Category: Letters

TO: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials; 

U.S. House of Representatives
2029 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

October 2, 2023.

We are writing to express our organization’s concerns regarding Amtrak’s recent announcement about the return of the Floridian.  The Rail Users’ Network represents riders of long-distance rail, commuter rail, and transit rail. While it may sound good that a long-absent train – Amtrak’s Floridian – is returning, there is much to consider about this “return.” Yes, this will give travelers from the midwest a direct, one-seat ride to the sunshine state. But, this route is hardly “the Floridian” that everyone remembers. This route replicates Amtrak’s Capitol Limited between Chicago and Washington, D.C., then utilizes the route of the Silver Star to make its way down the east coast to Florida. While doing so, it removes the traditional Silver Star from service north of Washington, D.C.. Riders from the northeast have traditionally had at least two direct trains to Florida – the Silver Star, and the Silver Meteor. These were scheduled at different times of the day to give more convenient schedules to riders who needed to get to Florida, Georgia, or the Carolinas. Amtrak’s new proposal will end the traditional Silver Star route, and riders from the northeast who wanted a morning departure to Florida will have to take a connection train from New York or points south to Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, where they will have to transfer themselves and their luggage to another train to get to Florida. If  for some reason the train from Chicago is delayed, they would have to hang around Union Station waiting for their train to Florida. Another ridiculous aspect of this new “Floridian”, would be that it bypasses large population centers in the south, making it far less useful than it could be. Cities such as Louisville, Nashville, & Atlanta – obvious places a Chicago to Florida train should serve – would not get the train service they have been waiting for for years. Ironically, the state of Georgia is very interested in their Savannah, Macon, Atlanta corridor, and having the Floridian serve that corridor on its way to  & from Florida would cement the need for that important corridor to get the additional service it needs and deserves. And having corridor trains frequently serving that corridor would bring additional ridership to the Floridian, boosting the corridor & long-distance trains, in an obvious and economically viable exchange that benefits not only Georgia, but surrounding states as well. 

Sincerely,

Richard Rudolph, Ph.D., Chairman, Rail Users Network  

Andrew Albert, MTA Board Member, and Chair of the NYC Transit Riders Council.

Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

U.S. House of Representatives
2029 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515


RE: Letter of Support for the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to
H.R. 8692 Offered by Mr. Nehls of Texas



To Whom It May Concern,

We, the members of the Rail Users Network (RUN), a national rail advocacy
with home office in Massachusetts, write to offer our strong support for
the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (ANS) to H.R. 8692 which wouldmake Amtrak subject to 5 USC 552b, the Open Meetings statute.

M r. Joseph Boardman who was the president of Amtrak at the time said in
2018, “Amtrak is not a privately held corporation whose fate is to be
determined by a few individuals behind closed doors. It was created by the
people and for the people and is funded by taxpayers who help to supplement Amtrak’s farebox revenue.” ¹

As a *publicly-funded* national passenger rail service, Amtrak’s Board
meetings should therefore be open to the public and the media, with its
meeting agendas, minutes, and other materials presented at and to the board made available so that those interested can better understand how Amtrak conducts its business.

Research on this issue has shown that almost every other publicly-supported entity that provides passenger rail service in the United States (for example, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, and other such entities in the Midwest and West) holds open and transparent board meetings, and we strongly believe that Amtrak, in the best public interest, should do so as well. In 1972 Congress amended the
Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 by adding a statute that required Amtrak
to be subject TO Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

In 1997 Congress passed the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act which updated the statute so that Amtrak to be required to be subject to the FOIA, “for any fiscal year in which Amtrak receives a Federal subsidy.” Our understanding is that the members of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials have agreed to the text of the ANS to H.R. 8692 by bipartisan agreement.

 We applaud the membership of this subcommittee for taking bipartisan action to prepare legislation that, if enacted, would finally make Amtrak subject to 5 USC 552b, the Open Meetings statute.

