Big-ticket punch
by Matthew FrankArticle Tools
Any momentum to restore the Amtrak route that once rolled through Montana's southern tier ran into a billion-dollar brick wall last week. Nevertheless, train advocates insist the idea isn't derailed.
In its feasibility study released Friday, Amtrak projects upfront costs of $1.043 billion—"a figure that is subject to significant uncertainty"—to bring back the North Coast Hiawatha, which until 30 years ago this month connected Chicago and Seattle via Missoula.
"I think, as with most folks, the initial price tag of the estimate that Amtrak and its consultant came out with is a little bit staggering," says Missoula City Councilman Dave Strohmaier, among the state's top passenger rail proponents.
Despite the hefty price tag, Amtrak anticipates a positive net economic impact. The route would create 269 permanent Amtrak jobs, plus those created by some $330 million in capital expenditures for equipment.
The report projects that 359,000 passengers would ride the train annually, which translates into annual revenue of $43 million.
"Due to high projected ridership," the report states, "the North Coast Hiawatha's projected farebox recovery—the percentage of operating costs covered by ticket and food and beverage revenues —is 58 percent, which is higher than the average farebox recovery (51.8 percent in FY2008) of Amtrak's current long distance services."
Revenue of $43 million would mean an annual operating loss of $31.1 million.
"Well, so be it," says Strohmaier of the required subsidy. "We continue to be blind to the billions of dollars we dump into airline transportation and federal highway projects, and we forget that that's similarly a subsidy. So let's not fool ourselves."
In the spring, Ross Capon, director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, told the Independent he thought the likelihood of the North Coast Hiawatha coming back was 55 percent. Now he downgrades the chances to 45 percent.
"The big enchilada," Capon says, "is whether Congress will provide the funds to make it possible...It all depends on how hard the senators [in the seven states along the route] fight for it."
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Anyone even considering a project with an annual operating loss of $31 million has to be a complete idiot.
And anyone who thinks that most areas of the country should have no choice in travel except roads and a handful of flights (both now 62% dependant on foreign energy) should be termed what?
Transportation in this country is a public service, plain and simple. We heavily subsidize higways and airports; every year we throw hundreds of billions at them without bating an eye, why not give passenger rail a chance? Currently in the US, Amtrak gets less than 1% of the federal transportation dollar, yet it's the cleanest, greenist form of travel. Bringing back the Northcoast Hiawatha to Montana's largest cities would allow cheap easy travel around the state and country. Who wouldn't want to board a train in DOWNTOWN Missoula and be on the west coast overnight? Passenger trains will also give a boost to the economy, not just in well paying jobs, but it will bring more people to DOWNTOWN Missoula to eat and shop before boarding their train. Let's not be blind to how much we subsidize interstates and airports that mearly pull business away from our town centers; give the Northcoast Hiawatha a chance to offer affordable travel around our region once again!
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