United Rail Passenger Alliance

Vol. 1, No. 13 - November 23, 2004

1. This week marks the official beginning of what’s predicted to be a record setting holiday travel season. Already the news stories have begun about local airport congestion and highway congestion. Conspicuous by its absence outside of the Northeast is any mention of Amtrak in the holiday rush stories, even in cities like Jacksonville that feature daily service from two trains in each direction and triweekly service from the Sunset Limited. Amtrak has got to start getting in front of the news media on a more aggressive basis to remind Americans there are passenger trains. Amtrak is losing millions of dollars a year in revenue because it doesn’t take the news media seriously unless it’s begging for more free federal money.
2. Somehow, even though Amtrak got a little over $1.2 billion from Congress and the Bush Administration this week, it’s still continuing its annual begfest, and, in the process, scaring off revenue passengers because they think Amtrak will shut down any minute. Amtrak and its wholly owned lapdog organizations, plus the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General continue the idiotic drumbeat that the Amtrak national system is in peril because of regional problems in the Northeast, along the Northeast Corridor. (more…)