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“Let me welcome everyone to today’s hearing as we begin to fundamentally change the way America travels. Let me also thank our witnesses, some of whom come from states that are already embracing this change. We welcome their input and ideas. Today’s hearing is about Senator Lott’s and my vision for our nation’s transportation system—a system with more options and convenience for travelers, less damage to our environment and less dependence on foreign oil. Along with air and vehicle travel, passenger rail should be one of the three legs on which our transportation network rests. And Amtrak should be among the great passenger rail systems in the world. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 can help turn that vision into a reality. And as any traveler will tell you, we need to implement that vision—because strengthening this intercity travel option is long overdue. Our highways are jammed with cars. The average New Jerseyan spends three hundred hours commuting by car every year—and fifteen percent of that time is wasted, sitting in traffic. And we know our skies are becoming jammed as more planes take to the air. Last year was the worst year for flight delays since 2000. One in four planes was late. And we expect nearly five thousand new very light jets to add to this traffic over the next ten years. Between lines of cars on the highways and long security lines at the airports, America’s travelers need and deserve another choice. And a world-class passenger rail system is it. Disasters such as September 11th and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita also showed that America needs passenger rail. When air travel was cancelled on 9/11, people rode the rails. And when roads became lakes during Katrina and Rita, people could have turned to trains to evacuate some of our most vulnerable, and to move supplies. And Amtrak’s record ridership—nearly twenty-five million passengers last year—proves that Americans want passenger rail. Our bill will lay the tracks for a strong passenger rail network—one that will bring more balance to our national transportation system. Our bill will invest twenty billion dollars in America’s passenger rail system over the next six years, combined with a bond proposal that Senator Lott and I hope the Finance Committee will act on this year. It will fully fund Amtrak and allow it to upgrade its equipment, improve its security and return the Northeast Corridor to a state of good repair. And it will create a new intercity rail grant program to build passenger lines between more of our country’s towns and cities. Just this year, the federal government will spend more than thirty-nine billion dollars on roads and more than fifteen billion dollars on airports—yet little more than one billion dollars on rail. It’s time for America to get on board with passenger rail transportation.” ###
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