I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1090

To require the National Railroad Passenger Corporation to operate certain

rail passenger service between Chicago, Illinois, and Jacksonville, Florida,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 24, 1993

Mr. CLEMENT (for himself, Mr. MCCLOSKEY, Mr. MYERS of Indiana, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. BARLOW, Mr. GORDON, Mrs. LLOYD, Mr.

DARDEN, Mr. ROWLAND, and Mr. DEAL) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To require the National Railroad Passenger Corporation to

operate certain rail passenger service between Chicago,

Illinois, and Jacksonville, Florida, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Floridian Passenger

5 Rail Service Reestablishment Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
2

•HR 1090 IH

1 (1) the National Railroad Passenger Corpora2 tion (Amtrak) has dramatically improved both the

3 quality and the economics of rail passenger service

4 in the past 20 years, and provides a marketable and

5 highly desired national transportation service;

6 (2) Amtrak is recognized as a critical element

7 of a balanced national transportation system and as

8 an energy efficient, environmentally benign alter9 native to growing highway and airport congestion;

10 (3) Amtrak provides transportation to nearly

11 22,000,000 intercity and 18,000,000 commuter pas12 sengers each year, and serves as a vital national

13 transportation link to rural America, which increas14 ingly is losing other modes of transportation;

15 (4) low cost rail transportation service between

16 Chicago and Florida would serve the needs of the el17 derly, rural residents, low-income families, tourists,

18 business interests, and military personnel not now

19 adequately served by the interstate highway or other

20 transportation systems;

21 (5) restoration of the Floridian route would fill

22 an important gap that exists in Amtrak’s current

23 route system and provide passenger rail service to

24 11,500,000 people who live in numerous cities and
3

•HR 1090 IH

1 towns, such as Evansville, Nashville, and Chat2 tanooga, not currently served by Amtrak;

3 (6) an Amtrak route linking Chicago, Illinois,

4 and Jacksonville, Florida, via the cities of Evans5 ville, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta would

6 serve as an economic boost to both the Midwest and

7 Southeast portions of the United States; and

8 (7) the startup costs for reestablishing the Flo9 ridian route will be shared between both Federal and

10 State governments, and substantial enthusiasm and

11 financial support for this route already exists within

12 the States of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee,

13 Georgia, and Florida.

14 SEC. 3. SERVICE REQUIREMENT.

15 The National Railroad Passenger Corporation shall,

16 before January 1, 1996, begin the operation of regular

17 rail passenger service from Chicago, Illinois, via Evans18 ville, Indiana, Nashville, Tennessee, Chattanooga, Ten19 nessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, to Jacksonville, Florida.

20 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

21 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec22 retary of Transportation for the benefit of the National

23 Railroad Passenger Corporation for the purpose of carry24 ing out this Act such sums as may be necessary for each

25 of the fiscal years 1994 through 1996.
4

•HR 1090 IH

Æ