New Illinois Governor Threatening State Train Budgets... Again

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C855B

Service Attendant
Joined
Jun 13, 2015
Messages
148
Our legislators and new governor are in a budget fight, and the governor has been including threats to the in-state train service as incentives to come to an agreement. These trains are frequently SRO out of Chicago, so I guess they're the perfect whipping boy to make a point with something affecting Joe Average. Anyway...

Today he announced that any temporary budget after 7/1 will include cuts to train funding. Affected trains would be 300-307, 380-383, and 390-393. Nothing specific has been said, but my edu-guess is service will be cut in half.
 
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Governor Rauner is making new enemies in the legislature fast. He's decided for some reason to attack funding to the downstate areas which are more likely to support his party....

...anyway, I would currently bet on a veto override, forcing Rauner to accept the legislature's budget.
 
Gov. Rauner is playing to the crazies and the haters (and may be one himself) -- hate taxes, hate gummit, hate those people who government helps, and of course, hate passenger trains. That makes him really dangerous to the rail program in the Midwest. If he can shut trains down for a while, and damage their reputation, he'll be good with that.

A business-like view is that passenger rail in Illinois will soon serve more, and cost less to operate. That's what he and the other haters fear most: the impact of the Stimulus projects moving ahead, especially the Billion bucks big banana, the St Louis-Chicago Lincoln Corridor. About two years from now these trains will gain new bi-level cars and new locomotives, run on upgraded track for 200 miles or more, and cut travel time by 40 minutes. Capacity will increase by 30% even without an added frequency, passenger numbers will soar, ticket prices and revenue will rise, and everyone except the haters will see a big success for passenger rail. After that, things could get worse for the haters, as voters demand investment for more and faster trains.

So Rauner may be trying to dynamite passenger rail in his state now while it is still vulnerable.
 
Governor Rauner is making new enemies in the legislature fast. He's decided for some reason to attack funding to the downstate areas which are more likely to support his party....

...anyway, I would currently bet on a veto override, forcing Rauner to accept the legislature's budget.
That's sort of my take on it. I don't know if he is a "hater"... he can't be, passenger rail is very important to the Chicago constituency. Rauner is mostly a pro-business wonk, everybody else, meh. However, every time this budget conversation occurs, train cuts have been on the "A" list. My main concern is that he's going to get his way indirectly by the executive-directive cutbacks after 7/1, it will be allowed to go on for long enough for everything to rejigger, and then it will be pushed, "See, that wasn't so painful," when the full budget passes with the cuts now permanent.

Meanwhile, all we can do is get out the popcorn and watch the show.
 
I was just told today that Wisconsin Governor/possible presidential candidate Scott Walker is his mentor so hearing of such a report is no surprise to me.
 
Re. Walker... that could be, but I think most likely in consult for Rauner's union-busting and nothing related to train budgets. Rauner doesn't impress me as an ideologue, he's just a businessman thinking his experience in business qualifies him to run government according to a strict P&L. He said outright after the inauguration that he was going to make nobody happy with his budget agenda, and I s'pose that includes us.

My hope/wish/whatever is what Nathanael postulated, that the legislature will override the attempts to gut state programs. My genuine concern, tho', is having the temporary forced cuts in train service become permanent since Amtrak (and not a state agency) will have to adjust and redistribute resources, which then won't be easy to put back. I do think this is the governor's plan and what makes the trains such an attractive target.
 
Rauner's not a right-wing nut, but rather a very rich guy who thinks he is right and apparently has oddles of cash to buy an election. He'll eventually find that running government is not the same as running a business where everybody jumps in line when the boss gives an order. He'll be one-termer either because he'll eventually alienate everyone or because he'll get tired of playing the game and goes back to his wine clubs with $100,000 initiation fees.
 
Interesting chat this morning with an Amtrak manager more-or-less in the loop. The cutback the governor is pushing is to just 40% of current funding. He said this would mean the complete loss of 380-383, 390-393, and probably half the St. Louis trains. Work on the high-speed segment would stop. He also agreed that any "temporary" cutback is intended to become permanent since equipment will be reassigned, as I had surmised. He had further concerns about the Milwaukee and Michigan trains since they are funded by Illinois while on the tracks here.

This is not sounding good. This is supposed to be going down in two weeks, and that I haven't heard any alerts from NARP on it worries me.
 
