Date: 2008-05-13
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this resolution. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. National Train Day celebrates the 139th anniversary of the "golden spike." which was driven into the final tie in Utah and marked the completion of our Nations first transcontinental railroad in 1869. This weekend I celebrated National Train Day by holding events throughout my district. including press conferences and events in Jacksonville. Winter Park. and Sanford Auto Train station. We had a great turnout at every event. and I heard firsthand from .people who use Amtrak every day to go to work and visit friends and family all over the country. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Railroads. Pipelines. and Hazardous Materials. I have had the privilege to see firsthand passenger rail systems in other countries. I have taken highspeed trains from Brussels to Paris. 200 miles. 1 hours. and from Barcelona to Madrid. 300 miles. 22 hours. and the advantage for travelers and for business are tremendous. We need to catch up with the world. and with gas prices edging toward $4 a gallon. some places $5 and $6. now is the perfect time for us to begin to make serious investment in passenger rail. Indeed. Amtrak ridership and revenue has never been stronger. In 2007. Amtrak set a new record for ridership. exceeding 25.8 million passengers. In the same year. ticket revenues increased by 11 percent. to more than $1.5 billion. For my State of Florida. Amtrak expenditures for goods and services in the State soared to nearly $40 million last year. and Amtrak currently employs over 700 Florida residents. I have traveled all over the country and have conducted many transportation roundtable events that feature rail and its importance. and the people I have talked to love Amtrak. It is a great way to commute to work. takes cars off our congested highways. and improves the environment. In many areas of the country. it is the only means of public transportation available. Now what I cant understand is why the Bush administration. again. in the midst of sharp increases in gas prices. continues in its efforts to destroy passenger rail in this country. Every industrialized country in the world is investing heavily in rail infrastructure because they realize that this is the future of transportation. But sadly. as their systems get bigger and better. our system gets less and less money. While the administration has spent nearly a trillion dollars on the war in Iraq. it continues to decrease their requests for Amtrak. This year they only requested $800 million for Amtraks 25.8 million passengers. Well. that is An improvement from zero. For Amtrak. just. one weeks investment in Iraq would significantly improve passenger rail across the country for an entire year. This is another perfect example of how out of touch this administration is because I can assure the President that there is a whole lot more support for Amtrak in this country than there is for the war in Iraq. Unfortunately. there is a lot of misinformation about Amtrak. and it is important for people to know the facts. Ridership numbers and .ticket revenue are at a record level. Outstanding debt has been reduced by $600 million over the past 6 years. and many major infrastructure projects have been completed. And this has been achieved with a workforce that has been reduced by over 4.000 employees. We still have a lot of work ahead of us when it comes to Amtrak. and it took a major step forward last week when we introduced legislation reauthorizing Amtrak at a level that would allow it to grow and prosper. The legislation developed by the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mr. JAMES OBERSTAR and myself. and introduced with Congressmen MICA and SHUSTER. provides over $2 billion a year for capital and operating grants. $500 million per year for developing State passenger corridors. $345 million per year to pay down debt. $345 million per year for highspeed rail programs. $600 million to start working on constructing a new tunnel through Baltimore. and requires a plan for restoring service to the Sunset Limited. one of my top priorities. Major infrastructure improvements are also necessary to .improve the safety and security of the system and its passengers and workers. Amtrak has and will continue to play a critical role in evacuating and transporting citizens during national emergencies. Unfortunately.. it is also a prime target for those who wish to harm us and we must provide resources to make the system less vulnerable. Fifty years ago. President Eisenhower created the national highway system that changed the way we travel in this country. Today we need to do the same thing with our rail system. and with Amtrak reauthorization we are doing just that. The United States used to have a first class passenger rail system. However. after years of neglect. we are now .the caboose. and they dont even use cabooses anymore. The American people deserve better. and I believe our Amtrak reauthorization bill will go a long way to restoring the American passenger system. H3712I encourage my colleagues to show their support for our Nations rail system and its employees by holding events at our local commuter train stations any time during the year. and I would also encourage Members to cosponsor H.R. 6003. the Amtrak reauthorization bill. I reserve the balance of my time.