American rail passengers are calling for a big expansion of rail use to compensate for uncertainty caused by the recent volatility of oil prices.

Train use is already growing while fewer people are using their cars.

The National Association of Railroad Passengers is urging Washington to take note – and take action – in line with its Grow Trains campaign.

It said: "We need a rapid and long-overdue ramping up of investment in Amtrak and public transport to give people jobs when other parts of the transportation industry are retrenching and to let Americans leave their cars at home when they want to-—which they increasingly do. The time to invest in trains is now."

NARP reports that public transport use is at its highest level for 50 years.

Nationwide, Amtrak ridership is up 11% in the seven months up to April 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The American Public Transportation Association reports that bus use rose by 3.3% in the three months to March 2008, compared with a year earlier, while light rail use grew by 10.3% and commuter rail trips up by 5.7%.

NARP says that historical underinvestment prevents Amtrak and other public transport authorities from coping with the growing demand.

In some cases budgetary problems are forcing public transport cutbacks just when more people want to climb on board.
  
Meanwhile, the Federal Highway Administration says vehicle miles travelled in March fell 4.3% from a year earlier, "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history".

Some small airlines have already shut down, and many small towns are losing their air service. There is also talk of large service reductions by major airlines.

Car maker General Motors has announced the closure of four more plants.

NARP's Grow Trains Campaign aims to bring inter-city passenger rail services to over 300 cities nationwide.
 
For more on NARP's Grow Trains Campaign, go to www.narprail.org/vision
 
The FHWA release, "Americans Driving At Historic Lows" is at fhwa
 
APTA's June 2 ridership growth release is at apta.com  
 
APTA's one-page first quarter ridership summary is at apta.com    
 
NARP is the largest citizen-based organisation in America working on behalf of train passengers. It has over 24,000 individual members.

Information from Ross Capon at rcapon at narprail.org.