Hoping to get more
for less from Amtrak

Somerton resident Lou DeCree travels to New York every weekday to his accounting job at Arch Insurance Group.
DeCree, 29, takes the train at the Cornwells Heights station in Bensalem and is in the Big Apple in a little more than an hour. He takes the train home, getting on in Newark, N.J., at 5:56 p.m. or 6:48 p.m.
“Amtrak is a very smooth ride,” DeCree said.
To make things even better, the certified public accountant’s company picks up the $972 monthly tab.
Still, DeCree would like more flexibility in travel. The only other train to New York that stops at Cornwells Heights comes at 6:12 a.m.
His other option — besides driving in traffic and paying high gasoline prices — would be to take a 40-minute ride to Trenton and board a New Jersey Transit train, which is slower than Amtrak. New Jersey Transit rates are much lower than Amtrak’s.
While DeCree enjoys his morning commute, he is among a shrinking number of people who board the train at Cornwells Heights.
Each morning, he estimates there are only 10 to 15 people who board at 7:22. About 12,500 people per year use the station. That’s down from 26,000 in 2004.
U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-8th dist.) agrees with DeCree that Amtrak should increase its number of stops. The congressman also wants the railroad agency to lower its prices. The $972 monthly pass cost $555 three years ago.
Last week, the House of Representatives passed a Murphy-sponsored amendment to require Amtrak to study whether lowering prices or increasing the number of trains would increase ridership from Cornwells Heights.
The amendment was offered with Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.) and Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat concerned about a similar issue for Monmouth and Middlesex county commuters who embark at the Princeton Junction station and travel to Penn Station in midtown Manhattan.
Murphy believes service cuts lead to more cars on highways and more exhaust fumes in the air. He added that fewer train stops cause people to spend more time on the highway and, in turn, less time helping their kids with homework and telling them bedtime stories.
“I’m trying to fight for working families in the district,” he said.
Murphy’s amendment was offered to the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which passed the House on June 11 by a vote of 311-104. The act funds much of Amtrak’s operations over the next five years.
President George W. Bush, who opposes subsidies to Amtrak, has threatened to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. Murphy hopes for an override, arguing that even arch-conservative Central Pennsylvania Rep. Bill Shuster, the ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee on Railroads, supported the bill.
The language in Murphy’s amendment requires Amtrak officials to complete the study within a year.
“I hope they don’t wait a year to do it,” he said.
Murphy said passenger rail is relatively energy efficient, compared to automobiles and airplanes. Service cuts will force more cars on already crowded roads, in his opinion.
“We have to do something about it,” he said. ••