The Metrolink Saga is Settled

After 10 months, the drama with the West Coast's largest commuter rail agency has been decided in the favor of...Amtrak. Yep, Amtrak for the first time in ages was able to keep a commuter rail contract outside of the Northeast. A document (scroll down to page 24) from an August Metrolink meeting provides clues.

One step closer

So as of yesterday, Stephen Gardner was promoted to Amtrak President--officially the number two position--but as far as anyone is concerned, he's going to be pulling the strings alongside Board Chair Tony Coscia while CEO Bill Flynn is just going along for the ride.

In any case, Amtrak is heading into its 50th anniversary the same way it entered its 10th and 25th: In peril. The coronavirus pandemic has really hit all modes of travel but the leadership went overboard by implementing a known failed strategy by reducing the Silver Meteor to quad-weekly and every other long distance route other than Auto Train to triweekly. The cynic in me says that this regime will now be empowered to get rid of some overnight trains once they fail to meet the company's unrealistic projections and possibly follow Via Rail's model for (most of) the rest. 

When I read stories like this, everything I said in 2013 stands. Amtrak has a management/institutional problem rather than a funding problem. At a time when European operators reversed course on cutting their overnight services, "America's Railroad" opted to cede certain markets to low priced and overnight bus providers. However, Capitol Hill, past White Houses and some state legislatures (*cough*Indiana*cough) share the blame for the shrinkage of the Amtrak system. 

As far as the incoming Biden administration goes, optimists in the passenger rail community may cite the former vice president's frequent patronage as a senator, but he'll have plenty on his plate--namely tackling the virus. Will Congress actually do anything to make sure passenger rail no longer resembles a third world nation's system? Unless it actually funds the system and allows EU-style bidding like Germany, I won't be holding my breath when it comes to a new reauthorization bill next year. 

Election 2020 and Rail

There's not much to report on the rail front given the severity of the pandemic. So, I'll leave it to the experts to break most of this stuff down.

The only thing I'll say is that it's a really good thing that Bay Area voters stepped up to save Caltrain. 

On the high speed rail front, ex-congressman David Valadao, an opponent of CAHSR, won back the seat he lost in 2018. This shouldn't have an impact on the project anytime soon but be on the lookout after the '22 midterms provided that traditional trends take place and the House flips, Valadao and likely House Speaker Kevin McCarthy could really raise trouble for high speed rail in the Golden State.

I'll discuss the election's impact on Amtrak in the following post.