A sixth death has been confirmed in Tuesday night's Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia, while another 149 are injured, some critically. An investigation into what caused the train to derail is just beginning, with its speed heading into a curve drawing attention. But one of Amtrak's major operational liabilities is no mystery: like so much other critical American infrastructure, it's underfunded.
In fact, just this week, the House Appropriations Committee is marking up a bill that would cut Amtrak funding from its already low levels. The rail service already survived one House vote this year that would have eliminated funding altogether. Republicans insist that Amtrak should be run as a profit-making business rather than seeing it as transportation infrastructure necessary to the nation's economy.
Highways don't make a profit—they get government funding (though even they don't get enough of that these days). Amtrak should be considered in the same category as highways. It's a public good that reduces highway congestion, gets people in and out of crowded cities efficiently, and has major environmental benefits over most alternatives. And there is demand—in recent years, ridership has been growing.
But Amtrak's crumbling infrastructure means that tunnels in need of repair or replacement become choke points and train speeds are limited by track quality. Rail travel is one more area where the United States is falling behind. Tuesday's derailed train:
... came on the eve of the railway budget bill that could see the funding for Amtrak slashed by 20 percent, from $1.4 to 1.13 billion.
In comparison, China’s railway budget for the next fiscal year is an estimated $128 billion, the Atlantic news portal reported.
In the United States, the one higher-speed train, the Acela, can go close to 150 miles per hour but on its highest-speed segment between major cities it averages just 79. By contrast, Japan recently tested a train with a top speed of 374 miles per hour. You don't get that without investment, but Republicans want to cut rather than investing. The costs of those cuts, and of decades of underfunding, come in dollars and in reduced safety thanks to aging infrastructure. We deserve better.short a sweet for real this time (he says while crossing his fingers)
Pres. has been pushing infrastructure for years republicans ignored it for years and as article says are still fighting about it. no way to run a gov't or a lemonade stand. btw did Beohner ever fix that bridge Pres. called him out on?? i made it!!!!!
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/181829-obama-to-highlight-urgent-bridge-repair-in-boehners-home-state
