With the ongoing (and stubborn) federal budget debate in Washington, DC, it is still uncertain what areas of funding will be cut, sustained, or increased in the upcoming months and years. The governmental gridlock will have to give one way or the other eventually (won't it?) as Congress and President Obama attempt to sort out the financial woes of the American public and the country. Much of the most aggressive cutting -percentage wise- has been proposed for industries that many claim could operate (and perhaps more successfully and lucratively!) in the private sector without federal funding.
Amtrak has had a pretty turbulent history in the past 40 years since being organized under the National Railroad Passenger Association and the U.S. government in 1971 in an attempt to save the declining utilization of the rail system in the United States.
The United States currently has one of the least often used rail systems in a developed country. This could be due to a number of factors: 1.) High costs- for a ticket from New York to Philadelphia on Amtrak's Acela Express, $105.00; for a ticket on Bolt Bus from New York to Philadelphia, $13.00 (though the bus takes about two hours to the train's one). 2.) Abundant lack of readily available, convenient, affordable, and practical mass regional transit (think of areas like Los Angeles, San Diego, etc that have dreadfully slow and often unreliable mass transportation systems within the region despite the immense population and screaming need for such a phenomenon) 3.) Much of the United States has been designed around the concept of automobile travel, not a shared transportation system that is integrated into cities and connected to other hubs around the U.S. 4.) Amtrak needs to modernize and extend its accessibility to more travelers.
These fundamental issues are nearly impossible to overcome without a surge of funding in support of establishing the sorely needed regional transit systems (buses, subway, metro), improved infrastructure that stretches state and country-wide, and a push towards the long term sustainability of mass transit as opposed to most of America relying on personal automobiles to get from point A to point B.
Now for the update:
An Amtrak app is now available on iTunes that allows users to plan and book travel, modify reservations, check train status, explore stations and connect to their Amtrak Guest Rewards accounts.
Amtrak is ditching the 120 year old technology of the "ticket-punch" for checking rider's tickets. In California and New England, Amtrak is running pilot programs in which conductors are using handheld readers to scan ticket bar codes rather than the paper-punches- a move towards the 21st century.
Public transportation may offer the best possible medium for utilizing renewable energy resources like solar and wind power and helping to reduce America's consumption of foreign oil. (Take a look at this from California's Department of Energy for a closer look: http://www.energy.ca.gov/2010-ALT-1/index.html)
The House just passed a bill on Friday, September 9,2011, that has been called the "Kill-Amtrak" bill by NARP.
From the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP):
"The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation & Housing proposed slashing funding for Amtrak to $1.1 billion—a reduction of more than $357 million from what Amtrak received in FY2011. Significantly, the operating grant would be cut 60%--from $563 million in 2010 and 2011, down to $227 million. The bill requires states to pay 100% of costs of operations of short corridors. This apparently overrides ongoing negotiations among states and Amtrak aimed at complying with Amtrak’s 2008 reauthorization law."
"The High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail program—a highly oversubscribed program that has seen 39 states apply for funds to improve (and introduce) modern passenger trains for the 135 million Americans that live in a community connected to a rail corridor—was given no funding at all. Eliminating this program would set U.S. interstate transportation back by decades, severely undermining America's ability to stay globally competitive."
Fortunately for Amtrak and rail enthusiasts, it is very unlikely this bill will go anywhere in the Democratic majority Senate, especially given President Obama's freshly unveiled (Monday September 12, 2011) jobs plan.
Obama's $447 billion proposed piece of legislation includes $4 billion in funding for high-speed rail projects and states that at least 85 percent of the funds "shall be for cooperative agreements that lead to the development of entire segments or phases of intercity or high-speed rail corridors."
In addition, the proposal includes $2 billion for struggling Amtrak (much in counter to the House's latest actions above).
There is a lot of speculation about what will happen to projects like California's high-speed rail plan between LA and San Francisco, but I suppose time will tell soon enough.
For more on sustainable public transportation, check out: http://www.railvolution.org/
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