The national passenger rail service, better known as Amtrak, said Monday that rail companies in Europe and Japan said its plans to build high-speed railways in the Northeast were sound. The foreign opinions, which Amtrak dubbed an "international peer review," comes as Republicans in the House are pushing to plan to privatize rail service in the Northeast.
The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has frequently referred to Amtrak as a "Soviet-style operation," but the agency said Monday that "leading European and Japanese high-speed rail operators" found Amtrak's assessment that it can gradually get trains up to 220 miles per hour was "sound and reasonable."
"The positive feedback from our experienced colleagues around the world is encouraging and demonstrates that Amtrak's high-speed rail plan is a proper response to meet the region's need for increased transportation capacity and is a viable way forward," Amtrak vice president Al Engel said in a statement.
The reviewers found that "Amtrak's initial projections of ridership, revenues, and costs for this new system were appropriately conservative," Engel added.
"We are pleased that many of the world leaders in high-speed rail have offered their ideas to help refine and improve our plans," he said.
The reviews are unlikely to mollify Republican critics, who argue that the model of having one national rail company does not work in the United States.
"By focusing on projects that make sense, leveraging private-sector investment and opening the door to public-private partnerships, we can do more with less and finally take our nation in a new direction," Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), who chairs the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, wrote last week in an op-ed in The Hill.
"It's time for passenger rail to enjoy the same success deregulation brought to the freight rail, commercial truck and airline industries," Shuster said.
