Carper's Corner
Fighting for Amtrak
September 12, 2008I told them that winning final congressional approval for this bill is much like the last few minutes of a close football game. Time is running out. We have a chance to win this game. A lot is at stake. Let’s win it.
We know that in the past year alone, Amtrak has transported more than 26 million passengers, pushing ridership up 11 percent and revenues up 14 percent when compared to the previous twelve months.
In addition to carrying more passengers, Amtrak is also improving its energy efficiency. A recent study conducted for the Department of Energy found a 2.2 percent improvement in Amtrak’s energy consumption, making our passenger rail system today nearly 18 percent more efficient than our airlines and 21 percent more efficient than cars clogging our nation’s streets and highways.
The House and Senate already have passed separate, but similar, comprehensive bills to provide Americans with an improved intercity passenger rail system. Now it’s time to finish work on a compromise of those two bills and send final Amtrak reauthorization legislation to the President to sign into law this very month.
The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 provides Amtrak with funding to maintain current operations, upgrade equipment and return the Northeast Corridor to a state of good repair by 2012, in part so that more of the full potential of the 150mph Acela Express trains can be harnessed.
Over the life of the bill, Amtrak’s government-sponsored operating subsidy will be reduced by 40 percent through cost cutting, restructuring and reform, while capital funding to both Amtrak and the states is increased. One example of that is Amtrak would be required to evaluate the financial performance, on-time performance, and customer satisfaction of each train line and to establish performance improvement plans for the 15 long distance routes with the worst performance. If they do not meet standards, funding will be withheld.
One important provision in the bill is an 80-20 federal-state capital program to fund intercity passenger rail projects.
During my eight years as Delaware’s governor, I determined that if I wanted to expand a road, the federal government would provide Delaware with 80 percent of the cost. For transit, we could get 50 percent. But for intercity passenger rail, we couldn’t get any – zero – federal assistance. I am convinced this federal funding imbalance has led a number of states to make the wrong transportation investments, concentrating on road construction, not mass and intercity transit even if they were the more logical transportation investment to make.
By contrast, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act has a proven funding model, much like the one we use to fund our highways and airports. This bill will allow states to make transportation decisions based on what the state needs, rather than which mode of transportation is most highly subsidized by the federal government.
Today, throughout the United States, we face high gas prices, congested roadways, declining air quality, and a dependence on foreign oil from countries we do not support.
Passing an Amtrak bill will not solve all these problems, but it will help.
This Amtrak bill has been passed overwhelmingly by both chambers, and now we need the House and Senate negotiators to settle the differences between the two bills. I understand that a deal is very close, but we’re not there yet as of this writing.
This Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act provides badly-needed, long-term direction and stability for Amtrak, too, along with confidence in Amtrak’s future for its investors, creditors and riders alike.
This Amtrak bill could be a blueprint for a national passenger rail system worthy of all of America in the 21st Century.