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I feel bad for NARP. It must be rather difficult to keep up with an ever growing number of politicians who are working harder than ever to deter and defund passenger rail.
 
I wonder if the governor is laying the groundwork to have someone other than Amtrak run this service a la the Hoosier State, without FRA interference?
 
Some of ya'll are giving this guy too much credit! He just reads the script and repeats what his staff has told him, just like most politicians do!

The Capitol in Springfield is a rough place and in the end the Lege will get what their masters want, ie whoever pays the freight gets the gravy!

Hopefully Illinois won't mess up a good thing they have going with rail, but time will tell!
 
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Some of ya'll are giving this guy too much credit! He just reads the script and repeats what his staff has told him, just like most politicians do!
So they're the one's leaving out the "g"s?

Word is that the legislature is going to send on the unbalanced budget they already passed to the governor this week. Perhaps they'll let him line item veto it, then vote for over rides. Doesn't answer the funding aspects, however.
 
I read an article yesterday (Wednesday) that quoted an Amtrak manager, something to the effect of "If Illinois is going to start cutting trains, they haven't told us yet." The state has asked for audits of revenues/costs for each train, but nothing is in stone, apparently. So in essense they are nowhere close to dropping trains, for the moment just posturing.
 
I read an article yesterday (Wednesday) that quoted an Amtrak manager, something to the effect of "If Illinois is going to start cutting trains, they haven't told us yet." The state has asked for audits of revenues/costs for each train, but nothing is in stone, apparently. So in essense they are nowhere close to dropping trains, for the moment just posturing.
If the situation elsewhere is any indication, there's probably a bit of irritation at the cost spike from PRIIA 209. New York, for example, is apparently embargoing increased payments until Amtrak gives them a cost breakout to show that they're actually being billed in line with the agreed-upon formula. IL doing the same really wouldn't be shocking...then again, about the only state not likely to end up on that bandwagon (with state-supported service, at least) is VA...and that would be down to VA's trains racking up so much revenue that Amtrak more or less can't sandbag them.
 
This is not good news at all. If Rauner imposes a new reduced funding level on July 1 because he is still fighting with the state legislature, how quickly does Amtrak have to respond? In days? What about regulations on so many days advance notice on service changes or crew layoffs?

Then there is the considerable federal investments being made in the CHI-STL and Quad Cities corridors along with the new rolling. The federal funding comes with a lot of strings attached including expected minimum service levels. If the state fails to meet up to the stipulations that came with the money. the feds can demand to be reimbursed for the funds they provided. I suspect Rauner's administration or staff are imposing these cuts with no understanding of the disruptions it will cause (well, if they care) or the underlying legal issues.

I hope the state legislature and local politicians & business leaders will be able to block Rauner from this poorly considered budget cut. If they can keep Rauner from messing up the state service, I think the annual subsidy amounts will begin to drop in 2-3 years anyway as the CHI-STL corridor improvements are completed and the new bi-level cars enter service in quantity.
 
I still think even with just a week left, it's mostly posturing. Apparently there are very few areas where the governor has executive discretion over budget items in the event of authorization lapses. Non-social services like parks and transportation must be within that limited control.

Although I already contacted my representatives through NARP channels, I'll only get genuinely concerned once Amtrak announces service reductions.
 
Don't the Democrats have veto proof majorities in both Illinois houses?

But, then, if they pass a real (and balanced - HA, a joke, even though constitutionally mandated in Illinois) budget, let the governor veto it, then override it they have to take responsibility for it, too.
 
So what is the latest in the budget standoff in Illinois? I see from news reports that the legislature and Gov. Rauner are engaged in brinksmanship, but there appears to be little to no movement. So what happens to Amtrak service after July 1 if the stand-off continues?
 
The House introduced a new budget today (sans Amtrak cuts), and are waiting for response from Rauner. The brinksmanship continues. Like I said, there won't be any sudden termination of service, Amtrak will have to announce schedule changes if they are forthcoming.
 
Nobody's informed Amtrak of any budget cuts or what trains will be affected by such cuts. They may never happen. The battle between the governor and the legislature promises to be one of the best (or worst)in Illinois history. Politics is played for keeps in this state. There will be blood (hopefully just in a figurative sense).
 
The state has the worst financial condition of the entire 50 states and is well on its way to bankruptcy. Anybody that thinks that taxes and expenditures will continue without change is not being, well, realistic... :unsure:
 
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