Save Our Trains Michigan
Conductor
THE NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON
Amtrak certainly knows how to lose money, but it says it can lose less if only it can get out of the business of hauling cars of "premium" freight such as perishables behind its cross-country trains.
Instead, Congress has told Amtrak to increase sharply the number of carloads it hauls or forgo $8.3 million in additional federal money.
The order, contained in the transportation bill signed by President Bush last month, was inserted late in the process by Rep. Joe Knollenberg, an appropriations subcommittee chairman from Michigan. The Detroit businessman who owns the only company that supplies such rail cars happens to be a large donor to Knollenberg, a Republican, and other Michigan legislators.
Knollenberg acknowledged that the order, known in Washington as an earmark, was likely to help the businessman, Anthony Soave, and his company, ExpressTrak. He said that the main goal was to help Amtrak make money by hauling freight.
Until Friday, he aggressively defended the provision.
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WASHINGTON
Amtrak certainly knows how to lose money, but it says it can lose less if only it can get out of the business of hauling cars of "premium" freight such as perishables behind its cross-country trains.
Instead, Congress has told Amtrak to increase sharply the number of carloads it hauls or forgo $8.3 million in additional federal money.
The order, contained in the transportation bill signed by President Bush last month, was inserted late in the process by Rep. Joe Knollenberg, an appropriations subcommittee chairman from Michigan. The Detroit businessman who owns the only company that supplies such rail cars happens to be a large donor to Knollenberg, a Republican, and other Michigan legislators.
Knollenberg acknowledged that the order, known in Washington as an earmark, was likely to help the businessman, Anthony Soave, and his company, ExpressTrak. He said that the main goal was to help Amtrak make money by hauling freight.
Until Friday, he aggressively defended the provision.
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