Passenger Trains > All Aboard group, ND senators fight to stop Amtrak reductions

All Aboard group, ND senators fight to stop Amtrak reductions 
The Forum, Fargo/Moorhead, ND

Written By: Barry Amundson | Sep 20th 2020 - 6am.


     MINNEAPOLIS — A passenger train advocacy group and North Dakota's U.S. senators are fighting to try to keep Amtrak's Empire Builder on a daily schedule.
 Members of All Aboard Minnesota and Wisconsin, nonprofit organizations, said the plan is to cut daily service down to three times a week unless bailout funding of $5 billion is fed into the nationwide system.


 Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, both Republicans who advocated for the Empire Builder to keep running, didn't respond when asked whether they would support the bailout.


 Brian Nelson, who heads the Minnesota All Aboard group, said revenues for Amtrak are predicted to be down 50% in fiscal year 2021 that starts Oct. 1 compared to before the pandemic.


 Thus, his organization in a virtual meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 15, said they are urging supporters to contact senators, House members and others and urge them to support keeping the Empire Builder and other trains rolling on normal schedules.


 The pandemic at first cut Empire Builder's passenger numbers by 95%. Ticket sales have been increasing, although the latest available ridership numbers from July still show a huge decline from about 20,000 passengers compared to 51,000 a year ago.


 The Empire Builder runs from Chicago to Seattle, with tracks from North Dakota to Washington state running near the Canadian border.


 As it sails through eastern and northern North Dakota in the middle of the night and early morning hours, the train has a scheduled arrival and departure time of about 3 a.m. daily at Fargo's downtown station, open from midnight to 7:30 a.m. In the 2019 fiscal year, Amtrak said it had $1.7 million in revenue at its Fargo station with 18,556 passengers.



 Under the new plan starting Oct. 19, the Empire Builder would be westbound on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and eastbound on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays.


 Nelson said cutting the network of 10 long-distance routes nationwide would be an "unwise business decision" as it provides as much as 45% of the revenue for the entire Amtrak operation, but incurs only 21% of expenses.


   The long-distance trains provide an annual $4.7 billion economic benefit to states where they operate, while reducing routes would only save $213 million, he said.


 It's not the first time Amtrak cuts or reductions have been made or proposed.


 Nona Hill, who heads the Wisconsin All Aboard group, said similar route reductions in 1995 resulted in a 50% revenue reduction, but only 10% in expense savings.


 Nelson said previous Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson once said, "We don't want to run trains in the middle of nowhere where nobody lives."


 "There are a lot of people that depend on the service, though," Nelson said.


   Passengers include families, college students, people who can't fly and those in smaller towns in northern North Dakota and Montana where it's the only form of public transportation.

   Many rural communities also rely on the train's package delivery service, which former president of the National Association of Passengers Ross Capon said has basically ended already as no packages are being accepted with the Oct. 1 end date nearing.


 Reduction in routes would also cause several connection problems across the long-distance grid, as Capon said it could result in two-day layovers in Chicago for some routes. 
 Cramer and Hoeven said they have been fighting to keep the service, but their offices didn't respond about the bailout funding Amtrak CEO William Flynn said is needed to keep daily long-distance routes.


 Cramer's office on Wednesday provided a letter sent to Flynn by a bipartisan group of senators this summer that said service reduction would not only result in layoffs but "eliminate thousands of points of connection ... and irrevocably hurt hundreds of communities and small towns already devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic." 

 Hoeven, who also signed the letter, said in a statement Wednesday that they have worked hard to support Amtrak's operations. He said the service was given $1 billion as part of the CARES Act in addition to $1.3 billion for long-distance trains through the annual appropriations process.


 He said they "continue working to maintain North Dakotans' access to this important service."



https://www.inforum.com/business/transportation/6665048-All-Aboard-group-ND-senators-fight-to-stop-Amtrak-reductions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/20 20:59 by GenePoon.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  Nelson said previous Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson
> once said, "We don't want to run trains in the
> middle of nowhere where nobody lives."

Anderson, even being a "nice guy" and a "good CEO," worked most of his professional life in the airline industry. It should be no surprise that he is ignorant of the revenue loss outpacing the cost cut gains with the "tri-weekly" reduction.

