Amtrak’s reputation takes another hit after accident
Despite fatalities and complaints, rail service continues to benefit from congressional support
Amtrak’s latest fatal accident, a derailment near Seattle that killed three passengers, could discourage ridership and further tarnish the service’s safety reputation as the railroad is under attack from the Trump administration, experts said.
But despite several fatal accidents in recent years and complaints of unreliable service, Amtrak remains popular in Congress and with travelers — 31.7 million of them last year.
“Amtrak is likely to take a significant hit in consumer support and enthusiasm for high-speed train lines as a result,” said Brian Tierney, CEO of Brian Communications. “And they may see an immediate decline in daily ridership due to consumers’ heightened fear.”
Criticism of the railroad focuses on government subsidies rather than infrastructure, said Michael Friedberg, executive director of the Coalition for the Northeast Corridor, which is the rail route from Washington to Boston.
Monday’s derailment “was a tragedy, and we have to find out why,” he said. “I’m hoping that people do not look at it as a trend, because it’s still a much safer
mode of transportation than highways.”
More than 35,000 people died in highway accidents in 2015, the most recent year for which figures were available, compared with 749 in railroad accidents, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Kajal Lahiri, a distinguished professor of economics at the University of Albany, said the country relies on passenger rail service and the government must invest in it, despite the injury to its reputation from accidents.
“It’s bad. It’s always shocking, accidents like this,” Lahiri said. “But accidents do happen. More infrastructure spending is needed to upgrade our railway system.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating Monday’s accident, in which a high-speed train on an inaugural route from Seattle to Portland entered a 30-mph curve at 80 mph and derailed, sending cars plunging off a bridge onto Interstate 5.
“It suggests a pattern, and Amtrak doesn’t have any margin for mistakes left in the minds of consumers,” said Tierney, the crisis manager.
Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said safety is the top priority for the railroad, which is investing in improvements recommended by the NTSB.
“We share a real sense of urgency in getting to the root causes of the accident” to make sure it never happens again, Anderson said.
Even without accidents, Amtrak’s reputation has suffered complaints about unreliable trains or late service. The railroad is in the midst of refurbishing 450 cars on the Northeast Corridor with seat padding and other amenities.
Trump proposed in his budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 to reduce Amtrak subsidies for long-distance service by $630 million — nearly half the $1.4 billion provided the previous year — and argued that trains were often late and operate at a loss.
As Congress debates spending, it continues to embrace the railroad. The Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to provide $1.6 billion for Amtrak and continue all routes. The House Appropriations Committee approved $1.4 billion.
Lahiri said the government must invest more in Amtrak because private funds won’t provide enough to improve train service, which is inferior to that in Europe, Japan and China.
“You have to have rails, no matter what,” he said.