When I said in my recent post about Republican economic policies that privatization can sometimes be a good idea, I could have been referring to proposed solutions for improving rail service along the Northeast Corridor.
Now, I'm not sure this is the way to go. Certainly, any private operator would have a lot of convincing to do, and need a lot of public help, if necessary infrastructure improvements and service upgrades were to come to the aging rail system.
But something needs to be done. There were three system shutdowns in the last few days, one of which stranded me at Penn Station for two hours on Thursday.
These are not like airport delays, almost always caused by weather conditions. These problems were the result of stress on a system built over a century ago and chronically underfunded by Washington.
Even Republicans in Congress acknowledge that, in the Northeast, Amtrak is vital to mobility and commerce, though that didn't prevent some of the usual jackass-ery when a privatization proposal for the Northeast Corridor was floated this week. Rep. John L. Mica, head of the House transportation panel, cited "40 years of costly and wasteful Soviet-style operations." (My guess is Soviet trains probably ran better.)
Could private operators do a better job? It's worked well for freight rail. The demand is there. It should be on the table.
The Inquirer printed a useful editorial on the subject this week.
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