Mica & Brown Square off over rail

[spuwho]

As reported on the Trains Newswire,

Apparently John Mica and Corrine Brown had a difference of opinion on the use of bidding out commuter rail operations, especially with regards to Amtrak.

I agree with DeFazio, liability is the largest issue facing private passenger rail operators. Just ask CSX in the Orlando/SunRail deal.

Amtrak commuter rail under Mica's microscope
By Bob Johnston
Published: September 12, 2012
WASHINGTON â€" House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.), claimed yesterday that Amtrak was “not succeeding” as a commuter rail operator because it had not won any recent head-to-head competitions with private companies. This revelation came in the second of what Mica said would be “at least” three hearings probing different aspects of Amtrak operations. In his opening remarks, Mica summarized the findings of a staff report titled, “Amtrak Commuter Rail Service: The High Cost of Amtrak Operations,” by complaining about Amtrak’s “monopoly” and concluding that the company “shouldn’t be in the commuter rail business” because private bids came in “an average (of) 11.5 percent below” what Amtrak offered to provide.

Mica’s thesis was immediately challenged by Rep. Corinne Brown (D-Fla.), ranking Democrat on the Rail Subcommittee. After lambasting Mica for not providing the minority members a copy of the report in advance of the hearing, she said, “it’s sad that we are wasting the committee’s time micromanaging Amtrak while we are ignoring the critical issues in our transportation system that need to be addressed by this Congress.”

The report counts the Los Angeles Metrolink commuter operating contract as a lost bid, but fails to mention that Amtrak won the rights back from the Connex/Veolia consortium after the deadly 2008 head-on crash with a Union Pacific freight train, which was caused by a Veolia engineer’s inattention. Amtrak president Joe Boardman, one of five witnesses, noted that his company was hardly a monopoly because it only holds 6 of 29 commuter rail contracts. He also revealed that Amtrak was “asked to bid” by Florida’s Tri-Rail against Veolia, a company which Amtrak later successfully sued after Veolia had listed several existing Amtrak managers as part of its bid. Ray Chambers, executive director of the Association of Independent Passenger Rail Operators, said Amtrak’s lawsuit victory will have a “chilling effect” on future bids because it overturns a common practice of recruiting incumbent managers.

Also testifying about the way contracts were awarded were Joseph Giulietti, Miami Tri-Rail’s executive director, and Chuck Harvey, deputy chief executive officer of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, the agency that runs San Francisco’s Caltrain operation. Harvey revealed that cost factors were weighted at only 20 per cent in its decision to move its operations from Amtrak to TransitAmerica, whereas maintenance, service, and operating plans comprised 55 per cent of the decision.

Ed Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO’s transportation trades department, charged that the real reason for the hearing was to try to make a case for undermining Amtrak’s continued operation of short-distance, state-supported intercity trains when provisions of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act become effective in October, 2013, mandating that the states pick up all operating costs. He said, “Many of those hodgepodge of operators are not indemnified against losses and don’t pay into the Railroad Retirement.”

All of the witnesses seemed to agree with Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), that liability remains the most significant unresolved issue in passenger rail today and that Congress needs to come to grips with how to resolve it. Unfortunately, that was outside the scope of Chairman Mica’s hearing.

[mbwright]

For once Brown seems to make some sense...

I really don't see how Amtrak is expected to compete, given that their budget is subject to change on almost every congressional budget, or potential legislation.