Plan B Forum

Good night America, how are ya?
Don't ya know me? I'm you're native son...

• 220 Cities Losing All Passenger Train Service per Trump Elimination of all Federal Funding for Amtrak’s National Network Trains
  The National Association of Rail Passengers denounced the budget outline released by the Trump Administration, which slashes investment in transportation infrastructure. These cuts to Amtrak, transit, and commuter rail programs, and even air service to rural towns, would not only cost construction and manufacturing jobs, but place a disproportionate amount of pain on rural and working class communities.
  
  “It’s ironic that President Trump’s first budget proposal undermines the very communities whose economic hardship and sense of isolation from the rest of the country helped propel him into office,” said NARP President Jim Mathews. “These working class communities — many of them located in the Midwest and the South — were tired of being treated like ‘flyover country.’ But by proposing the elimination of Amtrak’s long distance trains, the Trump Administration does them one worse, cutting a vital service that connects these small town economies to the rest of the U.S. These hard working, small town Americans don’t have airports or Uber to turn to; they depend on these trains.”
  
  "What’s more, these proposed cuts come as President Trump continues to promise that our tax dollars will be invested in rebuilding America's infrastructure,” continued Mathews. “Instead, we have seen an all-out assault on any project — public and private — that would advance passenger rail. These cuts and delays are costing the U.S. thousands of good-paying construction and manufacturing jobs in America's heartland at this very moment."
  
  Mathews was referring to the decision by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to indefinitely suspend a grant that would allow California to proceed with a commuter rail electrification project. Caltrain, the agency overseeing the project, estimates the project would create 9,600 total direct and indirect jobs. The delay also threatens the construction of a new railcar assembly plant planned for Salt Lake City, which would generate sustainable, family-wage jobs for 550 employees.
  
  The White House budget would lead to a nightmare scenario for people who depend on passenger rail, transit, commuter rail, and even regional air service in the United States, from Wall Street to Main Street. The proposal cuts $2.4 billion from transportation, a 13 percent reduction of last year’s funding, and includes:
  
  Elimination of all federal funding for Amtrak’s national network trains, which provides the only national network service to 23 states, and the only nearby Amtrak service for 144.6 million Americans;
  
  $499 million from the TIGER grant program, a highly successful program that invests in passenger rail and transit projects of national significance;
  
  Elimination of $2.3 billion for the Federal Transit Administration’s “New Starts” Capital Investment Program, which is crucial to launching new transit, commuter rail, and light-rail projects.
  
  Long distance rail routes open up enormous economic development opportunities, which the Administration’s proposal ignores or casts aside. The plan threatens the following long distances routes:
  

  • • Gulf Coast Restoration — In development
      Silver Star — Daily service
      Cardinal — 3 trains/week
      Silver Meteor — Daily service
      Empire Builder — Daily service
      Capitol Limited — Daily service
      California Zephyr — Daily service
      Southwest Chief — Daily service
      City of New Orleans — Daily service
      Texas Eagle — Daily service
      Sunset Limited — 3 trains/week
      Coast Starlight — Daily service
      Lake Shore Limited — Daily service
      Palmetto — Daily service
      Crescent — Daily service
      Auto Train — Daily service

  
  And, at a minimum, the proposed White House elimination of long distance routes would result in the following 220 towns and cities losing all Amtrak service:
  

