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These cable providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. Up next a house transportation and infrastructure subcommittee hears testimony from amtrak c. E. O. Steven gardner and the executive director of the northwest Corridor Commission on improving Train Service and efficiency. They also discuss passenger safety, route options in the midwest and west coast and high speed rail. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the subcommittee will come to order. I ask unanimous consent that the chair may call recess at any time. Without objection, so ordered. I recognize myself for Opening Statement for five minutes. Todays hearing examines the current and future state of amtrak. The Infrastructure Investment and job act gave historic funding to railroads with a large portion of that money going to amtrak. Amtrak is a federally chartered corporation with the federal government as the majority stake holder. Its board of directors is appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. Amtraks funding largely comes from the federal government versus from ticket revenue. Without objection significant taxpayer support we know that amtrak could not operate. Since its creation in 1971, amtrak has never made a profit. 1971. Amtrak has never made a profit. Despite the funding provided in ija, amtrak predicts ill will lose 1 billion work a b, per year with those losses largely imoiferred taxpayers. My democrat colleagues like to note that highways an airlines also rely on government subsidies to operate. Those modes receive federal support they are also essential forms of transportation and high use and high demand by the American People. Unlike amtrak, americans could not travel and function as they do without the use of highways an airplanes. And during the covid19 pandemic, amtrak ridership and revenues plummeted as commuters stayed home or chose to use other modes of transportation. Ultimately, amtrak received billions of extra dollars in covid relief to operate largely empty trains for several months. Today, we will examine the state of amtraks postcovid recovery. While amtrak has regained ridership in recent months well hear about their plans to continue both the demand and ticket revenue. Amtraks losses arise mostly entirely from its National Network in Long Distance routes. Rather than focusing on attracting riders to existing route, amtrak now seeks to expand this network, risking a greater expense to the taxpayer. Some of these new routes will require the states to cover costs and losses. In fairness to amtrak, prior to the pandemic, it was on a path to achieve profitability for the first time fluffily 50 years. First time in roughly 50 years. This came in response to decisions by leaders that focused on sacrifices. While growth is a positive trend,amtrak must focus on improving its Current Network including system upgrades and improving safety, security and Customer Satisfaction issue that was plagued amtrak for years over expansion ambitions. In addition to spending and revenue issues, this committee has questioned amtrak about its clines with the americans with disabilities act, rising crime nits stations and train, potential transportation of Illegal Immigrants from the southern border on its trains, and generous executive bonuses despite losses and service problems. Amtrak must work to attract customers and revenues and operate as a reasonable steward of taxpayers dollars. It should ensure its network is safe and secure. Further it is necessary for amtrak to strengthen its relationship with the state, including through the development of a transparent and fair Cost Allocation policy for statesupported amtrak routes. Finally, any potential expansion of amtrak system must allow for railroads to provide input on track sharing issues. The recent supply chain crisis further emphasizes the value of Freight Railroad in efficiently moving goods across the nation. Amtraks passenger Expansion Efforts should not be allowed to obstruct Critical Movement of Freight Railroads. I now recognize Ranking Member payne for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Mr. Payne thank you, mr. Chairman. One of the points you made, if theres an example of a pageantty somewhere in the world that is profitable on its own, please of a passenger entity somewhere in the world thats profitable on its own, i would love to know about it. Chairman graves, Ranking Member larson, and our two witnesses thank you for being here today. We are here today in an exciting time for amtrak and more broadly intercity Passenger Rail across the country. For the first time this mode of transportation has guaranteed funding for multiple years. The value of the certainty is not to be understated. This is the this is akin to the beginning of the interstate highway system which we continue to support. The bipartisan infrastructure law intiend President Biden in november, 2021, provides 22 billion in funding to amtrak through fiscal year 2026. 16 billion of which is to be invested in the National Network while the remaining 6 billion goes toward infrastructure. And that is along the northeast corridor. Another 19 billion is authorized for amtraks Capital Investments nationwide. The bipartisan infrastructure further invests 36 billion in the federalstate partnership for intercity Passenger Rail programs with 24 billion allocated explicitly to the northeast corridor. Another 7. 