Bill Introduced to Privatize Amtrak

On Wednesday, Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Railroads Subcommittee Chairman Bill Schuster (R-Penn.) unveiled a plan for privatizing Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor away from the federally-owned passenger railroad. The route runs from Washington, D.C., to Boston.  The legislation would turn over responsibility of the Northeast Corridor to a public-private partnership and would mandate that all other Amtrak routes be opened up to competition. Chairman Mica intends to mark up the legislation next week after hearing comments from the public on the bill. The bill is divided into three sections:  Northeast Corridor, Intercity Passenger Rail, and Long-Distance Passenger Rail.  The Northeast Corridor section would change the way the corridor is owned and operated.  The draft bill would transfer all Amtrak owned property (right-of-way track, stations, equipment, etc.) to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).  Once the transfer is complete, DOT must seek out an entity to operate and upgrade passenger rail service along the Northeast Corridor in cooperation with the federal government under a public-private partnership.  The remainder of the bill establishes two different processes for Amtrak’s other routes. The Intercity Passenger Rail section provides a process by which individual state supported routes can be privatized.  If a state decides to open a current Amtrak route for competition, the amount of the federal subsidy for that particular route currently given to Amtrak will be given to the state or states to operate the route with the winning bidder. The Long-Distance Passenger Rail section provides for the possible privatization of Amtrak’s long distance routes, which lose the most money.  In this case, DOT will select the winning bidder and that winning bidder would have to continue to provide the same level of rail service on these routes. In addition to marking the bill up next week, Mica plans to include it as part of the surface transportation reauthorization bill.  AGC will continue to analyze the impact of the bill on our members and report any new developments. For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at (202) 547-8892 or oneills@agc.org.