Date: 2010-05-05
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Madam Speaker. I rise in support of this resolution. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Rail in America is experiencing a renaissance we havent seen in 50 years. All forms of passenger rail. including Amtrak. are seeing increased ridership numbers. In fact. in 2009 Amtrak welcomed aboard over 27.1 million passengers. the secondlargest annual total in Amtraks history. an average of more than 74.000 passenger rides and more than 300 Amtrak trains per day. For me. as chair of the Rail Subcommittee. the eventual goal is to have highspeed intercity passenger. and commuter rail lines connecting nationwide to serve as an enhancement to our current systems of transportation. Moreover. if a nationwide highspeed and intercity passenger rail system is realized. it will not only serve as a tremendous benefit to our Nations transportation needs but will also be a superb asset toward getting people back to work by creating quality jobs in our economys manufacturing sector. In some areas. like where the Sunset Limited used to operate. it is a homeland security issue. If the United States was hit by a natural or manmade disaster. we need a functional system that will move citizens out of harms way. There is no doubt that increasing the use of passenger and freight rail is the best way for our Nation to address the environmental and energyrelated challenges we face today. Freight railroads. for example. have made major gains in fuel efficiency through training and improved locomotive technology. Indeed. a single intermodal train can take up to 280 trucks off of our highways. And one gallon of diesel fuel can move a ton of freight an average of 414 miles. a 76percent improvement since 1980. while General Electric has recently unveiled the worlds first hybrid locomotive. In addition. passenger rails ability to reduce congestion is wellknown. and their ridership numbers are increasing steadily each year. One full passenger train in fact can take 250 to 300 cars off the road. Passenger rail also consumes much less energy than automobiles and commercial airlines. As we have seen with the horrible oil spills on our Gulf Coast. with estimates of 5.000 barrels floating into the sea every day. it is clear we need a new way of doing things in the transportation arena. Our committee has hit the rails. having a national dialogue with America about the future of the U.S. transportation system. Just two weeks ago. I led a Whistle Stop Rail Tour to promote highspeed and intercity passenger rail in the United States. We started in Washington. traveled to upstate New York. and ended up in Chicago where we conducted a major hearing on rail issues. We are planning additional events in Texas. California. Oregon. and throughout the United States. All along the way. we saw stimulus dollars going toward improving our transportation infrastructure and creating jobs for the local workforce. In that particular region in upstate New York. rail manufacturing could very well replace the good jobs in those towns that were sent overseas. Just Saturday. I rode with Amtrak as they tested the current Florida East Coast Railroad line from Jacksonville to Miami for passenger service. And on Monday. we held the latest in a series of highspeed rail hearings in Miami. Florida. Everywhere we have gone. we have gotten very strong support for Amtrak service and highspeed rail. The only complaint I have heard is that there wasnt enough money and it wasnt coming fast enough. Over the past 50 years. the Federal Government has invested nearly $1.3 trillion in our Nations highways and more than $484 billion in aviation. Unfortunately. since 1970 when Congress created Amtrak. we have just invested $67 billion in intercity passenger rail. including Amtrak. Now. I have always assured everyone that the $8 billion in the Recovery Act was just a down payment and there would be more planning and construction dollars coming in the near future. But we need to get serious about funding highspeed rail. With just $1 billion budgeted for fiscal year 2011. we need to find a dedicated revenue source so that States. operators. stakeholders. and manufacturers arent afraid to make investments in infrastructure and manpower. In fact. I feel so passionate about it that I spearheaded a letter that over 100 Members signed to President Obama requesting that he include a dedicated source of revenue for highspeed rail in the transportation reauthorization policy objective that the administration is developing. We still have a lot of work to do before the first passengers board highspeed trains in the United States. but we are off to a great start with the investment made in the Recovery Act. I encourage all of my colleagues to show their support for this resolution and the new age of rail in America. This is a giant step in the right direction. Lets roll. baby. roll. Toot toot. Thats it. I reserve the balance of my time.