Sincerely,

Richard Rudolph, Ph.D., Chairman, Rail Users Network  

¹ Boardman, Joseph A. (May 10, 2018), “Amtrak: Where is the public input?
Where is the transparency?”, Railway Age that required Amtrak to be subject  TO the Freedom of Information Act”

August 19, 2023

USDOT:  Pete Buttigieg (Cabinet Secretary)
FRA:  Amit Bose, Administrator
FTA:  Nuria Fernandez, Administrator 

To: contactus@fralongdistancerailstudy.org 

Subject: Comment letter on Round 2 on FRA Long-Distance Service Study

The Federal Railroad Administration has twice this year asked for input regarding passenger rail in the United States.  As a nationally recognized rail passenger advocacy organization, RUN answered the request for public comment on the Federal Railroad Administration’s Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study.

 This is a follow up to our March 13, 2023 comment letter on the FRA Long Distance study, which included our recommendations for an enhanced passenger rail system with additional routes and services. We now respond to the second call for additional input to the Conceptual Enhanced Network which the FRA has proposed based upon input received thus far.

To reiterate and clarify our position, RUN advocates on behalf of all riders on rail-based transportation, whether Amtrak or local rail transit. We appreciate the importance of Amtrak in providing mobility throughout most of the nation, and we also advocate for improved connectivity between Amtrak and local rail transit.

Members of RUN have studied the report developed by the FRA which has explained the methodology used to develop the enhanced network, and deeply appreciate the legislative considerations guiding that planned development.  Hopefully this effort will not only enhance connectivity between major cities and regions and will also connect rural and/or less advantaged communities between those cities and within those regions.  Enhanced and expanded routes will result in a true system of interconnected passenger rail routes producing increase ridership as well as developing and increasing local and state economies.  

 Enhanced Network:

For the maximum public benefit of this Long Distance Study, we need the FRA to champion the expansion and improvement of the Amtrak long distance network, after the conclusion of this study process.   

We ask that the FRA prioritize several projects to serve as test cases to prove the merits of this enhanced system.  For the credibility of FRA and Amtrak, we need some near-term wins of “low-hanging fruit” routes that would require minimal new infrastructure. It could be a new route or an improved current route, but improvements needed should be accomplished to demonstrate the effectiveness of enhancements to passenger rail.  We suggest the following restorations of service:

·      Daily service on the Cardinal and Sunset Limited

·      The Desert Wind from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles (with perhaps initial service SLC- Las Vegas)

·      The Pioneer from Seattle and Portland to Salt Lake City via Idaho

·      A new route from Meridian, MS to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

·      The Floridian directly connecting the upper Midwest to Florida via Atlanta

·      The Broadway Limited from New York to Chicago

·      The North Coast Hiawatha from Seattle through southern Montana’s major cities to   Chicago 

·      The Rocky Mountain Flyer, connecting El Paso, Albuquerque, Denver, Casper and Helena, MT to Shelby, MT.

Our proposals, if implemented, will allow for this enhanced network carrying many more       travelers to many more destinations to become even more successful.

Following the ‘conceptual-level identification of capacity improvements’ in this Long-Distance study, the FRA needs to subsequently work with host railroads and others on more in-depth engineering studies to itemize and provide cost estimates on infrastructure capital projects needed along each of the proposed new/enhanced/restored corridors.  The current study should recommend a path forward for this work to begin as soon as possible. 

Also worthy of investigation are new policy incentives for host railroad capacity improvement projects  

 Economic and Social Well-Being of Rural Areas, Rural Accessibility:

We are very pleased to see that the study will prioritize rural and disadvantaged communities not served by existing passenger rail network, including tribal lands. 

There are also many urban, suburban and rural residents alike who do not “choose” to live without personally driving their own car. They might be too young or too old to drive, have a disability that does not allow them to drive, or they might not be able to afford to buy, insure and maintain a car. The concept of “Universal Basic Mobility” is gaining popularity. It is idea that all citizens should have a decent range of affordable transport options, regardless of their socioeconomic status, disabilities, or geographic location.

