Retiree Solomon Broadus took his first Amtrak ride last week, from Oklahoma City to San Antonio. While waiting to switch trains in Fort Worth, he gushed about the service.
"I thought it was beautiful," the Wichita, Kan., resident exclaimed. "The ride is comfortable. The seats are spacious. It beats the bus, I know that much. And it's less expensive than an airplane."But Broadus and many other passengers interviewed last week at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center say they're frustrated that Congress is once again poised to cut funding for routes such as the Heartland Flyer, which operates daily between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth."They shouldn't be cutting this," Broadus said. "They should be putting more money into it."Many in Congress disagree. U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who leads the House transportation committee, is among those who are eager to privatize as much of the nation's long-distance passenger rail system as possible.During an appearance at the annual Texas Transportation Summit in Irving last month, Mica said the United States can no longer afford to simultaneously build and maintain its highways while subsidizing rail."We've got to get out of the habit of the government running all these rail programs," Mica told summit attendees during a discussion of how to transform the nation's traditional passenger rail system, most of which operates on tracks owned by freight railroads, into a high-speed rail network. "It isn't creative enough. It isn't innovative enough to do the job. The only thing standing in our way right now is government."The latest dust-up over Amtrak funding comes as ridership is peaking, with people drawn to the trains by better on-time performance and other improvements.Plan 'penalizes states'A House appropriations subcommittee passed a bill this month that provides Amtrak with $227 million for operations in 2012, down from $563 million in each of the past two years. Amtrak also would get $899 million for capital expenditures, down $25 million.The bill prohibits the use of federal grant funds on short-distance lines such as the Heartland Flyer.It would be tantamount to shutting down the entire Amtrak network, because the remaining routes could not cover the system's overhead costs, the National Association of Railroad Passengers warned.Amtrak officials say the cuts would eliminate 150 weekday trains, which collectively tally 9 million passenger trips per year."The GOP plan penalizes states that have made investments in passenger rail, some of which have contributed toward costs for nearly 40 years," Amtrak board Chairman Tom Carper said in a statement.But Bill Glavin, rail director for the Texas Department of Transportation, remained optimistic that the Heartland Flyer route could remain viable.He said a law enacted in 2008 called for states to gradually assume more of the costs of short-run Amtrak routes, which generally are less than 750 miles long. The new wrinkle, he said, is that Congress could force states to assume those costs sooner than expected -- and some cash-strapped states could balk at the costs and cancel routes."It was to be phased in over a three-year period," Glavin said.Texas and Oklahoma each contribute $2 million a year to offset operating costs of the Heartland Flyer, and those costs could gradually increase to as much as $2.5 million -- although the burden for states could be reduced by increased ridership and fare revenue, Glavin said. In all, 15 states provide some level of financial support for Amtrak.Record ridershipThe latest threat to Amtrak's existence -- Congress has considered cutting Amtrak funding many times the past two decades -- comes as the rail system enjoys record ridership.In Fort Worth, ridership is up 2 percent this year on the Heartland Flyer, with 78,036 riders during the 11 months ending Aug. 31. Fort Worth is also served by the Texas Eagle, which operates daily from Chicago to San Antonio -- a route that is enjoying a ridership increase of 3.8 percent, with 277,188 riders during the 11 months.Amtrak is also seeking to work with states on developing short-distance lines. It has invested millions of dollars in track and signal improvements in Texas and Oklahoma.Texas was awarded $4 million in federal Recovery Act funding last year to double-track parts of the Trinity Railway Express commuter rail line between Dallas and Fort Worth to make room for Amtrak possibly by next year. Double-tracking allows trains to run simultaneously in two directions so one train doesn't have to wait for another to pass.By using the TRE line, Amtrak can avoid the Union Pacific rail line in Arlington and the Tower 55 intersection near downtown Fort Worth, areas that are crowded with freight train traffic and can cause Amtrak long delays.The Heartland Flyer is running on time about 73 percent of the time, according to Amtrak data from the past 12 months. The Texas Eagle is on schedule about 57 percent of the time -- not a terrific number, but better than the 22 percent or less the route averaged in the early 2000s.Losing a championTexas is losing arguably its most vocal Amtrak champion in Washington: U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has said she will not seek re-election in 2012."Sen. Hutchison has been a huge supporter of passenger rail from way back and saw the vision and the value of preserving and extending passenger rail service," said Bill Pollard, a Little Rock dentist and chairman of the Texas Eagle Marketing and Promotions Organization. "There's no question her shoes are going to be very hard to fill."Pollard, whose group tracks Amtrak ridership and on-time data, is less concerned about an immediate shutdown of rail service. But he worries that the "Draconian" budget under consideration by Congress will cause Amtrak's already weathered fleet to fall into disrepair -- putting the nation's only long-distance passenger rail service into a steep decline."Amtrak is going to have to make some cutbacks in repairing wrecked cars and cars that are supposed to be going through cosmetic improvements," he said. "That's cannibalizing your service. It lowers your standard of service. It lowers passenger satisfaction."If that happens, it would come at a time when riders' satisfaction is peaking."I don't fly, and I don't want to sit on a bus for a few days," said Jeannette Smith of Azle, who boarded the Texas Eagle in Fort Worth last week for a trip to Chicago. She and her husband, George, were headed to Lansing, Mich., for a family reunion.Another passenger, Josh Bellamy of Cherokee, Okla., rode last week to Austin to attend a music festival."It's a pretty neat deal, and I wish more people could experience it," Bellamy said.Gordon Dickson, 817-390-7796Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