Add to the fact that along with Moorman, his short stint at Amtrak primarily helps the retirement benefits tax break he got from his previous gig. No motivation or incentive to think long term interests for Amtrak. Just a short term attempt at "profitability" is all he can or did do.

We'll see if Flynn will be able to do something, with Anderson as a "consultant" and Gardner feeding him Amtrak "knowledge."
 

Good luck with that.

The Senate may have some more pressing business to attend to right now...

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg’s death couldn’t have come at a worse time... Amtrak will be on the very back burner— it’s almost all over, sadly...

Amtrak HQ staff looking for atlas to find N.D.
Followed by fruitless search of their website to find a pdf
timetable that shows what train goes through N.D.

If it happens it's because the country allowed it's elected officials to do it. In a democracy we get the government we deserve. 

Conjecture and butt-hurt hyperbole aside from this fact.  

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All Aboard group, ND senators fight to stop Amtrak
> reductions 
> The Forum, Fargo/Moorhead, ND
>
> Written By: Barry Amundson | Sep 20th 2020 - 6am.

>  Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, both
> Republicans who advocated for the Empire Builder
> to keep running, didn't respond when asked whether
> they would support the bailout.
>
>  Cramer and Hoeven said they have been fighting
> to keep the service, but their offices didn't
> respond about the bailout funding Amtrak CEO
> William Flynn said is needed to keep daily
> long-distance routes.

This is the only significant part of the story.

Gordon

Molino Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If it happens it's because the country allowed
> it's elected officials to do it. In a democracy we
> get the government we deserve. 
>
> Conjecture and butt-hurt hyperbole aside from this
> fact.  

or maybe because the voters have NOT demanded that amtrak l.d. trains be a priority in their lives.............

66



 

I must have missed the part where North Dakota's two senators stood with Kansas senator Tom Moran (R) and New Mexico senator Marty Hinrich (D) when these guys were fighting for the Southwest Limited. There are 28(?) senators in Amtrak served states west of the Mississippi River, where were they when budgets were approved and accountability overlooked?

Idaho, Montana, too.

have the MAJORITY of voters in America demanded that amtrak be a priority in their lives?

if the MAJORITY of voters in America had our concern for daily l.d. trains, i doubt we would be having this discussion..........

66



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/20 06:56 by goneon66.

In America, the majority of voters at times do not get what (or who) they want. Trains would not necessarily be any different.

B&OBill

bandob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In America, the majority of voters at times do not
> get what (or who) they want. Trains would not
> necessarily be any different.
>
> B&OBill

and i think IF we had the majority of voters demanding that amtrak l.d. trains REMAIN daily it would help our cause...........

66

goneon66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> have the MAJORITY of voters in America demanded
> that amtrak be a priority in their lives?
>
> if the MAJORITY of voters in America had our
> concern for daily l.d. trains, i doubt we would be
> having this discussion..........
>
> 66

The MAJORITY of American voters don't even know that long-distance passenger trains exist. It's over. A perfect storm. It's amazing they lasted 50 years.

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GenePoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >  Nelson said previous Amtrak CEO Richard
> Anderson
> > once said, "We don't want to run trains in the
> > middle of nowhere where nobody lives."
>
> Anderson, even being a "nice guy" and a "good
> CEO," worked most of his professional life in the
> airline industry. It should be no surprise that he
> is ignorant of the revenue loss outpacing the cost
> cut gains with the "tri-weekly" reduction.
>
> Add to the fact that along with Moorman, his short
> stint at Amtrak primarily helps the retirement
> benefits tax break he got from his previous gig.
> No motivation or incentive to think long term
> interests for Amtrak. Just a short term attempt at
> "profitability" is all he can or did do.
>
> We'll see if Flynn will be able to do something,
> with Anderson as a "consultant" and Gardner
> feeding him Amtrak "knowledge."
>  

Airline Boy didn't take the time to look at the bigger picture on Amtrak's LD Trains, how come he wanted to spit the Chief 2 years ago! If I was Flynn though Id give Airline Boy and Mr. Know it All the finger and work on making Amtrak better by listening to the people who know how Amtrak works and make it better!