Destroying Amtrak

It has become one of the present administration's goals to, as they put it, "reform" Amtrak. What they really want to do is destroy the national system. One of the earliest indications as to what was happening was noted in a Feb. 8 report out of Chicago that Sen. Dick Durbin said during a press conference in Chicago's Union Station that he couldn't think of a worse "idea than eliminating the only passenger rail service in America". He noted that the government subsidizes other forms of transportation (air, highway travel) and that it should also subsidize Amtrak which helps keep cars off the highways. What triggered this was the revelation that the budget GWB proposed the day before provides no operating funds for Amtrak and the president is pushing for privatization and for cutting unprofitable routes, which essentially means the transcontinental routes.

On Feb. 9 a report noted that the proposed cuts could end passenger trainservice in Arkansas. The Texas Eagle passes through Arkansas on its route between St. Louis and Texas. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark, called the cuts "illogical--infrastructure is the lifeblood of rural America. We cannot expect to eliminate transportation options for growing areas of this country and expect their econoies to continue to expand." Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark, said that he was concerned and thought that for the "President to cut vital programs such as Amtrak, while also calling for making his tax cuts permanent, is wrong."
Dr. Bill Polalr, president of Arkansas Rail, a 27-year-old passenger train advocacy group said the president's proposal is shortsighted. He thought if the president's budget were to be enacted, it would be "the end of Amtrak as we know it. . .it would be the end of passenger rail service in America and that is one reason that Congress won't allow that to happen." He plans on contacting congressmen around the state and lobbying officials whose towns may be directly impacted by a loss of commerce if routes are eliminated.

Next came Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta's ride around the country (I wonder if he went by Amtrak?) "explaining" what the president had in mind. He persisted in saying that Amtrak is "dying and everyone knows it" but rejecting the notion that he's trying to help it do that. He is trying to convince the public that we're wasting money with a funding systemthat is "fundamentally irrational." He claims that it "runs money-losing routes and diverts cash away from repairs to cover operating losses." This was Feb. 14 in Chicago, Feb. 22 in Charlotte, NC, March 23 in Boston, March 25 in Detroit (at the railroad station--did he get there by train?) and who knows where next?