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Senate Politics Impeding Rail Safety and Reauthorization Bill
Friday, September 26, 2008
On Wednesday, the House passed by voice vote H.R. 2095, which combines the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (the latter incorporating provisions from S. 294). Yesterday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) placed a hold on the bill, preventing an up-or-down vote in the Senate without cloture.
In a Wall Street Journal article posted yesterday afternoon, “Senator Holds Up Bill on Train Safety Device,” Sen. Coburn is quoted saying “Amtrak loses $2 billion a year subsidizing food.”
This is an absurd figure, since Amtrak’s total operating grant is under $500 million—$490 million in the FY 06 and 07 appropriations bills, and $475 million this year.
No one thinks operations generate a $2.5 billion profit that mostly goes to offsetting food losses, yet that’s what Coburn’s math implies.
While Amtrak has reduced food losses since the June 9, 2005 House hearing on this issue, it is important to remember what Amtrak Senior Vice President—Operations William L. Crosbie said in his testimony then: “Amtrak’s food and beverage service is a fundamental part of the service that we offer on board the majority of the trains that we operate on a daily basis. Its primary purpose is to enhance ticket sales and ridership, not serve as a profit center.”
It would be nice if Senators could get the facts right, especially ones who are trying to deny the Senate the chance to vote on this bill.
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, amtrak reauthorization, news media, safety, senate action, wall street journal,Responding to Critics, Educating the Public
Monday, April 04, 2011
NARP President Ross Capon sent the following letter to the Wall Street Journal’s editors, responding to a March 29 op-ed piece by Ronald Utt of the Heritage Foundation:
President Obama’s High Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Program is improving both passenger and freight train services. It is not the “extravagant Amtrak bailout” that Ronald Utt claims.
For example, 28 miles of second main line will be added between Greensboro and Charlotte so the entire, 82-mile segment will again be double tracked. These tracks will be there 24/7. Passenger trains will not, so Norfolk Southern’s freight operations will benefit.
Utt makes much of Amtrak’s 2009 ridership decline. He should have acknowledged the 11.2% ridership jump in 2008 caused largely by Americans seeking to avoid rising gasoline prices.
Those prices are rising again. So is long-term world demand for oil, and the amount of revenue Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget. Utt’s endless trashing of passenger trains betrays a rear-view mirror focus that makes for bad public policy. Department of Energy figures indicate that Amtrak is 30% and 20% more energy efficient than automobiles and domestic airlines, respectively. Trains are an important travel choice that Americans increasingly want.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: greensboro news & record, high-speed rail, malcolm kenton, north carolina, passenger train critics, ric killian, ronald utt, ross capon, state legislation, wall street journal,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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