help bring the level of real service enjoyed by europe and asia to this country it requires an track to report on how to resource services to the sunset limited land from new orleans thousand revenue and the third consecutive the ticket revenue increase fifty years ago president eisenhower would create the national highway system which demanded change the way we travel in this country today we need to do the same with zero three i want thank chairman oberstar and chairwoman brown for their their efforts in working with our side mr mike and myself to put some provisions in here that i i think are important as we rail so again just want to thank mr oberstar his leadership and and is willing to work with mr mike and myself as well as congresswoman brown back in one thousand nine hundred seventy when they passed the last amtrak the price of gallon was a dollar twenty seven a gallon and today it's getting pretty close to four dollars a gallon we thought that highway traffic congestion was bad ten eleven years ago i don't think we really envisioned how how that how the gridlock would increase in our nation's highways and byways across across the entire country the situation in aviation is even worse delays cancellations all the other problems that we've seen increase in the last the last ten years and i think that this committee agrees that one way to address that congestion is to expand the passenger rail system system especially high speed  rail amtrak offers in fact reauthorization bill does direct d o t to solicit high speed rail proposals for the northeast corridor as well as the other lines under performing line and is dead lines that are no longer in service and i think runs from harrisburg to philadelphia it averages over one hundred about one hundred miles an hour closed one hundred ten miles an hour and just in the last year they've seen ridership increase almost twenty percent and i in fact after our hearing last week i had to go to philadelphia so i got an amtrak in washington and roughly two hours later i was in philadelphia it was easy i got in a cab went to the hotel did my business the next day i got on the keys to a keystone quarter and went to harrisburg and got a car and went to rest the way i i was very productive so it works and we've got to find ways to put this to put this out there to improve it and as a republican they're going to be those on my side that  disagree with some of the spending the levels of spending but i really believe that in this bill there's an opportunity for us to look towards the private sector not to privatized but to look to the private sector for solutions  of whatever that are p is and as mr mike always points out to me and i point out to our friends in labor and working people in this country a truly high speed corridor or starting in the northeast and growing from there is going to increase the jobs in passenger rail the chairman of amtrak was testified last week and i think they went from twenty one thousand one hundred thousand or eighteen thousand jobs in the last  few years a high speed rail i believe will reduce versus that and we will see job increases in these high speed corridors i'm absolutely convinced of that as well as a summit that speaking of experience what it means to me and somebody ten fifteen years ago i said i'll never get out of my car i like the fact that i can walk out the door get in my car and go over i want to but you know if i'm traveling to philadelphia or new york one of these other congested congested cities i'm happy to get out of my car and and ride the train and the other transportation systems that we that we have to to get us around in addition to the reauthorization h r six thousand and four which was introduced as a companion bill will provide some of that funding twenty four billion  bond funding to begin construction of high speed rail lines but we cannot just focus on passenger rail if we're going to really tackle the since transportation problems our nation's freight carriers which was damn tracked on their tracks for the vast majority of amtrak's routes as freight rail has increased these lines have become increasingly congested so we need to address those problems and that's why i favor h r twenty one sixteen which is a freight rail infrastructure capacity expansion act this legislation will promote investment in new rail capacity which will help both the shippers and the rail passengers and it's important that we move that bill forward so that our frame rails have the resources a continuing to increase and they've already done a unbelievably good job of taking their resources their revenues in plowing back into building capacity and in their lines and in their equipment so i think it's important both opening statement this is an historic moment we are going to move ahead with truly significant investment in amtrak upgrading its total operations changing the way had seventeen hearings we reported bills twice we could never get them to the house floor during that period of time also the administration proposed bankrupting amtrak and dissolving it turning it into something that we wouldn't of rail labor for certain provisions of this bill i i think we have safeguards crafted in in the legislation in the way that that the bidding process  think we create the process fair and equitable process for that to take place and there are many other statements that i could make me happy to pass my statement out to all those who want it with all this all the splendid justification for high speed intercity passenger rail so i'll submit my statement for the record and say that we ought to at least know america what has been done in france that you can travel the distance quibbling to washington d c new york city in two hours probably less if we get to two hours in that quarter we will have chief something truly exceptional and when we can replicate that experience all around the country we will have made a lasting legacy for america thank you manager and thank you for your persistence your your hours of writing amtrak in those years when there was