Rhythm of rails faces practical realities.

Byline: DIANE DIETZ The Register-Guard

Congress will map the future of U.S. passenger rail service during intense hearings over the next two months, and the fate of all Eugene-bound trains hangs in the balance.

It's a perilous time for Lane County's train lovers, who've enjoyed a decade of steady gains that brought more and better trains rolling into Eugene - and soaring hopes for the future of U.S. rail travel.

But now Amtrak is under congressional orders to liquidate by the end of the year, and the train company has announced plans to cease most of its long-distance runs as of October, including the Coast Starlight, Eugene's only southbound train.

Nothing is certain now, said U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Congress could decide to preserve Amtrak as a federally supported train service. Or lawmakers could break the train company up and privatize the profitable parts, which, DeFazio said, might not bode well for Eugene train service.

"We're on the cusp of major changes," he said.

Backtrack on Amtrak

Congress created Amtrak in 1971 to take over the unprofitable passenger business from freight operators.

The idea was that Amtrak could focus on making rail service pay and wean itself from the public dime. But that never happened - not even after 1997, when Congress set a five-year deadline for Amtrak to get "operationally self-sufficient" or liquidate.

Amtrak has landed far from the goal. Last year, the semi-private train firm logged record-breaking operating losses of $1.1 billion.

Earlier this month, Amtrak President George Warrington admitted defeat. Amtrak would not be self-sufficient by the Dec. 2 deadline, and further, would need a $1.2 billion infusion of cash just to keep going.

Last week, the congressionally appointed Amtrak Reform Council recommended breaking Amtrak's monopoly and allowing private operators to bid on specific routes.

President George Bush pronounced Amtrak a costly failure and proposed that the train company focus on viable routes, rather than preserving the national rail network.

The events set the stage for a pitched battle over the future of passenger rail, DeFazio said.

In House hearings, which will begin Thursday, Amtrak supporters will make a case for saving the unprofitable cross-country routes in order to maintain passenger rail as an alternative to airline travel.

"I'd hoped that after Sept. 11 people would see the folly of dismantling a national rail system," said DeFazio, of Springfield. "But it's not clear that lesson has sunk in."

Amtrak proponents contend it was unrealistic to ask the passenger carrier to support itself in the first place, because no other form of transportation does.

Only a tiny amount - no more than 2 percent - of the federal transportation budget goes to Amtrak, DeFazio said. Most of the money goes to support highways and airports.

DeFazio figures federal support for a recently approved runway at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport would keep the trains running for four or five years.

`It's absurd to say, `Gee, this is a big drain on the treasury,' ' he said.

Uphill climb

Losing trains would be a painful reversal for the area's railroad activists, who have worked successfully for expanded train service.

"We wouldn't have a passenger rail program if not for Eugene," said Claudia Howells, the rail division manager at the Oregon Department of Transportation. "You all are the vanguard. The real initiative and the real solid support has always been from Eugene."

In the early 1990s, when the push began, only one passenger train - the Coast Starlight - passed through Eugene.

Through the decade, Eugene slowly became a hub for passenger rail, with three northbound departures and three southbound arrivals, plus associated Thruway bus links to Ashland, Bend and, beginning March 1, Ontario.

Meanwhile, Amtrak West beefed up the Coast Starlight service, offering a menu of Northwest cuisine in its dining car, nightly wine tastings in overstuffed chairs in the parlor car, plus a movie theater and kids' play room.

"It is our premier train out of all the long-distance trains in the country," Amtrak West spokeswoman Vernae Graham said. "It's extremely popular."

Eugene riders can hop on the evening Coast Starlight and wake up in the San Francisco Bay Area. From there they can catch the California Zephyr east over Donner Pass and through narrow Colorado canyons, or they can head to Los Angeles to meet the Southwest Chief, which sweeps east through the painted deserts.

The only problem with the Coast Starlight: The northbound train is frequently late because it's stalled by track repairs or freight trains on the Union Pacific line south of Eugene.

The other big boost for Eugene train riders was the 1994 launch of the Cascades high-speed corridor service between Eugene and Vancouver, B.C.

Washington, Oregon and Amtrak chipped in to buy sleek new Spanish Talgo train sets in 1996, and they've added runs since.

The increasing passenger rail traffic spurred cities all along the Cascade line to build or rebuild their train stations.

Just last Monday, Everett opened a new $44 million, 64,000-square-foot red brick train/bus station. The city of Tukwila, just south of Seattle, recently got a plywood passenger platform and will get a station in the coming years.