 An expanded nationwide system of regional and intercity passenger rail coordinated with local public transit would enable more urban and rural low-income families to access health care, education, jobs, and community life. It is also true for youth, elders and the disabled who neither can afford a car or no longer want to drive. Expansion of passenger rail service would also improve transportation access and help support local economies in rural communities, cities, suburbs, and Native American reservations.

As part of this study, FRA needs to measure both the public and economic benefits of Long Distance trains, including quantifying (in dollars) both direct and indirect benefits to local economies.

Measures of Effectiveness and Benefits:

 Transportation safety benefits of Long Distance trains-

One important benefit to rural travelers provided by the Amtrak long-distance trains is a safer alternative to driving. Rural residents make up less than 20% of the U.S. population, but account for about half of the total number of traffic fatalities nationwide, due to higher per-capita miles driven (or being a passenger in car for more miles).

The FRA study should estimate the safety benefits (reduced car accidents) of existing and new Amtrak Long Distance train services. 

Environmental and energy efficiency benefits of Long Distance trains-

The FRA study should estimate the environmental benefits (estimates of reduced pollution, fuel consumption compared to driving) of existing and new Amtrak Long Distance train services.  Particularly important is estimation of the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions enabled by Amtrak long-distance train services- both new and existing. 

Equipment:

An essential step for improving Amtrak long distance service is the acquisition of new equipment: there are currently not enough locomotives and passenger cars (the Superliner fleet) in a good state of repair to reliably sustain the existing Amtrak Long Distance Network.  

This FRA study needs to estimate how much new equipment is needed for these routes, and how much service can be supported with refurbishment/repair of existing Long-Distance equipment not-in-service (in storage at Beech Grove yard?).   FRA needs to make specific recommendations to Amtrak on procurement of new Long-Distance equipment, and help find ways to expedite this procurement. 

The FRA study should also investigate maintenance requirements for new Long- Distance services, including possible locations for new Amtrak maintenance facilities. 

FRA study team should engage rail advocacy groups to address passenger comfort in designs for new long-distance Amtrak equipment.  

Congress has recently allocated funding to restore to service the hundreds of cars and locomotives currently out of service for maintenance/overhaul/rebuilding.

Rail passenger advocates using government information sources have concluded that several daily, on-time trains each way on a route are proven to lure and keep people riding the rails.  

We propose building to this several-trains-per-day concept as new rolling stock is manufactured and put into regular service.  By our estimates, approximately 10,000 new passenger cars of various configurations will be required to supply a minimum of six daily trains for each of the current routes as well as the new proposed routes.  We can begin this process by making every passenger train in the US a daily service.

As a side note, this manufacturing base along with the numerous component manufacturers will provide hundreds, if not thousands of new good-paying jobs throughout the United States.  These jobs will, in turn, provide for subsidiary jobs which invariably spring up around the communities in which they are located.

 Crew resources:

 The FRA study needs to examine needs and strategies for hiring, training and retaining crew for Long Distance trains. The Covid relief funds provided by Congress should have enabled Amtrak to maintain its existing crews,  but instead it furloughed personnel.  These layoffs have severely impacted Amtrak’s ability to both crew the trains as well as maintain and repair the equipment needed for the trains, as short as they currently are, to still operate.   

Host railroads:

 Freight train interference/on-time performance.  Freight railroads have been required by law to provide Amtrak with “preference”.  This law is often ignored and as a result passengers suffer as well as the American economy.  Federal legislation is required to hold freight rail companies accountable and to allow Amtrak to defend its legal rights and ensure p=passengers are not unfairly delayed by freight trains.  We would also like to see better co-operation between Amtrak and the host railroads to capture back some of the business which should be hauled by rail.  By doing so, some of the unnecessary truck traffic which has also resulted in a driver shortage and more expensive shipping rates could be relieved.

