By Maureen Lofton, Assistant for Government Affairs, Meridian (MS)
November 11, 2008

The timing was impeccable. While planning had been ongoing for several months, the 2008 Intercity Rail Passenger Summit convened in Meridian (MS) October 10 just days after Congress approved the sweeping Rail Safety Improvement Act and Passenger Rail Improvement Act of 2008.

Speaker after speaker focused on the point that now is the time for states, cities and rail coalitions to develop their plans and be poised to enter into partnership with the federal government in implementing and strengthening passenger rail service.

Host Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith, former Chair of the Amtrak Board of Directors, and Vice Chair of the Conference of Mayors Transportation and Communications Committee for Rail Issues, opened the session by noting that the timing for the conference was also right because of the dramatic upsurge in gas prices.

“Suddenly, the passenger rail we have been advocating for so many years is looking more and more attractive to more and more Americans,” Smith said. “In the fiscal year just ended, Amtrak carried more than 28 million passengers—the sixth straight year of record ridership—and took in $1.7 billion in ticket revenue. The gas crisis this year and the financial meltdown of recent weeks, both of which have severely cut Americans’ transportation options, are but the most recent manifestations of passenger rail’s consistent ability to deliver safe, reliable and efficient transportation in good times and bad.”

Amtrak President Alex Kummant underscored Amtrak’s record ridership and revenues, noting that even long-distance trains, generally the most underperforming of Amtrak’s lines, had experienced an approximate ten percent growth in ridership, a figure he called “quite remarkable.” He also said that the 80/20 federal to state match in the legislation finally gives states the opportunity to develop meaningful partnerships with the federal government in passenger rail development.

Mark Yachmetz, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, called the federal passenger rail legislation “the most comprehensive piece of rail legislation Congress has passed in several generations” and also urged states to begin now to develop rail plans. Calling on the model of the interstate highway system, he said, “Not one mile of the interstate is owned by the federal government. It’s states that do the planning.”

His comments were echoed by Frank Busalacchi, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and chair of the Passenger Rail Working Group of the U.S. Congress’ National Surface Transportation Policy Revenue Study Commission. He said his working group had developed a map targeting rail corridors of 500 miles or less that will “bring relief to highway and air congestion.” He urged attendees to “keep pressure on the White House and Congress” and “to position your state to be ready for federal funding.”

Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, also a former Amtrak board member, said, “It is in times of economic distress that we can seize opportunities.” He urged participants to “start moving now” and warned that “if your state’s not ready, somebody else is going to get the money.”

Former Federal Railroad Administrator Gil Carmichael, a Meridian resident who now chairs the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver, said that, in order to ease the delays caused by the sharing of rail lines between freight and passenger trains, he is pushing for double and triple tracks on 30,000 miles of rail right-of-way so freight carriers and passenger trains can both operate efficiently.

The one-day forum was hosted by the Southern High'speed Rail Commission, with support from the National Corridors Initiative and Meridian. The commission invited both Presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, to attend or send representatives. In response, the commission received a letter signed by Obama and his running mate, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden. In it, they noted their support for the recently passed legislation and wrote, “We will continue to fight for rail when we’re elected. Our National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank will be funded with $60 billion over ten years to expand and enhance, not replace, existing federal transportation investments. We must invest in rail projects for economic and environmental reasons, and this proposal is key to long-term investment.”