Word: amtraks
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Westerners resent the bureaucratic decision to cut Amtrak service, something far more vital to Butte and Cheyenne than to Nashville or Columbus, and the general disregard of the gas crunch until it hit the East. Montana's Democratic Governor Thomas Judge, among other Western Governors, put out an urgent plea to the Department of Energy for help in securing diesel fuel for crop harvesting Said Judge: "I got absolutely nowhere I had to go out myself and buy 75,000 barrels from New York...
...still lacks a coherent policy or an effective advocate for it. Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams is a firm supporter, but he lacks the backing of the President and the other Georgians in the White House. After he was forced last spring by Congress to propose drastic cutbacks in Amtrak service at a time when ridership was climbing, Adams lost much of his standing with state and local transportation officials...
...millions, however, Americans were still saying no to the calls for conservation. Only a minority of people switched to public transportation, and that may be temporary. Large cities reported slightly more passengers on buses and subways. Reservations increased by 16% on airlines and by 40% on Amtrak's trains. Amtrak's 925 reservations clerks were overwhelmed by phone calls-1.3 million, four times the normal number, in the first week of May. Long-distance travel on Greyhound buses was up 20%. Sales of big cars during the first four months of 1979 were 8% lower than a year...
...time-rupturing jet planes. Yet, in spite of the heroic past, the U.S. has let its passenger rail travel system fizzle and sputter down into a national embarrassment, Today service is scant, schedules are unreliable and amenities are often sparse. The equipment includes, in the forthright phrase of Amtrak President Alan Boyd, "a lot of junk." The situation might be called ridiculous if only in light of the universal recognition of the passenger train as the most expedient mode of moving large numbers of people from city to city. In an energy-short era, the railroad, fully exploited, offers...
...When Amtrak was created eight years ago there was hope for improved U.S. passenger trains, and there was even some progress. But now, with the country still needing to do a great deal better, it stands at the verge of deliberately doing worse. Reason: a Department of Transportation plan that would amputate 12,000 miles from Amtrak's 27,500-mile system. It would also wipe out some popular trains, including the Washington-New Orleans Crescent and New York-Canada Montrealer. This would be accompanied by slashes in Amtrak funds, forcing the company into offering truncated services at higher...