one when there was a proposal to as representative an area whose economy depends on tourism all modes of transportation a critical important and i'm glad to have amtrak as part of my district in fact i hope mr mann here in the next time we're here to have a meeting some of the next  i'm most pleased to see a major commitment to high speed rail contained in this bill something that is absent in the senate bill this legislature calls for more than just paper plans for high speed rail projects that actually cause dedicating funding to mov valid for the high speed rail across at our eastern seaboard i'm also pleased to see this legislation move us towards planning for real transportation the same way we plan for highways with your prices reaching historic oz we must ensure that ou transportation system is planned out to provide the connectivity that we will need to keep the keep competitive as an economy when combined with investment this bill makes in high speed rail about freight and pass the railroads negotiated access to f the passage of it makes a dramatic changes and great needed investment in our passenger rail system create jobs help the economy train the environment hopefully more people will be able to ride it  and i just in looking over for what you've been able to accomplish i can't thank you enough because it's going to help my state and many other states like mine that are in dire need of assistance and providing assistance to the passenger rail really it's going to be quite an improvement to amtrak and other areas i hope to see that improvement in my specific area with amtrak increasing some of the services but i really thank you for the effort and i look forward to work chairman brown for holding this important mark up has gas i says and jeff you'll continue to skyrocket i think it's important we make sure that amtrak is available as a transportation option for our  constituents amtrak has made huge improvements over the last couple of years but there is much to be done in this bill does a lot to improve the infrastructure available for passenger rail i'd like to thank you chairwoman brown along with chairman oberstar ranking member mike and ranking member schuster for including a provision in this bill that i asked to be included this provision would require that the federal red road administration conduct a study in consultation with the department of energy and the environmental protection agency to determine the extent to which freight and passenger rail operators could use biofuel plans to power locomotives and other vehicles on rail tracks the study will help the rail industry transition to more environmentally friendly locomotives and according to the association of american railroads freight railroads move a ton of freight four hundred twenty three miles for each gallon of fuel they consume if just temper sent of the freight that currently moves by truck were diverted to rail fuel savings would exceed one billion gallons a year the rail industry is making investments in cleaner more fuel efficient locomotives i believe this study will help them utilize  these developments the through the use of biofuel plans for a more friendly economic as well as environmental environment i encourage my colleagues to support this provision and the bill as a whole and  missile is yes yes it is funny jim and thank you very much with the thank you i just want to be very brief and say that someone who rides the anthrax states and to amtrak to mitigate congestion on our nation's railways currently section two seventeen authorizes certain eligible projects to receive grant funding and i believe this section offers a critical opportunity to advance the create program the comprehensive effort to unclog congestion in the nation israel hub and chicago region distinguished chairman has been an advocate and strong supporter of create as pleased to work with him to designate create as a project of national and regional significance allocate one hundred million dollars for the program in the safety of the bill as we move forward on nature sixty zero three i'd like to work with the chairman and the chairwoman to make anthrax my way down to the state capitol in springfield and i chose to travel on amtrak down there because it was most convenient way to get there but unfortunately congestion problems caused delays this route so in order to help ease some of the congestion on this route and others in the chicago region i think it's important that we work including create in this bill bill for this funding so my staff has already provided draft language of a possible amendment to the committee staff review i look forward to continue to work with the chairman chairman and the chairwoman and other members of the committee while there are a few designations in the bill of the specific allocations of funds they were those recommended by amtrak we do not have member designations in this bill will not we will have criteria in this legislation but we're avoiding the midwest rail initiative where the sunset limited or the great northern designation so that we bring a bill with categories of funding and criteria for investment of these funds but i don't want members to get the idea that this is going to be pockmarked with specific jewel doesn't nations and i think to any any criticism that those just you're picking and choosing we're setting up a process and the process will will determine where those dollars go and the merits of the individual projects it's a it's amtrak on this route and some of the problems that we have in terms of congestion there and so i look forward to continuing to to work with you and work with that work with amtrak and doing what  possible to be done in getting funding for for this especially for this one line between chicago and joliet i understand the situation with this bill and i understand your desire and the ranking members desire to make sure that this is not just a a christmas tree bill and we are focusing the funding on where it is it is truly needed we're on to make sure that the that the criteria stablish