Sincerely,

Richard Rudolph, Ph.D., Chairman, Rail Users Network 207-776-4961. rrudolph1022@gmail.com

Andrew Albert, Vice Chairman, Rail Users Network aalbertnyc1@gmail.com

June 10, 2023
Representative Sam Graves. US Congress 6th District of Missouri

Dear Representative Sam Graves:

August 30, 2022
Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Dear Secretary Buttigieg:

We are writing on behalf of our members, as well as the millions of Americans who depend on public transportation on a regular basis to travel to work, see relatives, seek medical attention, food and other necessities of life. While we certainly appreciate the funding that Amtrak has received through the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) it appears that Amtrak management is once again setting the stage to further reduce passenger service on its long-distance routes. Currently, the three trains from Chicago to the West Coast are running every day, as well as the Lakeshore Limited to New York and the section of the train to Boston. In the southern part of the country, however, the Silver Meteor remains suspended and the City of New Orleans from New Orleans to Chicago and the Crescent to New York remain on a five-day schedule until October 2.

To make matters worse, Amtrak has been running shorter consists than has been customary despite demand that has exceeded the level from the past two summers and coach passengers are no longer permitted to purchase a meal or even enter the dining car. There are also reports of passenger cars backed up at the Amtrak shops at Beech Grove, Indiana for repairs. A reliable source in rail-blogging circles has reported that Amtrak is considering cutting service again this fall either to five days a week or even to three, on the entire long-distance network.

The meltdown of Amtrak’s service is also affecting state supported routes as well. We have just learned that the Wolverine Service which normally operate between Chicago and Pontiac is cancelled with no alternate transportation provided between August 29 through Friday, September 16, 2022.

We believe that Amtrak board must prioritize and designate already appropriated IIJA funding to fully restore Amtrak long distance service. This must include restoring daily service to all of the long-distance routes, repairing out of service equipment as well as developing a procurement program to replace the aging long-distance fleet and to provide adequate dining car staffing so that coach passengers are able to purchase meals in dining cars.

We also request that these issues are brought to Amtrak’s Board of Directors via your designee, Amit Bose, who serves as the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.

We look forward to your response regarding these matters.

Sincerely,

Richard Rudolph, Ph.D., Chairman, Rail Users Network rrudolph1022@gmail.com

Andrew Albert, Vice Chairman, Rail Users Network aalbertnyc1@gmail.com

February 1, 2022
Representative Peter DeFazio
Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Dear Representative DeFazio.

We are once again writing on behalf of our members, as well as the millions of Americans who depend on public transportation on a regular basis to travel to work, see relatives, seek medical attention, food and other necessities of life.

Amtrak management is causing riders and potential riders to think twice before considering taking a rail journey – whether for leisure, business, medical appointments or anything else. This could affect appropriations, as public support for Amtrak is paramount in getting routes – whether national or state-supported, running. Since its inception during the Nixon Administration, Amtrak has operated on a federal budget designed to barely keep it alive, much less flourish.

Evidence from the past suggests that this was intended to promote the idea that passenger rail still existed while allowing the host railroads opportunity to disengage from their own passenger operations and free them to operate only as a freight operation, along with operating at most, one daily Amtrak passenger train. It was expected that Amtrak itself would be gone within five years. Obviously, passenger trains not only did not go away completely, but have gained in popularity over the last fifty years of Amtrak’s existence.

Last year, during the Covid epidemic, Amtrak, not knowing it would receive federal financial assistance, elected to reduce its service by having all trains nationwide, with only two exceptions, running only three days a week. By reducing the frequency of service, Amtrak was also able to reduce their staffing significantly, both on and off the trains.

