Repugs want to privatize Amtrak's Northeast Corridor

[marmar]

from The Record (NJ):


Private investors would compete with Amtrak to provide high-speed rail service on the Northeast Corridor under a bill unveiled Wednesday by the chairman of the House transportation committee.

Amtrak would transfer the Boston-to-Washington corridor to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which would take bids for building a high-speed line within 10 years, the bill says. The new operator would have to provide a two-hour ride between New York and Washington.

Bidders could seek to build the track, run the trains, or both, and Amtrak could submit a bid or partner with a private party, said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

......(snip)......

"I will fight in the Senate to stop any plan that threatens Amtrak and commuters on the Northeast Corridor," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., chairman of the upper chamber's surface transportation subcommittee. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/House_proposal_would_privatize_Northeast_Corridor.html

[Vogon_Glory]

1. Amtrak And The Private Railroads: A Certain Secret

I am told that one of the reasons some of the private railroads very quietly prefer to have Amtrak run intercity passenger rail operations is because Amtrak's management and staff have a much better idea as to how to operate passenger trains than these "private enterprise" for-profit magical mystery entrepreneurs that right-wing ivory-tower theorists and cynical Republican politicians are promoting.

[elleng]

3. Right, and the private railroads, formerly freight AND passenger,

did their best to get OUT of the passenger business. Hence, Amtrak.

[Vogon_Glory]

5. True Enough, They Did Want Out, BUT

True enough, the private railroads DID want out of passenger rail service. But the scuttlebutt I've heard is that they'd be worried if any of these flim-flam "private enterprise" outfits stepped up to take Amtrak's place because the freight railroaders don't think that the "private enterprise" passenger rail guys could operate passenger trains safely or properly.

[elleng]

2. Wanna bet on how many bidders they get? How close to ZERO?

No sane entrepreneur wants to operate passenger rail service (except Orient Express, maybe.)

[Vogon_Glory]

6. Oh, They'd Get Bidders, All Right, The Kinds The Republicans Want

Oh, they'd get bidders all right. The kinds that the Republicans really want. Scrap metal speculators who would pretend to operate the newly-privatized NE corridor, promptly shut it down as a failure, then fire the employees and scrap the equipment for a profit.

[elleng]

4. Repug Mica, chair+sponsor, said

"We think the Northeast Corridor will be a cash cow," he said. "The whole line will have more resources.". . .

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, noted that roads and airlines also get significant federal subsidies.

“Amtrak was created by the federal government because the private sector was unable to manage intercity rail service with a profit," he said.

[Kennah]

7. National City Lines comes to mind

[Vogon_Glory]

8. I was thinking along the same lines.

I was thinking along the same lines. A "privatizing" outfit to take over the North East Corridor, preceded by all sorts of (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) hoopla, followed by a fast shut-down of all intercity passenger rail and as much commuter rail as they can manage.

Republicans can no longer be trusted with infrastructure. Pass it on.