The government has no business trying to set gasoline prices or chasing phantom speculators. It does have a business trying to run a railroad. It is called Amtrak.
Yet neither party nor presidential candidate has made Amtrak reform and expansion of passenger rail in this country a major campaign issue. This despite the energy "crisis". This despite the frustration of urban dwellers nation-wide who find it hard to get to work or to fly to nearby cities in a timely fashion.
There are bills in both houses of Congress that address the subject, but they are not getting adequate attention.
Amtrak has real problems and needs to be reformed: a combination of privatizing aspects of the service, while backing government funds to match state efforts and for improved track and hardware as part of a transition to a bigger, more robust system.
Even as is, inter-city ridership is up in most parts of the country. Here is an AP story from Illinois where the number of trains is relatively plentiful (it is part of my old stomping grounds--from once upon a time) and where train travel is relatively painless.
Amtrak's Midwest ridership continues to rise
July 18, 2008
GALESBURG, Ill. - If there is any good news about $4 per gallon gasoline, The Galesburg Register-Mail says, it is that ridership on Midwest Amtrak trains is booming and that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.), is working with Amtrak's CEO to set up a summit to discuss the future of the state's passenger service.
Eight Amtrak trains stop in Galesburg daily and Durbin wants to ensure there is enough rail capacity to handle ridership on Illinois' state-subsidized routes, including the Illinois Zephyr and The Carl Sandburg, which make four combined stops there each day while traveling between Chicago and Quincy.
According to the newspaper, during a meeting earlier this week, Durbin and Amtrak CEO Alex Kummant agreed to gather rail experts and advocates to discuss Amtrak's future in Illinois. Durbin and Kummant also agreed a plan was needed to deal with Amtrak's severe shortage of passenger cars in Illinois and around the country.
Ridership on the Illinois Zephyr and The Carl Sandburg routes was up 41.4 percent in fiscal 2007, compared to fiscal 2006. Ridership on Illinois state-subsidized routes increased another 180,823 passengers during the first two-thirds of fiscal year 2008, to a total of 670,605.
Durbin asked Kummant to allocate five more passenger cars to Illinois to add capacity to those routes, as well as ones between Chicago and St. Louis and Chicago and Carbondale. Kummant has agreed to have cars rehabilitated and ready for immediate use on those routes by the end of this year.
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