Time to pull the plug

St. Joseph News-Press

The Bush administration is ready to pull the federal feeding tube on Amtrak. It's about time.

Washington created the national rail service in 1970 in hopes of keeping passenger rail service as a viable alternative to the more popular air and auto travel. Amtrak never lived up to even the most modest expectations of advocates.

And so after $30 billion in annual subsidies and as many as 29 last chances, the Bush administration will unveil its Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act for Congress. ...

Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta ... focused his (recent) remarks on efforts to rescue the Northeast Corridor. It is considered the most lucrative market for Amtrak.

But Missourians should be excited about the part of the plan that would award federal matching grants directly to states to run a passenger service. It would mean Amtrak would have to compete with private companies to run routes.

Indeed, Herzog Transit Services has attempted to compete against Amtrak in Missouri only to find out that Amtrak enjoyed what Herzog officials later called a "de facto monopoly." Still, Amtrak lowered its subsidy requirement, from $8.9 million to $6.4 million, after it learned of Herzog's interest in the St. Louis-Kansas City route, according to congressional testimony in 2003.

It is time to pull the funding plug on Amtrak.