Amtrak May Come Under More U.S. Control in House Bill
(Corrects first paragraph to clarify that Mica’s proposal involves transfer of Northeast Corridor, not all of Amtrak.)
Representative John Mica, chairman of the House transportation committee, said he plans to propose legislation to place ownership of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor under control of the Transportation Department.
The transfer would allow the government to seek bids from investors to develop and operate high-speed rail service in the corridor between Washington and Boston, the Florida Republican said. He made the comments at a committee hearing today.
The legislation would look to separate the Northeast Corridor, where Amtrak owns 363 miles of track, from the rest of the U.S. national passenger railroad, Justin Harclerode, a spokesman for Mica, said.
Amtrak was created as a government-chartered corporation in 1971 to take over unprofitable passenger services operated by freight railroad companies.
The railroad has proposed spending more than $118 billion to bring a high-speed link between Washington and Boston over the next 30 years. The House proposal would cut that time by a third, while ensuring the current workers continue to receive their same salary and benefits, Mica said.
“Until we actually see his proposal in its fullness, I can’t comment,” Steve Kulm, an Amtrak spokesman, said.
Investors Sought
Amtrak said May 19 it’s asking private investors for proposals to help finance planned 220 mile-per-hour service in the Northeast Corridor. Under the plan, the taxpayer-supported railroad would develop and operate the trains.
Twenty-six private investors, including investment bankers, have expressed an interest, Al Engel, Amtrak’s vice president of high-speed rail, said last week. Amtrak doesn’t expect all 26 to submit full proposals for participation, he said. Proposals are due June 10.
Adding Mica’s Amtrak elements to a proposed surface transportation bill would threaten its passage because the provisions are “too controversial,” said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s non-voting representative to the House.
To contact the reporters on this story: Carol Wolf in Washington at cwolf@bloomberg.net; Jeff Plungis in Washington at jplungis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.net
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