5 billion in funding is authorized for this grant program. Amtrak recently submitted grant applications for multiple projects through this Program Totaling roughly 9 billion. Together these projects will assist in increasing rail capacity while reducing service interruption. Projects like the Gateway Program in my home state of new jersey will improve the Passenger Experience along the northeast corridor by digging a pair of new tunnels under the hudson river and replacing the portal bridge. Both of these chokepoints over 100 years old and maintenance problems here often cause delays for passengers riding amtrak and new Jersey Transit. Other projects along the northeast corridor such as the Frederick Douglass tunnel in baltimore need restoration. This tunnel is 150 years old. The oldest along the corridor. Water damage and tight curves force a train to slow down to 30 Miles Per Hour adding precious minutes to trips for travelers across maryland and the rest of the corridor. Similarly theres much work to be done on inner city rail projects across the country including bringing stations into compliance with the americans with disabilities act. Addressing amtraks aging rail cars and locomotives. And replacing bridges like the San Luis Rey River bridge in san diego, california. I look forward to new and improved corridors that can be advanced with this funding. The federal Rail Administration recently received numerous proposals for the corridor i. D. Program. This will be the template for Passenger Rail expansion in the coming years. Established corridors in North Carolina and california will finally have a consistent federal partner. New corridors are ripe for development in texas, nevada and the gulf coast. I look forward to the federal Railroad Administrations project pipeline that will identify Capital Projects needed to develop these and other corridors. All of this funding, all of these project, and all of the benefits that future generations will enjoy would not be possible without our efforts in the 117th congress when it passed the bipartisan infrastructure law in this chamber and sent it to President Biden for signature. 100 billion in funding for rail projects included in this monumental law is a game changer for communities nationwide. I look forward to diving in to some of the details with our witnesses shortly. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Mr. Nehls mr. Payne yields. I recognize the Ranking Member of the full committee, mr. Larson, for five minutes for the Opening Statement. Mr. Larson thank you, chairman nehls and mr. Payne, for holding this hearing on improving amtrak across the country. The bipartisan infrastructure bill is a monumental achievement that supercharged our nations investment in rail. It provided bold, longterm investments across Transportation Systems and infrastructure creating jobs and benefiting our economy. Just last week the bureau of labor stats reported they added 300,000 jobs in may, including 25,000 construction jobs and 24,000 warehouse jobs. For inner city Passenger Rail doctor intercity Passenger Rail specifically, they guaranteed funding for repair investment and development, makes possible for the First Time Ever dedicated, reliable federal funding, disbursed over the next few years to expand and improve intercity Passenger Rail. Among the recipients was the city of burlington, washington, in the great state of washington, which is awarded a 2 million plans gran planning great to remove a grate crossing which will increase mobility for all rail traffic. Burlington mayor steve sexton brought this idea to me nearly a decade ago and im pleased to see the project awarded the funding it needs to improve safety and reduce congestion. Projects like this are improving the quality of life and creating jobs, Washington State has led the way in improving funding so far. I expect Great Results for our communities that will come from this grant and the additional rail funding to come as well. Amtrak and the f. R. A. Can now enact longterm plans for passenger expansion and improvement, secure in the knowledge that funding will be there in future years. The bipartisan budget agreement protected d. I. L. Funding including this vital rail funding and demonstrates support on both sides of the aisle to maintain these investments. I look forward to hearing from both of our Witnesses Today about the differences this budget certainty has made for them in developing sustaining programs and how this will improve service for rail panels. I want to apologize to mr. Warren for missing our meeting yesterday, it was an airplane issue, not a rail issue, that prevented me getting here on time. The demand for more frequent, more reliable Passenger Service is real. Cities and counties across the nation want increased access to the national Passenger Rail network. They know it will help them grow and thrive and provide a greener way to move people. Communities that have rail service want Better Service and those who done have rail service want service to start. Residents in my district were frustrated that covid shuttered several routes in my district, including one that involves seattle and can davment it took seven years to reStart Service after Hurricane Katrina, for those in gulf community, i share the