BEECH GROVE, Ind. — Elimination of Amtrak’s Hoosier State could threaten jobs at the passenger railroad’s Beech Grove shops, according to an Amtrak spokesman and workers at the facility.
WISH-TV reports that Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said that, if the four-day-a-week train between Indianapolis and Chicago is eliminated, it would limit Amtrak’s ability to ferry equipment to and from Beech Grove for repairs. Such moves would then only be possible on the triweekly Chicago-Washington-New York Cardinal.
“If we can only move rail equipment three days a week,” Magliari said, “it puts these jobs at some kind of risk.” More than 500 people work at the Beech Grove facility, which was the site of a rally Wednesday to save the Hoosier State.
Danny Groves, a carman and welder at Beech Grove for more than 20 years, told the TV station, “If there’s [less] equipment to be worked on, it’s not good business to have excess people standing around. … This potentially could lead to job loss.”
The train is slated to be discontinued at the end of June after Indiana did not include $3 miliion in annual funding in its new budget. [See “Indiana Senate shuns amendment to fund ‘Hoosier State,’” Trains News Wire, April 17, 2019.]
An Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman, in an email statement to the TV station, said the train “has the lowest ridership and highest taxpayer subsidy per ticket sold of all Amtrak state-sponsored routes. … This does not represent a good value to Hoosier taxpayers.”
Are there that many cars moving to & from Beech Grove that it requires a daily train??????????????
Im sayin, Make Cardinal more ofter and or daily, but its not rocket science or quantum physics. “Loss of Jobs” or “jobs” has ALWAYS been used to save “something” or get something, Its been played and beat to death, remember those “jobs” in Atlanta Olympics? The same thing will happen after the CTA gets all their train cars from that “foreign car builder” building a plant in “Chicago “, remember that one?we been talkin about recently? Any bets,? That those jobs are gone after those cars are built! I’ll do a Broadway Joe and Guarantee it!!!
I’m a little confused here: Doesn’t Amtrak have trackage rights on this line? Why do they have to use scheduled revenue trains to ferry equipment to and from Beech Grove? Can’t they run a hospital train as needed?
My God Gerald, you start by saying “Some people seem to have failed basic math” then you follow with the worst math fail I have ever seen in recent memory. Thirty million isn’t the number of people who ride Amtrak, it’s the number of rides. One round trip a year brings you down to 15 million and of course there are many who are regular riders such as on the Hiawatha.
Gerald many people on this forum support the Amtrak subsidy, and that includes people such as myself who vote Republican. I agree with you, Amtrak could have a higher budget. In return how about some better trains than the schlepediche Hoosier State hardly anyone rides and certainly no one who is in a hurry.
The NEC should also come under PRIIA , why should the rest of the country have to pay for their service/corridors plus foot the bill for the NEC? Should 100% of the country subsidize a rail option in the NE where there is already enough travel options?
Re: We are one of the only large nations in the world that doesn’t have a national rail network that is properly funded and maintained.
Which is exactly why Amtrak needs to be eliminated.
Amtrak, as it’s configured now, is ruining ANY chance of ever getting a MODERN rail passengers network. Running 40 mph trains for 0.1% of the country is NOT a worthwhile national system.
Amtrak should be re-configured as an infrastructure funding scam; EXACTLY the same as the Interstate highways, airports, and waterways. It shouldn’t operate anything, it SHOULD spread government loot. The infrastructure scams that WORK, provide the “investment” (in our children’s future) in order that the smart-n-savvy can enrich themselves. If there’s no opportunity for enriching the smart-n-savvy it can NOT exist in government.
Let’s eliminate Amtrak, and let the scammers create something new, so they can starting looting and create something the rest of the regular people (the non-scammers) can use as a result of their efforts.
I bet when the 10 mph stage-coaches weren’t run by AmHorse there was some loss of jobs too. Of course, I’m seriously doubting that a car in need of “emergency repairs” can’t wait another day before it’s moved to Beech Grove where it will be worked on for weeks.
Of course, I give everybody who created this line of “reasoning” an A+ for BS-generation. And, let’s recall from Real-life 101 (RL101) the 1st rule of life:
Anything + BS = more value for the thing, and more power to the BS’er.
It’s not opposable thumbs that separates the humans from animals. It’s the ability to fool other humans with BS.
