Amtrak's track record on spending has proven that it is more interested in wooing members of Congress for federal money rather than spending money on maintenance and safety for its riders, according to a Washington Times report. This revelation earned the government-run rail system a "Golden Hammer" award, an honor given weekly by the paper for "the most egregious examples of government waste."
From "fancy high-speed cars" to falling food service sales, Amtrak is bleeding by the hundreds of millions despite Democrats calling for even more funding. Per President Obama's request, lawmakers were asked for an additional $252 million -- a move hoped to remedy any further derailments like the one on Tuesday that killed eight people.
House Speaker John Boehner rejected the idea that more money would equal more safety and the GOP voted against the proposal. "Obviously it’s not about funding," he said. "The train was going twice the speed limit. Adequate funds were there; no money’s been cut from rail safety.”
The crash happened along the highly traveled Northeast Corridor (NEC), where human error is believed to be the cause. The train was clocked at over double the top speed, 50 mph, allocated for that section of track. According to the Cato Institute, the NEC is not only the most traveled route, but also the most run down. The institutes director says the reason is because of how Congress "forces" Amtrak to spend the money.
Cato's senior transportation fellow Randal O'Toole told the Times:
There are things Amtrak could do to make themselves more efficient. Basically they have a culture of ‘let’s make as many members of Congress dependent on our services so we can continue to get federal dollars.’ That’s why we have all of these empty trains running around the country — except the NEC.
The Times explains that in 2008, President Bush required a GPS signaling device to be installed along routes to automatically slow down trains, thus helping to prevent derailments and collisions. However, because parts of the NEC are not operational, the Positive Train Control (PTC) device has yet to be installed along that route, which could have possibly prevented Tuesday's violent crash.
O'Toole added:
PTC would have prevented this accident. There was plenty of money available to install it, but the Obama administration, in its infinite wisdom, chose to spend it elsewhere. Two days ago, it would have been embarrassing to think that the government-run Amtrak hadn’t yet completed installation of PTC on its highest-speed corridor. Today, it’s a tragedy. But how is it the fault of fiscal conservatives?
The blame ultimately lies on the fact that too much of Amtrak's funding is being wasted on projects that don't include maintenance and safety. Many are pulling for the rail system to be privatized and injected into the free market to improve management and allow customers to pay for what they use, not what they don't.