frustration you and your constituents have experienced. As we did fighting if rail communitying in b. I. L. , we are committed to helping get regular, reliable Passenger Rail service. Of the 100 billion provided for rail in b. I. L. , 66 billion was provided in the form of advanced appropriations. The remaining 34 billion is subject to future appropriations. So i think we should continue to push for congress to fully fund its interconstituent city passenger lines, to reduce emissions and build a cleaner, greener, safer, and more accessible transportation network. B. I. L. Is also an investment in the work force, funding will be used to grow a welltrained, diverse work force to build, operate and maintain a national intercity Passenger Rail network. The investment in b. I. L. Is a great start but Congress Needs to build on this by securing a reliable funding dream for intercity rail. Highway, transit, airports andujar boars have access to trust funds allowing them to fund major, longterm Capital Projects without having to wait for annual appropriations process. Its past time to do this for rail. This committee will have the opportunity to hear from two witnesses on the frontlines in turn theegz investment into tangible services we can rely on. We will also examine amtraks plans for Service Growth and hear from one ofamtraks partners on how it will improve Passenger Rail in that region. I look forward to hearing from witnesses about their vision for the future of Passenger Rail. With that, i yield back. Mr. Nehls mr. Larsen yields. Ill take a minute to explain our lighting system to the witnesses. Tbleen means go, yellow, youre running out of time, red means pump the brakes. I ask unanimous consent that the witnesses full statements be included into the record. Without objection, so ordered. Your written testimony is then made part of the record. The subcommittee asks you limit oral remarks to five minutes. With that, mr. Gardner, youre recognized for five minutes. Mr. Gardner good morning, chairman nehls, Ranking Member larsen and others. Let me start with the strong year amtrak is having in 2023. Safety is our number one priority and its importance was highlighted by the tragic accident in india. Our heart goes out to those impacted and its a solemn reminder that our work is never done. Im glad to report, however that through march, amtraks rate of reportable injuries is 20 better than our annual goal and we have not had a single ntsbinvestigated accident this year. Im also proud to say we have returned service to all of our network. While several routes are still with less frequency than prepandemic, we are progressing the plan to add more service over the coming year. We also continue to upgrade our customer experience, improve facilities and enhance food and beverage offerings. Through april, our yeartoday ridership was 84 of prepandemic levels and in april it was 9 . By next year we expect to reach our level of 32 million riders again. This is remarkable and the best performance of any u. S. Passenger rail operator. Ridership does remain impacted by insufficient equipment and reduced Business Travel. Both have affect revenue, making Adequate Funding for the northeast corridor even more vital. Speaking of financials, through april of f. Y. 2023, our adjusted operating loss was 444 million, 53 million better than our plan. Our recovery has risen to 76 . Were still a ways off from achieving break even results as we were on track to do in f. Y. 2020 due to the more than three years of significant Cost Increases and lost revenue growth. But we see a path for our train operations business to return there under an apples to apples comparison in about five years. Let me also mention how the finances of the company have changed dramatically due to the large influx of capital funding. Amtrak is no longer shrimp a Passenger Rail operator but are now a Major Construction Company Executing a major capital program. This creates additional operating expenses that didnt exist before. Regarding economics, congress was leer in the iiaj that the statutory goal is to maximize benefits not minimize our need for them. You can be sure well continue to play a balance on pursuit of improved Financial Performance woar statutory goals. Through the iija, for the first time in amtraks history, congress and the administration are now investing at the levels needed to achieve these goals. Since i last appeared before the subcommittee, amtrak has begun to receive our iija funds and put them to good use. With our partners, we recently applied for about 10 million in grants and were advance manage key projects including construction of the new hudson river tunnel and rehab of our east river tunnels, both of which will begin next year. Construction of portal north in new jersey which is about 25 complete. Advancing our b. M. P. Tunnel Replacement Program and projects in connecticut and maryland. Manufacturing our now aerotrain by siemens is sacramento, california, and our new trains by a company in upstate new york with suppliers from all across america. Procurement of oa new fleet of Long Distance trains, completion of 112a. D. A. Projects in stations all across our network over the next 16 months, startup of two new state supported services between new orleans and mobil and the twin and mobile and the twin cities and chicago late they are year. Services