Intercity Passenger Rail: A Viable Alternative
Nearly all intercity passenger rail service is currently provided by Amtrak, which serves 23 million passengers annually, generating annual ticket revenues of about $1.1 billion. Services are provided over a network of approximately 23,000 miles of rail over which about 270 trains operate per day, serving 500 communities in 47 states. Over the past 10 years Federal assistance for Amtrak has averaged about $1 billion annually.
Congestion in highway and aviation systems has caused many states to look for ways to augment service. A number of states have invested in intercity passenger rail service. (Figure 9.) Many of these investments have yielded striking successes in the past decade and the experience has demonstrated that passenger rail can be a viable alternative. The Northwest Corridor connecting Eugene, Oregon through Portland, to Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia has seen its ridership grow from 92,000 in 1993 to 564,000 by 2001. Planned investment may increase this to over 1.5 million customers. Investment in the Chicago-Milwaukee-Minneapolis corridor, as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative may increase ridership from 321,000 in 1996 to 3.2 million in the future. Planned investment in California's three state-supported corridors will support ridership of 11.6 million in the future, compared with 2.6 million in 1996. For the Northeast Corridor, planned investments will maintain and expand the current annual ridership of 14 million.
Figure 9. Intercity Passenger Rail Corridor Development Plans
Table 1. Intercity Passenger Rail Corridors and Cost Estimates for Improvement
Despite important changes under new Amtrak leadership, uncertainty continues to surround its future. Critical rail infrastructure repairs and improvements remain unaddressed. Recent efforts to recalculate Northeast Corridor access fees for commuter lines have deflected those involved from the broader, long-term task. The uncertainty of annual Federal support for Amtrak and the access fee controversy have called into question the Federal commitment to the investment necessary to bring the Northeast Corridor up to a state of good repair.
To assess investment needs in this field, AASHTO produced in 2002 a report entitled Intercity Passenger Rail Transportation. In the report, AASHTO estimated the investment needs for intercity passenger rail corridors including those owned by Amtrak to be $60 billion over the next 20 years. (Table 1.) That would translate into an annual investment of $3 billion. Adjusting for rising construction costs would produce an estimate of $3.3 billion for 2007.
Intercity Passenger Bus: Essential in Rural Areas
The intercity bus industry provides more than 774 million passenger trips annually. Motorcoaches serve over 4,200 communities in regular services which range from routed service, charters, tours, airport shuttles, and sightseeing. For much of rural America, intercity bus service is their only alternative to long-distance travel by private automobile. Federal funding for intercity bus was first introduced with ISTEA in 1991. Today states can use FTA Section 5311(f) funds to underwrite service and facilities in rural areas. In 2006, approximately $35 million was provided through this program. In 2005, when Greyhound announced that it would be forced to reduce service to rural communities in several sections of the country, States joined forces to use their resources to sustain some service.
