U.S., Amtrak, Responding To POLITICO Nightly: We Are The United States of America, Not The United States Of The Northeast

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; April 8, 2021

Harrumph.

Yet another beltway journalist has opined about what is best for the American passenger train. And, not surprisingly the end result is those of us who unfortunately do not live in the Northeast simply are not important enough to need passenger trains.

Yes, once again, the Northeast Corridor – or, NEC for Nothing Else Counts – is being worthlessly held up as the ideal for American passenger rail and most other places in America are simply unworthy of being served by a passenger train.

The offending “conversation” is found in the Wednesday, April 7, 2021 edition of POLITICO Nightly by Michael Grunwald and titled Say it ain’t so, Amtrak Joe. Mr. Grunwald’s brief biography which accompanies the piece says the major parts of his resume include The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and Time magazine. In 2006 he published a book, The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise.

Anything which comes out of the POLITICO Washington word factory is widely read and seemingly sage Washingtonians controlling the levers of government read the output, nod their heads in agreement, and presume what is said is above reproach.

Here are parts of the article:

“TRAINWRECK — Amtrak’s most prominent passenger is now the most powerful man on earth, and he just unveiled a massive infrastructure plan with a whopping $80 billion for rail. No wonder Amtrak just unveiled a huge expansion plan that would serve 160 new cities.

“… With all the chronic problems facing Amtrak’s existing network of slow and sporadic trains that struggle to attract riders and revenues, why should it be a national priority to extend the network to sleepy communities like Christianburg, Va. (population 22,163) or Rockland, Me. (population 7,178)? Is North Carolina really clamoring for service from Asheville to Salisbury? Is there any reason for Amtrak executives to propose a new route from New York City to President Biden’s beloved birthplace of Scranton, Pa., other than the obvious reason?

“Politics is the reason Amtrak already operates in 46 of the lower 48 states, even though few of them have the population densities that make inter-city rail work so well in much of Asia and Europe. Scattering trains across the country helps bring lawmakers on board, the infrastructure equivalent of the Pentagon distributing contracts for a single jet to hundreds of congressional districts. Amtrak’s new 2035 Vision reveals a desire to keep spreading rail money around like peanut butter — to plausible destinations like Las Vegas and Phoenix but also to head-scratching destinations like Allentown and Cheyenne, which would make Wyoming the 47th state with a station.

“… So before Amtrak fantasizes about new lines to Pueblo, Colo., and Eau Claire, Wis., it ought to focus on upgrading its most important and successful line, the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C.

“It’s the only Amtrak route that runs an operating profit. It’s the only Amtrak route that runs primarily on tracks that Amtrak owns. And it includes four of Amtrak’s five busiest stations as well as the one named for the president. With top speeds of 150 miles per hour, it’s as close as Amtrak gets to high-speed rail. Its average speeds are less than 90 miles per hour, but if you ignore the frequent delays, spotty Wi-Fi and lousy food, it at least vaguely resembles the train service you might find in Germany or Japan.

“The Northeast Corridor desperately needs new investment to repair the bottlenecks that keep it so far below its top speeds, especially its decrepit tunnels under the Hudson River. Amtrak already shuttles three times as many passengers between Washington and New York as the airlines do. Upgrading its aging infrastructure could reduce trip times and improve reliability enough to draw even more travelers out of planes or cars.

“Amtrak seems to recognize the urgency of this problem, noting in its vision statement that the Northeast Corridor has “dozens of bridges, stations and tunnels … in need of immediate replacement or rehabilitation.” But by some estimates, just bringing the Northeast Corridor up to a state of good repair could vacuum up more than half the American Jobs Plan’s $80 billion rail budget. Upgrading the corridor to approach true high-speed rail could vacuum up all of it.

“… Amtrak’s plan was not vetted by the White House; in fact, POLITICO Pro’s Tanya Snyder reported today that the Biden Administration does hope to spend half its rail money upgrading the Northeast Corridor, reserving most of the rest for Amtrak lines and other “intercity passenger rail.”