from mississippi to dallasfort worth and support for many of the more than 90 applications by states and cities from across america to the f. R. A. s porter i. D. Program to develop new and enhanced services. Were excited by this progress and its important to note that it will take sustained federal support to develop a 21st century Passenger Rail network. In the near term we need adequate appropriations to maintain and operate our trains. In the longterm we need a reliable funding mechanism like other transportation modes have so we can efficiently plan and deliver our network. Lastly, good, ontime performance is fundamental to our business and we continue to face challenges with some of our Host Railroad partners. I hope this subcommittee will work with us on these issues so we can better serve the whole nation and your constituents. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for your time. I look forward to your questions. Mr. Nehls thank you, mr. Gardner. Mr. Warner, you are recognized for five minutes. Mr. Warner good morning, chairman nehls, Ranking Member payne, Ranking Member larsen, im mitch warren, executive director of the northeast Corridor Commission. The commission was created by congress to improve the corridor through better coordination among amtrak, states, Commuter Rail operators, and the federal government. Thank you for envieding me to discuss our work and the renewable of americas oldest and busiest Passenger Rail system. The northeast corridor brings hundreds of thousands of intercity and commuter passengers to work, family visits and low pressure activity every day. However these riders rely on infrastructure with tens of billions of dollars in stated repair needs including 15 midge bridges and tunnels over 100 years old and in need of replacement. Given these historic challenges, i cannot overstate what an exciting time this is for the northeast corridor. After decades of underinvestment, the n. E. C. Finally has the down payment it needs to rebuild infrastructure that dates back to the period between the civil war and world war ii. Thanks to the work of congress and the Biden Administration, the Infrastructure Investment and jobs act, the n. E. C. Has its first ever kaitd multiyear funding, providing exactly the kind of predictability needed to efficiently deliver a major capital program. The commissions decadelong effort to build a foundation of trust, transparency, collaboration and accountability have put our members in position to invest this historic funding. The commissions voting members represent u. S. D. O. T. , amtrak, northeast states and the district of columbia. The commission was authorized in recognition of the complexities of a corridor that has multiple right of way owners and rail operate yrs and which supports over 2,000 trains a day including high speed trains, northeast regional and Long Distance trains, commuter trains, and freight trains. In 2021, the Commission Approved connect n. E. C. 2035 a collaborative effort to define the corridors state of good repair and improvement needs and stage and sequence these Infrastructure Investments over 15 years. Connect n. E. C. , which will be updated every two year is the plan to rebuild and grow the corridor. Thanks to the fund provided to the bipartisan infrastructure law, each critical project suddenly has a path forward, promising more reliable, more frequent and Faster Service for the workers, travelers and businesses that depend on the corridor. The commission is now look at the challenges our members face in delivering these critical projects. To this end we are developing and Implementation Coordination Program that will bring the project delivery the same kind of transparency collaboration and accountability that the commission has brought to cost sharing and planning. This program will focus on improving the interagency coordination needed among our members as they partner to deliver projects. The i. C. P. Will track project progress and provide an Early Warning system. With when projects threat ton go offschedule due to coordination issues. The challenges in front of us are formidable but success is critical to the regions vitality and growth. Essential to this success is what it took to build the interstate highway system and what the d. I. L. Has delivered for Passenger Rail. A dedicated, multiarea Funding Source providing the predictability needed to efficiently deliver a major capital program. In fact, even more funding is necessary over the longer term to address all of the corridors state of good repair and improvement needs. The federal Railroad Administrations n. E. C. Project inventory includes projects that teal over 100 billion. Not withstanding the significant future funding needs, the bipartisan infrastructure law is a game changer for the corridor. After decades of falling further behind when it comes to replacing aging infrastructure, a Brighter Future lies ahead. We thank congress and President Biden for this historic investment that will benefit travelers for generations to come. The commissions members are eager to deliver these critical rail projects that would generate meaningful economic transportation and environmental benefits to the region and to the nation. Thank you for inviting me to speak today on behalf of the commission. I look forward to answering your questions. Mr. Nehls thank