No More Canadian Choo-Choo

They called it the world’s most spectacular railroad journey, the 4,000-mile route across all of Canada, and undoubtedly it was--especially the famed stretch of track through the Canadian Rockies. A century of history and tradition came to an end last weekend, however, when the jewel of that nation’s railroad passenger system, the Canadian, made its final transcontinental journey. The Canadian is gone, and there is serious question about whether the network’s other train routes will survive.

In somewhat the same way the U.S. government had done, Canada formed its own rail passenger line, Via Rail, in 1977. But even with billions of dollars of investment, passenger ridership continued to decline.

The Times’ Mary Williams Walsh this week quoted a former conductor as saying: “It appears to us that over the years they have deliberately tried to run down the train so far that people would say, ‘The hell with it--I’m going to drive.’ ” Sound familiar? That same barb was aimed at American railroads back in the 1960s as their owners attempted to dump unprofitable passenger runs.

But just as the Mulroney government was giving up on the Canadian, Amtrak, the U.S. National Railroad Passenger Corp., reported that it collected record income of $1.3 billion last year. Ridership is at an all-time high. The California Zephyr, which runs between Chicago and San Francisco, with branch lines to Los Angeles and Seattle, is booked solid for weeks or months in advance during vacation periods. Amtrak has introduced nonstop express Metroliners in an effort to compete directly with airline shuttle service between New York and Washington.

In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration tried to do to Amtrak what Mulroney has done to Via Rail. Fortunately, Congress resisted and maintained the federal subsidy to the independent rail passenger corporation. The investment in new equipment and improved roadbeds has paid off handsomely. The federal subsidy now is lower than it was five years ago. Service is much better. Amtrak President W. Graham Claytor Jr. says the system might be able to cover all its operating costs by the turn of the century. No national rail system does that now.

Even if it never fully pays its way, Amtrak is a valuable national asset. As aging airports become ever more crowded and freeways more jammed, rail service will be an increasingly attractive transportation alternative for Americans, especially as technology brings about improved comfort, safety and speed. As Americans bid adieu to the Canadian, they look forward to even better train service in the United States.