Transit Doomsday
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit
Yep, Doomsday is looming over the transit industry again, and this time we’re not talking about Chicago — as surprising as that may seem. Sure, Chicago’s deadline for massive service cuts and fare increases is this Sunday, but it doesn’t look like the legislature is going to waiver on passing a funding bill this time around. With any luck, while Bears fans curse the Packers for being in the NFC Championship game Sunday night, they will breathe a little easier knowing they have a familiar bus or train to work in the morning.
No, this time I am talking about the impending Amtrak strike. Sure, many of us west of the Appalachians have little to do with Amtrak, but in the Northeast Corridor, it’s vital to its transportation infrastructure.
Let’s put aside the image of Amtrak being a long-haul interstate rail system — the Greyhound of rail if you will. Most people don’t realize that in many parts of the country, Amtrak is a highly successful commuting option in larger cities. Right in my backyard, Amtrak operates a successful line between Milwaukee and Chicago that I have used on several occasions. For the people along that line it is just as important as if Metra were to stop running trains due to a “doomsday.”
Let’s get back to the Northeast Corridor for a minute. About a year ago I visited NJ Transit and toured its system. And what a system it is. I saw more of that state when I was out there for a couple days than when I lived near New Jersey years ago.
Amtrak is an essential part of its system, helping to ferry multitudes into New York City everyday. The train lines dispatched by Amtrak that NJ Transit runs its trains on would be off-limits should a strike happen. Rough estimates I gathered looking on the Internet said this would shutdown about half of NJ Transit trains, cancelling more than 200,000 daily trips.
Remember the strike in New York City a few years ago? This would be nearly as bad. Take New York Penn Station for example. Amtrak controls all the tracks going through it. A strike would shut that station down. Penn Station — closed.
It’s odd that this strike hasn’t gotten more press before this. It’s not like there hasn’t been time to discuss it, the unions’ (nine of them total) contracts expired in 1999 and a new agreement hasn’t been reached yet. That’s almost eight years of work from these people without a contract and no service disruption due to a strike. The President stepped in at the end of last year, creating a panel that concluded that the workers needed about a 35 percent increase in pay with retroactive pay back to 2000 for some of them.
Amtrak’s response? That would cause them to be $150 million in the red for its 2008 budget. Seeing how Chicago’s transit agencies are struggling with budget cuts, I can see how difficult filling a hole like that is, but my sympathy ends there. They had eight years to come up with a resolution for this — eight years! And nothing was done.
If our infrastructure is crumbling as quickly as experts say it is, and if an intercity rail system is needed, then Amtrak needs to get shaped up — and quickly. There will be no support from the general public if this is what they look to as an example of intercity rail.
John Inglish, UTA general manager, told me that crisis motivates change, not good ideas. For all the good ideas the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission came up with this week, it may take Amtrak shutting down or another worse crisis for people to start believing what they are telling us.
Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
January 18th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Perhaps if Amtrack would spend our tax dollars to upgrade and operate the trains in the locations where they are needed and where people actually ride them, like the Northeast corridor, and quit wasting money operating trains that few people ride, but that our politicians want to keep running to show those of is in rural America what great things they’re doing for us (at our expense), the workers who are about to strike could be paid a fair wage and this crisis could be averted.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Norman, perhaps if Amtrak (note spelling) HAD the money to do what you suggest, then maybe they could also pay the employees what they earn and deserve. Right on the face of it, the funding for Amtrak is an absurd joke. As you know, the US is the only nation in the world that doesn’t recognize that PROPERLY subsidized transportation is a necessity. As much subsidy should be going to rail as goes to highway, and to air. I don’t have the numbers right here (perhaps someone else does?) but if you actually write out the total subsidy numbers for these three modes(including all the air traffic control costs for air), the pittance provided for Amtrak becomes more obvious. It’s in the zeroes. Or lack of them for Amtrak.
And no, I don’t work for Amtrak, or for any consultant retained by Amtrak. I am simply a sensible observer.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
First it should be noted that the contract was agreed to late yesterday, Thursday the 17th, so this news story is already moot.
That said however Norman, there aren’t any Amtrak trains that few people ride. The Amtrak train with the least amount of ridership, the Sunset Limited, carried an average of 203 passengers every day that it operated during the last fiscal year. IIRC Acela, Amtrak’s premier service, can only carry about 300 passengers per train.
The Sunset’s normal capacity is just over 300, so again on average at least 2/3rds of the train is sold. I don’t have the actual numbers for Acela handy, but I don’t think that they average much better than 3/4ths of the train sold on average.
January 21st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
While even the long-distance trains operated by Amtrak may only have a capacity of 200-300 passengers at one time, many riders board and deboard along most routes, resulting in far higher numbers overall for most trips as ridership turns over. This occurs in high-density corridor operations as well as on long-distance routes.
Add to this the fact that Amtrak now serves many markets not served by any commercial air service or intercity bus service, and the balance of transportation infrastructure becomes far more skewed against those who do not wish (or cannot) drive where they need to go.
That said, there is no excuse for Amtrak going over eight years without settling collective bargaining agreements with their operating personnel, and it can only be explained by Congressional and White House meddling, brought on by the highway and airline interest’s powerful lobbies in Washington.
To see how few riders are on board the typical Amtrak train, try and make reservations for one of today’s Acela departures, or perhaps get a sleeping car room on the Chicago - New York or New York - Florida trains.