You are very short-sighted Mr. McGuire. You are correct in your dollar figures, but why should the rest of the nation support the east corridor.
We are one of the only large nations in the world that doesn’t have a national rail network that is properly funded and maintained.
Come up with a alternative idea rather than cutting the only option we have please.
Mark Reiter: Other than for the corridors why do we need to replace it with anything. 99.5% of the traveling public doesn’t use it so why should 100% of the population subsidize it for that 1/2% who have an irrational fear of lying.
Sounds like a good opening to make the Cardinal a daily train. But under AA’s leadership,”hell will freeze over first”!
“Send more money, or we shoot the dog!”
The Hoosier State was put on originally at Amtrak’s initiative as a national system train run at Amtrak’s expense and mainly for Amtrak’s benefit to shuttle equipment to and from Beech Grove.
It was only Amtrak’s perversion of PRIIA Section 209 that wrongly converted it to a state-funded operation.
Amtrak is being dishonest and disingenuous with Indiana and the public. If jobs at Beech Grove are a concern, that is Amtrak’s responsibility and Amtrak’s issue, not Indiana’s.
It sounds like that Amtrak should step up to the plate and operate a real corridor service in this situation and stop begging the state to be it’s safety net. If it has to have this train to ferry its’ equipment back and forth from Beech Grove,then it should take this incentive to prove that it can operate trains successfully. This corridor, including Cincinnati and Louisville and later possibly Nashville as well could set the example nationwide if they weren’t afraid to give it a try.
Some people seem to have failed simple math…first off, 30 million of 300 million is 10%, not .1%(that’s not perfect, but it’s a better reflection of the percentage of the population that rides Amtrak). Secondly, it currently gets .01% of the total U.S. budget, a budget that include $750B for a defense agency that itself did a study and found $125 B in waste. Those are the two most significant numbers that people should pay attention too, if the DoD was held to the same standards as a real business we could easily save $125B per year that could go towards infrastructure without compromising our military. Amtrak could easily get $5B per year, but you’d need someone in charge that actually new how to grow business, how to deal with the railroads and just run it as business and think outside the box.
Robert, What are you going to replace Amtrak with?
This is just total BS. We need to eliminate Amtrak in its entirety not just the Hoosier State.
So, Amtrak wants Indiana to subsidize Amtrak’s deadhead moves to/from the shop?
It’s easy to second-guess Amtrak for choosing Beech Grove, far from Chicago, as one of its two carshops (along with Bear, Delaware). At the time Indy was on two Amtrak routes. Beech Grove had a reputation as a competent shop staffed (at the time) with veteran New York Central craftsmen and tradesmen.
Airlines, too, move equipment off line from their hubs for heavy maintenance. They just don’t talk about it because in the airlines’ case some of it is contract shops in foreign countries.
Bear. Delaware is also a distance from any Amtrak hub, as Amtrak does not originate or terminate any trains in Wilmington.
Re: Furthermore, the train would be more useful if it operated onto Cincinnati and turned on the days the Hoosier State operates.
It’s useful to few at 40 mph. A thruway bus makes more sense. Thruway buses make more sense for any train operating at 40 mph (or less).
How much equipment gets ferried to Beech Grove? It’s hard to believe that an extra day between ferry moves will starve the shop for work and cause it to shut down. A little hyperbole, perhaps?
Agree with comments that Amtrak saying that it depends upon state subsidy to get equipment to Beach Grove is ludicrous. Me guess it is really planting the seed for justification to later axe Beach Grove altogether further destroying what is left of in house expertise at Amtrak. Leading to further dependence on outsourcing as suggested by recent Amtrak equipment request for information releases. Granted doing something the same way since pre Amtrak days may not make sense but I am concerned about loss of expertise and devaluing of the skilled craftsman’s worth
The irony is the fact that closing or downsizing Beech Grove will result in lower tax revenues, which, given the “velocity of money” may cost the state of Indiana, who knows, $3mil…?
Andrew Seldon has it right. If this train, which Amtrak initiated to shuttle equipment to and from the Midwest, is so important, why are they asking Indiana to foot the bill to keep the train operating? That said, a professional analysis should be accomplished to see, with improvements, if a scheduled passenger train(s) could establish the route as a truly emerging corridor. Furthermore, the train would be more useful if it operated onto Cincinnati and turned on the days the Hoosier State operates.