Passenger Trains > Amtrak commitment to restore Gulf coast service

Below is a condensed news article discussing the proposal for Amtrak service to Mobile AL.  What’s interesting is the opposition from Politicians, Business leaders AND Labor leaders.  A trifecta of opposition.  The Politicians talk of “joy rides for the affluent.”  Business worry that passenger rail schedules will negatively impact CSX freight movements from the port.  Labor thinks passenger rail for the “wealthy” vs. CSX freight shipments will impact Port “jobs”.  All the while Amtrak is attempting to adapt its network to changing American demographic realties.

Amtrak Wants to Expand Across the Nation. Local Politics Might Intervene.

Amtrak’s plans for expansion have stirred the politics of some communities across the South, and complicated the rail agency’s attempt to bolster passenger service in the region.

The chief port executive of Mobile, Ala., said he was scared that Amtrak might take jobs away from the port, as the national rail system seeks to expand a stretch of track from the city to New Orleans for passenger travel. A city councilman said any city money spent toward expanding rail service in the Gulf Coast corridor was simply funding a “joy ride for the affluent.”  Despite the opposition, the city’s plans to greenlight the expansion are underway, and congressional lawmakers, including Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, have backed the development.

Expanding nationwide service has been an elusive goal for Amtrak. Since 1971 the rail routes Amtrak offers to customers have largely remained unchanged. The goal is to create rail offerings in areas where there are dense clusters of population looking for an alternative to airplanes for trips under 400 miles. Achieving this would help Amtrak adapt its network to where the American population is growing.  “The network has not changed with the nation, we’ve got to put service where the people are”, said an Amtrak spokesman.

Rail experts noted that the situation in Mobile shows the difficulties in realizing Amtrak’s growth plans. Rail advocacy groups say that it was not uncommon for communities to see the debate fracture into an arguments over whether local funds should go toward subsidizing rail travel for the wealthy. “They will deploy the old arguments because they do resonate. As long as the conversation continues to be ‘why are we subsidizing land cruises for old people?’ you’re never going to get anywhere”, said the president of the Rail Passengers Association.

A former board chairman of Amtrak said that negotiating with freight rail companies continually delays Amtrak’s expansion plans.  Amtrak has often argued with freight rail companies over terms and price the companies have proposed to mitigate any financial or operational impact that comes with sharing the tracks. In Mobile, local officials made city funding for Amtrak expansion contingent on, among other things, a study showing that jobs in the port of Mobile would not be negatively affected by Amtrak expansion. Freight rail corporations like CSX disagreed with previous iterations of the study, and pressed for new analysis.

“If we don’t resolve the issues between passenger rail, the freights and "subsidizing land cruises for old people", all of the rest. . . is just happy talk,” said the Chairman of Transportation for America, an advocacy group, referring to any bipartisan support surrounding railway expansion efforts.
 

It would be nice if you provided a link to the article from which you copied the text.

The Trifecta of opposition sounds like disguised nimbyism to me......that is a scourge that has cost this country many advances, and is a thing we will never be able to rid ourselves of. 

The source is behind a paywall.  This is my attempt at a relevant condensation of a rather long article.  The issues around a possible restart of Gulf Coast Amtrak seems to be of current interest on TO.

Sounds like blind idiots to me, go figure the 4 Republicans trying to eleminate the money from Amtrak in the stimulus bill!

Lost in the fog of only 50 years of history is breaking news.

Coming up on 50 years ago, there were no freight railroads, there were railroads. There were more passenger trains than Amtrak runs. More of those trains were on time than Amtrak trains are on time. Most freight customers got better freight service than they do now. Yet these pathetic arguments against ONE passenger train are treated as though they were scripture engraved in stone on a mountain top.

Those who don't know history are consigned to everlasting ignorance (stupidity?).

TAW

I believe there have been several threads on the Port of Mobile's concern with any revival of Amtrak service.  The highly influential, and very well connected, authority has not been supportive.  One prior go-around had the proposed station far out of town.

ETA:  The Port of Mobile actively opposed the siting of a station anywhere near downtown, according to this 12/2019 thread on the former deal to restore service.  They are not excited about a station out by the airport, either.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4921715,4922017#msg-4922017



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/21 17:04 by Lackawanna484.

