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Breaking down Wednesday’s House floor action on passenger train policy

Posted by Malcolm Kenton
on Friday, March 6, 2015

Early Wednesday afternoon, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed a bill that would authorize Amtrak and intercity passenger rail programs to be funded at fiscal 2015 levels through fiscal 2020. While the bill, dubbed the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 (PRRIA, H.R.749) contains some troublesome provisions and is far from perfect from the perspective of most rail passenger advocates, it passed the House by a convincing margin of 316 to 101, with 132 Republicans joining all 184 Democrats in support. The bill won the endorsement of the OneRail Coalition, a group of both freight and passenger rail stakeholders (including Amtrak, the Association of American Railroads, the National Association of Railroad Passengers, short line & regional railroads, suppliers, rail labor, and others), but the conservative Heritage Action Foundation came out in opposition.

Passengers board Amtrak's northbound Silver Star at Raleigh, NC on Oct. 27, 2014. Photo by Malcolm Kenton.
While the fact that keeping Amtrak funding flat enjoys solid support in the House is heartening, an increase in funding is necessary even to prevent the reliability of existing service from slipping. Amtrak desperately needs new equipment in order to run more reliable trains, and it is doubtful many orders will be possible with this bill’s funding levels. Also worth noting is that the actual amount appropriated for Amtrak each year is usually less than what is authorized (generally somewhere between 70% and 90% of the authorized level), and Amtrak is still without the guaranteed multi-year funding stream it needs to be able to do long-term planning. Finally, the Senate — which in recent years has been friendlier to Amtrak than the House — has yet to act on passenger rail reauthorization this Congress. The Senate Commerce Committee could start working on the House bill, or it could draft its own alternative bill.

Perhaps the most telling vote on Wednesday was one on an amendment by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), whose district includes three Amtrak-served communities (Roseville, Auburn and Truckee), that would have eliminated all authorized funding for Amtrak. That amendment failed by a vote of 147 to 272, meaning that 46 Republicans supported an amendment to eliminate Amtrak funding, but then voted to support the underlying bill with the funding included. While the unanimity of Democrats along with 36% of the Republican caucus in support of maintaining Amtrak funding is heartening, it is troubling that a full 34% of current House membership, including several dozen whose districts Amtrak serves, would do away with Amtrak entirely. 

This map, prepared by the Environmental Law and Policy Center, overlays the Congressional districts — color-coded by their representatives’ votes on the McClintock amendment as well as on passage of the bill — with an Amtrak system map to show that, by and large, opposition to Amtrak funding comes from districts either not served or served very poorly (only three times a week or at inconvenient times) by Amtrak. This shows that advocates’ challenge remains to convince those who don’t use or don’t have access to passenger trains of their value as a travel choice, and that were the Amtrak system able to expand, political support for it would likely grow as well.

Click to enlarge.

A summary of some of the provisions of the House-adopted PRRIA 2015:

  • Amtrak funding levels: Authorizes slightly increasing amounts per year for four years (from $1.42 billion to 1.5 billion total) for Amtrak capital and operations, with about 31% of that going to Northeast Corridor capital improvements, and the rest going to National Network (everything outside the Boston-Washington spine) operations & capital.
  • Capital grants to states: Authorizes $300 million per year for four years in competitive capital grants to the states for passenger rail projects, with half that amount restricted to the Northeast Corridor, under the Federal-State Partnership for Northeast Corridor Development and Improvement.
  • Amtrak accounting reforms: Requires Amtrak to rework and make more transparent its accounting, including by creating a Northeast Corridor Improvement Fund and a National Network Fund. The former fund would be capitalized by operating surpluses from NEC passengers’ fares and by revenues Amtrak receives from operating commuter trains on the Corridor under contract to state agencies, along with federal grants. The latter fund would include state payments to Amtrak pursuant to Section 209 of PRIIA 2008 and any surplus revenue from non-NEC services, along with federal grants.
  • Food & beverage losses: Requires Amtrak to develop a plan to eliminate these losses within five years, something Amtrak says it is already doing. Many passenger advocates question whether eliminating these losses is possible or desirable.
  • “Pets on Trains”: Requires a pilot program for the carriage of passengers’ cats and dogs in at least one designated car on each train on a certain number of routes, a provision that has garnered considerable media attention. Amtrak has already successfully transported almost 200 cats and dogs on two routes in down-state Illinois (Chicago-Quincy and Chicago-Carbondale) for the past year under a pilot program, but there are significant restrictions that make carrying pets on these trains difficult.
  • NEC Capital Improvement Plan: Requires the Northeast Corridor Advisory Commission to develop a capital improvement plan for the NEC and its Amtrak-owned branch lines (New York Penn Station-Spuyten Duyvil, New Haven-Springfield and Philadelphia-Harrisburg), and requires Amtrak to prepare Capital and Operating Plans for the NEC and the National Network within 60 days after this and each future authorization bill is enacted.
  • Boarding procedures: Makes the Amtrak Inspector General produce a report on boarding procedures at the largest stations, a frequent complaint from passengers who are forced to queue up inside the station and scramble to the platform when boarding is announced 10-15 minutes before scheduled departure.
  • Restoring Gulf Coast service: Makes the FRA establish a working group of stakeholders to evaluate options and funding sources for restoring passenger train service between New Orleans and Orlando and recommend a preferred approach.
  • Creates a State-Supported Route Advisory Committee that would consist of representatives of Amtrak, US DOT and the DOTs of states that support short-distance services. (Notably, it would not include representatives of any companies that may compete with Amtrak for contracts to operate state-supported routes.)
  • Revamps two provisions of the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment & Improvement Act that were never acted upon or utilized:
    • A pilot program allowing host railroads to petition the FRA to operate any intercity route in lieu of Amtrak for a trial period of five years. No railroad utilized this provision in the 2008 law.
    • Requires Amtrak to hire an independent consultant to develop and recommend “objective methodologies” for determining what services Amtrak should provide, including contracting or expanding the existing route network and service frequencies over existing routes. Amtrak never acted upon a similar provision in the 2008 law.
  • RRIF reforms: Makes the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan program easier to tap into by lowering the standards for eligibility based on ability to repay the loans. Also creates a new program enabling RRIF loans to be directed to Northeast Corridor capital projects.

Other noteworthy aspects of Wednesday’s House floor action:

  • Competition on the NEC: By voice vote, the House adopted an amendment by Rep. John Mica (R-FL), which was modified from its original form after last-minute negotiations with stakeholders and bipartisan T&I Committee leadership (which originally opposed the idea), that intends to smooth the way for non-Amtrak operators to offer passenger train services along the Northeast Corridor. While the full text of the amendment is not yet available, the Association of Independent Passenger Rail Operators says it could offer a workable mechanism to open intercity passenger rail service to additional competition.
  • Boarding procedures: The House adopted an amendment requiring the Amtrak Inspector General’s report on boarding procedures to include evaluating such procedures as they pertain to people using wheelchairs or carrying bicycles. Its sponsor was Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), and it was pushed by bicycling advocates.
  • Locomotive horn noise: The House adopted by voice vote an amendment requiring the Comptroller General to issue a report on the Federal Railroad Administration’s rules regarding the loudness of locomotive horns used at grade crossings, sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO).
  • Amtrak Police funding: Just before the final vote, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY) made a motion to recommit (to send the bill back to the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee) with instructions that language be added to authorize $150 million for each of the next four years for the Amtrak Police Department to allow it to acquire more police dogs and various security equipment and require the Department to implement a veterans hiring initiative. The motion failed on a party-line vote of 184 to 232, with only one Republican (Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina) crossing sides to vote with the Democrats in its favor.
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