(The Department of Transportation issued the following news release on February 22.)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Bush Administration wants to save Amtrak with a reform proposal that will provide more passenger rail funding to states and encourage Amtrak and other rail operators to compete for contracts to service routes, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said today after a tour of North Carolina’s Piedmont train and passenger station in Charlotte.
Mineta said the Administration soon will re-introduce its “Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act” to establish a 50-50 federal match for state investments in passenger rail infrastructure, like stations, trains and tracks, create competition for passenger rail service and allow Amtrak to focus on “running the trains on time.”
But he said the recent criticisms of the proposal make him “wonder whether the people talking have even read it.”
“We cannot save intercity passenger rail service by burying our heads in the sand and simply shoveling more money into a system that cannot help but fail,” Mineta said.
He said North Carolina is “on the right track” with its support of passenger rail. Since the state launched its Piedmont service between Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham ten years ago, ridership has grown 476 percent, Mineta added.
Mineta said the state has invested more than $150 million over the past decade to upgrade stations, buy trains and even purchase an entire railroad, but he said under the current system the federal government can’t “really do much of anything and that’s wrong.”
“Our proposal would allow the federal government to match your passenger rail infrastructure investments dollar for dollar and it says that you ought to be free to choose who will run the trains,” Mineta said, adding the plan could lead to significant federal investment in Charlotte’s new train station.
Mineta said he and the President are done “doing business as usual” with Amtrak, and are serious about their budget proposal to end federal subsidies for the railroad unless reforms are implemented soon.
“For 30 years, the federal government has had a partnership with Amtrak on passenger rail. We gave them money and they made the federal government’s passenger rail investment decisions for us,” he said. “Well, that partnership has failed.”