Market solution: Get Amtrak in the black – and sell it

Let’s try an experiment: Can we get the government to think entrepreneurially?

It’s encouraging to note that Amtrak service between Kansas City and St. Louis – with stops in Independence and Lee’s Summit – has seen a 30 percent increase in riders in the last year. Amtrak is quick to point out that track work in 2007 knocked those numbers down at the time, but the increase this year is nonetheless impressive.

This is Amtrak’s moment in the sun. People are rethinking the cost of driving and the hassle of flying. To many, the train is starting to look pretty good. Congress has come up with money to improve service. Here at home, Missouri and the feds are each kicking for added track than should improve on-time arrivals in Independence and elsewhere.

Across the country, officials are talking about expanding service – a high-speed line here, the revival of an old line there. Why shouldn’t Missouri be part of that conversation? Build up the business. Make it more dependable, more functional for everyday travel. Keep the cost reasonable.

And then comes the hard part: Put it on profitable footing and sell it.

Amtrak only came into existence because, four decades ago, private railroads were getting out of the people-moving business. Amtrak has been subsidized from day one, and it serves a good purpose, but government at all levels is looking at tight finances for quite some time into the future.

In this sudden era of multibillion-dollar government bailouts – with the government possibly propping up banks and other institutions by taking part ownership, something unthinkable even a few months ago – this idea goes against the trend. It’s also peanuts compared with those deals. It would, however, be a nice step.