Jim Mathews, president of the U.S. Rail Passengers Association, recently testified before the House Rail & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Rail that Amtrak plays an important role in economic growth.
The hearing, Amtrak Now and Into the Future, examined decades of under-investment in passenger trains, current challenges, and future opportunities for passenger rail. The panel included state transportation officials, railroad labor, and Amtrak representatives.
“Amtrak exists, and collects public funds, expressly to provide service to places that need it and where the private sector cannot profitably provide it,” Mathews said. “Amtrak is one of the ways the U.S. government acts to support the common good, the ‘general welfare.’ Every Amtrak long-distance route creates a return on equity for the communities that have invested in it over the past few decades. And thanks to rigorous economic modeling this Association has developed over the past year, we have been able to quantify that return in a way that hasn’t been done previously.”
Mathews pointed out in his written testimony that his organization’s studies have quantified rail’s economic benefits. The Empire Builder, for example, provides $327 million annually to the economies of the states it serves while the Southwest Chief brings Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico $180 million annually.