you, mr. Warren. I ask unanimous consent to into intr into the record the following letters from the association of american railroads and coalition for the northeast corridor as well as the letter from the Rail Passengers Association c. E. O. Without objection, so ordered. Id like to thank you all, thank you both for your testimony. Well now turn to questions from the panel. I will recognize myself for five minutes. I appreciate you, mr. Garner, good to see you. I see youve got the chief behind you there. Thank you for coming. I want to bring to your attention, im sure youre familiar with the office of the Inspector General, this report that talks a little bit about safety and security. Amtrak has opportunities to strengthen controls over high Security Keys are. You gentlemen familiar with this report . Yes. Mr. Nehls mr. Warren, familiar with the report . I have not had a chance to read it. Mr. Nehls mr. Gardner is familiar. Im trying to read this, theres so many redak, im trying to put this puzzle together. They obviously redaked so much here, some type of safety or security concern. Can you assure the members of this committee that amtrak is doing everything it possibly can with the employees that are authorized to have a key or employees that are no longer working, either resigned or terminated that they dont keep their keys to some of these highrisk security areas . What are you doing to make sure that we can protect amtrak . Mr. Gardner thank you, mr. Chairman, yes, sir. Absolutely. As a result of the good work of the Inspector General weve we are revamping our key control process. I can tell you for a long time these kind of switch keys have been around in sort of a collectors hands. When i was on the Freight Railroad side, as a switchman, switchmen had access to many of them. Those days are over. Were controlling them tightly. We appreciate the o. I. G. s work there. Mr. Nehls i think its obviously very damaging in my humble opinion. I think the gentleman sitting mind you, between you two would be able to help you with that, trying to get some of these keys back from individuals that no longer should have them. I believe there was a report that some knucklehead or former employee was selling these things, putting them on the internet. It could become a big, big problem for all of us. How much, mr. Gardner, how much money will amtrak receive through ija over the next five years . How much money . Mr. Gard inter its mr. Gardner 22 billion is the funding to amtrak directly. The other portions go to department of transportation. Mr. Nehls 22 billion, thats a lot of money. Mr. Gardner absolutely, mr. Chairman. Mr. Nehls i want to spend a moment and talk about chrissy and chrissy grants. With the enormous amount of money amtrak is getting from the american taxpayers, im recommend, suggesting, that amtrak should not be allowed any more chrissy Grant Funding over the next five years while you are receiving tens of billions of dollars over the next five years. I mean when you look at the grants, i think in 2022, it was about 1. 4 billion, to those of you who dont know, thats consolidated Rail Infrastructure and safety improvements program. And by hearing the testimony from the minority and hearing testimony youre getting billions and billions of dollars to help with your infrastructure, your improvement. Crisi Grant Funding should be set aside for the class 2s and dallas 3s. And class 3s. It would be my intent while youre receiving billions and billions of taxpayer dollars over the next five years that amtrak should not be allowed to participate in the crisi grant program. You stated for 2023, 84 , youll get to 89 and maybe by the end of the year youll get to 2019 levels, 30 million panels . Mr. Gardner next year well achieve 32 million riders. Mr. Nehls i think thats great. You did state security, safety is your number one priority. I can certainly appreciate that. Mr. Warner, i had the chief in my office before, we were talking about safety and traveling on a train, i mean ive been a lawman for several year, i understand safety and security. I was always puzzled by the fact that i can jump on that train outside, in washington, d. C. Here, i can go up, buy a ticket, i dont have to provide any i. D. I can pay cash. You can take that ticket, give it to the guy, he could give it to someone else. Theres no matching bation or anything. You can bags or anything. You can carry a couple of suitcases on a train. You dont have any detectors or anything to go through to get on that train. How is amtrak what are you going to what are you doing to make sure you dont get some individual that has bad intentions, someone carrying a firearm, from getting on a train when you i mean, i cant get on an airplane with a bottle of water. I cant get on an airplane. Even having a glass of water. But it appears to me that to get on an amtrak train you dont have to have any i. D. Your bags dont have to match the manifest. Theyre not inspected. Youve got puppies out there sniffing. I want to laugh. What are you doing in rural arias to make sure you can keep those passengers as safe as possible . Mr. Barren you cant have riders if youre not promising, guaranteeing their safety and security. As a commission we focused on infrastructure. Its an issue more for individual members and we have addressed as a commission. When we were created there was a separate safety