FY19 Federal Appropriations for Amtrak, Gateway etc.

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jis

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It is good to see that the Gateway funding is in there even if it is early days in the process.

There is something that I would love to see enacted this year, but which probably won't occur. Any sort of language that would remove the requirement that Amtrak food and beverage pay for itself would be a large plus. Now that Mica is gone is this possible? Amtrak has supporters on both sides of the aisle since it is popular in fly over states, (as well as NEC states) so it seems like now that the chair of the Transportation committee isn't toxic, it might happen. Schuster at Transportation is from PA and may be another Rep that is slightly less adversarial than John Mica.

Finally, who is Freylinghausen (Chair of Appropriations) and what is his history with Amtrak? It seems like he is staking out a decently pro-Amtrak position. Since he is from New Jersey it would seem that Amtrak may have a friend at the helm of Appropriations, as might the Gateway project.
 
Freylinghausen is a Rep from Morris County NJ. He has been supportive of Amtrak for many years. He was instrumental in shoehorning in the Gateway money in the FY18 Appropriations. At one time he was my Representative many moons ago. He is retiring at the end of this term.
 
Then this might be the year to try to get as much as possible locked in, because Trump's attention is elsewhere and there is no way to know who the chairs of Transportation and Appropriations will be after the election. Something as simple as inserting verbiage freeing food and beverage sales from the requirement to be profitable would be incredibly helpful down the road. Given the situation on the ground/in the dining car, it is obvious that this was a poison pill, not a legitimate attempt to make Amtrak profitable. Now that the primary instigator is gone, this may be the year to get rid of the mandate. Losing dining car service really hurts Amtrak in ways that are really hard to quantify, but are very real.

Amtrak is nowhere close to the top of the things I would consider to absolutely need funding, but given the relatively small amount needed to keep a nationwide system in place that delivers an entire mode of passenger transportation, it is worth funding at the levels we have seen over the past 40 years. There are other conservatives that are on board with that argument and this is probably when the argument should be made as loudly as possible.

Freylinghausen is a Rep from Morris County NJ. He has been supportive of Amtrak for many years. He was instrumental in shoehorning in the Gateway money in the FY18 Appropriations. At one time he was my Representative many moons ago. He is retiring at the end of this term.
 
What should those of us do in the hinterland--Dayton, Ohio--try to do to increase specific funding for Amtrak?

What specific items within the Budget ought we ought to advocate for with my two Senators and Representative requesting their support?
 
I have contacted both of my US Senators, Cruz really doesn't discuss Amtrak, especially when I saw him at a town hall, To me it appears he sees so many other items of much more importance. Cornyn always seems to say whatever seems good at the time, trying to stay in his current position of Majority Whip. My US Rep Smith is retiring, he hasn't been anti-Amtrak, but with a new person taking the seat in January, I do not know what the position will be. I wish we could all do more, but Cruz did point out there are so many big critical issues that need to be addressed, He did say that Amtrak does need to be addressed but was non committal..
 
Good suggestions, it appears the senate race is close enough to be uncertain. As for Smith's seat, that is a big Republican stronghold. Whoever wins they will receive my input on Amtrak, just hope they will be interested enough to read it.
 
Good suggestions, it appears the senate race is close enough to be uncertain. As for Smith's seat, that is a big Republican stronghold. Whoever wins they will receive my input on Amtrak, just hope they will be interested enough to read it.
You appear to have the same problem as I have with my House Rep. He thinks things like Amtrak are the second coming of the devil incarnate.
 
I appreciate reading the responses of those who have chosen to post, but my question about what I, as an Amtrak customer residing in an Amtrak desert land, ought to emphasize to my Senators and my House of Representatives Member when I contact them about my Amtrak concerns?

Ohio has a very competitive Senate race and my Congressional District may have the best opportunity to flip from Red to Blue in 18 years.

I'd appreciate advice as to what I ought to say to my Members of Congress.
 
I have emphasized the importance to the local area economy plus the importance as a piece of infrastructure, so passenger rail is absolutely necessary and should be expanded as an alternative to the airlines for national security should there be another 9/11 event. In many rural communities, Amtrak is the primary way people get to travel long distance from and to the area.
 
As I have mentioned elsewhere, Gateway is no longer an Amtrak project, but a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey project.

The whole Gateway project has been reorganized and further legislative action is pending in NY and NJ, with possible involvement of the Feds too, in order to create a separate compact under the PA to own and manage the project.

See: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-gateway-hudson-river-tunnel-dot-20180629-story.html

So please stop going on and on about how Gateway being an Amtrak project depends on what Amtrak does with LD trains.

The trend right now is for the Northeast states to progressively take more control of policies and responsibility funding management relating to the NEC, while Amtrak remains the owner, maintainer and operator of its part of the NEC, and continue being a train operator on all of NEC, in addition to the other train operators. I understand there will be more changes coming on how the NEC is managed.
 
That's what I have thought...that the NEC, will eventually become an "authority", and take over ownership of the infrastructure, funded by the states it cover's, and by some federal funds, like some highway's are. Amtrak would then just become another 'tenant' operating its trains over it.

And if Amtrak ultimately failed, the NEC would operate those trains itself...
 
Is it possible this is why Amtrak no longer appears to be afraid of alienating votes? They might be looking at it from a "Too big to fail" perspective, that The NEC is too vital to the region to be allowed to fail and so the funding will come from somewhere regardless of what they do to the national network.
 
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