I'd like to share the following succinct summary of the contents of the Trump Administration's proposed FY 2020 Amtrak Budget from an RPA colleague.
"As expected the Administration wants to cut Amtrak funding. It does this by focusing trains on shorter distance (less than 750 miles) routes, while providing robust intercity bus service to currently under served rural areas via a partnership between Amtrak and bus operators. To accomplish transformation, the Budget provides $550 million in transitional grants as States and Amtrak begin the process to restructure the network and States prepare to incrementally take financial responsibility for the newly created State-Supported routes. The Budget also provides $936 million in direct grants to Amtrak to support investment on the Northeast Corridor and existing State-supported lines and to assist Amtrak in this transition.
The budget wants to focus the Capital Investment Grants on those that have high non-Federal funding commitments. The budget provides $1.5 billion for CIG and includes $500 million for new projects.
It further reduces funding for Essential Air Service.
Overall, Transportation takes a $5.9 billion hit or 21.5% overall reduction. The appendix with its actual figures by category will be published on March 18, 2019.
While slightly better than the rumored “zeroing out” of Amtrak, the Amtrak and Bus Partnership makes no sense at all. Do the idiots at the OMB really believe that someone would take a bus thousand of miles to get to a train or that states would support this partnership (100% of the deficit, because Anderson/Gardner could care less about contributing one cent towards maintaining the bus service. They will be happy to charge top dollar for providing reservation services to that partnership).
Fortunately, this proposal will be dead on arrival.
The funds provided for the NEC look like around $400 million, hardly enough to keep Amtrak in its current state of disarray, let alone have ability to improve any project or to purchase any new corridor trains.
Amtrak has not yet posted it legislative request on line. They may want to keep it a state secret."
In-case we thought "Bustitution" was dead now it's proposed for the entire National Network.
Sigh!
Carl Fowler Vice Chair Rail Passengers Association (These opinions and views are my own)
Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Bustitution was originally an Amtrak idea as an explanation for Amtrak Thruway Bus system. I wouldn't knock it entirely, some of those bus routes are well patronized. Milwaukee to Green Bay does well and I keep reading in Trains at how Amtrak is surprised at how well the Bus that connects the Heartland Flyer to the Southwest Chief is doing......even though it runs from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. from OKC to Newton, KS.
I have nothing against coordinated bus service to extend the reach of rail, indeed having seen perfection in Switzerland and very good in California I strongly support it, but this proposal is to replace thousand plus mile rail services with "robust" bus options. That I can not support.
Carl FowlerWhile slightly better than the rumored “zeroing out” of Amtrak, the Amtrak and Bus Partnership makes no sense at all. Do the idiots at the OMB really believe that someone would take a bus thousand of miles to get to a train
Actually, that's precisely what they would believe if they continue pretending to subscribe to the fiction that Amtrak LD trains exist to provide 'transportation service'. The solution for almost all those little remote towns is better buses, not eye-wateringly unprofitable service with wacky amenities and increasingly unmotivated personnel.
If I remember correctly, Amtrak got a mandate in 2015 to resolve most of its 'profitability' issues within five years, and a great many of the Anderson 'issues' are more-or-less-thinly veiled tactics to Make Congress Confront The Issues. If constituents in states want train service, they'll have to arrange longer corridors, and cough up the according pro rata share of the operating cost -- I'd argue, based on actual passenger-miles to and from state points; who's got a better way to apportion costs -- if intra-route traffic is "that" important to maintaining a nominally long-distance train.
I see no particular reason why long-distance routes cannot, and really should not, be divided into corridors that Federal-state partnerships will fund, with the stuff between being 'determined to match demand' in the same way that the "hole" in local service on the NEC between MARC and SEPTA is currently handled. If there is enough activism and political will to get the 'stuff between' taken out of private hands, or if companies see a profit in taking up the market, or if other opportunities for Federal assistance or promotion (one being tax credits for perhaps even more than the booked amount of losses runnng particular segments) there may be enough 'money' to keep running the unprofitable segments between subsidized corridors to allow run-through moves.
The 'genius' part of this mandate is that it requires profitability unless political stakeholders do something about it. It will be highly amusing (albeit really rough on those of us who love the idea of through passenger trains) to see exactly how this pans out in the real world of politics -- which I personally have come to think is exactly where Anderson has been operating, crazy like a fox.
CMStPnPCorrect me if I am wrong but I thought Bustitution was originally an Amtrak idea as an explanation for Amtrak Thruway Bus system. I wouldn't knock it entirely, some of those bus routes are well patronized.
Never make the mistake that, because a bus is 'patronized', it represents even an adequate replacement for a train. I made the mistake -- once -- of staying in San Diego for the 'last train' ... which, had I read more carefully, was bustitution. Some part of me is still inching back in an uncomfortable seat making stop after stop in uncomfortable half-dark. I'd implicitly note that if the trip segment were 'well patronized' beyond the capacity of a single bus, it sure ain't enough to support a train, even made up of something like SPV2000s let alone expensive road diesels and even PRIIA-spec cars.
Personally I would never consider riding an Amtrak train that included a bus link of more than about 50 miles total, or continuing any trip that, for any reason, involved substitution of bus for paid train service.
I'll happily ride a bus to get $30 service from Silver Spring, Maryland to the neighborhood of Penn Station in New York. Especially when the trip time is competitive with Amtrak (admittedly the train is making more stops) and I have actual bandwidth on WiFi. I assuredly won't be paying what Amtrak charges for an equivalent trip to ride any conventional bus, let alone those strippers Amtrak Thruway usually seems to be providing.
JPS1If the long-distance trains serving Texas were discontinued, the locomotives, coaches, and lounge cars potentially could be used to offer improved day service along the I-35 corridor, which is one of the most congested in the U.S. If the track between DFW and San Antonio were upgraded to 110 to 125 mph, the service could be an appealing alternative to driving, especially between the intermediate cities, e.g. Cleburne to Austin, Waco to San Antonio, etc. where flying is not a good option.
If I had to guess today, Amtrak is finished in Texas as far as corridor service is concerned. Especially given the Dallas very positive experience with Herzog. Herzog has done an excellent job both building and running most of the transit systems of Dallas and a few other large cities.
Pretty sure Herzog has the market of Texas locked to itself at this point. You can again blame Amtrak management and it's inept ability to form a trusting business relationship with local transit authorities for this market loss. It's going to be a big financial loss for Amtrak as well going forwards.
Like I said before this glowing vision Amtrak has that they are going to just move into the corridor space with little or no competition is pure naivete. They are likely to get their hat handed to them and I very much doubt Amtrak will dominate the corridor market as it does now with the LD train market. The new orientation is likely to lead to a much smaller and fading away of Amtrak. And I have to say this, if they can't keep their toilets on the LD trains from smelling like an open sewer, maybe they are in the wrong business and deserve to be shown the door.
Certainly, Herzog does a much better job at keeping it's trains clean and in functioning order vs Amtrak.
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