I served on the Amtrak Reform Council ten years ago and was frustrated, ultimately, by the failure of the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress to press harder for changes to Amtrak that would have made that entity more transparent in its finances and more collaborative with the private sector. Democrats who were beholden to Amtrak unions resisted changes, and when the Obama Administration came to power it decided to put lots of money into passenger rail, but not to support the kind of structural change needed to create a new, more successful entity.
The Bush folks knew we needed reform, but couldn't deliver it, and wouldn't fund the transition to a public-private partnership. The Obama people are prepared to spend plenty, but not to reform the system.
Now we are seeing the public beginning to a scandal of unknown proportions at Amtrak. It broke in the Washington Times today.
The scandal could be the grounds for a true new beginning in passenger rail. America needs rail, not just as an alternative choice to roads and airplanes in carrying freight, but also in carrying people on many inter-city corridors. Other nations are using new design/build approaches to rail and, under pressure from international lenders, privatizing previously outmoded government-only service.
