Hanscom News: Rail Travel

• 7/30/03 Globe: Editorial arguing that Amtrak service in the Northeast could meaningfully help transportation overload if, like airlines and roads, it  had a dedicated source of revenue to pay for long-overdue infrastructure work and operational costs.

• 2/27/03 NY Times, U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee: After flirting with the idea of dismantling Amtrak last year, strong Congressional support for high speed rail has led to a $1.05 billion appropriation to Amtrak which will enable it to hobble along for another year.

• 2/26/03 Globe: Amtrak now has 37% of the Boston-New York market and is the target of increased marketing efforts by the airlines.

• 2/1/03 Globe: Editorial argues for multimodal transportation planning and more support for rail.

• 10/18/02 CBS: More people are choosing to travel by train and auto instead of the airlines since last year's terrorist attacks.

• 10/3/02 Herald: Rail advocates say a new federal report that describes more than $22 billion in Amtrak debt and liabilities shows the need for dramatically restructuring the nation's passenger rail service and greater federal subsidies.

• 8/14/02 Globe, Globe, Globe, Globe, Herald, Globe: Amtrak's profitable Acela Express service will shut down for weeks after inspectors found cracks in many of the trains' shock absorbers, and will be on a reduced schedule indefinitely. Riders say Save the Acela!, but Amtrak will take a financial blow from the service disruption.

• 8/7/02 Globe: Although the high-speed Acela train is challenging the popularity of airline shuttles along the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is considering cutting back the service because equipment problems are making the trains unreliable.

• 6/27/02 Globe, Globe, NY Times: Sensing public support for Amtrak, the Bush administration agreed to a minimal loan guarantee package that should keep Amtrak running thru August. The amount is a pittance compared to highway or airline subsidies, or compared to other countries support for their rail systems.

• 6/22/02 Globe, Globe, Globe, TomPaine.com, Globe, Globe: A outpouring of articles in support of rail service, for instance noting that Amtrak now claims 50% of the combined air and rail traffic between Boston and New York, and that other countries attempts to privatize rail systems have failed. Many believe that the government should admit that just like highway and airline service, rail service is not financially self sufficient and needs to have a stable source of long term federal support.

• 6/19/02 AP, AP, Globe: Amtrak's new president says the railroad needs a $200mil federal loan guarantee very soon to prevent a possible shutdown of all service next month. Meanwhile the Bush administration wants to break up Amtrak and have individual states pick up more of the cost of rail service. The Northeast corridor service would be moved to a yet to be defined public partnership.

• 4/16/02 USA Today: Virtually every airline has sharply reduced service to and from New York, while the Acela train service is selling out 8 to 10 trains per day.

• 4/12/02 AP: Seven months after the terrorist attacks, Amtrak's high-speed Acela Express train appears to be running neck-and-neck with the Delta and US Airways shuttles along the heavily traveled Boston-to-Washington corridor.

• 2/19/02 NYTimes: Crucial capital spending on Amtrak's Boston-Washington route, the Northeast's economic lifeline, should not be held hostage by the tiresome debates over Amtrak's annual appropriations.

• 1/25/02 AP: A new government report bolsters Amtrak's perennial plea for a greater federal investment in rail. 

• 1/17/02 AP: Amtrak and Continental Airlines are launching a partnership that will allow travelers in four Northeastern cities to book train and air trips with one call.

• 1/13/02 NYTimes: "In much of the world, political leaders have concluded that for trips of less than 350 miles, train travel is the soundest choice, both economically and environmentally."

• 1/11/02 NYTimes: An oversight panel thinks Amtrak should be broken up, with the government taking ownership of the tracks and competing companies taking over the most popular train routes.

• 12/9/01 Herald, AP, WSJ: Amtrak's high speed Acela train service is nearing the one million passenger mark and one year of service, but meanwhile the Amtrak Reform Council may suggest breaking up Amtrak into regional rail companies.

