It don't get no respect!

Try as one might there just isn't any counter-attack to Sec'y Mineta's (and the administration's) fulminations about Amtrak. Talk about a bully pulpit. He's all over the country, meeting with this group and that--but no one else comes along with any rebuttals about what he and/or the White House really wants. Determined to dispose of Amtrak or any other nationwide passenger rail system they continue to paint Amtrak as a money losing corporation. I'd love to know how many rail passengers they have spoken to, other than commuters. I guess I've got a preconceived notion that traveling by rail can be a relaxing way to travel, certainly nowadays where airline travel is no longer what it used to be. Americans have become so overwhelmed by the notion that they should get to where they're going as quickly as possible--therefore fly--or by having complete control over how and when you get there--therefore drive yourself--that they've forgotten, if they ever knew, how great a train ride can be.

I'm about to take my fourth major trip with Amtrak and I'm looking forward to it as much as I used to anticipate a flight to anywhere.

Empty Trains??

The latest info I have found discrediting the current administration's disinterest in funding Amtrak is in the May 2005 issue of Railfan & Railroad. Under the Capitol Lines heading by Wes Vernon he reports that the "overall view in Washington is that there is little chance Amtrak is going to die" but he cautions that this should not lead to false optimism. Emphasis is placed on the importance of Amtrak's route through Montana: the Empire Builder contributes nearly $14 million annually to its economy. There is no parallel bus service on a 982-mile stretch from Spokane, WA to Minot, ND, and Greyhound buses don't stop anywhere between Billings, MT and Minneapolis.

A tour director who uses many of Amtrak's services says that if the long-distance services are eliminated, "the few surviving corridors will rapidly die due to a lack of connecting passengers and the vastly increased cost of carrying the full expense of the rump of Amtrak." NARP, the National Association of Rail Passengers, says trains are filled and Secretary Mineta's comments are not resonating with the people who are riding the trains. This same tour director offers the contrast between the operating subsidy of Amtrak with that of highway spending: $1.2 billion in 2004 with $133 billion in 2001--and 40% of that was not recovered from gas taxes.

Whither the trains? I'm probably repeating myself with the comparison of riding a train nowadays with flying somewhere. Yes, it's restricting me from traveling abroad but given the exchange rate that's no big loss. The difficulties involved with security at the airports still rankles me beyond reason so for now I'm more than content to travel about the US by Amtrak!