Matt Blunt Would Whack Amtrak If He Could

Columnist Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star rode aboard the Ann Rutelidge Amtrak train line and got a column out of it. And although he complains about the service, he doesn't forget to dig at Matt Blunt:

In Missouri, Gov. Matt Blunt was eager to whack the state rail subsidy along with all the other programs he proposed cutting, particularly Medicaid.

"We're following the federal lead," a Blunt spokeswoman was quoted as saying last month. "Without the federal funds, it's likely Missouri service would be affected anyway."

They've been predicting the death of Amtrak almost since the beginning more than 30 years ago.

Never has the system paid for itself. And never have the politicians been happy about that, even as they gladly spend many billions more on highways and airports, which also don't pay for themselves.

Let's compare the apples to oranges, shall we?

	Railroads	Highways	Airports
Ongoing costs:	Trains (means of locomotion) Depots (buildings) Rail, bridges (conduit)	Asphalt, Paint (Means of conduit)	Buildings Concrete for landing strips
Easily Extensible?	No, needs tracks laid.	Yes, needs just some cement poured to connect or augment existing network.	Yes, just needs buildings and landing strips.
Most costs of travel born by:	Government	Travellers who drive cars or trucks on highway	Vendors of travel who operate the planes and pass the cost onto the traveller, but unfortunately often to the government in the form of bailout pleas.

So, do we see a difference in kind here?

• Highways allow the government to ease transportation by autos and trucks.
  
  
• Airports allow the government to ease transportation by plane.
  
  
• Amtrak, which forces the government to bear all costs of an outmoded, niche form of transportation.

The state and the country would be better served if its elected leaders would show a little more spine and allow privatization of passenger railroad. I expect TrackBlue or Northeastern Air would come along and provide shorter, regional route service and might make money at it.