Delta Airline's new ad campaign, which graphically takes aim at Amtrak’s fast Acela train, caught the attention of the NY Times last week.  Joe Sharkey’s “On the Road” business traveler column recounted Acela’s continuing grab of D.C.-NYC business travel market share from the air shuttles, a trend augmented by the additional airport time passengers experience since the Sept. 11 attacks.  Sharkey cited a Toronto airport official who noted that over 60% of flights in North America are 400 miles or less: “High speed rail networks ‘bleed the short-haul capacity out of the system,’ freeing airports to do what they do best: handle long distance trips.”  Sharkey noted the ongoing construction and integration of high speed rail lines in Europe, while the U.S. Congress quibbles “about renewing an annual budget for Amtrak that would barely pay for a short stretch of interstate highway or a single airport runway...” 

Despite Acela’s success, Amtrak continues to limp along.  New president David Gunn warned this week that without a $200 million loan, Amtrak would go bust by the end of summer.  Gunn wrote to Senator John McCain, a frequent Amtrak critic, criticizing Congress for imposing an operating budget “self-sufficiency” rule on the railroad in 1997.“No passenger railroad system in the world operates without some form of public support. Why Congress thought Amtrak could somehow become free of public support escapes me,” wrote Gunn.  Several bills are in the works in Congress to get Amtrak more money for next year.

President Bush’s plans for Amtrak, if any, have remained unclear during the administration’s first year and a half.  In May, Gil Carmichael, chair of the Amtrak Reform Council, criticized Bush’s absence from the rail debate.  “Without a plan and without leadership and guidance from the White House, we’re in limbo,” Carmichael told the Wall St. Journal.  The Amtrak Reform Council was set up by Republicans in Congress during the 1990s.Carmichael headed the Federal Railroad Administration under the former President Bush.

Carmichael said that without clear direction from the president, especially with major transportation legislation due in Congress in 2003, Congress will “punt” on Amtrak and keep it scraping along from year to year.  “We have terrible congestion in airports and highways, and we have this big beautiful rail mode out here that could solve a lot of the problems,” Carmichael said.

Amtrak Says it Beat Airlines in 4th Quarter NYC-DC Market 
(March 18, 2002)

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