By Janet Carter, Toiyabe Executive Committee Secretary
The federal budget submitted to Congress by the Trump administration proposes to cut support for all 15 long-distance passenger rail routes served by Amtrak. Twenty-three states (including Nevada) would have NO passenger rail service under this proposal. This would eliminate passenger rail service to 220 cities and communities, including Reno, Winnemucca, and Elko. It would also become impossible to travel by train from coast to coast.
The remaining routes would be concentrated on the east coast—commuter routes between cities like NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington D.C. These cuts would not affect train routes subsidized by individual states, such as in California, with routes linking San Francisco and Sacramento. Nevada has no state-subsidized routes.
Amtrak has stated that it cannot afford to continue servicing these routes without federal subsidies. Part of the expense is the track fees Amtrak pays to track owners, such as the Union Pacific in Nevada.
It’s true the routes proposed to be cut are not high-volume passenger routes. Nonetheless, 4.6 million people rode the routes proposed for elimination last year alone.
These cuts will impact people who live in rural communities, such as in Nevada, who rely on the train to travel between rural Nevada and Reno or Salt Lake City for work, medical appointments, and to visit family. Some people ride trains because they like train travel; others ride them because they have few other transportation choices.
Perhaps more important, public rail transportation offers effective ways to conserve energy while connecting communities, reducing congestion on roads and at airports, serving the public, and protecting our environment.
Some argue that trains should be able to survive on their own, without government subsidies. But all transportation is subsidized. Federal and local governments support airlines and airports through tax incentives, Chapter 11 protection, labor negotiation and consolidation protection. Automobiles enjoy similar largesse, with bailouts for car companies too big to fail during the Great Recession, tax breaks for the “business” use of heavy automobiles, and state and federal tax support for roads and highways.
As our country’s population grows, trains will offer the most affordable, cleanest, and most efficient means to move people both long and short distances. The potential for rail to serve us to its full capacity suffers if these cuts are made. The Toiyabe Chapter Executive Committee fully supports keeping Amtrak service within our region.
You can help. Take a stand for public transportation across our country.
Click here to urge your Congressional Representative to support funding for Amtrak. Because public transportation benefits everyone, not just those who use it.