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Article: Passenger Rail Panel Backs New Agency, Competition; Ownership of Northeast Corridor Track Urged
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 23, 1997
- Author:
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An advisory group formed by the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee will recommend today a new federal agency
to own or manage track used by passenger trains while Amtrak and
other operators compete for contracts to run the trains.
The plan is almost identical to one being implemented in
Britain, with one major exception: Almost all British track is
government-owned while most U.S. track is owned by private freight
railroads.
The new federal agency, called Amrail by the group, would own
only the Washington-Boston corridor and a few shorter stretches of
track in New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan. On routes owned by
freight railroads, the agency would pay for necessary ...