nothing and it would die,” Mineta told a crowd of people holding signs, some of which said “Save our Trains.”
The president’s proposal would establish a 50-50 federal match for state investments in passenger rail infrastructure like stations, trains and track. It also would open passenger rail service to competition.
Midwest High Speed Rail Association says the plan leaves too many questions unanswered, such as how much money the federal government is prepared to match and where that money come from.
The Bush plan would work better if the federal and state partnership on infrastructure costs is accompanied by federal money for operating costs, too, The National Association of Railroad Passengers said.