Contact congressional delegation about bullseye on Amtrak

The Rail Passengers Association — a 50-year old passenger train advocacy group — is “pulling the alarm bell” regarding the future of Amtrak long-distance services. There is good evidence that a major discussion going on within Amtrak to consider cutting and reconfiguring its long distance trains — including the Empire Builder across Montana’s Hi-Line — to operate but 3 days a week. These discussions are apparently happening due to presidential influences in the White House, in the U.S. Department of Transportation and Amtrak board.

Amtrak may use safety concerns like Positive Train Control as an excuse to “temporarily” suspend services. PTC is a largely-unfunded mandate passed by Congress to install an expensive “fail-safe” safety system on most routes in the United States that have rail passenger service. While the deadline to have PTC installed was initially set back to 2020, recent incidents involving passenger trains have caused many in the government to push for implementation by Dec. 31, 2018. Canadian Pacific, which operates the Empire Builder from Chicago to St. Paul, expects not to have their PTC system running by year’s end, which could allow discontinuance or truncation of service.

This is not the only threat to Amtrak and long-distance trains. In its budget proposal released Feb. 12, the Trump Administration proposed the elimination of funding for all Amtrak long-distance trains, just three days after the president signed Congress’s two-year budget including funding for these trains.

Additionally, there is the long-standing threat faced by nearly all Amtrak trains of aging equipment. The Superliner fleet used on the Empire Builder is especially in jeopardy as some of these cars are 40 years old. Even with continued funding for operation, trains are in danger of being discontinued simply because there will no longer be operable equipment. Amtrak has discontinued route-specific marketing and on-board amenities — and may cut other amenities such as dining car service — in a misguided move to slash costs.

Please contact your U.S. senators and representatives about this threat and urge them to contact Amtrak directly — specifically Amtrak president Richard Anderson and Robert Dorsch, vice president, Long Distance Service Line — to get straight answers about their plans, and to remind them that a reduced long-distance service is not what Congress has authorized. Also, remind your senators and representatives that Amtrak needs additional, and ongoing, funding to maintain and obtain equipment that will keep the service attractive and viable going forward.

Amtrak’s long-distance trains have always had a bullseye on them, but with both internal and external threats looming, as well as just general apathy by Congress, this one is real and has a very good chance of occurring if the constituency doesn’t make their collective voice heard.

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Mark Meyer, native of Cut Bank

Portland, Oregon

Member, Rail Passengers Association