pResident Bu$h proposed breaking up Amtrak

The train truth: We're yearning to ride
Sunday, September 07, 2008
By Brian O'Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
You can't fly to Harrisburg from Pittsburgh International Airport anymore, and can't fly to Richmond, Va., either.

Why should you?

Harrisburg is only a couple of hundred miles away, Richmond about 240 miles. Those are the sort of short hops that passenger railroads handle the world over.

We've decided not do that in the United States. But as Amtrak's national ridership soars in spite of its flaws -- increasing now for the sixth year in a row, with 2 million more riders than last year -- it's time to ask: Can a better rail system fill in the gaps that airlines are leaving behind?

A great thing about a train is that when one sells out, another car can be attached to its end. Voila, more riders roll without adding much to operating costs.

But Amtrak has run out of cars.

It gets more than $1 billion in public support for its 21,000 miles, but remains chronically strapped. There's money and manpower to fix no more than a dozen of the 60 disabled cars in storage, according to an Amtrak spokesman. With most cars 35 years old, others are bound to go down, so those repairs next year may only keep the system even.

I called the U.S. Department of Transportation to ask why it doesn't shift gears. Not so long ago, President Bush proposed breaking up Amtrak, but these tandem trends -- soaring rail demand and shrinking air service -- suggest that those 60 cars could be spread among any number of routes and find paying riders.

Putting Americans to work so other Americans can buy a ride and use less imported oil -- that wouldn't even cost much, all things being relative. All 60 could be fixed for somewhere between $42 million and $60 million, about the cost of one afternoon in Iraq.

Joe Boardman, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration and a member of the Amtrak board, didn't have to be persuaded that those cars could be of immediate use.

"I have $36 million I hold for Amtrak's capital side of things,'' Mr. Boardman said. "I can take that $36 million and I can tell them I want them to rebuild more of their stored trains.

He also thinks Amtrak already has enough to repair more than a dozen cars, even if that means double shifts.

"I think there's a demand out there that won't go away.''

But -- you knew there'd be a "but'' -- Mr. Boardman wants a "fleet plan'' from Amtrak management, not data "in dribs and drabs,'' before releasing the money.

An Amtrak spokesman said a plan that covers service upgrades, expansion and corridor development in cooperation with the states will be ready by the end of the year.

It's hard to imagine any scenario where those cars won't be needed. America has to re-engineer itself, in both senses of that term. Whether you're for bicycle power or "drill, baby, drill,'' gasoline will never be cheap for long again.

Today, trains between Washington and New York routinely sell out; Philadelphia is America's third-busiest station and even Harrisburg and Lancaster are among the 25 busiest of Amtrak's 500 stations, following state investment in the Keystone Corridor between the state capital and Philly.

Here in Pittsburgh, there are only three trains a day -- one east, one southeast, and one west. Amtrak's only train from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg is a good deal at $36, but takes five hours and 25 minutes, about two hours longer than driving. All but the most hyper-efficient businessperson has to spend the night, too, because the train back leaves less than two hours later at 2:36 p.m.

Forget the train to Richmond. The connection through Washington, D.C., means a 14-hour journey, well more than double what the drive would be.

Despite these lousy schedules and connections, rail ridership in Pittsburgh is up 20 percent in the past 10 months, with about 1,000 additional riders getting on and the same number getting off each month.

No metaphor for the demise of American rail travel beats the streetscape just off Liberty Avenue. There is The Pennsylvanian, once the grand station for the Pennsylvania Railroad and now a luxury apartment building. The Amtrak station hides below it, almost apologetically, with all the charm that plastic chairs and vending machines can offer.

As late as 1971 (just before Amtrak started), there were seven daily trains each way between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. That won't return, but Amtrak, all but set up to fail, finds itself gaining millions of the riders that airlines have lost. America needs it to get better.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08251/909874-155.stm

i'm going to toronto this week from philly for 210 round trip! the plane ticket was 40 more for each way and gas would be just as ridiculous

despite its flaws, i love amtrak. go biden, haha

he doesn't have a house in dc. he commutes back to wilmington everyday