The Mica ammendment requirement for the Department of Transportation to seek proposals is not as worrisome to me. I do not think the market is that appealing to the private sector, especially since the cost of development would be so extreme as to be unsound from a business perspective. A company would have to secure and build the separated grade corridor (and where), secure all the property easements (also where, and how; and do they imminent domain and condemnation rights?), secure the financing, commit a lot of up front development money, contract and build it. This will take DECADES.
I don't think any companies or going to form, and line up for something this long in development, and for so marginal in return and potential profitability. There's not enough money in it.
It is the chief reason why something like this MUST be public. Another comparison could be made to airport development. No big airport was ever built in a day, and none are ever built by the airlines. An airport is equivalent of the the rail corridor and everything that goes into it.
The Senate should go along with this House version and let it be. In fact the private sector provision may even please the President, not that he can or will do anything about it.
Private bullet trains? Not gonna happen.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A nearly $15 billion Amtrak bill passed the House on Wednesday as lawmakers rallied around an alternative for travelers saddled with soaring gas prices.
The bipartisan bill, which passed by a veto-proof margin of 311-104, would authorize funding for the national passenger railroad over the next five years. Some of the money would go to a program of matching grants to help states set up or expand rail service.
Besides the $14.9 billion provided for Amtrak and intercity rail, an amendment to the bill would authorize $1.5 billion for Washington's Metro transit system over the next 10 years.
The White House has threatened a veto, saying the bill doesn't hold Amtrak accountable for its spending. But similar legislation has passed the Senate, also with enough support to override a veto.
"Nothing could be more fitting to bring before the Congress today, on a day when gasoline has reached $4.05 a gallon across the United States on average," said Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, a longtime Amtrak critic who teamed up with Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minnesota, on the legislation.
Amtrak's previous authorization expired in 2002. The railroad's supporters say that a new authorization will allow Amtrak to make long-range plans and take advantage of what they say is a growing appetite for passenger rail.
Unlike the Senate version, the House bill includes a requirement for the Department of Transportation to seek proposals from private companies to create a high-speed service that would take travelers from Washington to New York in two hours or less. The idea has long been championed by Mica, who says the United States must catch up with European and Asian countries on high-speed rail travel.
Critics say the proposal would undermine Amtrak by peeling off its most valuable asset: the Northeast Corridor.
Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania said provisions that open the door to private investment should help ease the concerns of fellow Republicans who have balked at supporting Amtrak.
But those provisions could complicate things when the House tries to work out a compromise bill with the Senate.
Amtrak said it was pleased that both the House and the Senate had acted.
"This reflects strong support for intercity passenger rail service, and we look forward to working with Congress as they move forward to reconcile a final authorization bill," spokesman Cliff Black said.
The Bush administration and other Amtrak critics want to see the company move toward self-sufficiency, but Amtrak supporters say passenger railroads around the globe require government subsidies and point to the large sums of federal money spent on highways.
A bid by Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Kentucky, to send the bill back to committee to add an alternative fuel study was rejected.
"In the areas where American budgets are being hardest hit by gas prices, consuming 16 percent of gross incomes, they have very little access to Amtrak," Davis said. "How does this bill help those Americans deal with our energy crisis?"
Amtrak's boosters say the high cost of driving has made people eager for more and better rail service.
A record 25.8 million passengers took Amtrak in the last fiscal year. The railroad expects ridership to approach 28 million this year, Black said.
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