The National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) launched a new campaign – Towns Without Trains – in an effort to organize against President Trump’s plans to eliminate Amtrak’s long-distance service. On the weekend of June 23rd, the campaign aims to spur local rallies all across the country to tell Congress to keep and support Amtrak’s long-distance service.
Over 220 communities across the country would lose Amtrak service if President Trump’s budget becomes law. For many of these small towns, Amtrak is the only transportation option as busses don’t service their areas and Trump’s budget guts the Essential Air Service (EAS) program that subsidizes airline service – a double whammy.
For TCU/IAM members, Amtrak’s long-distance trains provide thousands of jobs across the country. Whether or not you work on Amtrak, this would affect you, since losing half of Amtrak’s workforce would devastate Railroad Retirement.
As such, any and all TCU/IAM members are strongly encouraged to participate in rallies; and if you can, consider hosting a rally in your community.
Together we can send a strong message to Congress and the President not to cut long-distance service, and that Amtrak is here to stay.
#Rally4Trains