“Amtrak seems to want to have it all — long-overdue repairs, new high-speed lines and also new slow-speed trains to Rockford, Ill., and Reading, Pa. Jeff Davis, a senior fellow at the Eno Center for Transportation think tank, was surprised to see the 2035 Vision included a Minneapolis-Duluth line that former Minnesota congressman Jim Oberstar used to push when he chaired the House Transportation Committee.

“‘You know, Mr. Oberstar passed away — and Duluth is a long way off,’ Davis said.

“… The value of Amtrak isn’t to extend passenger rail everywhere. It’s to provide efficient and convenient passenger rail in some places that improves American mobility while reducing carbon emissions from cars and planes.

“Amtrak had a record 32 million riders in 2019, but that crashed to 17 million in 2020 because of the pandemic. Spending money to upgrade the lines Americans actually use could help reverse that trend. Spending money to build a new line from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kan., would be typical Washington malarkey.”

To read the full article, it can be found by clicking here.

Several things in the article are notable and need to be addressed.

Importantly, so many Washington creatures today seem to forget when Amtrak was chartered – which has not changed – it was designed to be a national railroad, not an NEC-centric railroad. Residents of Eau Claire, Wisconsin have as much right to a passenger train as residents of Trenton, New Jersey.

The shocking statement “Amtrak’s plan was not vetted by the White House; in fact, POLITICO Pro’s Tanya Snyder reported today that the Biden Administration does hope to spend half its rail money upgrading the Northeast Corridor, reserving most of the rest for Amtrak lines and other ‘intercity passenger rail.’” is astonishing.

Spend $40 billion just on re-gold plating the NEC? The NEC is that important to the nation it should take half of the proposed spending? The denizens of other states with greater populations than the Northeast states would like to take issue with that concept.

Amtrak for decades has tried to convince Washington lawmakers, the news media and others the NEC is “profitable.” That is wrong. It is not. Regrettably, there is little push-back on this. The only way that statement can be made is by employing accounting hocus-pocus. When, under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) the capital costs to maintain the NEC are properly added into the mix, the NEC is a huge black hole for money. When the idea that another $40 billion could be added as capital costs, that makes it impossible for anyone to ever consider the NEC could break-even, must less be profitable.

POLITICO Nightly is not the only news and opinion organization which simply publishes Amtrak press releases without question. For decades Amtrak has set the narrative and a gullible news media has accepted that narrative at face value. It sadly appears that when it comes to financial investigative reporting, Amtrak is exempt from any scrutiny. More than one knowledgeable commentator has declared that if Amtrak were held to the same financial standards as private corporate America there would be ongoing judicial proceedings.

The real story is this article has things exactly backwards. We know the NEC is the least productive part of the Amtrak system based on load factor and transportation output. We know the long distance/inter-regional national system is far more productive and serves a much broader spectrum of the country. How many times must it be said we live and work in the United States of America, not the United States of the Northeast?

The author either never researched or nor understands the majority of Amtrak’s most productive – in terms of revenue generated – passengers board at intermediate station stops on long distance and state-supported trains. The mythical terminal-to-terminal passengers (quit thinking in airline terms) are there, but in numbers much smaller than imagined.

Remember, any long distance route is simply a string of short, individual corridors knitted together to form one longer route with greater utility and greater revenue generation.

Back to the original premise of the article that states with less population density than the Northeast Corridor states don’t deserve passenger trains. Has the author completely abandoned federalism? Using his logic, if those of us who are fortunate enough to not live in the Northeast shouldn’t have passenger trains because we are so spread out, should we also be allowed to have post office service? Rural mail carriers have to go much further than urban mail carriers to deliver the same amount of mail. Should rural residents – in the name of fairness to those who choose to live in the “right” states in the Northeast – not be forced to ride our horses or drive our horse-drawn wagons to ride into town to receive our mail?

This also begs the question of federal interstate highways. Designing and building interstate on/off ramps is the most expensive part of a highway. Since those living between big urban areas don’t deserve passenger trains, maybe they don’t deserve interstate highway service, either? After all, there are plenty of state and local roads which are serviceable for just the allegedly few residents living there.

Much more can be said, but you get the drift. There are all sorts of bigots in the world, including those who believe they are good enough for convenient and practical passenger trains, but us lesser mortals are not.

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