Your lukewarm support of faster, more frequent trains for the Midwest is surprising given your recent call to reduce our dependence on foreign oil (“Break up Amtrak,” Editorial, Feb. 11). Both our highways and airports are strained. The only affordable way to increase capacity, without demanding more foreign oil, is to invest heavily in rail infrastructure.
We need dramatic increases in funding, a federal agency devoted to funding railroad infrastructure and better local control.
We disagree that any trains “ought to be phased out or offered as a luxury service for those willing to pay for it,” as the editorial stated. All trains in Amtrak’s existing system provide valuable, affordable transportation services to Midwest residents and ought to be expanded.
The need for better, fast, more frequent trains has been proven by the states. It is time for Congress to act on that need and fund the needed infrastructure.
