Don't Confuse Train Opinions for Train Facts

by Joe Aiello / Director of Community Engagement & Organizing

There has been an unfortunate side effect of the “untruth” era in media – and that is people treating their opinion as fact, even when it is so easy to disprove. And it’s not limited to just “traditional media.”

This, sadly, goes for nearly all walks of life these days. Facebook posts, Twitter/X rants, blog comments, debates on who is the greatest basketball player of all time (hint: it’s Jordan).

Any time some new story gets its 15 minutes of fame online, everyone’s uncle turns into an “insert topic here” expert who just needs to be heard.

So that brings me to the current “topic of interest” floating around: Elon Musk and his merry band of DOGE teenagers taking aim at Amtrak. Now, my boss has already taken on Elon’s direct comments about passenger rail in the US and his comparisons to rail in China in a blog post. My issue is with an opinion piece posted on the former Heritage Foundation page Townhall.

I’m not going to get into a full breakdown of why I personally think the author is completely wrong in his entire op-ed – because that defeats the purpose of this blog. I want to stick to pointing out just a few facts that correct the record for the argument being made.

Right off the bat we are hit with: “Founded in 1971, Amtrak began as an "experiment" to see if passenger trains could make money”

The only “experiment” was to see if the Class 1s could be bailed out and a version of nationalized rail could survive in the United States. Amtrak has never made a profit and was never really meant to.

Next we have the argument that Amtrak’s "ridership record" for FY24 is misleading because their number of passenger-miles was a decrease of 3.4% since FY13.

Amtrak did, in fact, have its highest number of passengers in a single fiscal year. Full stop. Whatever metric you want to pull out doesn’t change the fact that more humans got on and off a train than at any point in the railroad company’s history.

The author then continues with the age-old argument that people have options, so the train isn’t needed.

If you want to get technical with this one, fine. There are places in this country where there is bus or air service to get folks around. But to think that everyone in the country can just drive or fly to their destination is not just elitist or ableist, it’s just wrong. Take away the National Network, and over 220 communities in 23 states would lose all access to passenger rail service.

Don’t believe me? I come with receipts: a Rail Passengers Association report from September 2017 (the last time there was talk of a Trump Administration killing off Amtrak).

There is also the fact that, due to a litany of reasons, not everyone can fly or drive (I’ll get back to this in a second).

As the article continues, the author then states that Amtrak has removed pages on its website dedicated to the environmental advantages of rail travel over other modes and suggests that this “could” be because Amtrak “exaggerated its claims about environmental benefits.”

The fact is that the current Administration forced government agencies to wipe information like this off their pages, just as they did with DEI statements. No exaggeration needed.

(Note: we don’t have to follow that policy)

The last thing I will “clap back” on is the author’s notion that “today’s travelers often seek scenic and enjoyable train experiences over ordinary transportation”

I will actually agree with part of this comment – the train can be quite scenic and enjoyable, but that is not the only reason passengers “often” choose this mode. Clearly, the author is buying into the “land cruise” fallacy. Less than 12% of passengers go end to end on Amtrak service. And even then, not all of them are taking their vacation on the train to enjoy the sights.

You can spew the line all you want that “the way passenger trains have operated for the last 79 years is obsolete.” That’s its “outdated policy.” Throw out whatever anti-rail talking point you can dig up.

Then go hop on the train in Chicago (as I do frequently), going in nearly any direction, and see the Amish families heading home. The students going to and from school. The grandparents traveling to see their grandkid’s play. The veteran trying to get care at a VA hospital, often the only one in the state.

These aren’t opinions. These are facts of life. And you can go see them for yourself on any given day on nearly any given train in the U.S.