[OKC] FW: [passrailok] EDITORIAL: Political Landscape of Kansas Passenger Rail

Wed Mar 11 07:33:17 PDT 2009

fyi

From: passrailok at yahoogroups.com [mailto:passrailok at yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of evanstair at passengerrailok.org
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 7:57 AM
To: heartland_flyer at yahoogroups.com; passrailok at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [passrailok] EDITORIAL: Political Landscape of Kansas Passenger
Rail

We are receiving some initial signs in Kansas that political dogma is
driving the "tainted" stimulus funding debate. Some in Kansas consider
money spent on Amtrak as supporting, not Amtrak services per se, but labor
unions. This is analogous to the belief that public school spending
supports Kansas education unions. Talk about throwing the baby out with
the bathwater!

I don't see how increasing transportation options for the general public is
bad for either political extreme (right or left). Conveying this message is
important as we lead up to the 2010 debate as to whether Kansas, Oklahoma,
and Texas should fund an expanded Heartland Flyer passenger train. Amtrak's
Kansas Feasibility study is due in late 2009.

In reality, passenger rail expansion can serve many diverse political
leanings, just as it can serve the many diverse communities in which it
stops. Business is supported through after-the-farebox revenues while
environmental concerns, energy conservation, and mobility are addressed on
the other side. One need only place a critic on the Flyer today to see that
the myths perpetuated by passenger opponents are dead or dying. Show them
the Trinity Rail Express, as the Northern Flyer Alliance did two weeks ago,
and you can create a passion for such operations elsewhere.

This is something to think about when addressing criticisms of Amtrak or
more generally passenger rail. Passenger rail does provide benefit;
however, quantifying this benefit is difficult because transportation is a
small part of the economic equation. Nobody argues that highways are a
necessity as economic corridors. Nobody argues that aviation spending is
excessive because it supports business. The belief that the Flyer is a
simple excursion train is indeed a myth. Even if it were just for tourism
the money spent at the endpoint is still green. 

Evan Stair
Executive Director
PassengerRailOK.org

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the preservation and expansion of passenger rail in Oklahoma and Kansas.

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