Washington, DC—Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement about the markup of the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015:
“We are pleased that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a bipartisan passenger rail bill that provides multi-year investment for Amtrak while rejecting ill-advised attempts to force unwanted privatization mandates on the rail carrier, its passengers, and its employees.
“While the bill doesn’t provide Amtrak with sufficient resources to modernize its service and infrastructure, it does provide much needed financial certainty that Amtrak will need in order to avoid damaging cuts in service and jobs. A key challenge looking ahead will be finding the resources to replace century-old rail tunnels on the Northeast Corridor.
“Today’s action sends a clear signal that this committee, led by Chairman Shuster and Rep. DeFazio, wants to move forward an agenda that is about solving the nation’s transportation problems, not scoring partisan political points.”
CONTACT: Elizabeth Weinberg, 202-628-9262, elizabethw@ttd.org
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