Political Quotes

“APTA wrote: ``These funds are of critical importance as commuter railroads address the $3.5 billion in costs associated with installing PTC systems.'' The National Association of Railroad Passengers wrote: ``Just as important as the level of the authorization is the structure of the eligibility . . . RRIF could potentially be used to leverage the amount provided by the DRIVE Act by a factor of ten.'' The Senate has an important opportunity to advance deployment of positive train control and help commuter railroads get over the finish line. In sum, this is a national rail safety and infrastructure improvement bill. Amtrak provides service to over 30 million per year, with stops in over 500 communities and in 46 States. New York has about 6 million riders, Pennsylvania about 3 million, and States such as Florida, Virginia, and Washington all have over 1 million riders. This bill also improves the safety of commuter railroads, which collectively have nearly 500 million boardings per year. Metro-North, serving New York, Connecticut, Long Island Railroad, and New Jersey Transit each have 80 million boardings per year. These passengers deserve the critical safety and infrastructure improvements put forward in this bipartisan legislation. The failure to pass this bipartisan DRIVE Act, which includes these passenger rail investments and safety improvements, would be a significant loss to the traveling public who utilize passenger rail systems across the country.…”