“National Train Day” celebrates the 139^th anniversary of the “golden spike,” which was driven into the final tie in Promontory Summit, Utah, and marked the completion of our nation’s first transcontinental railroad in 1869. I have been holding events across Florida’s third congressional district, starting in Jacksonville, and moving through Winter Park and Sanford.

I have had the opportunity to travel on Transportation Committee CODELS and can say that both in Europe, and in Asia, they are way out in front of us on passenger rail. I have taken high speed rail trains from Brussels to Paris, and from Barcelona to Madrid, and the advantages for travelers and for businesses are tremendous. Our nation needs to catch up with the world, and with gas prices edging towards $4 per gallon, now is the perfect time for us to begin to make serious investments in passenger rail.

Now I must say that passenger and freight service are indeed increasing nationwide, and for many rural Americans in fact, Amtrak represents the only major intercity transportation link to the rest of the country.

Amtrak employs nearly 19,000 people across the nation, and operates passenger service on 21,000 miles (33,800 km) of track, connecting 500 destinations in 46 states.

Indeed, Amtrak ridership and revenue have never been stronger. In 2007, Amtrak set a new record for ridership, exceeding 25.8 million passengers. In that same year, ticket revenues increased by 11%, to more than $1.5 billion. What is even more exciting is that these figures continue to grow steadily thus far in 2008, particularly with gas prices estimated to reach $4 a gallon by this summer. For my state of Florida, Amtrak expenditures for goods and services in the state soared to nearly $40 million last year, and Amtrak currently employs over 700 Florida residents.

I travel all over the country and have conducted many transportation roundtable events that feature rail and its importance, and let me say that the people I talk to just rave about Amtrak. It is a great way to commute to work, takes cars off our already congested highways, and again, in many areas of the country, is the only mode of public transportation available.

Amtrak was also served as a First Responder during hurricane Katrina, and helped evacuate thousands of Gulf region residents while President Bush and his Administration were nowhere to be found. Now they are becoming a key part in each state’s future evacuation plans.

Now what I can’t understand is why the Bush Administration, again, in the midst of sharp increases in gas prices, continues in its efforts to destroy passenger rail in this country. Every industrialized country in the world is investing heavily in rail infrastructure because they realize that this is the future of transportation. But sadly, as their systems get bigger and better, our system gets less and less money.

While the administration has spent nearly half a trillion dollars on the war in Iraq, it continues to decrease their requests for Amtrak funding. This year they only requested $800 million for Amtrak’s 25 million passengers. Just one week’s investment in Iraq would significantly improve passenger rail across country for an entire year! This is another perfect example of just how out of touch this Administration is because I can assure the president that there is a whole lot more support for Amtrak in this country than there is for the war in Iraq.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation spread about Amtrak, and it is important for people to know the facts: Ridership numbers are at record levels, outstanding debt has been reduced by $300 million, and many major infrastructure projects have been completed. And this has been achieved with a workforce that has been reduced by over 4,000 employees.

We still have work ahead of us when it comes to Amtrak, and we plan to begin authorization this coming Wednesday in committee in fact.

The legislation developed by the Chairman of Transportation, James Oberstar and myself provides over $2 billion per year for Capital and Operating Grants, $500 million per year for developing State Passenger Corridors, $345 million per year to pay down debt, $345 million per year for High Speed Rail Programs, $60 million to start work on constructing a new tunnel through Baltimore, and requires a plan for restoring service to the Sunset Limited line, one of my priorities!

The United States used to have the best passenger rail system in the world. Now we’re the caboose and they don’t even have cabooses anymore. The American people deserve better, and I believe Amtrak Reauthorization will go a long way in restoring the US to its rightful place as a world leader in passenger rail.”