Political Quotes

“This marks the 139th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, indeed a very strong engineering feat in our country's history. Today, with gas prices soaring, congestion building on our highways, and concern about greenhouse gases on the rise, we need to address this. The I-95 corridor is in difficult shape with respect to all of these issues. Highway congestion has become a critical problem, costing Americans 4.2 billion hours and 2.9 billion gallons of fuel, sitting in traffic delays. In contrast, passenger railroads are one of the cleanest forms of transportation. It emits only 0.2 percent of transportation industry's greenhouse gases. Between Boston and Washington, D.C., ridership on Amtrak has surged by 20 percent, representing enough new passengers to fill 2000 757 jetliners. I realize that this truly the future, and something that Congress should be paying a lot of attention to in terms of supporting the need for future legislation in dealing with the issues of Amtrak and rail travel in our country.”