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Rail Travel News is a twice-monthly print publication, published since Dec 10, 1970.
Publisher: Message Media Company,
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   Shore Publications (CT) Feb 25: U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, said last week that although President Bush has proposed eliminating subsidies for Amtrak, the rail service will likely get more federal money in the coming fiscal year. "Traditionally, Congress has added money back to Amtrak," Simmons said in a phone interview from his Washington, D.C., office. "Congress has the power of the purse; whatever the president recommends, we'll give it care consideration and then we'll go on and do our thing." 

   The Daily Astorian (OR) Mar 1: And those who insist that Amtrak be self-sufficient forget that no public transportation operates without subsidy in this nation. Airports are built at public expense. Air traffic controllers are public employees. Highways command many times the annual public appropriation set aside railroads, yet highways expenditure are referred to as "investments."

It's a phony argument.

The real issue is not whether Americans should be paying for rail. Rather, it is what kind of rail the American people should be subsidizing, and what they should expect to receive within the foreseeable future.

   The Hill.com Mar 3: Also on “Meet the Press,” [Sen. Rick] Santorum [R-PA] criticized President Bush’s budget for proposed cuts in Amtrak, a favorite target of many conservatives that nevertheless is important to Pennsylvania’s economy.
“It’s not acceptable to me,” Santorum said of the cuts. “I think what the president has suggested is not going to pass, number one. Number two, I think what he has been putting forward is that Amtrak has to be more efficient.”

   Royal Oak (MI) Mirror Mar 3: Amtrak is no different from any other transportation system; they're all federally subsidized, including interstate highways. Drivers who find themselves stuck in I-75's daily clogs should ponder the corkscrew logic of spending an estimated $500 million - at least - to widen the freeway in Oakland County from three to four lanes in both directions. Eighteen miles of pavement equals almost half of Amtrak's national budget. It better be the smoothest, shiniest, unpotholiest 18 miles of freeway anywhere in the country.

   The Tribune, Ames IA Mar 4: Are Amtrak's cross-country routes worth saving? I say yes, but we've got to subsidize them the way other developed nations in the world support their passenger rail system. As our national transportation system exists today, only two of its four legs are viable - the private passenger car and the airplane. We hardly have a nationwide bus and train system.
      With reliable train service, maybe Des Moines wouldn't go so ballistic whenever the airline monopoly jacks up the price of the flights to Chicago. Or with reliable train service, maybe you wouldn't feel the need to drive your car to Chicago, only to get trapped in that eternal traffic jam on the Eisenhower Expressway. And once you are freed from the traffic jam, you face the next impossible hurdle - finding a parking place.

      Tad Calcara, Salt Lake City letter writer, in Salt Lake Tribune Mar 5:
      Bush has allocated zero funding for our nation's rail passenger system while increasing tax dollars for roads and aviation. A comparison of federal funding over the past 25 years shows that funding for highways and aviation has more than doubled while Amtrak funding has decreased (more than $30 billion per year for roads, more than $15 billion per year for aviation).   However, in spite of the lack of reasonable funding for Amtrak, ridership has increased. Last year's ridership was the highest on record.
   Amtrak plays an important transportation role in our nation. Its network of long-distance passenger trains provides a vital transportation option for hundreds of rural communities across the nation. Most of these rural towns have poor or costly air service while many lack any air service at all.

     According to a report posted at the website of the National Corridors Initiative, the Administraton has been so stung by reaction to the Amtrak zero budget plan that legislators are agreeing to put in Amtrak funding in the range of $1.2 billion to $2 billion. The report said that the funds might be attached to a different bill to make it veto-proof. The information was said to have come from an unnamed insider on Capitol Hill. 

   Oil industry analysts are seriously expecting a massive gasoline price increase soon, as early as the latter part of March. The increase would be approximately 25 cents.

   Greyhound continues to eliminate cities from its route system.
   The government is concerned about possible hand-held missile attacks upon airliners.
   The White House wants to kill off Amtrak by forcing it into bankruptcy.
   Can any other threats to American mobility be foreseen?

     The Associated Press has reported that US government officials are concerned about thousands of unaccounted-for hand-launch missiles that are not in government hands. For this reason, the US and Russia have just signed an agreement to try to reduce their numbers. Officials are concerned that even a single successful missile attack on a commercial airliner could "paralyze" the airline industry.

     The situation would then become like that after 9/11, when airline travel was disrupted and citizens were wary of flying. In such a situation rail travel would become a much-needed transportation alternative, as it did following 9/11.  However, the federal government is currently attempting to kill off the Amtrak national network of trains by forcing it into bankruptcy. Passenger train advocates are noticing this example of the government's failure to coordinate its efforts on behalf of its citizens' safety and mobility.

AMTRAK FUNDING: AN ANALYSIS
By Carl Fowler
New Sunset Limited Schedule for Mar 8

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