Editorial: Keep Amtrak on UP track in Oregon

(The following editorial, "Keeping the train on track," appeared in the Clackamas, Ore., Review.) We support the Oregon Department of Transportation's efforts to increase the speed and efficiency of passenger rail along the I-5 corridor, a move that could boost ridership and offset traffic congestion as the population grows in the future.

But before state officials
seriously consider moving Amtrak from its current course to an alternate route
known as the Oregon Electric line – a move currently being explored – we hope
they thoroughly vet the alternatives. The reasoning is simple: no one is happy
with the prospect of a route change.

Amtrak currently runs along
the Union Pacific rail line, which moves an increasing amount of freight that
interferes with the timing of passenger trains, which have to stop to let the
more profitable freight trains pass. Moving the trains to the Oregon Electric
line could lead to less freight interference, and ODOT officials say high-speed
updates to those tracks would be cheaper.

But such a move would also
pull trains away from stations in Oregon City, Albany and Salem, where millions
have been spent in recent years on station improvements.

And to make matters worse, the
communities along the Oregon Electric line want no part of a high-speed train.
Residents in Milwaukie, Lake Oswego and Tualatin have already mobilized against
a potential move.

Even rail advocates are
against the move. Representatives from the Association of Oregon Rail and
Transit Advocates (AORTA) who spoke with us last fall said estimates to improve
the current Union Pacific line are "grossly inflated" and the move would face
an uphill political battle.

We understand ODOT’s
efforts to increase speed along the line. In fact, slow rail travel is the
biggest reason so many people take a pass on Amtrak. It takes more than
two-and-a-half hours – on a good day – to get from Portland to Eugene.

That’s about 20 minutes
slower than the average car ride, and the round trip ticket will cost about
$46, more than the cost of gas. And realistically, it usually takes longer to
reach Eugene, as the train makes unscheduled stops to let freight pass. Amtrak
needs to do better than that to increase ridership.

Building a better rail line
won’t be easy, but we hope state transportation officials make every effort to
keep the trains along the current track. A battle to move them to another line
is a fight they might not be able to win.