Date: 2005-03-09
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I want to point out ridership on Amtrak is up 1 million passengers. People are using the services. You lawyers do this. suppose this. Well. let me just say. my position is what happens when failure is not an option. We cannot fail the American people on this issue. This issue is bigger than us. This is bigger than the Congress. This is about the future of America. It is about post9/11 and whether or not we are going to provide the safety that the American people need. We are talking about homeland security. This is homeland security. We have got to make sure that we can move people and not just invest in operations. but we need to invest in safety. and not just for Amtrak but for all of the systems. Because look what happened in Madrid when the Amtrak was bombed. I mean. those are the kinds of things that we need to. be looking into. How can we make sure the -system is safe for the ridership? . This administration is shortminded. They have their priorities backwards in many areas. And certainly. I feel that. I guess when you get a 53 percent mandate. you got it going on. But as far as I am concerned. the American people need to understand. arid I think it is our job to help educate them on the importance of Amtrak and give them a method that they can communicate to us and let us know that Amtrak is important. With that. I am proposing that we do a series of whistle stops throughout the country. I think the Members need to get out into the districts. ride the train. aid talk to the people that are doing that ridership. And we are working on that. and we are organizing that. And I hope that the gentlewoman will participate because I think that the best thing to do is to have townhall meetings where the people can give us direct input. This is the peoples House. and we represent the people of the United States. and we are closer to them. We have to come before them every 2 years. And so I think this would be one avenue with those whistle stops. to get out and talk to the American people and hear what they have to say about Amtrak. My hour is up. I am going to close by just saying. what do you do when failure is not an option? Failure is not an option when it comes to Amtrak. We must have Amtrak passenger rail service in this country. The current funding issues concerning Amtrak brings up a fundamental question of where this Nation stands on public transportation. We have an opportunity to improve a system that serves our need for passenger rail service. or we can let it fall apart. and leave this countrys travelers and businesses with absolutely no alternative form of public transportation. Without the funding Amtrak needs to keep operating. we will soon see people that rely on Amtrak toget them to work each day. waiting for a train that isnt coming. We continue to subsidize highways and aviation. but when it comes to our passenger rail system. we refuse to provide the money Amtrak needs to survive. This issue is so much bigger than just transportation. This is about safety and national security. Not only should we be giving Amtrak the money it needs to continue providing service. we should be providing security money to upgrade their tracks and improve safety and security measures in the entire rail system. Once again we see the Bush Administrations paying for its failed policies by cutting funds to vital public services and jeopardizing more American jobs. This Administration sees nothing wrong with taking money from the hard working Amtrak employees who work day and night to provide top quality service to their passengers. These folks are trying to make a living for their families. and they dont deserve this shabby treatment from the President. Its time for this Administration to step up to the plate and make a decision about Amtrak based on whats best for the traveling public. not whats best for the right wing of the Republican party and the bean counters at OMB. I represent Central Florida. which depends on tourism for its economy. and we need people. to be able to get to the state to enjoy it. Ever since September 11th. more and more people are turning from the airlines to Amtrak. and they deserve safe and .dependable service. And this is just one example of Amtraks impact on my state. Amtrak runs four longdistance trains through Florida. employs 990 residents with Wages totaling over $43 million. and purchase over $13 million in goods and services last year alone. And they are doing the same thing in every state they run in. Some people think that the solution to the problem is to privatize the system. If we privatize. we will see the same thing we saw when we deregulated the airline industry. Only the lucrative routes would be maintained. and routes to Rural locations will be expensive and few. I was in New York shortly after September 11th when the plane leaving JFK airport crashed into the Bronx. I. along with many of my colleagues in both the House and Senate took Amtrak back to Washington. I realized once again just how important AMTRAK is to the American people. and how important it is for this nation to have. alternative modes of Transportation. This isnt about fiscal policy. this is about providing a safe and reliable public transportation system that the citizens of this Nation need and deserve. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to take over the moneylosing passenger rail service previously operated by private freight railroad companies in the United States. More than half of all rail passenger routes were eliminated when Amtrak began service on May 1. 