  • • Albuquerque, NM
      Alderson, WV
      Alliance, OH
      Alpine, TX
      Anniston, AL
      Arcadia, MO
      Arkadelphia, AR
      Ashland, KY
      Atlanta, GA
      Austin, TX
      Barstow, CA
      Beaumont, TX
      Benson, AZ
      Bingen, WA
      Birmingham, AL
      Brookhaven, MS
      Bryan, OH
      Burlington, IA
      Charleston, SC
      Charleston, WV
      Chemult, OR
      Chico, CA
      Cincinnati, OH
      Cleburne, TX
      Clemson, SC
      Cleveland, OH
      Clifton Forge, VA
      Colfax, CA
      Columbia, SC
      Columbus, WI
      Connellsville, PA
      Creston, IA
      Cumberland, MD
      Cut Bank, MT
      Dallas, TX
      Danville, VA
      Deerfield Beach, FL
      Del Rio, TX
      Deland, FL
      Delray Beach, FL
      Deming, NM
      Denver, CO
      Detroit Lakes, MN
      Devils Lake, ND
      Dillon, SC
      Dodge City, KS
      Dunsmuir, CA
      East Glacier Park, MT
      El Paso, TX
      Elkhart, IN
      Elko, NV
      Elyria, OH
      Ephrata, WA
      Erie, PA
      Essex, MT
      Fargo, ND
      Fayetteville, NC
      Flagstaff, AZ
      Florence, SC
      Fort Lauderdale, FL
      Fort Madison, IA
      Fort Morgan, CO
      Framingham, MA
      Fulton, KY
      Gainesville, GA
      Gallup, NM
      Garden City, KS
      Gastonia, NC
      Glasgow, MT
      Glenwood Springs, CO
      Granby, CO
      Grand Forks, ND
      Grand Junction, CO
      Green River, UT
      Greenville, SC
      Greenwood, MS
      Hamlet, NC
      Hammond, LA
      Harpers Ferry, WV
      Hastings, NE
      Hattiesburg, MS
      Havre, MT
      Hazlehurst, MS
      Helper, UT
      Hinton, WV
      Holdrege, NE
      Hollywood, FL
      Hope, AR
      Houston, TX
      Huntington, WV
      Hutchinson, KS
      Jackson, MS
      Jacksonville, FL
      Jesup, GA
      Kingman, AZ
      Kingstree, SC
      Kissimmee, FL
      Klamath Falls, OR
      La Crosse, WI
      La Junta, CO
      La Plata, MO
      Lafayette, LA
      Lake Charles, LA
      Lakeland, FL
      Lamar, CO
      Lamy, NM
      Las Vegas, NM
      Laurel, MS
      Lawrence, KS
      Libby, MT
      Lincoln, NE
      Little Rock, AR
      Longview, TX
      Lordsburg, NM
      Lorton, VA
      Malta, MT
      Malvern, AR
      Maricopa, AZ
      Marshall, TX
      Martinsburg, WV
      Maysville, KY
      McComb, MS
      McCook, NE
      McGregor, TX
      Memphis, TN
      Meridian, MS
      Miami, FL
      Mineola, TX
      Minot, ND
      Montgomery, WV
      Mount Pleasant, IA
      Needles, CA
      New Iberia, LA
      New Orleans, LA
      Newbern-Dyersburg, TN
      Newton, KS
      Okeechobee, FL
      Omaha, NE
      Ontario, CA
      Orlando, FL
      Osceola, IA
      Ottumwa, IA
      Palatka, FL
      Palm Springs, CA
      Pasco, WA
      Paso Robles, CA
      Picayune, MS
      Pittsfield, MA
      Pomona, CA
      Poplar Bluff, MO
      Portage, WI
      Prince, WV
      Provo, UT
      Raton, NM
      Red Wing, MN
      Redding, CA
      Reno, NV
      Riverside, CA
      Rockville, MD
      Rugby, ND
      Salinas, CA
      Salt Lake City, UT
      San Antonio, TX
      San Bernardino, CA
      San Marcos, TX
      Sanderson, TX
      Sandpoint, ID
      Sandusky, OH
      Sanford, FL
      Savannah, GA
      Schriever, LA
      Sebring, FL
      Shelby, MT
      Slidell, LA
      South Bend, IN
      South Portsmouth, KY
      Southern Pines, NC
      Spartanburg, SC
      Spokane, WA
      St. Cloud, MN
      St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN
      Stanley, ND
      Staples, MN
      Staunton, VA
      Tampa, FL
      Taylor, TX
      Temple, TX
      Texarkana, AR
      Thurmond, WV
      Toccoa, GA
      Toledo, OH
      Tomah, WI
      Topeka, KS
      Trinidad, CO
      Truckee, CA
      Tucson, AZ
      Tuscaloosa, AL
      Victorville, CA
      Walnut Ridge, AR
      Waterloo, IN
      Wenatchee, WA
      West Glacier, MT
      West Palm Beach, FL
      White Sulphur Springs, WV
      Whitefish, MT
      Williams Jct., AZ
      Williston, ND
      Winnemucca, NV
      Winona, MN
      Winslow, AZ
      Winter Haven, FL
      Winter Park, FL
      Winter Park-Fraser, CO
      Wisconsin Dells, WI
      Wishram, WA
      Wolf Point, MT
      Worcester, MA
      Yazoo City, MS
      Yemassee, SC
      Yuma, AZ

  
  “When the President proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal, voters expected that would mean more funding for projects like long-distance rail and new subway and light rail construction. These are the kinds of public works that spur private investment, create good jobs, and lead to economic revitalization,” said Mathews. “This budget does exactly the opposite.”​

Good morning America, how are you
Said don't you know me, I'm your native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

I'm thinking this is one that will survive most/all of the proposed cuts.

Come on, you can't blame Trump for this...

He has no more idea what's in his budget then he did what was in the American Healthcare Act...

But if all the cuts in Mulvaney's Randian Wet Dream Budget actually went through, (which they wont) a lot of the folks who voted for Il Boobce would be passing the paper bag that holds the bottle...

I lived in two of the towns on that list; Cut Bank and Havre, Montana. The trains and train passengers are a significant source of economic activity, not to mention that the Empire Builder across the Hi-Line of Montana is one of the most affordable modes of transportation in that part of the state. Losing the subsidized rural air service will hurt those communities significantly, too.

