The Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank based in Washington D.C. that is one of the oldest organizations of its kind, has released a report documenting recent ridership growth on Amtrak and evaluating these trends in the context of future government support for passenger rail in the United States. The report title is A New Alignment: Strengthening America’s Commitment to Passenger Rail.

The conclusions indicate that Amtrak growth is occurring mostly on corridor-based services with route lengths of less than 400 miles. The report makes three recommendations:

1. Broker a new agreement between Amtrak and the states to share operating costs and other responsibilities for corridors longer than 750 miles;
2. Refine existing programs to promote intermodalism, empower broader funding flexibility towards rail activities, and create a dedicated funding source for future rail investments;
3. Complete a national rail plan, do more to promote multistate rail compacts, and foster a stronger relationship between public agencies and private capital and management firms

Little thought is devoted to improvements of the day-to-day operational realities of “intermetropolitan services”. The focus is primarily on modifying funding and service agreements by including the states. Though the problems of relying specifically on a funding formula that requires state support are not stated directly, the report does identify scenarios where service is not currently being provided due to a lack of state-level subsidy.

Of direct interest to Pennsylvania residents is the fact that Amtrak Pennsylvanian ridership has increased 32.5% between 1997 and 2012. A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted PennDOT deputy secretary Toby Fauver as saying, “It is a struggle for me to want to pay for that service.” The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 requires states to become active partners in providing funding for certain Amtrak services. It is unknown if Pennsylvania will eventually withdraw funding for continued Amtrak Pennsylvanian service due to budget constraints.