Amtrak riders fear impact of budget cuts

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- If Missouri cuts Amtrak funding, Diane Luebbering expects fewer opportunities to visit with her relatives.

"That's really the only way our family gets to come see us," she said. "My parents can't drive at all."

She was among a handful of people waiting at the Kirkwood station in suburban St. Louis one afternoon this week for a train between Kansas City and St. Louis that makes eight stops along the way.

Luebbering's 13-year-old son often takes the train to visit his grandparents in Jefferson City, and Luebbering's parents and in-laws use the route for visits to her south St. Louis County home.

The Missouri House Transportation Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to eliminate $6.4 million in state funding for Amtrak service between Kansas City and St. Louis, though Gov. Matt Blunt had recommended the funding and some lawmakers have vowed to keep it.

Amtrak recorded about 128,000 passenger trips in fiscal year 2004 between Kansas City and St. Louis, a roughly 8 percent decrease from the year before when about 140,000 passengers traveled on the trains.

The reduction was due, in part, to work being done on the tracks by Union Pacific, making it necessary to substitute buses for train service at points along the route, said Chicago-based Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.

He said without the state funds, Amtrak would have to eliminate service between Missouri's big cities.

"These trains operate only because the state has contracted with us to run them," Magliari said. "Without the funding for this contract, there would be no service between St. Louis and Kansas City."

If the cuts go through, it would effect four chances to pick up trains between Missouri's largest cities. The trains make stops in Kirkwood, Washington, Hermann, Jefferson City, Sedalia, Warrensburg, Lee's Summit and Independence. The Amtrak service has been targeted in the past for cuts, but always survived in the budget's final version.

In Kirkwood, volunteers now staff the station, after cuts in 2003 eliminated ticket agents at some depots. Allen Holtman, 62, a self-described train buff, said he's been visiting trains at the Kirkwood station since gasoline rationing ended after World War II, and his parents were able to drive him to the station.

He said supporters of train travel are gearing up to make the case for funding.

"There's a lot of fighting, a lot of letter writing," Holtman said.

But some say every time there's a battle, the train system loses a little more.

And with a train delayed about 2 1/2 hours Thursday afternoon, some in Kirkwood wondered aloud if the train was little more than a quaint diversion for daytrippers and those with plenty of time to travel.

Gwen Ziegler, 51, of St. Charles went with two grandchildren and her daughter for lunch in Hermann. She hoped the service remained.

"We had a blast, a great day," she said, but said she also wanted her grandchildren to experience a train ride. "I figured that one day the train won't be around."