Republican Attack on Amtrak Intensifies w. Falsehoods intended as Facts ie LIES

[FayeforCure]

Myth: The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is profitable.

* The NEC may cover most of its above-the-rail costs, but it is an extremely costly piece of railroad to maintain. The NEC is not profitable and never will be. Sure, private groups might be interested in having it, but they would take it only with the promise of massive capital infusions."

THAT is the whole point. You don't think Mica and his ilk are readying themselves for massive corporate subsidies ie government give-aways to corporations? That after all is the name of the game. Remember it's ok if it is given to a corporation, but money needed to keep Amtrak alive is considered "soviet style" funding.

Here is a very knowledgable train expert from clear across the country (sometimes I think folks outside our immediate area have a clearer picture of our local politicians )

John Mica Has an Agenda: Screwing Amtrak.

I have a big problem with Congressman John Mica (R-Florida), who, as a result of the 2010 election, finds himself chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I have personally been present for a couple of Mica speeches and he is a preening, self-impressed and arrogant man.

Anyway, there was a meeting of the T&I Committee in Washington today and, according to a first-hand report from a transportation expert who was there, Mica made at least three statements about Amtrak that were misleading at best and knowingly false at worst. Mica, of course, has an agenda: he wants to privatize Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston and to do that he has to portray Amtrak as a failure.

I don’t want to bore you with all the details that refute all three of his misrepresentations, but here’s one good example of how he distorts facts to suit his personal agenda and ideology.


Mica says Amtrak is a failure and, to “prove” it, he stated today that Amtrak’s ridership from 1977 to 2010 has not increased. Trouble is, that’s just B.S. Mica was using 1981 figures! Furthermore, he failed mention that in that year Amtrak turned two very busy commuter lines over to railroads that are now carrying 2.2 million passengers a year into New York from Philadelphia and New Jersey. But that convenient omission aside, further study â€" honest study, that is â€" shows that Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains carried 7.7 million passengers in 1981, and 10.4 million in 2010 …and that’s a damn 26-percent increase, Congressman!

But if we consider passenger-miles â€" a better, means of analysis giving a truer picture -- the increase is even greater. According to Ross Capon, president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, Amtrak posted 932 million passenger-miles on the Northeast Corridor routes in 1981 and 1.708 billion passenger-miles in 2010. And that, Congressman, is an 83% increase!

But you know what I remember most about the time I sat through one of Mica’s dissertations on transportation? After bemoaning as wasteful Amtrak’s annual subsidy of about a billion and a half dollars and referring with a smirk to “America’s Soviet-style railroad, Mica said he had more important things to do: trying to get a five billion dollar appropriation for a new runway at Miami International Airport. How’s that for prioritizing!

So really...........1 billion and a half dollars for Amtrak's annual subsidy is "soviet style" funding, but 5 billion dollars for a new runway at Miami airport is just fine and dandy!?!?

So much for prioritizing alternatives to our congested roads and airways!!!

http://takeatrainride.blogspot.com/2011/05/john-mica-has-agenda-screwing-amtrak.html