1971. Although Amtraks route system has remained essentially the same size. it represents a mere skeleton of what was once the United States passenger rail network. During the period from. Amtraks inception through 2003. the federal government has spent $1.89 trillion on air and highway modes. In the same time frame. Amtrak received just over $30 billion in federal subsidies. While the United States once had a passenger rail system that was the envy of the world. a lack of capital investment has stalled the advancement of corridor development throughout the country. Dependent upon an annual federal appropriation. Amtraks national network is constantly threatened by underinvestment. lack of a clearly articulated federal rail policy. and an uncertain future. Amtrak operates a nationwide rail network. serving over 500 stations in 46 states on 22.000 miles of track with approximately 20.000 employees. During FY 2004. Amtrak carried just over 25 million passengers. representing an increase of over 4 percent compared to FY 2003. In addition to operating 300 daily intercity trains. approximately 850.000 commuters each day depend on operating agreements with Amtrak. Amtrakowned infrastructure. or shared operations. Amtraks Northeast Corridor is the heaviest traveled railroad in North. America. with over 1.700 trains operating over some portion of the WashingtonBoston route each day. Compared to domestic airlines in FY 2002. Amtrak ranks 8th in ridership with a market share of 4.6 percent and 1st in passengers per frequency. In FY 2004. Amtrak generated approximately $2.06 billion in revenues and incurred approximately $3.18 billion in expenses. covering 65 percent of its operating costs. on par with Canada. Spain and France. No passenger railroad system in the world operates without some form of public subsidy. Outside the Northeast Corridor. five other corridors carry over one half million people annually. These corridors are: San DiegoLos AngelesSan Luis Obispo. San JoseOaklandSacramentoAuburn. New YorkAlbanyBuffalo. OaklandFresnoBakersfield. and VancouverSeattlePortlandEugene. Amtrak owned. property includes 2.141 railroad cars. 425 locomotives-. 20 highspeed Acela train sets. a 97 mile segment of 95 mph track in Michigan. a 62 mile segment from New Haven. CT to Spririgfield. MA. 104 miles of 90 mph track in Pennsylvania. and 363 miles of the Northeast Corridor connecting Washington. Philadelphia. New York and Boston. the busiest passenger line in the country. All transportation in the United States is directly or indirectly subsidized. Unlike aviation. highways and transit. there is no dedicated fund for investing in passenger rail development. These other modes all operate on predominantly federally owned or federally assisted infrastructure. and rely on governmentsupported security. research. and traffic controllers. In FY04. the United States Department of Transportations $59 billion budget included $34 billion for highways. $14 billion to the FAA. and $1.217 billion for Amtrak. Amtraks FY 2004 appropriation of $1.217 billion represented 2 percent of the Department of Transportations $59 billion budget. Countries with welldeveloped passenger rail networks but much smaller populations such as Germany and Japan invest $34 billion annually on passenger rail. representing over 20 percent of their total transportation spending. In 2000. Canada announced a dedicated source of capital for five years to fund new equipment. modernize infrastructure. and improve its existing passenger railroad network. Canadas system is 1/3 the size of Amtraks and has 1/6 the ridership. . The State of California has invested approximately $100 million per year in passenger rail over the past 10 years and its statesupported trains carried 4.25 million passengers in FY 2004. representing approximately 17 percent of Amtraks national total. These trains are consistently achieving . doubledigit ridership growth. proving that investment in passenger rail will reap benefits. Amtraks corridor services operate over a 6.000mile route system and serve 23 states. primarily in the Northeast. Midwest and along the Pacific Coast. With the exception of some trains operating between Boston and Washington. which cover their direct operating costs but not the corridors significant capital costs. none of Amtraks corridor or state routes covers all of their expenses from fare box revenues. Outside the Northeast Corridor. five other corridors carry. over one half million people annually. These corridors are: San DiegoLos AngelesSan Luis Obispo. San JoseOaklandSacramentoAuburn. New YorkAlbanyBuffalo. OaklandFresnoBakersfield. and VancouverSeattlePortlandEugene. Thirteen states provide operating support for 20 different routes. with payments totaling over $135 million in FY 2004. Many states. including California. Illinois. Oregon. New York. and Washington recognize the benefits of investing in corridor development. and have spent substantial state funds to improve services with positive ridership results. Currently. Amtrak operates the highspeed Acela Express service. which travels in the Northeast Corridor between New York and Washington in approximately 2 hours 45 minutes. and Boston and New York in approximately 3 hours. 20 minutes. Amtrak now carries 50 percent of the air/rail market between New York and Washington. and 39 percent of the market share between Boston and New York. This is up from 36 percent between New York and Washington and 18 percent between Boston and New York before Acela Express was introduced. This demonstrates travelers will increasingly use a reliable. triptime competitive alternative to the congestion that is otherwise choking our cities. Corridors in which states have invested funds to improve trip times and frequencies include the Pacific Surfliners in California and the Cascades Service in the Pacific Northwest. These corridors have multiple frequencies and the potential to become higherspeed rail corridors once infrastructure improvements can be made. The State of California has invested approximately $10 million per year in passenger rail over the past 10 years and its statesupported trains carried 4.25 million passengers in FY 2004. representing approximately 17 percent of Amtraks national total. These trains are consistently achieving doubledigit ridership growth. proving that investment in passenger rail will reap benefits. The route through the Northern part of the country. the Empire Builder. which