Amtrak: Private investment not a panacea

Amtrak Vice President for Policy and Development Stephen Gardner says that while private-sector participation and investment is a desirable option for passenger rail growth, “private sector involvement is not the silver bullet that ensures success.” 

Gardner, in written testimony submitted to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, said “increased private sector involvement is not a substitute for adequate, consistent, and assured federal funding.”

In fact, “federal funding for intercity passenger rail service is the only way to attract—and maintain—private-sector participation and financing,” Gardner said.

“Amtrak is not afraid of competing to operate high speed and intercity passenger rail services,” he said. But “other companies that wish to operate passenger rail service must be subject to all of the laws and regulations that apply to Amtrak,” including labor, liability, and insurance requirements.

Gardner noted that since the Northeast Corridor shifted from private-sector ownership to Amtrak ownership in 1976, Amtrak has electrified the entire route, significantly increased the number of Amtrak trains operated, accommodated even larger increases in regional train operations, and increased maximum speeds from 90 mph to 150 mph between New Haven and Boston and from 110 mph to 135 mph between New York and Washington.

Gardner said the NEC has not yet achieved the speeds or levels of service realized in other countries because “the United States has lagged far behind all of those countries when it comes to investments in intercity and high speed passenger rail.”