CHICAGO — Amtrak has announced it will no longer sell tickets for the Hoosier State after June 30 as the train nears cancellation as a result of loss of funding from the state of Indiana.
The state currently provides $3 million in funding for the four-day-a-week train, while five local governments provide another $500,000. But the train was not included in the budget proposals of Gov. Eric Holcomb or Indiana House Republicans, which would end funding on July 1. [See “Proposed Indiana budget threatens future of ‘Hoosier State,’” Trains News Wire, Jan. 14, 2019.]
“This service only exists because of the state contract,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told the Indiana Business Journal. “We can’t in good conscience continue to sell tickets without a contract in place.”
Magliari said about 500 people who have already bought tickets on the train after June 30 will be accommodated on the Chicago-New York Cardinal, which serves the Indianapolis-Chicago route three days a week.
Looking at the bigger picture, maintenance of a national “system” requires connectivity to get people from any starting point to any ending point. Due to it’s nature, all funding should be federal. To make it work, the Cardinal route and the Sunset route should be, at a minimum, daily. That’s a minimum. Multiple runs would be better, at say, 12 hour intervals or even more frequently. Faster speeds would be desirable, but they wouldn’t be the key. The main thing is to provide a system that gets someone from Midland, Texas to Kokomo, Indiana (two places Amtrak doesn’t serve) with conveniently connecting services. Connectivity is the key. Question: Why can’t I take a train from Fort Worth, Texas to Great Falls, MT? Answer: Because no routing exists. Great Falls has no service at all.
Well should this comes as a surprise? Under the current Anderson plan Corridor service is the main objective. The Cardinal more than likely will end up truncating at Louisville in the future. Make it daily with multiple frequencies.
Galen this doesn’t prove LD routes as necessary. It proves why pay for a lackluster service.
Too bad, this would have been the ideal example of a corridor which Amtrak touts as their future if the IN GOP would have been willing to put some money into it like IL, MO & MI did but that would have been a conflict of interest with their corp. owners. This is why LD routes are necessary if not for the Cardinal Indianapolis would have no psgr rail service, corridors will not work they will always be the victim of the changing political climate.
Make the Cardinal daily and problem solved
With time on my hands, I did some research on the Hooiser State. In 2018, it apparently had 27,876 riders. Dividing the $3 million state subsidy by 27,876 resulted in a state subsidy of about $107 per passenger. If the $500,000 local subsidy is also counted, the total subsidy per rider is about $125 per passenger.
The average fare charged from Indy to Chicago is about $32. So about 80% of the cost is borne by the taxpayer.
The distance is 198 miles. The trip is scheduled for 5 hours or 40 mph but travel advisories say the Hoosier State sometimes takes up to 7 hours or just over 28 mph.
Now knowing all of this, my question is why did Indiana continue to support the Hoosier State this long?
Jeffrey Blackwood
How about another word – waste. Indiana voters, through their elected officials, believe spending money on the HOOSIER STATE is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Spending money on Indiana, the Hoosier State, is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
I doubt Greed is a factor in this decision. Rather I suspect that the state believes $3 million for a 4 day a week train is simply too much for the service. I’d be interested in how much of the total $3.5M breaks down as a percentage of revenue for every ticket sold.
How about another word – waste. Indiana voters, through their elected officials, believe spending money on the HOOSIER STATE is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
LANDON and MICHAEL – A single daily train to Indy and on to Cincy is not a corridor. As Paul Reistrup said back in the day (he was referring to Ohio, he might have added Indiana had anyone asked), Reistrup said three times daily or you’re wasting your time.
One word comes to mind about the lack of funding. Greed.
What this route needs is the track upgrades to get the travel time down, ridership up, and subsidies down.
A corridor train to Cincy would still need most of ts funding from Indiana, as it has most of the Mileage
Yes, why not a daily Cardinal at least to Cincinnati. Amtrak does not sell itself. Furthermore, a country like this should have major cities linked by rail. America needs the flexibility of travel.
Jim, you said “highway” in your post, not local street. A rule of thumb for a “highway” is 5000 to 7000 vpd or more. Not 62 like the passenger count on Amtrak. Even a subdivision street would look pretty empty at 62 vpd.
If Amtrak uses the HOOSIER STATE as a “hospital train” to haul equipment to/from Beech Grove, it should reimburse Indiana for the service. That’s not much of a reason to operate a train.
Mr. Landey: I’ll dare say that there are many 1 mile segments of Indiana roadways that don’t serve 62 persons a day. Yet, taxpayers pay on. And $3 million offers train service to the state which is a value. Especially when INDOT has a $2 BILLION annual budget.
Something that’s unsaid – Beech Grove. Amtrak’s shop is outside of Indianapolis. Without a daily train to Indianapolis, it’s hard to justify Beech Grove.
I meant to say Cincinnati. They could add a Louisville section.
Sad to see it go, but at $125 a rider that is not sustainable. It ‘s no fun anyway since Bid Ed left and took his
Big dome , good food and booze with him.
A lot of good common sense used in discontinuing this train that so few use. Until they can get the travel time down to be competitive with the bus (as well as the fare) then there would be little hope for this train to succeed.
JIM NORTON – You are comparing capital cost to operating subsidy. Two different things. Also it would be a rather pathetic highway to carry 62 persons a day.
$3 million is one mile of new Indiana highway.