My love of trains has been discussed before. However, in a recently released study recommending against adding an Amtrak line connecting Saint Louis to Springfield (MO), the State Department of Transportation and Amtrak seem to have sided with common-sense and the free-market. Subsidizing a train connecting your two largest cities with the State Capitol is one thing, but adding to that without the market demand would be poor policy and even worse economics. Not to mention the increased subsidy required might jeapordize the one existing route. Much more important is connecting St. Louis to New Orleans without a required bus ride to Carbondale. Maybe the market would support it, maybe not, but this is New Orleans we are talking about here for christsakes…
About the Author
David Stokes
David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.
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