An interesting proposition has been forwarded by the Missouri Department of Transportation, at the behest of Amtrak and Union Pacific, to Missouri legislators: Find the funds to provide $18 million — $10.6 million more than what the state annually donates to underwrite the failing passenger service in Missouri — to help relieve congestion on tracks used by the passenger service and a heavy volume of freight trains.
It would seem that freight trains are clogging the route between Kansas City and St. Louis and, as a result of delays, the number of passengers using Amtrak has fallen by 20,000 to about 116,000. According to an Amtrak spokesman, the passenger rail service has shown an increase in ridership nationwide.
We would suggest that legislators not only give consideration to the Amtrak-Union Pacific-MoDot plan, but also take a long look at whether the state’s taxpayers should continue to subsidize the passenger service.
A few years ago, we would have suggested that Amtrak was it a waste of valuable and limited state resources and should be eliminated from consideration in the state’s budget.
Alas, in view of the high price of gasoline these days and predictions of further increases in the future, we’ve revised that opinion, slightly. If legislators say it’s time to drop subsidizing the passenger service, fine. But pouring more cash into Amtrak will be a tough sell in the General Assembly. If lawmakers want to continue throwing state dollars at keeping Amtrak trains running in this state, they need to ensure that whatever they decide upon will give Missourians the best value for their money.
They also ought to remember that if the use of the passenger service doesn’t rally after any new infusion of tax money, they will be answerable to their constituents, few of whom will ever board an Amtrak train.
