Amtrak cutting the Hoosier State?

[Saturnalia]

The train is safe...for now.

http://www.indystar.com/article/2013101 ... ck_check=1

[justalurker66]

... for the next 12 to 16 months.

[Ypsi]

DYER, Ind. – The town of Dyer will not contribute $5,000 per month as part of a state-led deal to keep Amtrak’s Chicago-Indianapolis the Hoosier State operating.

The Indiana Department of Transportation requested Dyer contribute to keep the Hoosier State running, but the town declined, Town Manager Rick Eberly tells the Northwest Indiana Times. “We just don’t have the ridership to justify those kind of dollars,” he says.

Dyer provides caretaker services for its platform and shelter and performs upkeep and minor repairs under an existing contract with Amtrak. According to Amtrak statistics, 2,934 passengers got on and off trains in fiscal year 2013 at Dyer.

Other communities that benefit from the Hoosier State are contributing combinations of money and services to keep the service running, according to the Indiana Department of Transportation.

In early October, INDOT reached agreement with Amtrak to provide a $2.7 million subsidy for the Hoosier State to keep it running for one more year. The deal includes an option to continue the service for four more months after that.

The communities of Rensselaer, Indianapolis, Crawfordsville, Lafayette, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, and Beech Grove will put up about half the $2.7 million the state has pledged to subsidize the Hoosier State route, an INDOT spokesman says.

The Hoosier State, which runs four days per week, and the Cardinal, which runs three days per week, will continue to serve Dyer, according to Amtrak.

From the TRAINS