carried over 437.000 passengers last year. is the only public transportation service in many communities in North Dakota. Montana and Northeastern Washington. For nost of the states along the Empire Builder. tourism serves as a major economic engine. A recent study identifying the economic contributions of the Empire Builder demonstrated nearly $14 million in annual economic benefits to the state of Montana alone. Longdistance trains also provide transportation during periods of severe weather conditions or emergencies that stall other modes of transportation. This was demonstrated after the September 11 terrorist attacks that grounded air travel. Additionally. these trains provide a strong economic benefit for the states and communities that they serve. The majority of passengers on the longdistance trains do not travel between the endpoints. but rather to any combination of city pairs. For example. the Southwest Chief. which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles via Kansas City. has 33 stops. creating 528 possible trip combinations. Most of Amtraks expenditures are due to the immense capital needs of its infrastructure. particularly the Northeast Corridor. not the operating costs of the long distance trains. These operating cost figures should be cited with. caution. Critics often refer to the "loss per passenger" of the tong distance trains. However. each long distance train passenger is the equivalent of five short distance train passengers because of the greater distances traveled. More importantly. these "loss per passenger" figures often include not only the "avoidable" costs of operating individual long distance trains (such as the cost of diesel fuel) but all of the shared costs that Amtrak incurs for the benefit of both longdistance and corridor trains (such as the cost of mechanical facilities. Amtraks computer systems. and stations like Los Angeles Union Station). Including shared costs produces inflated and misleading "loss" figures. since these costs will not go away if long distance trains are eliminated. Eliminating all long distance trains would produce negligible cost savings in the first few years because of the requirement that Amtrak pay -labor protection to impacted employees. When these payments ended after five years. the savings would still be minimal: around $300 million annually. Eliminating individual long distance trains produce even fewer savings: most of the shared costs of Amtraks long distance network. such as the costs of maintenance facilities that serve multiple long distance trains. would remain. Additionally. Amtrak continues to make changes to its longdistance trains that will improve revenue and finances for the system. Amtrak recently exited from the mail and express business. resulting in shorter and more convenient schedules. with reduced labor costs. The repair of wreckdamaged equipment continues and will allow Amtrak to increase capacity. and therefore revenues. on long distance trains. which often sell out. These changes should help further reduce the losses of longdistance trains. Amtraks right to operate passenger trains over freight railroads comes from the Rail Passenger Service Act. This act states that: Amtrak has the right to access all rail lines in the U.S. to operate intercity passenger trains and. Amtrak trains have dispatching preference over freight trains. With the exceptiQn of trains over the Northeast Corridor between Washington. DC. and Boston. MA. Amtrak trains operate over tracks owned and managed by the nations freight railroad companies. In the past. congestion on these freight routes has caused delays for Amtrak trains. however. this past summer has seen significant delays and inconveniences to Amtraks passengers across the country. Amtraks 5year Strategic Plan. which was approved by its Board of Directors on June 10. 2004. specifies that approximately $1.8 billion will be required for fiscal year 2006. According to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service. both the now defunct Amtrak Reform Council and the DOTIG acknowledge the need for at least $1.5 billion in capital and operating support. Seeking no funds for direct Amtrak expenses and ceding control of the railroad to a bankruptcy trustee. whose legal responsibility is to Amtraks creditors. represents a drastic and unrealistic turnaround in the Administrations policy. Since David Gunns arrival. Amtrak Total Ridership has increased by 11.6 percent. The number of intercity trains operated have increased by 21.4 percent. The number of trains on the NEC has increased by 29.2 percent while others have increased by 17.3 percent. Ridership on the NEC is 10 percent and other corridor trains. like the Pacific Surfliner. Capitals and San Juaquins in California and the Cascades in Oregon and Washington have increased by 27 percent driving a 12 percent increase in ticket revenue. Americans have chosen it as their form of travel in record numbers. In the 3 years post September 11th. Amtrak has proven its value to the nation and has increased its ridership steadily. Last year. Amtrak carried 25 million passengers. up from the previous years record. When given the option. travelers choose Amtrak over other. less convenient forms of travel. In FY04 the airrail market from DC to New York was split 50 percent to 50 percent. Los Angeles to San Diego was 30 percent to 70 percent and Portland to Seattle was 30 percent to 61 percent. David Gunn has made real progress reforming the railroad since taking the helm in May of 2002. Over the last 30 months he has decreased the workforce by more than 22 percent. removing unnecessary layers on management. increased train service and operation. eliminated and realigned routes for greater efficiency and implemented more internal reforms than any of its previous CEOs. In fact. Amtraks core operating expenses are lower today than they were when he took over. David Gunn has made real reforms and has proven to be the right person to continue fixing the problems that have plagued Amtrak over the years.