Trump’s budget proposal slashes funding for Amtrak’s long-distance train routes — but it's not all bad
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal could spell the end for
some, if not all, of Amtrak’s long-distance train routes.
Trump wants to slash the Department of Transportation’s budget by
13%. The cuts would completely eliminate funding for Amtrak’s
long-distance routes, privatize air traffic control, and
eliminate subsidies for commercial flights to rural airports.
The Trump administration said the funding cut to Amtrak’s
long-distance routes would allow it “to focus on better managing
its state-supported and Northeast Corridor train services.”
The exact impact the budget cuts will have on Amtrak’s
long-distance routes is still unclear. But Amtrak CEO and
President Wick Moorman said it could impact 500 communities.
“Amtrak operates 15 long-distance trains across the nation and
these routes offer the only Amtrak service in 23 of the 46 states
we serve,” Moorman said in a statement. “These trains connect our
major regions, provide vital transportation to residents in rural
communities and generate connecting passengers and revenue for
our Northeast Corridor and State-Supported services.”
Without a doubt, losing some long-distance train routes to budget
cuts would be a shame. These lines are primarily used for big
trips across the United States, like the California Zephyr, which
travels between Chicago and San Francisco. There’s something
inherently romantic about long-distance train transit with its
sleeper cars and scenic views.
However, the budget proposal would allow Amtrak to channel more
resources toward its Northeast Corridor (NEC), a line desperately
in need of repairs, and its state-sponsored routes. Both of which
service far more people than Amtrak’s long-distance train lines.
The NEC needs $28 billion in repairs
The NEC, which covers routes between Washington D.C. and Boston,
is Amtrak’s only profitable line.
Amtrak uses the profits it makes from the NEC to pay for its
money-losing services, like the long-distance train routes, which
incur the vast majority of Amtrak's operating losses.
Using the NEC to subsidize long-distance train routes hurts the
system in the long run.
Over 2,200 trains travel along the NEC every day, and the large
majority of those trains are used for commuter purposes, Stephen
Gardner, Amtrak's executive vice president for business
development along the Northeast Corridor, previously told Business Insider.
Overall, the NEC serviced 11.9 million riders in the 2016 fiscal
year, according to Amtrak. Over half of Amtrak’s daily riders
travel along the NEC.
By comparison, Amtrak’s long-distance routes serviced 4.6 million
people in the last fiscal year.
It’s generally understood that passengers primarily use Amtrak’s
long-distance routes for trips, rather than commuting. But Amtrak
doesn't break out the number of people who use the line for
commuter purposes.
Most of Amtrak’s long-distance routes are seeing a decline in
riders or little growth. The lines that saw the greatest uptick
in demand since the 2015 fiscal year were the Palmetto and
California Zephyr lines. But the Palmetto and Zephyr only
serviced 380,815 and 417,322 people in 2016 FY, respectively.
Some lines saw anywhere between a 5% and 12% decrease in
ridership from the 2015 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the NEC is in desperate need of repairs. The average
age of the NEC’s backlog projects is 111 years old, according to
the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Infrastructure Report Card, an assessment of
the nation's infrastructure that comes out every 4 years. It
requires $28 billion in repairs.
Some improvements are already in the works. The Department of
Transportation loaned Amtrak $2.45 billion to purchase
high-speed trains that will be fully operational in 2022. The
trains will reduce wear-and-tear on the track and increase
passenger capacity by 35%.
But the $2.45 billion loan only goes so far. Amtrak’s Gardner
said the NEC is in desperate need of track repairs. The track
itself hasn’t had a complete overhaul since 1976, though moderate
repairs have been made in some areas.
"All of that means that you have some loss of reliability and
also loss of trip time that you might be able to achieve with a
dedicated system," he previously said.
According to the proposed budget, subsidies would also be
restructured to benefit Amtrak's state-sponsored routes, which
helps lines like the Heartland Flyer, a train that travels
between Oklahoma City and Forth Worth and makes stops along the
way.
Amtrak's state-sponsored routes serviced 14.7 million people in
the 2016 FY.
Trump's budget proposal may not do enough to help Amtrak's
Northeast Corridor or state-sponsored routes, however,
eliminating long-distance routes could force Amtrak to focus more
on lines that service the most people.
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Trump’s budget proposal slashes funding for Amtrak’s long-distance train routes — but it's not all bad
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