Some 50% of the discretionary budget goes to war
mongering. Let us take that money and re-build the infrastructure, thus
saving many lives. That is real national defense.
Rescue workers climb into the wreckage of a crashed Amtrak train in Philadelphia. (photo: NBC)
Why You Can't Talk About the Amtrak Derailment Without
Talking About Our Infrastructure Crisis
By
Aviva Shen, ThinkProgress
13 May 15
At least six people have died and more than 140 people
are injured in the wake of the deadliest Amtrak derailment in recent history.
Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 rolled off the tracks while rounding a bend
near Philadelphia, according to NBC Philadelphia, while carrying 238 passengers
and five crew members. As officials sort through the wreckage and try to
determine the cause of the tragedy, the Northeast Corridor — Amtrak's busiest
and most profitable route between Boston and Washington — will be shut down for
an indeterminate amount of time.
Already the densest rail route in the U.S., aging
Northeast Corridor trains are grappling with more riders than ever. The route
has steadily broken ridership records every year for more than a decade — last
year, 11.6 million people rode a Northeast Corridor train. But Amtrak has been
starved of the funds required to keep up with this increased demand. The
Northeast Corridor is shouldering a backlog of repairs expected to require $4.3
billion in fiscal year 2019, while federal funding is expected to dwindle to
$872 million.
Graph featuring data on total ridership and federal funding. (photo: Andrew Breiner)
House Republicans will debate another massive cut to
Amtrak on Wednesday. But even if they keep Amtrak funding levels where they
are, Congress is guaranteeing more dysfunction and more breakdowns in the
system as maintenance costs rise. Those breakdowns can range from creating
minor inconveniences, like being 20 minutes late to work, to potential
catastrophes, like Tuesday's derailment.
It's not yet clear what caused Train 188 to go off the
rails, but it is the most recent in a series of train derailments on the route.
Metro-North, a commuter line shares tracks with Amtrak, has suffered several
serious derailments over the past two years. Besides posing serious dangers to
riders, these derailments set off a ripple effect that paralyzes the entire
system, causing untold setbacks for riders and businesses. Northeast Corridor
trains carry "a workforce that contributes $50 billion per year to the
United States gross domestic product," according to the Northeast Corridor
Commission.
Data covering northeast ridership and the percentage of total Amtrak riders. (photo: Andrew Breiner)
Meanwhile, the agency is simply unable to keep up with
daily wear-and-tear along with the backlog of repairs on bridges and tunnels
that date back to the turn of the 20th century, "functionally
obsolete" rail interlockings, and trains that rely on 1930s-era
components.
In fact, Congress' refusal to acknowledge Amtrak's
predicament has made American trains so inefficient that it's actually having a
dampening effect on ridership growth. Even though demand for train travel has
risen steadily, growth has slowed recently as breakdowns and delays make trains
less reliable. "The slower growth in ridership than in recent years is
due, in part, to a harsh winter season and on-time performance issues
associated with freight train delays and infrastructure in need of
replacement," noted Amtrak's report from fiscal year 2014.
Congress holds Amtrak to a unique standard by
demanding the agency turn a profit per passenger; highways and airports receive
about 45 times the subsidies that Amtrak does, according to the National
Journal's Simon Van Zuylen-Wood. Republicans have persistently called for the
privatization of the Northeast Corridor, which would gut Amtrak's primary
source of revenue and effectively doom the agency. While that proposal has
never gained much traction outside conservative circles, lawmakers have
proposed massive cuts to Amtrak's budget virtually every chance they get.
Congress is currently battling over a looming deadline
for the major federal transportation fund, which will run out of money by the
end of May. The Obama administration has pushed a $478 billion transportation
funding bill that would still be a drop in the bucket for the massive
infrastructure needs facing the country, but many Republican lawmakers have so
far seemed unwilling to consider anything more ambitious than a year-long
extension. It remains to be seen if Tuesday's tragic derailment will provide a
jolt of reality in the current debate.
© 2015 Reader Supported News
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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