We advocates advised them not to do this because when funding was secured or when ridership returned, they would be unable to meet that need to return to daily service. Needless to say, we were correct. Amtrak attempted to return to operating most of their routes on a daily basis, but found that many of its furloughed employees had found work elsewhere and/or would not be returning for this or other reasons. Amtrak had also furloughed their hiring and training departments during this time, again ignoring our advice. This has caused an additional severe disruption in its ability to crew the trains, so, Amtrak has, once again through its shortsighted mismanagement, decided to reduce daily service by nearly a third and run its route five days a week or less. This comes after an unprecedented allocation which was given Amtrak last year to get them through the government-mandated business shutdown – $66B ($22B to repair existing equipment and to purchase new equipment, and $44B to improve and expand the state and national network.) was expected to be used for these improvements.

Where Amtrak continues to operate, trains are often leaving their terminals late after experiencing equipment breakdowns. Also problematic, Amtrak has declared that they have insufficient crews to staff their trains so late trains are often made even later because of staffing issues. Why should this be, when Congress appropriated money to support Amtrak when ridership was reduced by government mandates? This is not only unacceptable, but it is a slap in the face of both Congress which provided this public money, as well as the traveling public, who depend upon and use or attempt to use the service. Congress, being the entity holding the purse strings, providing the operational funding for Amtrak, is the proper and responsible body to hold Amtrak accountable for this egregious mismanagement of both public monies, as well as the public trust supporting them.

We are also deeply concerned that Amtrak has unilaterally violated the statutory mandate that it refrain from reducing service on its long-distance trains without giving 210 days’ notice to members of Congress from the affected areas, as required by Section 22210(d) of the newly-enacted infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

We believe this provision was enacted in response to Amtrak’s unilateral act of slashing service on all long-distance trains to three days per week in 2020, and that service on the other four days would not have occurred if Congress had not intervened. Amtrak is now disobeying the spirit and the letter if that Congressional mandate.

We understand that subsection (c) allows a service reduction in case of an emergency, but such railroad emergencies normally involve service disruptions beyond the railroad’s control. Amtrak’s unilateral act of discontinuing many of its runs for a ten-week period (including some shorter runs in the East and Midwest) is within Amtrak’s discrepancy constitutes an abuse if it. If Congress does not direct Amtrak to restore all of these runs no later than March 27 and never to reduce service unilaterally and on short notice again, the daily service that Congress ordered might never run again.

It is important to also understand passenger trains for their transportation needs. While these reasons are singular and personal to each individual rider, overall, they range from purely business to purely leisure reasons and cover an infinite number of variations or combinations depending on that individual traveler’s needs at why Americans want their passenger trains. There are a myriad of reasons why people want and use that time. In general people want to be able to conveniently, quickly, and safely get to their destinations. They want to be able to get to or from work, shopping, or just visiting family or friends. They want to able to avoid traffic and the dangers that traffic often presents while traveling within it. People also want to be able to use this travel time more effectively while they are traveling.

When available, train travel allows the wise traveler aboard to be able to continue working, or enjoy time with friends or family, or just plain rest and relax while safely traveling. Trains also provide environmental benefits such as reduced emissions both on its own and by reducing the number of individual auto trips which would be otherwise required, and, at the same time freeing up traffic lanes for the automobiles remaining on the highway. By opening these lanes, traffic flows more freely thus also reducing stress on those drivers. This economic gain produced by passenger rail is an important part of the basis for this letter. Wherever passenger trains operate, they produce a community vitality which is very much measurable in real dollars and quality of life for that community. With all these preventable issues at hand, we again request that Congress demand answers from Amtrak as to their reasons for these grave cuts in service, which may turn riders (& future riders) off from utilizing our national rail system, which in many ways – pays for itself.

Sincerely,
Richard Rudolph, Ph.D. Chairman, Rail Users’ Network

March 16, 2022
Senator Maria Cantwell
Chair, U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

Dear Senator Cantwell.

