November 18, 2000
AMTRAK FINALLY got its 150-mile-per-hour Acela train moving (the one between Boston and Washington, D.C.) but political wrangling is stalling a measure that would improve high-speed rail nationwide.
The High Speed Rail Investment Act would give Amtrak the financial security it needs to improve passenger train service in the northeast corridor and across the country. The measure would allow Amtrak to leverage a $762 million, five-year investment into $10 billion in private sector investments to develop high-speed rail corridors.
But time is running out.
The measure is part of the $240 billion tax bill approved last month by the House and sitting before the Senate in the lame-duck session of Congress, scheduled to convene Dec. 5.
President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill, which the Republican leadership is trying to force through without reasonable compromise.
The rail provision was held hostage by the political gamesmanship before the election, and is in serious danger of failing.
If this Congress doesn't find a way to rescue the Amtrak provision, the nation's rail passenger service could suffer a serious and permanent blow.
The act's chief sponsor, Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, will retire when Congress adjourns. Another key supporter, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, also will leave after this term.
It will be difficult to revive momentum for high-speed rail investment without these two champions.
Acela's successful though belated launch shows that fast rail travel can be an attractive and efficient alternative to highway travel and airlines for city-to-city trips. But Senator Lautenberg points out that the nation's passenger rail system desperately needs a major infusion of cash to compete.
Acela is just the beginning, and is using technology that's significantly behind what's being used in other countries.
If high-speed rail is to become a standard in this country, it will have to be major federal investment.
If Congress can't manage to put aside partisanship for this bill, they're threatening to knock a critical investment off the tracks -- for good.
