Congress Must Show Its Commitment to Amtrak

What everybody seems to agree on is that more train service is needed between San Diego and Los Angeles, the second busiest of Amtrak’s routes. Nearly 2 million passengers a year ride the eight, sometimes-standing-room-only, trains that travel the 128-mile route each day. Many of these passengers would otherwise be in cars.

There’s also agreement that the signaling system on the route needs replacement. Malfunctions are frequent and have caused hours of delay.

But what Amtrak, state and local government officials cannot agree on is who should pay for the added service and repairs.

Passengers pay for about 86% of the operating costs, Amtrak says, an extraordinarily high rate for public transportation. Amtrak and the California Department of Transportation pick up the difference--about $3.3 million in fiscal year 1988. Amtrak says it cannot afford to contribute any more and that, if a ninth daily round trip is to be added, state or local government will have to subsidize it.

Local officials disagree with Amtrak figures, and claim that passengers already pay more than 100% of the costs.

They also point to more than $100 million that state and local governments have invested in the San Diego-Los Angeles corridor in the past decade. They say it’s only fair that Amtrak pay for the new signal system, which will also benefit Amtrak. Amtrak says it will pay for about 10%--the same share it paid of the $46 million needed to replace rails on the route that are owned by Santa Fe Railway.

Local officials are right. The federal government should pay more. But these are more than just policy disputes. Amtrak is the victim of years of miserly funding by Congress and recent administrations.

And all Southern Californians are casualties of this shortsightedness, paying with more freeway congestion and smog.

To their credit, San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties have taken some control of the situation. Earlier this year, they joined with the state to form the Los Angeles-San Diego Rail Corridor Agency to increase and coordinate rail transportation in the three counties--a rare if not unprecedented amount of cooperation on a regional problem.

Voters have shown their commitment, approving sales tax increases for transportation in San Diego and Los Angeles counties. Unfortunately, voters in Orange County, which has some of the region’s worst traffic congestion, turned down a similar tax last month that would have supplied $20 million to improve Amtrak service and $130 million for a commuter rail line similar to the one planned in San Diego County.

But commuter rails will not serve the needs of the San Diego-to-Los Angeles traveler. Money needs to be found for the signal repairs and added service on the intercity route.

State and local governments have shown their commitment to rail service. It’s time for Congress to show a similar commitment nationally and in Southern California, which has received far less support over the years than the Northeast.

But if that support does not materialize, then the Los Angeles-San Diego Rail Corridor Agency must continue its aggressive leadership, and find another way to improve and increase the service.

Not only are there commuters who would use the trains if they were more frequent and reliable, but some existing riders are returning to their cars because of the delays.

Declines in ridership will only add to the subsidies that California and Amtrak have to pay. And Southern California cannot afford to discourage public transportation riders at a time when government is spending money to get commuters out of their automobiles.