Panel Approves $7.8 Billion for Amtrak

The Hill ^ | 12 February 2015 | Keith Laing

[Publius]

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday quietly approved nearly $8 billion in funding for Amtrak.

The measure calls for spending approximately $1.7 billion annually over the next four years on the rail service, a slight increase from the present level of funding.

Prior Amtrak funding debates in Washington have been contentious affairs, but lawmakers said this year's bill — which was approved unanimously — is fair to both supporters and critics of the national rail service.

"This is a good reform bill that firmly moves passenger rail towards greater transparency and accountability, and forces Amtrak to operate like a true business,” House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said in a statement after the bill's passage.

The top ranking Democrat on the Transportation panel said he agreed with the chairman's assessment.

“In every region of the country, passenger rail investments boost local economies and create thousands of family-wage construction, engineering, and manufacturing jobs," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said. "This bill isn’t perfect — but it was a bipartisan effort that ultimately provides critical investments and system wide improvements to increase capacity and make our railways safer."

Since its inception in 1971, Amtrak has historically received about $1 billion per year from the government for operations and construction projects.

The measure that was approved on Thursday, known as the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment (PRRIA) Act, provides about $982 million per year for Amtrak's national network and another $470 million annually for its popular Northeast U.S. routes.

The bill, which would expire in 2019, appropriates another $300 million per year for construction on Amtrak routes in the rest of country and about $24 million per year for the company's inspector general.

[Publius]

I was a bit disappointed that this was done with minimal debate. With the results of the 2014 election, I had thought that the privatization of Amtrak would be a "low hanging fruit" for congressional Republicans to pluck from the tree. Apparently I was wrong. It would appear that $7.8 billion is not considered "real money".

[nascarnation]

Lametrack

They should sell logowear with their slogan:

Subsidizing the northeast and union workers since 1971

[molson209]

and a mighty Cheer can be heard from Joe Biden ,LOL

[BradtotheBone]

I don’t understand? Why don’t they just flush the money down the toilet.

[refermech]

Well, it does buy a lot of union votes

[eyeamok]

privatization of Amtrak??

Amtrak is the result of the Government taking over PRIVATE RAIL COMPANIES!

[Iron Munro]

Welfare for wealthy commuters.

[nascarnation]

Don’t forget their 19,000 (mostly unionized) employees.

[Publius]

Incorrect. Amtrak is the result of government taking over the passenger operations of private railroads.

Further, the railroads at the time agreed to the arrangement in order to get the passenger trains off their books. They promised to give Amtrak's trains full dispatching priority over their own freight trains in return. With the exception of BNSF, they didn't deliver on that promise.

[smokingfrog]

Can we just let Amtrak die, already?

I wonder what would happen if we just auctioned it off to the highest bidder?

[Publius]

I proposed auctioning it off to the airlines.

[dfwgator]

I was a bit disappointed that this was done with minimal debate.

With Republicans like this, who needs Democrats?

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

Bridges, roads, highways, rail, etc.. It’s all code for ‘union payoff’

[drypowder]

so, there is money for the fence

[niteowl77]

Too many FedGov and bankster types ride the NE corridor trains to eliminate Amtrak, and the railroads that dumped their human cattle trains are long gone (New Haven, Pennsylvania, New York Central, etc). It'd be easier to get these guys to defund NPR and PBS than Amtrak.

(If the wizards of smart had separated the NE corridor from the rest of the country at the beginning, they'd already have let anything W of the coastal elite enclaves shrivel up and drop off.)

Mr. niteowl77

[Sooth2222]

"Welfare for wealthy commuters."

Not even that useful. I need to go to Washington DC occasionally. Taking the train is no cheaper than flying there. More like this:

[Sooth2222]

I wonder what would happen if we just auctioned it off to the highest bidder?

They've been trying to get rid of it since Nixon. No takers. None. Amtrak has a negative value, and there is no feasible way to make it profitable.

[Mase]

Somewhere, Willie Green is smiling.

[Paladin2]

"there is no feasible way to make it profitable. "

Make it part of 0bamaDontCare. Make everyone take a train to see their doctor or visit the ER.

[Paladin2]

The State of Michigan recently bought the old Michigan Central RR mainline from Dearborn to Kalamazoo from Norfolk Southern to do track and signal upgrades to let Amtrak run faster.