Passengers Voice Concern Over Serious Flaws In Passenger Rail Privatization Plan, Point to Opportunities For Directed Partnerships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (#11-16)
June 22, 2011

Contact: Sean Jeans-Gail – 202-408-8362 [mobile: 202-320-2723]

In a statement for the record submitted yesterday, the National Association of Railroad (NARP) highlighted serious flaws in the privatization plan being put forward by the Chair of the House transportation committee, while recognizing that a directed and well-considered engagement between Amtrak and the private sector has the potential to benefit both parties involved and the public.

NARP President Ross Capon pointed to a number of factors that House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica’s “Competition for Intercity Passenger Rail in America” proposal fails to take into consideration.  These include the difficulty for private operators to gain access host railroads’ tracks at competitive rates, prohibitively expensive indemnification agreements, the applicability of labor laws and the potential impact on the Railroad Retirement system, and the difference between fully allocated costs and avoidable costs, to name a few.

While unable to endorse Mica’s plan as it is, Capon did encourage the Committee to look at specific examples of how Amtrak might engage more with the private sector to the benefit of both parties.

“Consideration should be given to a possible connection between the need for redundancy in the power grid and the potential to construct new transmission lines along the Northeast Corridor where local opposition likely would be minimal,” wrote Capon.  “A private sector consortium could profit from selling power both to the railroad and to utilities along the route.”  Capon argued this kind of public-private partnership would benefit passenger train operations—intercity and commuter—replacing antiquated infrastructure and making the trains more energy efficient and more reliable.

The statement, however, explicitly pushed back against Chairman Mica’s assessment that “Amtrak has repeatedly bungled development and operations in the Northeast Corridor.”  A true apples-to-apples comparison of ridership trends on the “NEC Spine” (Boston-Washington) shows that Amtrak’s ridership rose from 6.4 million in 1976 to 10.4 million in 2010—a 62.5 percent increase.
About the National Association of Railroad Passengers
NARP is the only national organization speaking for the users of passenger trains and rail transit. We have worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger rail in the U.S. Our mission is to work towards a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want. Our work is supported by over 22,000 individual members.

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