America prides itself on being a mobile society, but in truth Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to get around. Roads are crowded even when they are not under repair and the cost of gasoline is a shock at the pump. Air travel has been a chore ever since security was increased after 9/11 and the airline industry has been struggling -- witness US Airways.

It's enough to make one wish anew that the United States had a strong third alternative in the form of passenger rail services, but instead it has Amtrak. In places like Europe and Japan, rail service is vitally important; here, Amtrak barely survives as a neglected stepchild in the transportation family, short of funding and burdened by congressional delusions that the system can be self-sufficient.

Amtrak is forced to make every economy it can, even if some of these steps make no sense in the larger context of national transportation policy. With the volatility of the Middle East oil supply, the passenger rail system should logically be strengthened at every turn; instead, cities like Pittsburgh find that their service is reduced -- Pittsburgh with its large numbers of both students and older citizens for whom rail travel is often convenient and attractive.

Last week, Amtrak announced that the Three Rivers train, which operates between New York and Chicago via Pittsburgh, would be eliminated Nov. 1. The Pennsylvanian, which now runs between New York and Pittsburgh, would take over this route but only till March 1 and then would run west only as far as Pittsburgh.

Although the daily Capitol Limited between Chicago and Washington via Pittsburgh is not affected, the end result will be that Pittsburgh will have less service, as will stops along the line such as Greensburg, Latrobe, Johnstown and Altoona.

The change is partly due to Amtrak's decision to stop hauling bulk mail for the U.S. Postal Service, ostensibly to concentrate on its core business of carrying passengers. That move also promises to allow the consolidated New York-Pittsburgh-Chicago service -- in the brief time that it extends to Chicago -- to operate on a schedule that is about an hour faster.

Whatever sense this move makes in isolation -- and it is tough on the local employees and others nationally who will be laid off -- there is one serious disconnect: As with all the trains coming to Pittsburgh, the Three Rivers gained ridership last year, posting an 8.3 percent increase to 137,234 passengers.

That fact could be the savior of the situation. Amtrak might continue the service if the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation subsidizes the service, and PennDOT is considering this option.

To be sure, what is being proposed is the consolidation of two trains into one, but it would mark the deterioration of the service from poor to worse, and that represents yet another blow to Pittsburgh's interests. But as much as we think the parochial concern needs to be addressed by the Rendell administration, someone important in Washington needs to stand up and say passenger rail service is important to the nation.