Amtrak to hold Southwest Chief multiple stakeholder meetings

July 26, 2018
By STEPHANIE BEASLEY, With help from Lauren Gardner, Tanya Snyder and Brianna Gurciullo, Politico Morning Transportation; July 26, 2018

Long haul: This is not going to go away. Rural-state lawmakers (except a few fiscal hawks here and there) love Amtrak’s long-distance services for providing affordable transportation to constituents who may not live near an airport. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) thanked senators from the three states Wednesday for “working to reject any proposals that would suspend long-distance rail service.” “We have a disconnect in this country between the rural and the urban economies, between the center and the heartland and the coasts in this country — particularly economically. And if we’re going to combat that, we have to invest in the transportation infrastructure and the information infrastructure that can make a difference in rural communities,” he said on the Senate floor.

Coming soon: A Senate aide said Amtrak plans to hold “multiple stakeholder meetings” in those three states at the end of August through early September.

Click here to read the full story.

 

Please share with others