FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 30, 2007
CONTACT: Matt Mackowiak
Sen. Hutchison Saves Texas Amtrak Routes
Senate bill keeps “Texas Eagle” and “Sunset Limited” Lines in Service
WASHINGTON -- Texas’ senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today helped pass the Amtrak reauthorization bill, S. 294, which preserves the Amtrak service in Texas. Sen. Hutchison helped defeat an effort on Oct. 25 to end service on the “Texas Eagle” and “Sunset Limited” trains which comprise the only passenger rail service in Texas. The bill keeping those lines in service passed the Senate today by a vote of 70-22.
“Passenger rail service is an important transportation alternative for Texans, so Amtrak must continue these routes in our state,” Sen. Hutchison said. “Amtrak must be national or nothing, a service accessible to all regions of the country, or nothing at all. Keeping the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited ensures that America has a national train system.”
The amendment that Sen. Hutchison worked to defeat on Oct. 25 would have stripped funding from all of Amtrak’s long haul routes. Trains on these routes generally travel over 750 miles, connect distant regions of the country, are often the only intercity rail service available in a state or region, and are an essential option for many travelers.
Amtrak’s Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited routes account for more than 250,000 annual passenger boardings in Texas and serve both urban markets and rural areas where transportation options are very limited.
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