The regular train whistles are one of the only things I miss about living out there. I miss the natural beauty and abundant wildlife encounters, too - but I'm happy being home near the ocean and where it rains regularly. Miss the sound of the trains going through town every few hours, which there was in my last town too - but just freight. It's a romantic sound, full of possibilities.

And as I'm typing this, I can hear the train coming through Taunton; it's not as often here, but it does happen. I love trains!

Didn't you also once live in Yuma, Arizona? Or am I misremembering that?

I did!! Didn't get all the way to the bottom of the list, and I have to admit that the trains in Yuma didn't make as much of an impression as it's a much larger city and the military and snowbird presence is a bigger economic driver.

I've sure been a rolling stone!

Gulf Coast Restoration — In development
Silver Star — Daily service
Cardinal — 3 trains/week
Silver Meteor — Daily service
Empire Builder — Daily service
Capitol Limited — Daily service
California Zephyr — Daily service
Southwest Chief — Daily service
City of New Orleans — Daily service
Texas Eagle — Daily service
Sunset Limited — 3 trains/week
Coast Starlight — Daily service
Lake Shore Limited — Daily service
Palmetto — Daily service
Crescent — Daily service
Auto Train — Daily service

Sounds like he wants to wipe out just about everything but commuter rail in the northeast corridor.

For the record, I live near La Crosse WI — which would lose its one-a-day-each-way train if the Empire Builder goes away (we used to have two-a-day-each-way service, but we lost the Hiawatha in an earlier round of cutbacks).  And it really sucks, because I can remember when we had three railroads running passenger service through town — the Burlington with their Zephyrs, the Milwaukee Road with its Hiawathas, and the Chicago and Northwestern with the famed "300" — so named because it ran between Chicago and the Twin Cities in five hours (300 minutes).

Ahhhh, for the good old days!!

-"BB"-

Wasn't there a 3:10 from Yuma?

Actually, it's the 3:10 to Yuma - which had a great territorial prison, now a most excellent museum. The starting point was Contention City, which is now a ghost town.

True, but prepositions confuse me.

The only silver lining I can find in all this is that if the trains (and the tracks) disappear, that leaves more former railroad rights-of-way that can be converted into recreational trails.

Oh.  That's right.  Dumb'old Drumpf has taken a scalpel an axe a chainsaw to that kind of federal funding too.

-"BB"-

NYers would be happy if Amtrack would fix the tracks in Penn Station. Seems every other week there is a derailment. This latest one is three or four days old and still not fixed. Many angry commuters in the NY area this week.

Long Run wrote:

Good morning America, how are you
Said don't you know me, I'm your native son
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

I'm thinking this is one that will survive most/all of the proposed cuts.

Out of regard for those great liberals Steve Goodman and Arlo Guthrie.


Sure.

yrs,
rubato

Amtrak has been on the chopping block for decades.

Nothing to get excited about.

About damn time.

Jarlaxle wrote:About damn time.

Dear Jarlaxle:

    Osculate my gluteals.

-"BB"-

There was a time, not so long ago, that there was no such thing as "public transportation". Buses, trains, ferries, they were all private industries just like the airlines are now. Sure, they used public infrastructure, so there are always a sort of public-private combination, but the same is true of your private automobile or even a bicycle or your feet alone.

But after WWII, many of those private transportation companies couldn't compete with the automobile. And the governments, due in some cases to the "monopoly" that the private transportation companies enjoyed in their individual markets, set the fares. Set at a rate that made them lose money. You can't run a private enterprise vary long with revenues capped by the government below the cost of running them, and these were never meant to be non-profit (or profit-losing) enterprises. So, the government ended up taking over. Transit became government run usually by the cities or counties that they served. Ferries, the same thing. Freight trains stayed mostly private but passenger rail was taken over by the government.

The problem is, the cost of running those entities is so high, with such huge overheads, that today there's no way they can turn a profit. Hence why they're a public service. I don't know what the real cost of a transcontinental train fare is, and of course is varies based on occupancy, but I'd suspect it's on par with a plane fare if not higher due to the longer time it takes. Bus fares with be close to taxicab rates.

So you have 2 ends of the spectrum- with Liberals wanting these publicly subsidized transportation methods expanded, at the cost to landowners and through vehicle taxes. Conservatives would rather they be reduced or eliminated, reverting to an all-private transportation system where you pay what it takes to move yourself from point A to point B. Again, with the country so polarized, the middle ground is lost. The problem with both methods is, the nation is not ready yet for an entirely public transportation system that eliminates private individual transportation (cars), nor can it handle eliminating public transportation entirely. So what happens is the new infrastructure is paid for by those who use it the least, though car taxes. Which seems unfair to some people, particularly the extremely selfish, but also to those who barely scrape by but have to use private transportation because the public system doesn't serve them (or is too inconvenient to use).