RUN Conference: Optimism & Reality—“What is the Hold Up‽”

The Rail Users’ Network held their spring conference virtually on the afternoon of Friday, May 17. The conference’s focus was expanding long distance rail service: “Why Amtrak service to more towns and cities is important to the entire U.S.!”

The agenda of conference speakers included advocates from around the nation who are pushing for expansion of Amtrak’s long-distance network, which has not grown in decades. There was also a panel of veteran

railroaders, who discussed what must be done to restore a service that has been discontinued, from the perspectives of operations, economics, and crew recruitment and training. A list of all speakers can be found at www.railusers.net, under “Past Conferences.”  At RUN’s Spring 2024 conference, there was a feeling of optimism and how times have changed. However, the reality that possible restoration of service is years away takes away from the feeling of optimism. As a lot of

people know, public transit in many places in the U.S. is in bad shape.

Conference Highlights

All Aboard Arizona President Todd Liebman’s presentation showed the state of travel in 1970s and in 2020s and how the situation has changed. Surveys, political statements, and campaigns indicate that the populace wants better rail service. Huntington, West Virginia’s Mayor Steve Williams’ presentation focused on the drama of restoring daily service on Cardinal and the resistance by CSX, Amtrak, and federal government to make a train run every day. Some places have shown successes—for instance, Utah. However, Mike Christensen, executive director of the Utah Passenger Rail Association, indicated that there is lack of institutional capacity for intercity rail in Utah. The panel discussion on what is needed to start up new service was really poignant. You see what is needed, and the logistics of realizing train service. There are issues of rolling stock, the rights of way, and economics to address. Many speakers spoke on the desire of the populace for restoration of train service. Yet many rail advocacy organizations have little political capital. With what political capital rail advocates do have, they seem to be unable to transform it into realizing improvements to our rail

infrastructure. The reality of Amtrak long-distance rail service is that there were 14 trains in the 1970s and there are 14 trains now. We have to remove the economic, political, and infrastructure obstacles that currently prevent

changing this reality.

RUN board member and former Lackawanna Coalition chairperson David Peter Alan has reported on the conference in greater detail in an article posted on May 29 on the Railway Age website, www.railwayage.com, and in the Summer 2024 issue of the RUN Newsletter, which can be found on the RUN website, www.railusers.net.The Lackawanna Coalition is an organizational member of RUN.

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