We are once again writing on behalf of our members, as well as the millions of Americans who depend on public transportation on a regular basis to travel to work, see relatives, seek medical attention, food and other necessities of life.
As you know, Amtrak has announced it is extending its current five-day-a-week long-distance service until May 31 and possibly later. This comes after a series of events which started during the Fall of 2020. At that time, Amtrak reduced all of its daily services to three days each week, stating it was doing so because Covid had reduced ridership below a threshold enabling it to operate economically as mandated by the federal government. Rail advocates at both the national and the state level strenuously opposed Amtrak’s decision, and contacted their respective congressional and senatorial representatives.

Even though Congress ultimately provided extra funds needed to continue 7 day a week long distance service, Amtrak unfortunately ignored the concerns of Congress and rail passenger advocates not only curtailing daily service, but also furloughing operating and service personnel across their entire system of routes. Congress not only came through with funds enabling Amtrak to continue operating until the government mandated nationwide Covid shutdown ended, they added an additional 66 billion dollars ($22B to repair/refresh equipment and to purchase much needed new equipment, and $44B to improve, enhance, and expand service around the country.) This may not occur for some time because of Amtrak’s shortsighted service reduction plan which included also shutting down their hiring and training departments. Not only are the furloughed service and operating crews not returning, as we warned might occur, Amtrak is unable to rapidly hire and train new personnel. This is either a significant error in judgment on the part of Amtrak’s upper management, or a carefully calculated early step in ridding itself of long-distance train service. We can look at both cases.

If an error in judgment, then the blame may be placed squarely on Amtrak’s Board of Directors who have hired and replaced four CEOs in the last five years. During that time there has been an exodus of the railroad’s institutional knowledge, with the departure of many vice-presidents and heads of departments, as well as mid-level management. Amtrak continues to cause itself (and the traveling public) harm with its poor business decisions.

If a deliberate ploy to aid in discontinuing long-distance train service nationwide, then one may conclude they are blatantly disregarding Congressional mandates (and funding) to improve and expand passenger rail service throughout the United States. Stephen Gardner is the man who gave us the current iteration of the Passenger Rail Improvement and Investment Act (PRIIA), which specifies that no long-distance trains may be added to the system. This and other actions by him have led us and other to believe that he wants to completely abolish the network of long-distance trains.

Similarly, Amtrak’s woeful lack of employees, equipment, and interest in its business is a threat to the country’s transportation and economic future. Additionally, attempts to evacuate weather events by highway in recent years have been rather less than successful. Like the National Guard, the country needs standby transportation capacity for emergencies.

We need to be on record that this is inexcusable and is once again part of the effort of the President and CEO of Amtrak to ultimately destroy long distance service. Amtrak should be treated as a public service company and funded and governed as such.

We recommend the termination and replacement of its current Board. Replacement should be made up according to the recommendations of Congress to include one or more knowledgeable members of the rail passenger advocacy movement.

We again request that Congress demand answers from Amtrak as to their reasons for these grave cuts in service, which may turn riders (& future riders) off from utilizing our national rail system, which in many ways – pays for itself.

Sincerely,
Richard Rudolph, Ph.D.
Chairman, Rail Users’ Network

April 2, 2021
Senator Richard Blumenthal
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Dear Senator Blumenthal:

We are writing on behalf of our members, as well as the millions of Americans who depend on public transportation on a regular basis to travel to work, see relatives, seek medical attention, food and other necessities of life.  We support your effort to establish an “Intercity Passenger Rail Trust Fund” which would create a dedicated funding stream to help Amtrak in planning and investing in major improvement projects, increase passenger rail’s efficiency and help promote safer, more reliable service especially on the fifteen long distance routes which have long been financially neglected.

While this indeed could be a game changer, Amtrak will still need annual appropriations to carry out what it is currently able to do. It is our hope and expectation that Amtrak, through the creation of a trust fund, will be able to restore passenger rail service on routes that it abandoned in December, 1997.  This would include the Desert Wind which was a separate section of the California Zephyr which continued on from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

A second section called the Pioneer continued on from Denver through Cheyenne to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. We also support the work of the new Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority which is working to restore passenger service to the southern part of Montana and other efforts underway to restore passenger service across the nation.

