Amtrak's budget could bust Empire Builder

With Amtrak's entire federal funding threatened to be cut from the President's 2006 budget, a piece of Whitefish history, the Empire Builder, faces closure.

If approved by Congress, the final cut would come after Amtrak received over $1 billion in subsidies in 2005.

"In a word, they have no plan for Amtrak other than bankruptcy," Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn said in a memo he sent out to employees.

According to Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari, this would lead to the end of the Empire Builder passenger line that runs from Chicago to Seattle, crossing the length of Montana in between.

The route has been important to Montana and essential to Whitefish. A study done by R. L. Banks and Associates, a Washington DC based transportation consultant, concluded that the Empire Builder contributes nearly $14 million to Montana's economy annually.

And for Whitefish, Montana's busiest Amtrak stop, the route has been crucial, bringing 57,000 people to town each year.

If the Empire Builder shut down, "We would definitely have to regroup," Whitefish Chamber of Commerce President Shelia Bowen said. "We would have to glorify getting to Whitefish in another way."

Bowen said she hopes "Congress will find it so atrocious that they come forward and say 'no way.'"

To help Congress reach this conclusion, the Chamber of Commerce and Whitefish's Stumptown Historical Society are hoping to urge citizens to write letters to their congressmen.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) was attentive to Bowen's hopes in a press release he sent out last week.

"It would be outrageous to eliminate funding for Amtrak. Amtrak is vital to our state. It's essential for transportation, jobs, recreation and our economy. Communities along the Hi Line depend on Amtrak every day. I'm committed to working together with the President and my colleagues in the Senate and the House to provide Amtrak with the funding it needs to operate."

Local business owners shared in the concern over Amtrak's future. Heather Halbakken, a supervisor at Mackenzie River Pizza on Central Avenue, said "That would be major for us. A lot of people waiting for a train to arrive or depart stop in and eat here."

Dan Cutforth, owner of the Downtowner Hotel, said, "It would effect us severely. We get a lot of people off the train. Cutting taxes always looks good," he added, "but I think the politicians should look in their own backyards first."

And while some promise privatization will be the saving grace of Empire Builder, Amtrak officials warn otherwise.

Magliari said not to look for private industry to come in and save the Empire Builder.

"The reason we created Amtrak in the 1970s was that private companies couldn't make any money doing this," he said. "That's why there is an Amtrak."

But Gunn set his sights on the long run, reminding his employees that "The President's proposal is only the start of a long legislative process… This process has a lot of twists and turns, and it always takes six to nine months to sort out."

"We have strong support in Congress and a lot of support across the country."