Oregon City has plans to move and renovate its historic station and establish a stop by its giant prairie schooners. Salem completed a $2 million renovation of its station last year. Albany has remodeling plans on the drawing board, and so does Eugene.

Today, Eugene commuters routinely catch a pre-dawn train north to Salem or Portland. They buy steaming bowls of oatmeal, read the newspaper and arrive in time for morning meetings at the Capitol or elsewhere.

"They're running close to car-competitive right now from Eugene to Portland," ODOT's Howells said. "And you can sleep, eat, and talk on your cell phone."

When the Mariners or Seahawks play in Seattle, the northbound trains sell out. Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey has made the game day trip with his grandkids. "I'd hate to think it wouldn't be available if I wanted to use it," he said.

The new runs spurred a doubling of ridership. Last year, passengers made 106,405 trips through the Eugene Station, up from 43,345 in 1993.

In the future, Amtrak predicts that baby boomers will be a growth market for trains.

Patricia Noyes, an 80-year-old retired University of Oregon biology professor, learned to love trains during an early-career sabbatical in Germany. She said seniors definitely turn to trains.

"I don't like to drive on I-5 any more," said Noyes, who's vice president of the Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates. "I'm old enough that my reflexes aren't able to handle these 90 mph trucks that go whizzing past me. "

All the factors say the future of Eugene train travel looks bright, said rail advocate and state Sen. Susan Castillo, D-Eugene.

"Whatever's going on back East is not the same thing that's happening out here," she said. "We have a success story to tell out here. Why would they want us to put an end to that?"

Railroad blues

If Congress eventually does away with the long-distance runs, including the Coast Starlight, Eugene riders will have no more southbound trains. Klamath Falls riders - numbering 30,000 a year - would be stranded indefinitely.

And for the first time in 133 years, Eugene residents would not be able to make a connection East to the nation's capital. "If the Coast Starlight went away it would take ages and ages before we got anything back," said Noyes, the rail advocate.

Cutting the long-haul routes could also jeopardize the Eugene-to-Vancouver, B.C., Cascades train runs, supporters said.

The regional train wouldn't survive, DeFazio said, because without Amtrak it wouldn't have the muscle to compel freight companies to share the tracks.

West Coast states would have to come up with a lot more money to support the runs. Oregon, for instance, needs $100 million for track and signal improvements and $80 million for train sets, Howells said.

To put those sums in perspective, advocates were thrilled three years ago when they persuaded the Legislature to spend $10 million on passenger rail service. Oregon would need federal help to keep the trains rolling, Howells said.

Without subsidy, DeFazio said, routes will "disappear almost everywhere outside the major urban areas and the very congested urban corridors like Washington, D.C., to New York or Boston."

Still, state officials in Washington, Oregon and California are talking about how they might preserve the regional runs under the worst-case scenario, Howells said.

`We can't say, `Oh we're going to run trains tomorrow,' ' she said. "It's not going to be easy, but it hasn't been easy so far."

For now, "We're in limbo," Howells said. "We're almost in suspended animation until the Amtrak situation is resolved somehow or another."

AMTRAK ROUTES 

The names of 18 Amtrak long-distance routes that could be cut in the fall, followed by the major cities they serve:

Coast Starlight: Seattle-Portland-Los Angeles

Empire Builder: Chicago-Seattle/Portland

Kentucky Cardinal: Louisville, Ky.-Chicago

Cardinal: Washington-Cincinnati-Chicago

Pennsylvanian: Philadelphia-Pittsburgh-Chicago

Silver Palm: New York-Savannah, Ga.-Tampa, Fla.-Miami

Silver Star: New York-Savannah-Miami

Silver Meteor: New York-Savannah-Miami

Crescent: New York City-Atlanta-New Orleans

Capitol Limited: Washington-Pittsburgh-Chicago

Three Rivers: New York-Philadelphia-Pittsburgh-Chicago

Twilight Shoreliner: Boston-Washington-Newport News, Va.

Lake Shore Limited: Chicago-Boston/New York

City of New Orleans: Chicago-Memphis, Tenn.-New Orleans

Sunset Limited: Orlando, Fla.-New Orleans-Los Angeles

Texas Eagle: Chicago-San Antonio

California Zephyr: Chicago-Emeryville, Calif.

Southwest Chief: Chicago-Kansas City, Mo.-Los Angeles

- The Associated Press

CAPTION(S):

The Coast Starlight, which serves cities along the West Coast from Seattle to Los Angeles, winds its way along the shore of Lookout Point Reservoir east of Dexter. Patricia Noyes watches the Coast Starlight roll.