Here's some news that flies in the face of anyone who believes rail travel in the U.S. is doomed. New ridership figures demonstrate that the number of people traveling on Amtrak is up both in Illinois and nationwide.
For the first time in 30 years, passengers last year logged more than one million rides between Chicago and the downstate towns of Bloomington/Normal, Carbondale, Champaign, Galesburg, Macomb, Mattoon, Springfield, St. Louis and Quincy. An additional 750,000 people took trains between Chicago and Milwaukee, reflecting a 25 percent increase from a year earlier.
The local increase follows a national trend of growing ridership -- which is up by 11 percent -- on the system which reports it shuttled 28.7 million passengers around the country over the past year alone.
Tribune reporter John Hilkevitch notes that, while moving in the right direction, the rail system is still in serious need of resources:
"What stands between us and even higher numbers are infrastructure improvements on the routes and the need for more rail equipment,'' said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari (...)
With ridership going strong, there is equally strong pressure on Amtrak to improve its on-time performance. Increased interference from freight trains is a major cause of delays, costing Amtrak more than $100 million annually. Amtrak trains serving Illinois arrived late 50 percent of the time on average in August, according to Amtrak.
Track improvements on the freight railroads where Amtrak operates is also a high priority.
Earlier this month, we noted that Congress passed legislation authorizing $13 billion in additional Amtrak funign over next five years. If appropriated, the money will be used to improve the current system and plan for expansion -- which could lead to into high-speed service in the Midwest.
The funds will provide a major boost for the beleaguered system, which has been subject to a series of funding cuts under the Bush administration. Reflecting the increasing concern about mass transit, lawmakers have made it clear that they have enough support to override a veto should the president refuse to sign the measure.
Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Coyote2012.
Shaun Dakin (not verified) on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 09:51
Interesting choice of photograph? Was that intended to signify the future without funding or the overcrowded current system?
The bottom line is that the US has routinely underfunded mass transit to benefit the car culture that we have now and can not get away from.
While this is good news, my experiences in the BOS, NYC, DC route is that the trains are lacking maintenance, seats, and are overcrowded.
Shaun Dakin
Josh Kalven on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 13:20
Heh. Good point, Shaun. The photo doesn't quite fit the news.
How about we just imagine that the doors are about to slide open and a crowd of riders is going to spill out?
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