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Title: GOP unveils plan to privatize Amtrak
Source:
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URL Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/transporta ... ail-service-provided-by-amtrak
Published: Jun 15, 2011
Author: Keith Laing
Post Date: 2011-06-15 13:42:53 by socalv8
Keywords: amtrak, private, profit
Views: 1671
Comments: 5
House Republicans said private companies could provide high-speed rail faster and more cheaply than Amtrak as they rolled out their plan to privatize rail service in the northeast on Tuesday. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) told reporters that the bill, which he said would be introduced next Tuesday, could achieve high-speed rail in the Northeast in 10 years. Amtrak currently has a 30-year plan. Mica said the GOP privatization plan would cost less than Amtrak's $117 billion plan, which he said was important given the political climate in Washington. Mica also said he doesn't think the Amtrak trains would be true high-speed. "People are going to turn blue waiting for Congress to provide that money," he said. "They're also going to turn blue waiting for a high-speed train (from Amtrak)." The high-speed rail envisioned by Mica would provide faster service for passengers traveling to locations between Washington, D.C. and Boston than the Acela line operated by Amtrak. Democrats on Mica's panel strongly disagreed, rushing to Amtrak's defense Wednesday as Mica was speaking at the Capitol. "Taking a play out of President Bush’s book, Republicans are dusting off a chronically unpopular proposal that will cripple Main Street by auctioning off Amtrak’s assets to Wall Street,” the ranking Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-W.Va.), said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “Instead of abolishing Amtrak, Republicans should abandon this ill-conceived ideological assault on passenger rail service – just as we did when President Bush first proposed it – and work with Democrats to build true high-speed and intercity passenger rail in America,” Rahall said. Rahall called the privatization plan, which Mica is co-sponsoring with Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Penn.), "a death knell for passenger rail service from coast to coast. "Privatizing this profitable corridor will not merely affect train service in that region; it will have a devastating domino effect from coast to coast, leaving trains stuck at the station across the Nation,” Rahall said. “The Auto Train, Capitol Limited, California Zephyr, Cardinal, Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, Palmetto and Silver Service, Texas Eagle and so many other vital lifelines will no longer serve as engines of economic growth but will be mere relics of a bygone era.” However, Republicans found Democratic support from former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who is now an MSNBC political analyst and co-chair of an advocacy group dedicated to infrastructure improvements known as Building America's Future. Rendell called into Mica's press conference to say that he is a supporter of Amtrak, but the privatization plan made sense to him. "I'm not a critic of Amtrak. Far from it," he said. "But the only way you're going to get that money to make this project a reality is you have the states, the federal government and private companies at the table." Rendell went on to try to preempt criticism similar to Rahall's, saying "this shouldn't be viewed as anti-Amtrak. "It should be viewed as a proposal by those that support high-speed rail," he said. Mica, who has frequently referred to Amtrak as a "Soviet-style operation," also tried to soften the perception of the bill, saying that it did not prevent Amtrak from bidding for contracts or teaming up with other companies that were interested in providing the rail service in the Northeast. "If Amtrak can compete, we'll allow them to compete," he said. "We know they can't provide this service by themselves. They've testified in this room that they can't. But if they can partner with someone, we haven't prohibited them."
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#1. To: socalv8 (#0)
(Edited)
interesting. There aren't any details here so it's impossible to judge the merits of the proposal, but taking away Amtrak's one profitable route would lead to a lot more pressure on Congress to kill Amtrak all-together. That's rather interesting considering Congress has forced Amtrak to maintain unprofitable routes. Another problem with the privatization approach is "what if it fails"? Do we shut Amtrak down or does the government step in? Is Amtrak a public service like firefighters, police, the FAA, etc., or is it a private business? Aren't there benefits to society of getting millions of people out of cars or off of airplanes? what's the effect on those forms of travel if Amtrak goes away and 28 million passengers seek alternative forms of transportation? What happens to the costs as demand rises? Again, why not apply the same approach to road/air - let airlines fund all operations now funded by governments, and if they can't do it profitably, then we simply end passenger air travel in the United States. Finally, it's worth studying the impact of British rail privatization in the early 1990's. Proponents made many of the same arguments that Conservatives make about Amtrak. Yet the end result was a more costly service that required government subsidies to survive.
"Thats because your basically and idiot." BTW, you might want to dig into the numbers here - the last time Mica proposed Amtrak privatization he argued that Amtrak NE ridership was falling. He was 'technically' correct, but it fell because Amtrak sold half their trains on the NY to Philly route to NJ Transit. Passenger rail Ridership between the cities had gone way up. He was instead arguing that Amtrak's decline in ridership meant that there was declining interest in rail. You can do a lot of interesting things with statistics.
"Thats because your basically and idiot." And one or two of them MIGHT be truthful...
America...My Kind Of Place... "I truly am not that concerned about [bin Laden]..." "THE MILITIA IS COMING!!! THE MILITIA IS COMING!!!" You can also do alot with the money that WE pour into Amtrak.
and roads, and airlines. take away government support of airlines and the airline industry will transition into a small charter industry. You support that approach, right?
"Thats because your basically and idiot."
Badeye posted on 2011-04-29 10:30:22 ET
#2. To: socalv8 (#0)
(Edited)
Badeye posted on 2011-04-29 10:30:22 ET
#3. To: go65 (#2)
You can do a lot of interesting things with statistics.
--GW Bush
--Sarah Palin's version of "The Midnight Ride of Paul revere"
#4. To: go65 (#2)
You can do a lot of interesting things with statistics.
#5. To: socalv8 (#4)
You can also do alot with the money that WE pour into Amtrak.
Badeye posted on 2011-04-29 10:30:22 ET
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