Congressional Hearing On Amtrak Service Hears Insight From Company

The president and CEO of Amtrak provided insight regarding the cuts made by the train service during a Congressional hearing of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D- Mont., was one of the organizers of the meeting after Amtrak cut the Empire Builder service from seven days to three days a week throughout Montana.

“I’ve been sounding the alarm for months that this reduction in service will be devastating to Hi-Line communities, economies and families who use the train to visit family across the country,” Tester said.

At the hearing, Tester said, “I pushed for this hearing because the Senate and the Trump Administration need to hear first-hand accounts of just how tone-deaf recent Amtrak policies are when it comes to rural communities. The Trump Administration fought to end long-distance service which would have meant the end to the Empire Builder in Montana. Since then, they have attempted to cut the budget in half, leading to where we are today as Montanans lose service. This is unacceptable and is hurting our economy.”

William Floyd, president and CEO of Amtrak, testified that the company was fiscally stronger than ever at the end of fiscal year 2019 and beginning of fiscal year 2020, But due to COVID-19, ridership decreased by 97 percent. The CARES Act provided necessary emergency funding, but ridership and revenue are still down 80 percent compared to a year ago.

“We are committed to operating our long distance system and, as ridership returns, we intend to restore service frequency to previous levels,” Floyd testified. “Assuming we receive the necessary federal funding to continue our planned operations in FY 2021, we will evaluate three metrics throughout the year with our initial plan to decide in February whether to restore daily service on each affected long distance route for summer and beyond.”

The metrics that Amtrak plans to follow include: Public Health: Is the COVID-19 pandemic under control? Future Demand: Are customers booking trips near the same rate as in 2020? and Current Performance: Is ridership close to our projections in our operating plan? “If all three conditions are met for a given long distance route, we will restore daily service along that route between late May and June 2021,” Floyd said.

At the request of Tester and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R.-Mont, the hearing included testimony from Paul Tuss, executive director of Bear Paw Developing Corporation and member of the Montana Economic Developers Association.

Tusk said the 12 Amtrak stations in Montana served 121,429 passengers during 2019. According to the Rail Passengers Association, the Empire Builder contributes an estimated $327 million to the economies of the states in which it operates.

“A safe, reliable passenger rail system in our country is critically important, especially for our rural and frontier communities,” Tusk said. “I strongly recommend your continued investment in Amtrak, including its long-distance routes such as the Empire Builder. Now is not the time to shrink from the commitment this nation has historically had to connect our people and places through a robust passenger rail system.”