Transit ticket?

Railway Age, Sept, 2008 by William C. Vantuono

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Democratic Presidential nominee is from Chicago, the nation's rail hub and a stronghold of all forms of passenger rail. His Vice Presidential running mate spends three hours a day commuting between his home in Delaware and his office in Washington, D.C., on Amtrak, has been doing so since 1972, and (no surprise) is among the railroad's staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill. (And, his son Hunter is an Amtrak board member serving a five-year term that expires in July 2011.) "We would expect Senator Biden to continue his support if elected Vice President," an Amtrak spokesman said.

To rail transit advocates, Barack Obama and Joe Biden may look like the dream ticket they've been hoping for: the leaders of an Administration that will recast the U.S. DOT into an agency that's focused on helping solve the nation's transportation problems by funding and growing passenger rail, in lockstep with a largely sympathetic House and Senate controlled by members of their own party.

John McCain strongly supports a strengthened national infrastructure, without modal preference, though in the past he has referred to Amtrak's long-distance trains as "pork-barrel" projects.

At this point, though, it's too early to tell where the candidates from either party stand on most rail issues--if they have a position at all. All anyone knows is what they've said and done in the past, and there's no guarantee that past performance will determine what they'll do in the White House. About the only statements Obama has made about rail have been his opposition to CN's proposed acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern--a position based on what many of his local constituents have been clamoring about, not on whether the merger makes sense within the broader context of national transportation. Does Obama's stance on CN/EJ&E indicate hostility toward freight rail? No--it indicates that Chicago is his home town.

More likely for both Presidential contenders: With the economy in recession and the nation embroiled in an unpopular war, transportation is a distant blip on the radar screen. Fuel prices and environmental concerns may bring that blip a little closer into focus. Whether that blip will be rail--passenger or freight--remains to be seen. Unfortunately, to no one's benefit, the attention could backfire.

See p. 4.