If the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts to Amtrak are passed by Congress, Pittsburgh could lose one of its two passenger routes that goes through the city.
The budget, unveiled last week, calls for all long-distance trains to be eliminated so Amtrak can concentrate on improving the efficiency of its shorter-distance corridors. As part of that efficiency, The Capitol Limited, which goes from Washington to Chicago with a stop at the system’s Downtown station, would be eliminated. The Pennsylvanian, which goes from New York through Philadelphia and Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, would be untouched.
“Cutting Amtrak to finance tax cuts for the wealthy is a bad deal for Pennsylvania,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in an email response to an inquiry. “Residents in Pittsburgh and all of Western Pennsylvania should have access to robust rail service, but President [Donald] Trump’s proposed cuts will take the region in the opposite direction.”
In the fiscal year 2016, there were 145,910 boardings and alightings in Pittsburgh — ranked 5th in the state, behind Philadelphia (4.3 million), Lancaster (560,257), Harrisburg (508,624), and Chester County's Paoli Station (201,572).
Pittsburgh's traffic was down by nearly 4,000 from the year before, bucking the statewide trend, which saw a 4.3 percent increase.
Pittsburgh's traffic was down by nearly 4,000 from the year before, bucking the statewide trend, which saw a 4.3 percent increase. (David Goldman/Associated Press)
But according to some users, the cuts could have one unusual aspect that would have outsized effects on economic development and quality of life.
Starting in September 2015, Amtrak has allowed cyclists, in limited numbers with reservations, to bring their bikes onboard in Pittsburgh and Washington for an additional $20 charge. The service was designed to address the needs of users of the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath, which together run 335 miles from Downtown to D.C.
The Capitol Limited carried 2,669 bicycles in its initial year.
Ed Quigley of Monaca has taken his bicycle on the Capitol Limited six times, he said Saturday, and has spent hundreds of dollars in the small towns along the way. “It’s bed and breakfasts. It’s meals at restaurants. It’s coffee shops in town,” he said. “The frozen yogurt place in Connellsville is kind of a shrine to me.
“The trail economy is the way these little towns are going forward,” said Mr. Quigley, 59, a retired air traffic controller.
No service between Pittsburgh and Washington could “cut into the dollars in Connellsville and West Newton and other places along the [bike trail],” said Stuart Strickland, 58, a McCandless software engineer, cycling advocate and a member of the Amtrak Bicycle Task Force. “The places that have learned to rely on that [business] are going to see a change.”
“The budget proposal to eliminate funding for Amtrak’s long distance service could impact many of the 500 communities we serve,” Amtrak president Charles “Wick” Moorman stated via email Saturday.
“Amtrak operates 15 long-distance trains across the nation and these routes offer the only Amtrak service in 23 of the 46 states we serve. ... Amtrak is very focused on running efficiently — we covered 94 percent of our total network operating costs through ticket sales and other revenues in FY16 — but these services all require Federal investment.
“As the budget process progresses, we look forward to working with President Trump, [Transportation] Secretary [Elaine] Chao, and Congress to ensure they understand the value of Amtrak’s long distance trains and what these proposed cuts would mean to this important part of the nation’s transportation system.”
But similar cuts have been proposed before, only to be restored during Congressional budget deliberations.
“The proposed budget is just that — a proposal,” said Joe Cappel, vice president for business development at the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, which since 1994 has owned Toledo’s train station and spent $11 million to renovate it. “It won’t be the final budget.”
The station would be eliminated as part of the proposed budget.
Democrats are already girding themselves to fight off the proposed cuts.
“Amtrak is just one of a myriad of things in that budget that are harmful to Pennsylvania and this district,” said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, before a town hall meeting at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum in Oakland on Saturday.
“Just when we’re trying to increase transportation services, and especially transportation that can move lots of people distances, and Amtrak needs that money, it doesn’t make any sense in the world that they’re cutting funding.
“Now, a lot of presidents’ budgets are dead on arrival when they hit the House of Representatives, and clearly we’re already hearing some Republicans saying that they don’t like a lot of what’s in that budget.
“So hopefully we’re going to be able to work with some of the more moderate Republicans to restore a lot of this funding.”
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, in a statement emailed Monday evening, said that "investment in the Amtrak rail corridor and its services is crucial. I will continue to support cost-effective, efficient Amtrak operations, knowing that mass transit is a key driver of economic and regional development for Southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., could not be reached for comment on the proposed Amtrak cuts Saturday.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, said the proposed Amtrak cuts are part of what she considers a broader disregard for the Midwest from the Trump administration, based on it being stocked with advisers mainly from the East or West coasts.
While Amtrak supporters in Congress are likely to come through on the rail system’s behalf as they have before, “It’s too bad that we have to waste valuable time on this kind of restoration effort,” Ms. Kaptur said.
The Trump administration is not the first to propose eliminating subsidies for all or part of Amtrak, with long-distance trains among those most frequently targeted for elimination.
Eliminating all Amtrak funding routinely appeared in President Ronald Reagan’s budget proposals during the 1980s, but congressional advocates always came to the passenger-train system’s defense.
Some of the deepest actual cuts to Amtrak service, by contrast, occurred during Democratic presidencies.
Those included elimination of several long-distance routes in 1979 during the Carter administration and, in 1995, during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Block News Alliance consists of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio. David Patch is a reporter for The Blade. Rich Lord is a reporter for The Post-Gazette: rlord@post-gazette.com; Bill Schackner contributed: bschackner@post-gazette.com.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Rep. Tim Murphy.
First Published: March 19, 2017, 4:56 a.m.
