BELLOWS FALLS — My friend Sarah Ovenden and I run a small company called Roots on the Rails. A couple of times a year, we book moderately well-known musicians (the “roots” part) who can draw a crowd of 50 or so fans, charter five vintage, privately-owned passenger railroad cars (the “rails” part), and set out to visit some cool places that are served by passenger train.
We've done 45 or so trips since 2003, with musicians ranging from Cowboy Junkies to Ramblin' Jack Elliott to old L.A.-punks-turned-folkies like Dave Alvin and John Doe. Our patrons tend toward empty-nesters and decades-long fans of the musicians we feature.
All this has just changed. Small, privately-owned excursion companies and nonprofit railroad historical societies across the nation operate hundreds of trips like this each year, all paying Amtrak to move their equipment - and a new policy will effectively end their ability to operate.
On March 30, the new Amtrak president, ex-Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson, announced that Amtrak would be stopping all special trains and restricting privately-owned rail cars to being carried only between endpoint cities, with no switching of rail cars en route.
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A recent Wall Street Journal article cast a very negative light on privately-owned railroad cars. The piece left the reader with the impression that these are the playthings of super-wealthy individuals, operated exclusively for their personal enjoyment, traveling alone in baronial splendor, shunning the commoner.
This is simply not accurate.
The vast majority of privately-owned rail cars are operated as small, family-owned businesses or by railroad history nonprofits, and they survive by offering chartered rail excursions, either as stand-alone “special trains” or attached to the rear of Amtrak cars on regularly scheduled routes.
This small but vital segment of the travel and tourism industry attracts travelers from around the globe, injects money into places that can use it, provides jobs to mechanics, cooks, attendants, and car rebuilders, and generally is a wonderful community of cautiously-idealistic nomads.
An example: in West Virginia, the New River Train, an excursion operated by a local historical society twice annually for over 50 years, generates upwards of $4 million in county and state revenue.
And our trip this fall, Dave Alvin's annual West of the West, a grand circle of over 6,000 miles, has been thrown into jeopardy.
Four of our planned stops are seemingly no longer possible. Switching our private rail cars between certain trains will no longer be allowed, rendering the seamless journey between connecting cities, a hallmark of our trips, impossible.
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Here are a few reasons why these new policies are ill-advised:
• They disproportionally affect smaller communities to which every tourism dollar is important. If, as dictated by the new policy, private cars can be attached and removed only at trip end points like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, smaller cities that have so far been able to host cars will no longer have the economic shot in the arm that a trainload of visitors can provide. (Two examples of many: Whitefish, Montana on the Empire Builder and Winslow, Arizona on the Southwest Chief routes.)
People will no longer be staying at local hotels, patronizing local businesses, and directing resources into the local economy. A private train full of visitors arriving for an overnight stay in a small town (often in the off-season) can be likened to having a bus full of leaf peepers pulling up in front of your gift shop two weeks after the end of foliage season: Jackpot!
• Chartered trains bring money to places that need it. As trains go to many places outside the reach of typical air and car travel, resources are directed to segments of the economy often bypassed by other streams of tourism revenue.
When our trips stop in small towns, our guests immediately head for gift shops, brew pubs, and bookstores, while the kitchen crew restocks the dining car with provisions from local grocery stores.
• The new policy fails to leverage the unique advantages rail transportation can provide. The new policies now disallow interchange of cars in (to name just one example of many) Oakland, Calif., an important junction of several routes where overnight trains from Denver and Chicago originate and where private-car day trips to and from the California wineries are turned around.
In multiple cities served by Amtrak, chartered railroad cars could provide accommodations to conventioneers, tourists and event-goers when hotel accommodations are full - without putting more traffic on the roads or a strain on local resources.
Two examples: Austin (an intermediate stop on the Texas Eagle route), and Memphis or Jackson (on the City of New Orleans route) are cities that Amtrak has refused to allow as private rail-car stops, despite available, in-service tracks at the station. This cuts off potential revenue streams from visitors to events like South by Southwest, Southern blues festivals, and Mardi Gras celebrations.
• Jobs will be lost. As a result of this policy directive, people employed on private cars in positions like chefs, mechanics, and porters will be put out of work. Also affected will be the independent maintenance, engineering, and restoration contractors, as well as an entire division of Amtrak personnel who coordinate these private rail moves.
• Special trains and privately owned rail cars bring solid revenue to Amtrak. One private car is charged $2.90 for each mile it travels attached to a regular Amtrak train, plus $350 to $750 each time it is hooked up or removed, parking charges that vary from station to station, and additional locomotive charges as needed. Special trains bring tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to Amtrak coffers each time they are operated.
If these new policies are implemented, Amtrak will be forfeiting millions of dollars in annual haulage fees from private-rail-car operators, which seems particularly shortsighted given the congressional mandate to reduce reliance on federal subsidies.
Remember, these cars are owned, maintained, and paid for by private entities - costing Amtrak not a dime of capital expense.
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We are unsure what the future holds for our company, for the car owners, and for small nonprofits that rely on operating special trains to stay afloat.
If you feel so moved, we would appreciate your contacting your congressional delegation to express your opposition to these new policies - as, after all, Amtrak still depends for its survival upon government funding.
Rail passenger service has the potential to foster economic growth wherever it extends. If Amtrak policies encouraged collaboration, public/private partnerships - so highly touted these days - could lead to real growth. For example, our music trains have paid well over a half-million dollars over the last three years for private-car operations, on an average of two trips a year.
We are but one small operator, but we have the capacity to operate dozens of trips each year, if Amtrak allowed us to generate revenue for them with more forward-thinking policies.
Imagine the entrepreneurial opportunities for small companies like ours to provide economic benefit to communities and introduce travelers to pockets of our nation! Unless these policy changes are reversed, these opportunities will be passed by.
It is time for Amtrak to look ahead - not to eliminate potential areas of growth.