It may not have felt that way when you were stuck in traffic on the way to work this morning, but Americans love trains. Maybe not everyone, but millions of us do. I notice it on the blogs, where you can see the conversation perks up when someone posts about commuter trains or light rail. And with $4 gas, you see it in the packed cars every rush hour, especially in cities with an entrenched rail network like Philly, and you even see places in Sunbelt Car Heaven like Houston scrambling to add light rail.
Given all that, why do so many of our politicians still hate trains. Including John McCain.
Two stories this week have really driven the issue home. First there was this piece in the New York Times:
Today Amtrak has 632 usable rail cars, and dozens more are worn out or damaged but could be reconditioned and put into service at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars each.
And it needs to buy new rail cars soon. Its Amfleet cars, the ones recognizable to riders as the old Metroliners, are more than 30 years old. And the Acela trains, which have been operating about eight years, have about a million miles on them.
Writing specifications for bids, picking a vendor and waiting for delivery takes years, even if the money is in hand.
Today, the Inquirer tells us how bad Amtrak's infrastructure has been neglected:
Several blocks away, at 52d and Jefferson Streets, three massive steel bridges that carry dozens of Amtrak and SEPTA trains every day are slowly deteriorating. Skillet-sized sheets of rust are flaking off, and daylight is visible through some side plates.
Throughout the Philadelphia region and much of the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is struggling to maintain old bridges, tunnels, retaining walls and other infrastructure. Chronically short of money, Amtrak has put off an estimated $5 billion in needed repairs and upgrades nationwide, and most of that is along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington.
Everyone in both parties at least pays lip service now to ending our "addiction to oil," and while there's nothing wrong with giving "Back to the Future"s Doc Brown $300 million for his retooled DeLorean, buying new rail cars and making sure that Amtrak doesn't crumble is something we know we can do right now, and get real results. That seems obvious -- but not to John McCain:
Amtrak’s fortunes also hinge on who wins the White House; Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, was a staunch opponent of subsidies to Amtrak when he was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Barack Obama, the probable Democratic nominee, was a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the bill to provide an 80/20 financing match.
McCain's longstanding jihad against Amtrak is no secret -- except maybe to voters in the 2008 election. I was just searching around and found only a couple of recent articles, mostly in obscure places or in the British media, that mention the Republican's positions against funding rail. In fact, I'm a little surprised that the Obama campaign hasn't spotlighted this issue in Pennsylvania, since Amtrak has higher ridership here than anywhere else.
But these are the stakes. If you envision a future with commuters out of their SUVs and off the Schuylkill Expressway and onto rail cars, you're probably not picturing the McCain administration.
See, no need to play the "guilt by association" game on McCain. There are plenty of legitimate issues where he comes up way short. Let's see. What will the sycophants say? Taxes shouldn't go to transportation and infrastructure? No, that wouldn't make sense because of all the government money that goes into supporting the use of private automobiles, and besides, investing on transportation-related development brings in huge amounts of opportunities for small businesses and private sector jobs. Hmmmm. What will they say....? Oh, I know, Jeremiah Wright, Jeremiah Wright, Obama is a Muslim, Jeremiah Wright.— Talking point sleuth
I agree...we need more rail infrastructure..but is propping up amtrak going to solve the problem? rail travel gets treated like a red headed step child in the US...I don't think it's a reason to vote for Obama who has shown himself to be the politician he says he isn't...honestly--i can't stand both candidates--to say mccain hates trains and has a jihad against amtrak is a bit over the top Will....but i guess you are using anything to villify the repubs and keep the heat off flip-flopper Barry O and his HOPE and CHANGE bumper sticker campaign.
Comment removed.- John McCain does not believe in handouts to big business. I was under the impression that Democrats opposed corporate welfare, but I guess that went out with Obama's desire to subsidize everything from sugar to cotton to corn to ethanol to rail companies. If the demand exists for commuter trains, AMTRAK can raise their prices to allow them to pay for this work themselves. Otherwise, propping up failing business is not the job of the federal government.— bon
- nice one, b.atch... subtly conflating "poor" with "black" - as if there are no poor white people. or poor asian people. See, for the marginalized minority it's important to sow division and hate their fellow Americans. It's deeply ingrained in their psyche - hate first, never ask questions later. As for John McCain, if it becomes politically expedient for him to abandon a "principled stand" on an issue, he'll do it. Like being for public financing before he was against it and then for it again after he was against it then for it and against it. Now, watch this drive...— E.Plebnista
- Handouts to big business? Seriously, bon, do you really not know that Amtrak is not a private business? Or, as might be exemplified by your outrageously inaccurate claim that the American public "overwhelmingly" see McCain as more honest than Obama, are you just throwing McCain talking points at the wall to see if they might stick?— Talking point sleuth
- C'mon Plebby. You know that as a example of the great sacrifice Bush wants Americans to make in the GWOT, he gave up golf. After a few extra rounds, that is.— Talking point sleuth
- Amtrak should be able to sustain itself, TPS. Just because it is government owned does not mean it should operate at a huge loss and require massive spending from the government. If privatization was an option I would certainly jump on it, but the dems will never allow such a thing.— bon
- Hey Bon...Amtrak is owned by the federal government--It is up to them to prop that business up---it was created by them so they need to support but the real question lies in whether they need to scrap Amtrak all together and begin anew--and heavily subsidize an industry that has been poorly run, and mismanaged--and a efficient rail system is just what the US needs--it's has nothing to do with forcing people from their cars.
- Comment removed.
- Shemp: I find this odd. If we have so little faith in the government that we just assume that government owned corporations will operate at a huge loss, why do they own them? The senate recently privatized their cafeteria because the food was horrible and the place lost money. Rather than start up a whole new big government boondoggle why not sell it to some private investors and let them give it a go?— bon
- The point, bon, is that private automobile travel, which is the primary alternative we're discussing here, is way far away from a sustainable entity. And when you talk about dealing with the major issues going forward: the price of gas, the foreign policy sacrifices needed to be made to fuel private cars, the environmental impact, the cost/benefit ratio gets even more out of whack. Running rail transport as a private entity is extremely difficult. I think there is some successful rail privatization in Japan, but I suspect it's pretty rare. Private rail might arguably be a better option here - but if it isn't happening, do we just continue to prop up private auto travel at a huge expense in myriad ways, or do we consider investing in alternatives with a better cost/benefit ratio?— Talking point sleuth
- I have no idea...but I'd love to see a rail system that can get you from Philly to Chicago without having to be delayed for 24 hours because freight gets priority over passanger trains--
- TPS: I don't think we should be propping up any of them, TPS. We should not subsidize oil, car makers, ethanol, etc, anymore than we should subsidize the rails. So long as the government continues to distort the prices of transportation we will be left in this weird limbo. If the market is allowed to work, and the federal government stays out of it, things will balance out. I would venture to say that more people would be taking trains as a result, increased prices and all. (Exempt from this are efforts to curb pollution, which would encourage people to buy cleaner cars or take public transportation. That is a separate set of concerns that need be addressed.)— bon
- Shemp: Haha. Well traveling on rail between two of the biggest coal states is a risky proposition. I grew up with a few rails between myself and school. Those things are long and slow. :)— bon
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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