BEECH GROVE, Ind. — Supporters of Amtrak’s Hoosier State will hold a rally today at Amtrak’s Beech Grove shops in a final effort to save the Indianapolis-Chicago train.
Supporters are scheduled to gather and speak with elected officials about 2 p.m., arguing for the importance of continuing the four-day-a-week train, according to WLFI-TV in Lafayette, Ind.
Gov. Eric Holcomb did not include $3 million in annual state funding in his budget for the next two fiscal years, and the state Senate and House of Representatives declined to add the funding, with the Senate refusing to hear an amendment from State Sen. Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) to add the money. [See “Indiana Senate shuns amendment to fund ‘Hoosier State,’” Trains News Wire, April 17, 2019.]
Alting indicated that the rally was probably coming too late, telling WLFI that the final budget was likely to be printed by noon today.
Without the state funding, Hoosier State operations will cease at the end of June.
John Privara: Do you have anything constructive to add, hear? How would you propose to add more train service to more cities ? Improvements ?
Seems to me Amtrak wants the state to pick up the cost of running their equipment from Beech Grove.
Didn’t Amtrak threaten the job at The Grove the last time there was a schedule disruption?
My thoughts are that this train was defeated by having an operator that didn’t push to have:
1) the track maintained to 79 mph capability;
2) a schedule that met the needs of its potential riders;
3) and Amtrak’s heavy overhead burden.
Had Indiana pushed (and provided funding) for CSX to upgrade its track to 79 mph and Amtrak pushed UP and whoever operates the track North of Dolton to 79 mph, It would have helped the train to compete with the highway. When I rode it the train ran at 40 mph from CUS to Dolton, then 20 mph un UP to the CN where it got up to 70 mph and on CSX it only ran at 60 mph. The Greyhound bus made the return trip in a shorter time doing 67 mph on I-65. And it had to use city streets to get to its Lafeyette, Gary, and 95th St Chicago stops. .And a schedule that starts at 6:15 AM and returns at 11:39 PM did not help.First step should have been to get the Cardinal to be daily. Then add a reverse trip similar to what might happen between Chicago & Minneapolis.
We need a national stage-coach network, a national steam-ship network, and a nation clipper-ship network. I’d also like to see the airlines forced to fly classic airliners – specifically the Lockheed Constellation.
The government should support all transportation hobbyist childhood fantasies.
It would be telling, if we knew how many of the folks at the rally have ridden the Hoosier State.
Best news I’ve read all week! Good riddance!
Let’s face the simple fact that the Cardinal needs to be a daily train, and if everyone was really serious, a twice-a-day train. Indiana can’t save this, and even by touting Dyer to Chicago as a “commuter” alternative, that goes away once the South Shore extends into Dyer. Even when the Cardinal extended to Louisville there wasn’t enough ridership.
Maybe if more people rode the train it would speak louder than a demonstration.
John Privara, Nobody is saying you should run vintage or steam trains to Indianapolis. Trains are like all other transport modes;they evolve with time. This route needs modern,fast and frequent service and connections to Louisville and Cincinnati to really be successful.
Jim Kerner,We have a Republican controlled state government is more in tune with the Indiana Farm Bureau & these special interest farm groups then Holcomb/Crouch will ever be with the railroads including Amtrak in this state.The Republican controlled legislature 2 years ago passed a 1.2 billion tax increase in April 2017.30 plus news taxes/fees were raised.HB1002 was all about roads/bridges infrastructure as a political payoff to this state’s farm bureau.My car regristration went up to almost $70 as result,the gas tax shot up 11 cents,hybrid car owners got hit with a $50 increase while electric car owners got walloped with a $150 increase.So the money should be there.Since then Eric Holcomb has set aside 100 million to wire this state in its rural areas with broadband internet.Holcomb has spent 8 million to begin the building a 4th port for this state on the Ohio River.So the money must be there to say the least.Why could not take 3 million dollars be taken out of the 100 million to be used for the Amtrak route.Surely there must be some money there from the 1.2 billion tax cut of April 2017
Britt Reid,
Maybe for you it’s all about time, it’s not all about time for everyone…only those that are in to much of hurry because they don’t know how to manage time, and Chicago is not a car town, you don’t need Uber to do anything, it’s a walking/transit town(except for those to lazy to walk). As for not wanting to commit $3 million dollars, I’m pretty sure that’s peanuts in the overall scheme of things…but not to idiot politician who don’t know simple math. Just like the Feds who still haven’t figured out you could give Amtrak $5 billion dollars a year and it would still amount to less than .01% of the Federal budget.
This shows what happens when you don’t have a pro- Amtrak state government in charge as we see when we don’t have federal Amtrak government support.
Chicago and Indianapolis is a car trip. A train should be faster but its not. I would drive because its all about time and we are a”now” society. Maybe a Friday Saturday Sunday train woulda worked better. Go to Chicago, catch a game, rent a hotel, get drunk, uber around town then head back home to IND on Sunday.
John Privara has said it best below!