The 851 Hoosier State pulls into the Big Four Depot ten minutes late, Friday, June 21, 2019 in Lafayette. On June 30th, the Hoosier State Trains will be taken out of service due to lack of funding from the state of Indiana. (Photo: Nikos Frazier | Journal & Courier)
LAFAYETTE. – Last call is coming this week for Amtrak’s Hoosier State line between Indianapolis and Chicago, its four stops a week in downtown Lafayette scheduled to end with a 9:46 p.m. return arrival at the Big Four Depot on June 30.
Any chance to save the train – even for a short-term reprieve – is gone, say Indiana officials who pulled $3 million in funding; say local officials who have tried to prop up the service with cash of their own; says Amtrak; and say rail fans who did all they could to drum up some sort of passenger outrage that would prompt Gov. Eric Holcomb to reconsider his reservations about shelling out for another two years of the Hoosier State in a state budget that starts July 1.
“There wasn’t much to talk about after the governor signed the budget,” Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman, said Thursday. “I think the legislature made things clear.”
Steve Coxhead, president of the Indiana Passenger Rail Alliance, said all last-ditch efforts were spent in April, when the General Assembly still had opportunities to reinsert subsidies Amtrak used to operate a rail line and that the state and communities along the 196-mile route had rallied to save once before.
“We got people to make some noise, trying to get the governor’s attention, and it was louder than it had been,” Coxhead said.
“But admittedly, the bar was so low,” Coxhead said. “We’ve had such poor performance on the Hoosier State in recent years that people weren’t really even aware it was an issue, to be honest. That’s a problem and makes it hard to move the dial.”
Copyright © 2024 www.jconline.com