Amtrak is a vital public transportation service and an economic benefit to communities on several rustbelt routes, especially the Capitol Limited, which travels daily from Washington to Chicago and back, making stops in cities including Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Toledo, and South Bend, Ind.
Plans to cut service on the Capitol Limited line to three days a week starting in October are shortsighted and hit cities with train stops hard as communities continue to reel from the economic catastrophe wrought by coronavirus.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur took the lead and offered an amendment to a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill expressing the sense of Congress against reductions in service by Amtrak.
Her fellow members, Democrat and Republican, agreed, and the amendment passed unanimously.
“An economic downturn is not the time to scale back investment in rail. … After receiving over $1 billion from the CARES Act, Amtrak’s plans to limit services of long-distance routes is unacceptable,” Miss Kaptur said.
Amtrak should reconsider the plan and keep the Capitol Limited and other long-distance trains on track. Fiscal year 2019 was Amtrak’s best year and before coronavirus hit, the future of the railway looked positive. Slashing service as a way to cope with decreased passenger traffic ignores the long-term picture and the long-term need for passenger rail service.
This is not the time to slash service. Remember, Amtrak has about 18,000 employees whose paychecks bring money into the communities in which they live and work. And the impact of tourists who prefer a train ride, and people traveling for work or to visit family, has a significant economic impact.
Amtrak carries 32.5 million passengers a year, with 500 stops along the train lines in 46 states and the District of Columbia. The rail lines cover 21,400 miles.
Bus lines, taxis, Uber and Lyft drivers, restaurants and hotels, all have income from Amtrak and its passenger train traffic.
The economic impact of Amtrak strongly impacts the states and cities through which it runs. Further, Amtrak provides service to many smaller rust belt towns with no other long-distance passenger service available — think Alliance, Ohio, and Connellsville, Pa.
Toledo’s is the busiest Amtrak station in Ohio. In 2018 more than 51,000 passengers got on and off Amtrak trains in Toledo. Ohio benefited to the tune of nearly $20 million in earnings by workers directly and indirectly from Amtrak. In fiscal year 2016, the last year for which full statistics are available, the train system purchased $24 million in services in Ohio.
While the plan is for the cuts in service to last through 2021, the reality is that once a service of this type is cut, it rarely returns. If the railway plans to return to full service in 2021, as they say, there is not much sense for the temporary suspensions that will throw train employees into unemployment and cut the means for many visitors to visit Toledo, Pittsburgh, and other cities on the Capitol Limited route that are reopening.
That would be a tragedy. The resolution by the House shows strong support for maintaining Amtrak services across party lines. Amtrak should accept the will of the people’s representatives.
Amtrak should look to the future and not allow the coronavirus to impact service to many communities in middle America.
Service on the Capitol Limited and other Amtrak long-distance lines should be maintained while both Amtrak and the nation ride out the pandemic.
First Published July 5, 2020, 4:00 a.m.