• 11/10/01 Globe, WSJ: A federal panel declared that Amtrak will not achieve financial independence by December 2002, as required by Congress, setting the stage for a Capitol Hill showdown over the future of the nation's passenger rail system.

• 10/13/01 Globe: John Robert Smith, the mayor of Meridian, Miss., and a member of the Amtrak board of directors, opines that "the US must have safe, viable transportation options for its people. Those who suggest that rail makes sense in only a few regions and that the Amtrak railway system should be broken into many places are wrong."

• 10/10/01 AP: Senator John Kerry is co-sponsoring a bill that will guarantee Amtrak's existence through 2003, grant its request for $3.2 billion in emergency financing and authorize $35 billion in loans and loan guarantees for freight and passenger rail development.

• 10/3/01 Globe: Paul Weinstein Jr., a senior policy adviser to former Vice President Al Gore, proposes a $6 billion national rail trust fund which, with matching state and local grants, could pay for new high speed rail development in the US. Industry leaders do not think this division of responsibility will work, however.

• 10/2/01 Globe: Amtrak's future is uncertain despite many American's support for a high speed rail system.

• 9/24/01 Washington Post, NY Times, NARP, Globe, Herald, MAAP: Demand for seats on Amtrak trains has surged in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks,  underscoring that train service remains an essential part of the country's transportation system, despite receiving only 1% of all federal transportation funding. Congress should abandon its ill-conceived mandate of self-sufficiency for Amtrak and provide an immediate infusion of cash to beef up security throughout its system and to accelerate much-needed capital improvements.

• 8/22/01 AP: Acela Express is falling short of projections in riders and revenue, although Amtrak officials say they have had to deal with various challenges, including the slowing economy, aging electrical wiring - even rock slides along a stretch of track in Connecticut.

• 8/12/01 NY Times: Airlines in Europe have curtailed many routes that also have high speed train service.

• 8/9/01 Providence Journal: "The federal government continues to impose restrictions and demands on Amtrak that Washington does not apply to other transportation. This is unfair and foolish. With ever-greater highway and airport congestion, and increasing concerns about pollution, we should be building up train service, not tearing it down."

• 7/27/01 Globe: Derrick Jackson of the Globe argues that Amtrak's Acela is not quite there yet, but argues that "for a fraction of our traditional transportation priorities, we could have a complete transportation system. For that reason, we should finish the job." 

• 7/3/01 Christian Science Monitor, 7/9/01 Aviation Week & Space Technology, 7/11/01 Globe Editorial, 7/15/01 Globe: A flurry of excellent articles, including one from the curator of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, making the same basic argument: Building up our country's high speed rail infrastructure makes a lot more sense than building more runways and expanding airports. Tell your congressmen to support the Lott-Daschle bill to fund high speed rail!

• 6/27/01 Herald, Globe: Amtrak announced better-than-expected ridership on its high-speed Acela Express trains this week, as well as the introduction of a fifth weekday roundtrip between Boston and New York City.

• 5/24/01 Lexington Minuteman: One citizen praises the Acela train service to NYC, saying it is fast, relaxing and cheap.

• 4/28/01 Herald: Amtrak will double its high-speed Acela Express service between Boston, Providence and New York beginning tomorrow, offering two morning and two afternoon roundtrip trains.

• 3/30/01 Globe: The Acela train will add 2 more daily roundtrips between Boston and New York starting on April 30, 2000. It will also add a weekend run.

• 2/12/01 Globe: Editorial saying that train service makes "indispensible contributions to a smooth and balanced transportation network that, in the aggregate, serve everyone."

• 1/21/01 Globe: Ridership on Acela trains exceeded projections for December by 12%.

• 12/11/00 Herald: The Acela train took its first run between Boston, New York, and Washington.

• 11/02/00 Herald: The Boston Herald described the new Acela train to New York as "the train of the future."   

• 10/18/00 Yahoo: Amtrak announced that the high-speed Acela trains will begin service on December 11, 2000. These should cut the trip between Boston and New York down to 3 hours and 23 minutes initially, and eventually as fast as 3 hours.

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