McCain misses the train on Amtrak

[Bravo Zulu]

McCain misses the train on Amtrak
Thursday, October 09, 2008
By Brian O'Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As Americans begin figuring out how to wean ourselves from foreign oil, there is some good news.
Preliminary numbers from Amtrak show about 28.7 million riders rode the intercity trains in the past fiscal year, nearly 2 million more than the year before.
Better still, despite the system's fuel costs rising $100 million, the federal subsidy went up only about $49 million.

That was helpful not only to a country needing to move more people with less fuel, but to the millions of Americans who rode the rails on trips that average more than 200 miles.
With airlines cutting flights to survive and their shorter hops disappearing, passenger trains seem poised to fill in the blanks. But if Amtrak is to provide an attractive alternative to driving or flying, it needs more frequent, convenient and reliable service.

Three odd-hour trains a day from Pittsburgh -- one to Philadelphia, one to Chicago and one to Washington, D.C. -- won't cut it, and many cities don't even have it this good.
So it should be little surprise that the Senate voted 74-24 last week to approve a five-year, $13 billion bill to expand Amtrak service. It's only an authorization -- Congress hasn't appropriated any money yet -- but with a similarly overwhelming vote in the House, this authorization looks veto-proof.

Amtrak, which long has lived from hand to mouth, may finally do the kind of multiyear planning that could give America a national rail system worthy of the name.
This is an area of clear disagreement between the two presidential candidates. Sen. Barack Obama voted for the Amtrak bill. Sen. John McCain was among the 24 Republican senators voting no.
Though Mr. McCain has been a longtime critic of Amtrak, his vote still surprised me, given passenger rail's rebound.

When I e-mailed his Senate office, a spokesman replied that while the bill had some good provisions, "after more than 35 years of subsidizing Amtrak, no one should believe that either the Congress or Amtrak will live up to the promises made in the bill in terms of funding or performance."
Six consecutive years of increased ridership and an increase of more than 6 million riders this year over 2003 is of no apparent consequence. The spokesman said Mr. McCain also objects to the $1.5 billion "earmark" for the Washington Metro system, and doesn't see these expenditures as national priorities.

Forget, if you can, that this is a presidential year. There can't be many single-issue voters on train travel and, given the overwhelming congressional support, it's possible that funding for Amtrak will arrive no matter who the next president is. Let's just talk about subsidies.
Mr. McCain's campaign Web site touts a $2 billion annual subsidy for "clean coal technology" and continuing the tax credits for wind energy until we reach "the point where renewable energy no longer merits the taxpayers' dollars." So Mr. McCain believes subsidies are OK in some cases. He's just not for using them to move more than 28 million people each year, not even if all those folks use less energy than they would driving or flying.
It should be clear to everyone by now that there will be no single solution to reducing dependence on foreign oil. More drilling? Yes. Nuclear energy? Yes. Hybrid cars? Yes. Wind energy and clean coal? Yes. More trains and mass transit?

How can that get a "no"?

All major forms of transportation are subsidized. Some subsidies just aren't obvious. Gasoline taxes maintain highways but don't pay for traffic cops, traffic lights, paving of city streets, road salting or local planners, and just try getting to work without them.
Unlike other pie-in-the-sky or wind-in-the-sky plans, trains could make an impact quickly.
For those who fancy war metaphors, passenger trains won't be the smart bombs in our energy fight, but the ground troops.

This Amtrak bill promises an 80 percent match to states providing 20 percent of funding for passenger rail improvements. The Ohio Rail Development Commission master plan includes $650 million to provide eight fast trains in each direction between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Even one more slow train would be helpful. The midnight train that arrives in Cleveland at 2:41 a.m. seems aggressively uninviting. With this bill, maybe there's another train coming.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08283/918547-155.stm?cmpid=bcpanel1

[kimmerspixelated]

1. Don't forget:

His "straight talk express lost a wheel" the other night!

[monmouth]

2. I rode a train for years from the Jersey Shore into Manhattan. The only way to go...n/t

[AndyTiedye]

3. McCain's Preferred Transport is Private Jet Provided by Lobbyists

k/r :kick: