Here's the robot's next comment.
This article specifically mentions Byrd's status as "protector" of the Cardinal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/04/07/amtrak-cuts-more-routes-across-nation/e526bc63-0b9e-41d5-8dc3-f8a2b075c696/
I'll even say eliminating Dallas-Houston could've been more stupid than eliminating the Broadway Limited. You save running a train what 300 miles?
And here's the real head scratcher. The proposal was to terminate the Cardinal in Cincinnati westbound (Washington-Cincinnati only) and Byrd "approved" of it. So in other words, let's cut off Indy and Chicago from the Cardinal completely and just run a train from Washington to Cincinnati. Can you imagine the Cardinal without running through Indy? Forget 100,000 a year, you'd be lucky to get 50,000 a year. If I had to save a portion of the Cardinal., absolutely Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati without a doubt and anyone who thinks otherwise must live in West Virginia.
Of course the CIN-CHI leg was spared but the Broadway and Dallas-Houston cuts were.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/AMTRAK'S+SERVICE+CHANGES+TO+THE+CARDINAL,+HOOSIER+STATE,+BROADWAY...-a017366297
I've blamed Congress for Amtrak's mistakes but in reality I shouldn't blame them all because of one bad apple. And why is he dictating Amtrak? I thought that was the job of the Secretary of Transportation.
Maybe we should stop acting like Byrd is a hero to Amtrak. He's a hero to West Virginia. To the rest of the country, he's selfish. He probably would've cut the CL and LSL to save the Cardinal too.
Once again, I'll say it: You're just jealous. Your defunct train is gone because even though it had a rich history, no one stood up and offered the money to save it. The REAL telling point of this article is this tidbit:
Key members of Congress have warned Amtrak that they would not vote to subsidize the heavily traveled coastal corridors unless the nation's heartland also has trains.
As I've mentioned in the past, members of Congress had the power to take action. They could have voted for more funding. They could have attached riders, voted for their states to chip in more or even spent money, saving the infrastructure that the hosts were downgrading or abandoning.
When Downs went to PA and Ohio, here's what they did when they could have saved the Broadway:
Even the Western States said "run our trains....or else." Hell, even Don Young of
HAWAII which is a state without trains threw his muscle behind all or nothing. You wish Pennsylvania would have had a Byrd....or ANYONE that would taken a stance.
They didn't. They didn't raise a stink, let alone a dollar.
So, please stop hijacking threads, whining about your unsupported train in a state that just recently saw the light and agreed to fund SEPTA, improvements to the Keystone corridor and backed off surrendering the Pennsylvanian.
During the time the Broadway was cut, Maine was planting the seeds that would germinate into the Downeaster service. That's because Olympia Snowe put her money where her mouth was and put a pit bull on the case, going so far as to roll on the host railroad:
Maine trains primarily haul freight, not people
Pan Am was forced into an arranged marriage with Amtrak two decades ago when the federally funded passenger rail service told Fink that it planned to run on Pan Am's privately owned tracks, like it or not.
Fink said it was a very rocky start, but that affection has grown in the past two decades.
"Patricia Quinn is the main reason that happened," said Fink. Quinn, who is the executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), shepherded the process of getting passenger rail to Maine over the past 12 years.
"Patricia came in with the attitude that she was a guest in our home," said Fink.
It was an approach that allowed a dialogue to begin and a relationship to bloom between Pan Am, NNEPRA and Amtrak. Pan Am's concern was that providing passenger service could compromise their freight service, which is the bulk of their business.
"We were very concerned that it not be detrimental to freight," he said. It wasn't. "We were able to add capacity for freight." - See more at:
http://freepress60.1upprelaunch.com/Content/Special-Features/Special-Features/Article/All-Aboard-the-Train-to-Maine/52/78/23005#sthash.uSPsNX98.dpuf
That's fighting for a train...and twenty+ years ago, it was just a thought. They stepped up. Just like Senator Byrd.
Since PA and OH failed to do that for an existing train (let alone a new train), you really don't have an argument.
Therefore, blame your state senators and in the meantime, remember:
Concentrate on the future...not on the past.
