Mica-Shuster Amtrak plan ‘unrealistic’ and will cost taxpayers, Boardman says.
Yesterday, Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Boardman told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that the legislation proposed by Reps. John Mica (R-Fla.) and Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) to bid out Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor Acela service and other lines to private contractors would slow — not advance — the development of high-speed rail (HSR) along the corridor.
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Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, Regional USA Passenger Rail, United States High Speed Rail
I agree. Rep. Mica’s scheme seems like a shell game to me. His claims about private-sector construction of new lines seem rather grotesquely optimistic to me.
Of course it will cost the taxpayers. One of these days somebody is going to figure out that we also pay dearly for airline service, highways, waterways, etc. I am not so much in favor of subsidizinig Amtrak as I am for a level field, with no federal subsidy for ANYBODY or ANY ENTITY except disabled veterans.