As gasoline prices steadily rise and airfares go up day by day, rail travel is looking more and more like a bargain. The only trouble is, the Amtrak system is literally crumbling and needs federal funding. Congress, which controls the purse strings, is asleep at the switch.
Though funding is being increased this year, the repairs are long overdue. And those repairs when they begin will come at the expense of service disruptions. The saddest thing is that these problems have been ongoing for years and have been the subject of bloggers and bulletin board posters.
The inability of Congress to pass substantive Amtrak funding, even in the face of growing problems with oil producing countries and ever-increasing highway traffic, has resulted in a backlog of $5 billion.
Just as with the Congressional lack of action on the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic control infrastructure repairs and upgrade funding, the failure to deliver funding for Amtrak is impacting the growing numbers of everyday Americans who depend on the rail system to get to work and for vacation travel.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
