WASHINGTON — A key Senate lawmaker introduced an ambitious plan Tuesday that would keep Amtrak running, but also provide $35 billion in financing guarantees for development of high-speed rail throughout the United States, a wire service reported.
Sen. Ernest Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat and chairman of the Senate committee that has authority over rail matters, proposed legislation that would provide $1.3 billion in funding for Amtrak capital needs in the heavily traveled Northeast.
The money would keep the nation’s only long-distance passenger railroad operating for another year at least, averting threatened route closures and a restructuring of the 31-year-old service.
Competing legislation proposed last month by Sen. John McCain, the Commerce Committee’s ranking Republican, would split cash strapped Amtrak into three companies and fully privatize the system within four years.
For the first time in several years, Congress is taking a hard look at Amtrak’s future. Lawmakers are weighing whether to reauthorize its existence or open its route system, much of it drowning in red ink, to private companies.
The bill would make Amtrak reinvest money from its profitable Northeast Corridor service between Washington and Boston to help meet that line’s capital expenses.
“This legislation will give Amtrak the tools and funding to create a modern, efficient passenger railroad,” Hollings said.
The bill would also provide $35 billion in loan guarantees and restructure federal financing programs to attract development of high-speed rail corridors outside the Northeast.
“The passenger railroad system that has worked well in the Northeast can work in other high-congestion areas of the country,” Hollings said.