[OKC] FW: Feds Contributing to Heartland Flyer : Thanks to Chris Casteel

[Shauna Struby]

From: sfrr at aol.com [mailto:sfrr at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 8:28 AM
To: heartland_flyer at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Feds Contributing to Heartland Flyer : Thanks to Chris Casteel

 

As many of you are aware, US Senator Tom Coburn
<http://coburn.senate.gov/public/>  released two studies
<http://www.newsok.com/article/3587013>  on federal spending yesterday, one
of these focused upon Oklahoma's wasted federal dollars.  The Heartland
Flyer was one of many subjects covered in this report.  Thanks to Chris
Casteel for his report.

You can learn just as much from your critics as you do your proponents.
Thanks to Senator Coburn we have learned that Amtrak is covering $2.65
million of the annual Heartland Flyer cost.  Oklahoma is contributing $1.64
million and Texas $1.69 million.  

When Amtrak began paying what I consider their-fair-share for the Heartland
Flyer is unknown.  Their financial practices have been labeled by some as
"Creating Accounting."  This has been a frustration for many years in
Congress.

Still, Senator Coburn is only looking at the cost of operation, and not at
the entire pie.  What Passenger Rail Oklahoma had considered a 3.5:1 return
on taxpayer investment through traveler spending is now still an impressive
2:1.  This is considering the $18 million in annual traveler spending
associated with the Heartland Flyer in 2009 through the Texas Transportation
Institute Study
<http://swutc.tamu.edu/publications/technicalreports/169116-1.pdf> .  Also,
with Heartland Flyer ridership increasing, the train is creeping back up to
the $3.00-per mark. Four coaches seem to be on the train daily this summer
for the first time since 2008.

We encourage Senator Coburn and his staff to consider the economic advantage
beyond-the-farebox.  What effect would a discontinuance have on Oklahoma
small business, especially in smaller towns like Purcell, Pauls Valley, and
Ardmore?  Maybe he would find that we do not have enough passenger rail in
the state as some state legislators have suggested.  That is what Passenger
Rail Oklahoma considers the mission of the Eastern Flyer Passenger Rail
Development Task Force.

We need a comprehensive national cost allocation study across all modes of
transportation to measure the true cost/benefit.  Efficiency is important in
the rapidly expanding global economy.  One hopes if a national study is
performed, we will be looking at the entire picture and not just the
pick-and-choose-parts.

Evan Stair
Executive Director
Passenger Rail Oklahoma
www.PassengerRailOK.org

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