Political Quotes

“I come to the floor once again to urge this House to invest in rail safety. My amendment adds $3 million to the Federal Railroad Administration for safety and operations to fund vital rail safety education programs, like Operation Lifesaver. Railroads move the goods that fuel our economy, and thousands of commuters in my district rely on passenger rail lines every day. In fact, over 11\1/2\ million Americans took the trains along the Northeast corridor last year, a record high ridership. Freight rail traffic is also increasing, reflecting a growing economy and a booming energy sector. However, as we have seen in the news almost monthly, there have been a disturbing number of rail accidents in the last few years, many of them preventable train derailments and collisions. We in this House stood in silence a few weeks ago to mourn the loss of the eight passengers killed in last month's Amtrak derailment near Philadelphia. Those deaths were tragic and completely avoidable. We must do more to promote safe and reliable rail travel. I have worked hard on the Transportation Committee and advocated in this House to implement positive train control and other innovative technologies that can protect passengers against the most dangerous rail accidents. But technologies like positive train control cannot prevent all train-related accidents.…”