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| Downeaster: As the train marks its sixth anniversary, the rail authority that runs the Portland, Maine-to-Boston service is
preparing to lobby for funding to keep the trains running past 2008. Robert Bukaty/AP |
Amtrak Downeaster: Successful train faces uncertain future
Funding problems may close New England's popular passenger rail in 2009.
from the December 24, 2007 edition
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Busses, Arlinghaus argues, operate at a profit, use existing infrastructure, and can go anywhere they need to. "Passenger trains don't pay for themselves," he says, echoing a common criticism nationally. "They're an incredible waste of money."
Not so, says Patricia Quinn, head of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which runs the Downeaster in conjunction with Amtrak. "All modes of transportation are subsidized – the roads we drive on, the airports we land at," she says. "A bus company doesn't have to maintain the cost of the road network. But we carry on our balance sheets the costs of maintaining not just our vehicles, but the infrastructure."
Who benefits
The Downeaster does appear to be a sound investment, according to a 2005 study commissioned by the Maine Department of Transportation (DOT). The train was responsible for $15 million in economic activity in Maine and New Hampshire in 2004, more than twice its public subsidy. The figure today is thought to be considerably higher due to ridership growth and the recent construction of multimillion-dollar condo developments adjacent to the Downeaster's stations in Saco and Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
"We've seen investments in rail have a very real economic multiplier effect," says Greg Nadeau, Maine's DOT deputy commissioner for policy. "But it also saves us money by helping us reduce congestion, delaying the time when we have to build a new bridge or add highway lanes."
By neglecting intercity rail, the US is shooting itself in the foot, agrees Vukan Vuhic, a professor of transportation systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. "Our investments in passenger rail are among the lowest in the world – including developing countries," he says. "We call highways investments – which they are – but with Amtrak they call it a subsidy."
The rest of the world
While Europe and Japan are adding high-speed trains to their well-developed rail networks, Professor Vuhic notes, Washington has treated Amtrak like an unwanted stepchild, keeping it on a "survival budget" and then taking it to task for the effects of underfunding.
Unlike most of the world, Vuhic points out, US passenger rail developed as a private enterprise, not a government one. In the robber-baron era of the late 19th century, Washington often found itself in an adversarial relationship with powerful railroad companies. While the government played a major role in creating and maintaining the interstate highway system and fostered the development in air transportation in a variety of ways, the railroads weren't seen as its responsibility – an attitude ingrained in national political culture.
"There is virtually no discussion of what kind of intercity rail this country needs," he says. "It's really an illogical situation."
Trains on shaky ground
The Downeaster's proponents are optimistic that Maine lawmakers will commit the necessary funds during the next legislative session – which begins in January – though the state's budget shortfall makes that far from certain.
"We'd be incredibly foolish if we didn't pursue this," says Senate President Beth Edmonds (D), whose party controls both houses of the legislature and the governor's mansion. "But this is a tough budget year, and everybody is trying to juggle limited funds as best they can."
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