Date: 2008-07-22
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

I want to thank Chairman OBERSTAR for his leadership on this bill and on all transportation issues. Mr. OBERSTAR is really a transportation guru. And to listen to Mr. MICA here today arguing for high speed railno. not arguingdebating. supporting. oh. weve come a long way in this country as far as the reauthorization of Amtrak. And this is an exciting day for the American people. With gas prices rapidly rising to $5 a gallon. we could not be moving in conference on a more important bill than Amtrak reauthorization. Im excitedfor the American people and the prospect of having more transportation options than getting in your cars and driving. This weekend. I sent my mom to our family reunion. to Lakeland. Florida on Amtrak. Her trip was a perfect example of why we need to expand services. add. boost. and provide additional passenger and vehicle cars. The train she was riding on was so busy that people were actually sleeping on the floors of the train. Amtraks improvements on its physical state and recent focus on customer service. along with increasing highway and airport congestion and rising gas prices. have made interest in passenger rail more popular and necessary than ever. More than just a convenient way to travel. Amtrak is also energy efficient. Rail trAvel is more energy efficient and uses less fuel than cars or airplanes. According to the U.S. Department of Energy data. Amtrak is 17 percent more efficient than domestic airline travel and 21 percent more efficient than automobile travel. Passenger rail also reduces global warming. The average passenger rail train produces 60 percent lower carbon emissions than cars and 50 percent less than airplanes. In the fiscal year 2007. Amtrak carried more than 25.8 million passengers. the fifth straight year of record ridership. Like its ridership gains. Amtraks fiscal performance has improved as well. posting $1.5 billion in ticket revenue. A gain of 10 percent. On May 10. Amtrak celebrated National Train Day by holding events throughout the country showcasing interests in the passenger rail and its importance to the Nation. I celebrated National Train Day by holding events throughout my district. including press conferences and events in Jacksonville. Winter Park. and at the Sanford Auto Train station. Every event had a great turnout showing strong support for Amtrak. and I got to hear firsthand accounts of people who use Amtrak every day to go to work. visit friends and families all over the country. Congress also showed strong support for Amtrak and passenger rail by passing legislation supporting Amtrak Train Day by a vote of 4150. Fifty years ago. President Eisenhower created the National Highway System which changed the way we travel in this country. Today. we need to do the same thing with passenger rail and make the level of investment necessary for it to become even more successful in the future. I was in New Orleans this weekend with Speaker NANCY PELOSI. and at a press conference the Speaker stated the importance of investing in rail infrastructure. She stated that it is not only important to offer alternatives to highway travel. but is critical for transporting citizens out of harms way during national disasters. The United States used to be the best passenger rail service in the world. Now we are the caboose. and they dont even use cabooses any more. The American people deserve better. I believe this Amtrak Reauthorization will go a long way to restore the U.S. to its rightful place as a world leader in passenger rail. Going to conference with the Senate is the next major step in bringing our Nations intercity passenger rail into the 21st century. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this suspension bill which will allow the House and Senate to go to conference on Amtrak.