The US House rejected cuts to Amtrak! Here is how your reps voted:...
Bad Guys who voted to cut Amtrak:
Tim Hullskamp KS
Lynn Jenkins KS
Kevin Yoder KS
Mike Pompeo KS
If it was up to Kansas, Amtrak would have lost support.
The hard deadline for a decision is December 31, 2014. Not 2015.Hard deadline for making the switch is Dec. 31, 2015, which gives us about one more year of trying to get Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico on board to provide funding for the current route. Apparently Kansas has allocated some funds, Colorado has approved funding, but that involves a silly out and back reroute to Pueblo and New Mexico is up in the air with the governor opposed to the funding. So look for another year of political games before a final decision is reached.
(From April 2014)."We'll need a way forward by the end of this year, or else in the calendar year 2015 we'll need to spend time working on rerouting the train," said Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak,
(Also from April 2014, same spokesman)"By the end of 2014 if it's not very clear that there's a way forward, we'll spend 2015 looking at rerouting the train between Kansas and Albuquerque,"
Pfft, Palmdale and Lancaster did it in three days. Amarillo and Wichita just need to want it bad enough.I have read rumors elsewhere that Amtrak may be giving the states additional time during 2015 to preserve the existing route. This is just such an awful idea, as it makes it more likely that the train will blow past Amarillo and Wichita without stopping. Cities need lead time to build platforms.
Not with required EISes they didn't. :-(Pfft, Palmdale and Lancaster did it in three days. Amarillo and Wichita just need to want it bad enough.I have read rumors elsewhere that Amtrak may be giving the states additional time during 2015 to preserve the existing route. This is just such an awful idea, as it makes it more likely that the train will blow past Amarillo and Wichita without stopping. Cities need lead time to build platforms.
Your history is correct, but I don't believe Amtrak currently considers that reason for route selection....they are looking for the best, fastest, cheapest route with the best market potential for profitability, just like any business would. They leave it up to the states to support any 'essential services', if they want it.....One of the reasons that the current Chicago to Los Angeles route was chosen in 1971 was because the smaller cities along the route had less alternative transportation than Wichita and Amarillo. Both routes had train service prior to Amtrak. That's is also why the highline and Empire Builder were chosen over the more southerly North Coast Limited route. The North Coast Hiawatha was a political train that came back for 7 years.
The reroute is not a bad thing. The scenery is just as good going through Abo Canyon and it's all double track and the population of the online cities is much greater. And a thru way bus from Lubbock is a possibility. All they will have to do is turn the train on the wye in Albuquerque each trip. And BNSF is already to do this. The Raton line will just be banked until a need is determined for it's use. It's not going to go away. And the line across Kansas is still in use for freights so It will stay around also.New Mexico is prohibited by its state Constitution, and is so stated in its State Rail Plan in chapter 5 from giving monies directly or indirectly to private railroads. Also New Mexico has put in its budget and is so stated money in the state Rail Plan to rework the wye near Albq.. This reroute train has left the station and it is just a matter of time This idea of New Mexico doing a study is a sham/ A bridge or track washout tor track goes exempted the reroute happens because the Transcon is already designated an alternate route for SWC. In reality the reroute has already happened--just a matter of time
That was a post-earthquake emergency measure. The work was done without any of the usual delay mechanisms having a chance to function.Pfft, Palmdale and Lancaster did it in three days. Amarillo and Wichita just need to want it bad enough.I have read rumors elsewhere that Amtrak may be giving the states additional time during 2015 to preserve the existing route. This is just such an awful idea, as it makes it more likely that the train will blow past Amarillo and Wichita without stopping. Cities need lead time to build platforms.
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