Good afternoon,
Amtrak management is making noises about cutting back or axing its unprofitable long-distance trains in favor of investing in a Northeast Corridor route that pays its own way.
The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported the pressure comes from new Amtrak CEO, Richard Anderson, a tough-minded executive who formerly ran Delta Airlines.
Focusing on the corridor would be good news overall for Delaware, which has 1,000 employees working in areas ranging from dispatch to rail equipment repair. A few long-distance routes – the Palmetto being one example – stop in Wilmington.
Wilmington is one of Amtrak’s busiest stations, with the rail carrier offering limited service from Newark.
The problem is that Amtrak is owned by the federal government and depends on the good graces of Congress. Back in the 1970s, the government agreed to get into the train business as a way to stave off the collapse of much of the railroad industry.
Also created from the wreckage of the Pennsylvania Railroad was Conrail, which was financed by the government, but was later sold off as freight railroads, minus passenger service, became cash cows.
A Senator or Congressman in “flyover country” will fight any effort to end long-distance routes that typically lose millions of dollars each year.
As the Journal noted, the California Zepher bleeds nearly $14 million a year in red ink in taking older, affluent leisure travelers between Chicago and San Francisco. A ticket for two from Chicago can run nearly $3,000, the price of a half a dozen (or more) round-trip plane tickets.
Fares are cheaper from points in the hinterlands, but the number of passengers remains minuscule.
Anderson does have legislators over a barrel as he takes a clear-eyed look at the future. Long-distance trains with their ancient sleeper and dining cars are nearing the end of their useful lives, he argues.
Legislators will have to pony up many millions of dollars for new equipment on top of the operating losses.
An argument can be made for keeping a nationwide rail system alive as a commitment to rural America. There is also the real possibility that the Greyhound bus line could make deep cuts that would further isolate many communities.
But the current approach of holding Amtrak together with duct tape and twine while starving the Northeast Corridor makes no sense. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