There is also the need to establish daily service on the two tri-weekly trains: the Cardinal, that operates from New York to Washington, D.C., and then onto Cincinnati, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana and Chicago; and the Sunset Limited, which operates between Los Angeles, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston and New Orleans. This one train also provides a link between numerous and important military installations along its route.

To restore these routes as well as to provide for the current service, Amtrak also needs to replace passenger carrying equipment, which is more than 40 years old.

Finally, there is also a need to provide capital and operational funds for creating new state-supported routes.  Amtrak’s current plan would provide upfront capital, but would drastically reduce operational support after the first five years. Co-operation between Federal and State rail passenger entities would help to ensure a well-used system of interconnected routes with at least daily service in each direction.

There is much work to be done with much funding needed to upgrade and extend Amtrak service.  We commend your effort to create an “Intercity Passenger Rail Trust Fund”, and hope we can work together to provide high quality public transportation options for all of our citizens.

Sincerely,

Richard Rudolph, Ph.D.
Chairman
Rail Users’ Network

April 6, 2021

U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio
Chairman, U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Dear Representative DeFazio:

The Rail Users Network thanks the members of Congress for funding the restoration of daily service on the national passenger rail carrier known as Amtrak.  We do, however, have some additional recommendations concerning funding for this important and safe transportation resource.

We believe passenger rail should be on equal footing with other USDOT-sponsored transportation resources.  This would provide an equally important, safe, and expedient alternative to driving and flying, and would also provide better connectivity to those cities and towns bypassed by air transport because of the short distances not conducive to air travel, yet too far to drive.

We believe our recommendations would not only restore this convenient mode of travel, but also make it highly accessible, by placing most of the population of the US within 25 miles of a train station.  These recommendations include:

1. Enable legislation and funding to restore routes lost since 1979.
Those routes, and others, are essential in creating and maintaining connectivity, which makes the entire system more useful by enticing ridership.  Senator Blumenthal has presented a bill to create a dedicated funding mechanism to allow for proper planning and implementation of this plan over time.  This will also require revising the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA).  The offending provision which defines the national network by limiting it is 49 U.S.C. Sec. 24102(7)(C).  This provision prohibits Amtrak’s ability to grow its system and expand its capability.

2.  Provide additional funding for much-needed new equipment.   For the system to work as planned and needed, additional equipment is also required and will require funding.  Funding for new equipment is imperative and should be immediate so that railcar manufacturing can begin tooling for production.  Amtrak hasn’t placed orders for new long-distance equipment since the mid 1980’s because of a lack of funding.  This has resulted in old equipment being run to the point where numerous breakdowns cause delayed or even terminated trains, resulting in the loss of repeat business.

3. Transparency of Amtrak’s accounting and operations.  Amtrak must answer Congress’s questions in a straightforward manner about its finances and operations.  Amtrak, in part because of its lack of proper funding when compared to other federally funded modes of transportation, has over the 50 years of its existence, resorted to a very peculiar reporting mechanism known as Amtrak Performance Tracking (APT).  The very much distorted financial picture created by APT flies in the face of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) which, like the name implies, provides a clear representation of where and on what monies are spent.  We, along with many members of Congress, believe that this lack of transparency on the part of Amtrak needs to be immediately corrected so that Congress, the states, and the public know their tax dollars are being used wisely.

4. Finally, we recommend that the Mica provision requiring Amtrak to break even or make a profit with its food service be dropped. Good food and proper service is one of the draws of travel by train.  It is long known that passenger trains have provided quality meals on board, and is but one of the reasons travelers choose the train for their transportation needs.  It provides that civility that air travel now lacks while, at the same time, allows one to fully relax while traveling.  Amtrak wastes far too many of its valuable resources, and loses far too much good will from its passengers attempting to comply with this inane mandate.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Sincerely,

Richard H. Rudolph, Ph.D.
Chairman, Rail Users’ Network
211 Ocean Ave., Portland, ME 04103