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Tags: amtrak | train | crash | john mica | wasteful | spending

Rep. Mica: Amtrak Spending Waste Creates 'Third World' Railroad

By    |   Thursday, 14 May 2015 10:07 PM EDT

Tuesday's deadly Amtrak train crash that killed eight people and injured more than 200 others "doesn't appear" to have been caused by problems with the nation's train infrastructure — but the service's long history of wasteful spending has saddled the United States with "a third-world passenger rail operation," Rep. John Mica told Newsmax on Thursday.

"We have Amtrak, which is a Soviet-style management company," the Florida Republican, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in an exclusive interview. "It's a monopoly, a government monopoly — and it's time to open passenger rail to competition.

"Congress is not going to give Amtrak any more money," Mica said. "It's time to stop the Amtrak Soviet-style monopoly, open passenger rail to private-sector competition, improve those lines where we don't have curves and poorly-operated systems — and bring us into the 21st century of passenger rail."

Funding for Amtrak, which began operating in 1971 on legislation signed by President Richard Nixon the year before, has risen to the fore since Tuesday night crash in Philadelphia.

An eighth fatality was reported Thursday — and Mayor Michael Nutter said that all 243 passengers and crew members had been accounted for.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday that the train had gone from 70 mph to 100 mph in the 16 seconds leading up to the crash — and was going 106 mph when it derailed after hitting a curve at 106 mph. The speed for the sharp curve is 50 mph.

Robert Goggin, the lawyer for the train engineer, Brandon Bostian, 32, of New York, said that his client had no recollection of the accident. He had suffered a concussion and a head wound that required 14 staples, as well as injuries to his legs, Goggin said.

Bostian is to talk with federal investigators in the coming days, NTSB officials.

On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $55 billion transportation and housing bill that would cut Amtrak's budget by $251 million, to $1.1 billion, for the upcoming fiscal year.

The 30-21 vote along party lines came after Republicans beat back Democratic attempts to raise Amtrak's funding by more than $1 billion, including $556 million for the Northeast corridor. The coveted region spans from Washington to Boston — and more than a third of Amtrak's service runs along that line.

President Barack Obama in his February budget asked for nearly $2.5 billion for Amtrak, far more than in previous years. His proposed increase would primarily go to capital investment in track, tunnels, and bridges — including $400 million in grants for capital construction along the corridor.

Mica, 72, who is in his seventh term, told Ed Berliner on "The Hard Line" on Newsmax TV that Obama should have taken the $10 billion he earmarked for high-speed rail projects in his 2009 stimulus program and used it for the Northeast corridor.

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More than $3.8 billion went to California for a failed bullet train project, while $1.3 billion went to an unsuccessful effort to improve Amtrak service between St. Louis and Chicago.

"Obama took billions and billions and put it between Fresno and Bakersfield, where there's nothing but vegetable and cattle, to build a so-called high speed rail," the congressman told Berliner.

"He put some from Chicago to St. Louis. It's a joke," Mica added. "He squandered the money."

Mica is seeking to require Amtrak to outsource its improvement projects for the Northeast corridor to private contractors based on competitive bidding. One of the line's most urgent projects is the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel leading into Union Station.

Opened in 1873, the tunnel spans 7,669 feet — and replacement costs have been estimated as high as $1.5 billion.

In addition, Amtrak runs only 150 trains daily through the Northeast corridor, Mica later told Newsmax, compared with other commuter and freight services, which run about 2,000 trains every day.

Amtrak owns only 600 miles of track — and nearly all of it's in the Northeast corridor — though it provides nearly 22,000 miles of service nationwide every day, Mica said. Freight carriers own the remaining track.

"Amtrak can't get it right. We need to take that corridor, maximize its potential, bring in the private sector — which will also provide capital," he said. "But they're not going to participate unless they get some share of the income and revenue.

"That's just not going to happen. So, Amtrak's kept it in monopoly. We're going to be one of the few countries left behind in passenger rail and one of the few countries that do not allow private-sector competition."

Taxpayers subsidized each Amtrak ticket by $42 last year — and by more than $300 on others — the congressman said.

"We can and we must do better, and the whole country can benefit just by the stopping of some of the air-traffic delays and by giving people an alternative," he said. "You should never have to take a plane from Washington to Philadelphia.

"It's ridiculous. The rest of the world has shown that it can be done."

According to the latest report by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum, the United States ranks 12th in the world regarding infrastructure — including rail, and trailing such nations as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Amtrak officials have proposed a 30-year plan for upgrading the corridor, at a taxpayer cost of $150 billion.

"Congress isn't going to wait 30 years," Mica told Newsmax. "We need to make improvements that are cost-effective, that can guarantee a return, get service on a better line and better rail infrastructure — and do it soon.

"We could do it in the next five or six years, but some folks just don't want to listen."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Tuesday's deadly Amtrak train crash that killed eight people and injured more than 200 others "doesn't appear" to have been caused by problems with the nation's train infrastructure — but the service's long history...
amtrak, train, crash, john mica, wasteful, spending
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2015-07-14
Thursday, 14 May 2015 10:07 PM
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