Lautenberg Offers Credit for High-Speed Rail Bonds

Lautenberg told the Senate his bill would support $10 billion in bonds to be issued over 10 years for development of high-speed corridors across the nation; the bonds will also allow Amtrak to complete the Northeast Corridor project. State matching funds would help secure repayment of the bond principal, he noted. "Everyone who drives a car on congested highways or suffers from delays while using our overburdened aviation system will benefit" from this bill, he maintained.

The bill's cosponsors include Finance ranking Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and committee members James M. Jeffords, R-Vt., Charles S. Robb, D-Va., and Bob Graham, D-Fla.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL INVESTMENT ACT

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, overcrowding on our highways and in our skies is almost at the crisis point. We're spending billions of dollars each year in wasted gas and wasted time because there are fewer and fewer ways to get somewhere quickly and comfortably.

We're not going to solve that problem by simply building new roads or airports. People don't want airports in their backyards, and there just isn't enough space in many parts of the country for new roads. Besides, new airports and new roads cost billions. And they become obsolete almost as quickly as we build them.

Instead of wasting money on ineffective short-term solutions, we should be investing in a transportation plan that promises lasting benefits far into the next century.

High-speed rail is the future of transportation in this country. Train travel is comfortable, reliable, and it's getting faster all the time. The rail lines are already there. All we need to do is bring them up to 21st-century standards.

The legislation I'm introducing today would make a serious investment in the future of high-speed rail. And an investment in high-speed rail is an investment in less crowded highways and airports, cleaner air, and a new level of productivity for millions of Americans whose jobs and lifestyles depend on efficient transportation.

Mr. President, I'm willing to bet that every Member of this Senate has at least one recent memory of a plane flight that went horribly wrong. Missed connections. Hours spent inside an overheated plane stuck on the tarmac. Lost baggage. I know I've had plenty of experiences like that.

And even when everything goes according to plan, air travel is uncomfortable at best. You almost have to know yoga just to cram yourself into one of those tiny seats.

Commuting by car isn't any better. Parts of Interstate 95 regularly turn into parking lots during week-day rush hours. And all this congestion can lead to truly life-threatening situations. Traffic accidents. Higher pollution levels. Explosions of road rage that actually lead people to pull guns on each other on the highway.

Land and financial resources are scarce and we need to make better use of what we already have. Our rail lines are there, ready to help solve the over-crowding problems that are making our other transportation options less and less appealing. But for the most part, U.S. transportation policy has ignored the potential of high- speed rail and our rail system has fallen far below the standards set in nearly every other developed nation on the planet.

My legislation seeks to change that by authorizing Amtrak to sell $10 billion in high-speed rail bonds over ten years to develop high-speed corridors across the nation. This leveraging of private sector investment will allow Amtrak to complete the Northeast Corridor high-speed project and provide the funding needed to bring faster, better service to federally designated high-speed corridors in other regions.

These corridors cover states in the Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Gulf Coast, and the Pacific Coast. Our aim is to take what we've learned in the Northeast and provide it to the rest of the nation.

The Federal Government would subsidize these bonds by providing tax credits to bondholders in lieu of interest payments. And state matching funds would help to secure repayment of the bond principal.

Mr. President, the money we don't spend on high-speed rail today we will have to spend tomorrow -- on things like highway construction and pollution controls.

Investing in high speed rail is not only good transportation policy, it is good land use policy. Constructing an airport or highway outside of city limits promotes sprawl, robs cities of valuable revenue, and increases the pressure for even more road construction. Rail travel, on the other hand, is downtown-to- downtown, not suburb-to-suburb. Rail transportation encourages efficient, "smart growth" land use patterns, preserves downtown economies, protects open space, and improves air quality.

Furthermore, passenger rail stations serve as focal points for commercial development, promoting downtown redevelopment and generating increased retail business and tax revenue. Making efficient and cost-effective use of existing infrastructures is an increasingly important goal and one which this legislation will help achieve.

Mr. President, high-speed rail is already proving itself. In 1999, Amtrak's Metroliner train between Washington and New York set its third consecutive ridership record with over two million passengers, and Amtrak reported the highest total revenues in the corporation's 28-year history. The reason is simple -- people are becoming less and less satisfied with traveling by plane. And more and more frustrated with gridlock on our highways.

You can see why. The summer of 1999 was the most delay-plagued season in history for airlines. And these delays are expensive. In 1998, air traffic control delays cost the airlines and passengers a combined $4.5 billion.

Unfortunately, this problem is only going to get worse. The number of people flying is increasing significantly. In 1998 there were 643 million airplane boardings in the U.S., up 25 percent from just five years ago. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that boardings will increase to 917 million by 2008. Our current aviation system can't handle this demand. We need a quality passenger rail system to relieve some of this pressure.

Passenger rail can make a difference, particularly between cities located on high-speed corridors. I went back and looked at the list of the 31 airports expected to experience more than 20,000 passenger hours of flight delays in 2007. The vast majority of these airports -- more than three out of four -- are located on a high- speed rail corridor. If the funding envisioned in this legislation were made available to develop these corridors, we could take much of the burden of short flights off our aviation system. That would allow airlines to concentrate their limited slots and resources on longer- distance flights.

Traffic congestion costs commuters even more -- an estimated $74 billion a year in lost productivity and wasted fuel. These commuters, even the ones who continue to drive, will be well served by an investment in high-speed rail corridors. Amtrak takes 18,000 cars a day off the roads between Philadelphia and New York. Without Amtrak, these congested roads would be in far worse shape. Commuters in other parts of the country should be able to benefit from high-quality, fast rail service that takes cars off the road and helps to improve the performance of our overall transportation system.

This bill does not just benefit those who ride trains. Everyone who drives a car on congested highways or suffers from delays while using our overburdened aviation system will benefit from the rail investment called for in this legislation. I can tell you, as a former businessman who helped run a very profitable company, that high-speed rail is a smart investment. And it's an investment that deserves support from Congress.