Getting the Government on the Rails

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino leaned back in his first-class seat aboard Amtrak’s new high-speed Acela Express train Wednesday, bit into an oatmeal raisin cookie and offered his antidote to America’s traffic headaches.

“Get people on the train,” he said. “Everyone loves riding the train. Now we have to get the federal government to make an investment in that.”

Menino and about 300 other municipal leaders are in the nation’s capital this week for the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Increased federal funding for passenger rail services is at the top of the group’s lobbying list.

After a discussion focused on the economic, environmental and social benefits of getting commuters off highways and onto the rails, many of the mayors boarded the Acela Express--which debuted last month between Boston and Washington--for a round trip from Union Station to Baltimore’s Penn Station.

“This may be the Cadillac of trains,” Menino said as the Acela reached its cruising speed of 125 mph. “But I’d be happy with a Volkswagen in Boston.”

Menino and his fellow mayors, including Gearld Wright from West Valley City, Utah, said they’re looking to the incoming Bush administration and the new Congress to make city and statewide rail transportation projects a priority.

“Not only do you get cars off the road, but you start seeing more economic growth,” Wright said, adding that a light-rail system in the Salt Lake City area has allowed people easier access to jobs.

Along with trying to net money for rail systems in their cities, the mayors said they’ll continue to push Congress to expand Amtrak routes.

Amtrak failed to win money for new, high-speed train routes at the end of the last Congress, but Senate leaders of both parties have promised to pursue the idea this year. Supporters wanted the government to help Amtrak raise $10 billion to develop as many as 11 additional high-speed train routes, but the legislation failed.

“It’s terrific that the mayors are putting this at the top of their agenda this year,” said Ross Capon, executive director of the National Assn. of Railroad Passengers. “I think they’re absolutely serving their constituents in reflecting what the public wants.”

Mayors said they were encouraged by Senate Majority leader Trent Lott’s appearance at their conference Wednesday.

“When you have the Republican Senate leader embracing federal rail investment, that’s going to be extremely helpful,” said New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial. Morial, the group’s vice president, said he planned to meet with members of the new Bush administration.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush will consider the issue after he takes office.

The mayors also are betting that public support for more rail systems will push the Bush administration and Congress to act quickly.

A poll commissioned by the conference shows that 80% of 1,013 registered voters surveyed said they supported the idea of building light rail and commuter rail systems so they would not have to drive their cars.

“The rails are a very good public investment,” said Peter Clavelle, mayor of Burlington, Vt. “We need to convince the feds of that.”