“Subsidizing cruise travel for the wealthy”? Have any of these %#s clowns ever ridden a Amtrak LDT? Get on the coaches on 5/6 and spot all the millionaires riding. I’m sorry but if the Gulf Coast cities want to play that game there are other avenues to explore for business.

I have other opinions on this but I don’t want to open that can of worms, political speculation needs to stay out of it.

Posted from iPhone

"Subsidizing cruise travel for the wealthy"

We already do that. The Army Corp dredges out waterways to accommodate humongous cruise ships, which seem to be a dying industry anyway. Evidently aristocrats don't ride trains, so we can't have any. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/21 05:21 by joemvcnj.

The Wall Street Journal did a hit job on private luxury rail cars a few years ago which has become an article of faith on the political right.

Better to fly in highly subsidized private aircraft...

Posted from Android

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Coming up on 50 years ago, there were no freight
> railroads, there were railroads. There were more
> passenger trains than Amtrak runs. More of those
> trains were on time than Amtrak trains are on
> time. Most freight customers got better freight
> service than they do now. Yet these pathetic
> arguments against ONE passenger train are treated
> as though they were scripture engraved in stone on
> a mountain top.

Its a shame we didn't go the route of subsidizing the existing passenger system via tax credits back in the mid-1960's when it was still a decent system.

I laugh when I read articles like this.  There is nothing stopping lawmakers from restoring (or Amtrak from advocating for) the more favorable pre-1996 legal environment for Amtrak vis-a-vis the railroads, or from providing a framework for an actual national interstate rail system or limiting the old 403B and now Section 209 issue to solely intrastate operations.  The lawmakers could set up funds to expand the railroad network through a trust fund, they could focus on meaningful improvements like taking a penny of gas tax and eliminating the most dangerous rail crossings every year, they could fund restoration of critical lines downgraded or abandoned by the railroads.  Its not as if these are complex issues without solutions.

Occasionally I open up some old employee timetables to look at something and stare in bewilderment at what has been lost.  Just yesterday I was paging through the Milwaukee Road's and marvelling at the line being double track and rated for 90 mph from Milwaukee to St. Paul, a distance of over 300 miles.  What kind of idiots are we throwing away what we had and then wondering how to get it back?

"Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost."

The class 1 railroads have had a process to invest in their plant and equipment forever. They create a capital improvements list, and fund it to the extent they wish each year. It's part of the same financial analysis that produces a dividend distribution, and a decision to buy back stock with internally generated or borrowed money.

If the feds wanted to increase railroad investment in the physical plant of track and equipment, they could slide an accelerated depreciation opportunity into the tax bill. In essence, the railroad gets to take more off the tax bill if they expand or improve the right of way, signals, locomotives, computer system, etc.  It created a tsunami of boxcars when they solved that alleged shortage...

4thDistrict Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nope, wrong again! All of those ports are
> predominently maintained for commercial shipping
> such as cargo and commodities. The cruise lines
> piggy-back on those improvements and typically pay
> most of the cost for any port improvements meant
> only for them. And until the pandemic cruise lines
> were one of the fast growing industries in the
> nation and world. When this panedmic is under
> control, it will rebound like it always has.
>
> It's pretty clear you have never been on a cruise
> ship and know absolutely noting about that
> industry.
>
> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > "Subsidizing cruise travel for the wealthy"
> >
> > We already do that. The Army Corp dredges out
> > waterways to accommodate humongous cruise
> ships,
> > which seem to be a dying industry anyway.
> > Evidently aristocrats don't ride trains, so we
> > can't have any. 

4thDistrict, thank you for providing the factual information. Much like passenger trains, cruises are often the target of those uneducated about the industry. Cruise lines are reporting record breaking bookings for 2022 at higher than ever prices as demand is so strong. Those who cruise know what an excellent vacation value it is and the economic impact is has on the US and foreign ports of call. Part of the cruise cost is taxes and port fees that go to the local ports to maintain operations. 

In fact, once the gulf coast service is restored, I plan to take the train from Biloxi to New Orleans or Mobile to board a cruise. This will save me money over parking at the port. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/21 06:40 by Genesis803.