Bill would promote competition on rails

WASHINGTON – Private investors would compete with Amtrak to provide high-speed rail service in the Northeast Corridor under a bill unveiled Wednesday by the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives 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.

Amtrak service in other states, including long-distance lines that are the railroad’s biggest money losers, would also face private-sector competition.

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

While the Northeast Corridor is profitable, Amtrak had a $239 million operating loss during the first six months of this fiscal year, the DOT’s inspector general reported Wednesday. Many Democrats denounced the idea.

“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.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., 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.

Mica said Amtrak had said high-speed service would take 30 years to build and cost $117 billion, an amount he said the government would never supply.