committee, created separate from us, we were focused on the cost sharing and coordinating planning. Those are Critical Issues for members and riders. But the commission itself is not something that we have addressed directly. Mr. Nehls this is public transportation, bostles dollars going to it we had tragedies on 9 11 with an aircraft and look at what we did we created a whole new organization and put billions of dollars into it still today to make sure people traveling on airplanes across the country are safe. Then you look at amtraks operations and i dont i know the chief piend me is eyeballing me, going, im doing everything i can. You have billions of dollars now, i think you need to try to not convince me but show me that safety, safety, mr. Gardner, youre doing everything you possibly can. I read some stuff here about the board meeting, you know, you have these board meet, i dont think theyre open to the public, i dont think theyre part of the public record. I think transparency is so important and bonuses. Mr. Gardner, would you care to share with me what your salary is every year . What is your salary, your annual salary . Mr. Gardner the annual salary is a matter of record, we have disclosed it, its currently my position little bit less than 500,000 a year. Mr. Nehls i appreciate that youre willing to share that. I think the American People have a right to know. Ill tell you what mine is. 174,000. I can tell you every salary of every person serving in the United States military. Its pretty much public record. Annual salary of 500,000. When you have meetings, and theyre not accessed, theyre not open to the public, when you talk about bonuses, did you receive a bonus last year . Did you take a bonus . Mr. Gardner for fiscal year 2022, yes. Mr. Nehls can i ask how much it was . Mr. Gardner its a portion of the salary based on the companys performance. As you know, congress encouraged us to develop a pay for performance system, we use this to entice great employees to the company and retain they will. The salary its a we provide at amtrak paille in compare pail in comparison to our Freight Railway counterparts, its essential we have the best employees. We use this as a retention tool. Its very consistent with private sectors everywhere. Mr. Nehls i appreciate that. I think, mr. Gardner, i think when its taxpayers money, transparency is important, there should be no reason why you wouldnt be willing to share and you did share your salary but the bonus, whether its 25 or 50 i think the american taxpayer has a right to know what theyre paying their leaders with amtrak. With that i yield five minutes to Ranking Member larsen for his questions. Oh, mr. Payne, im sor rirk mr. Payne. Mr. Payne thank you. You know, in reference to the question asked of mr. Gardner in terms of his salary and bonuses, i think it pails in comparison it peals pales in comparison to freight rail compensation on the other side which is not open to the public. So we know that their compensation other the past several years has been in the millions. So i think we thank you, mr. Gardner, for working at a Bargain Basement salary. Mr. Gardner, while some parts of the country are slowly recovering from covid, and the intercity rail ridership, others have almost fully recovered. An excellent example can be found in the ridership numbers and investments made in North Carolina and virginia. Please tell us the state transportation agencies are doing differently what theyre doing differently to drive an increase in the inner city rail passengers and what amtrak is doing to shift these state transportation agencies in fulfilling these goals. Mr. Gardner thank you for the question. Youre right, North Carolina and Virginia Services is really exceptional. I think the key is really three things. One, sustained program of investment and leadership within the state. The states have excellent rail departments that focus on their programs in partnership with us. Theyve been willing to invest significantly. While i agree with the chairman that our focus has to be on improving the network we have and rebuilding our assets, thats what the iij funds allow us to do, recapitalize our assets. It what it doesnt allow us to do is focus on improvement to different areas, thats why additional funding is necessary. The dollars here provided for the state expansion are really coming from the state. And virginia has invested over roughly 4 billion to upgrade the infrastructure between washington and richmond. In partnership with c. S. X. And amtrak. That investment is being critical, their leadership at the state level has been critical. And their focus on connecting markets and building station investments that support connectivity to rail, so theres a great new station in raleigh, a new station coming in charlotte. And a real focus on providing frequency, for instance, North Carolina is about to add a fourth piedmont frequency, so creating enough utility so passengers have trains they can take at the right times of day, at the right time to connect to those markets. So we see virginia through its service to the south of roanoke, newport news, norfolk, and richmond really exceeding their goals in terms of ridership growth coming back from the pandemic and great opportunity long term to further connect the northeast corridor to the southeast and really build a coastal connection of mr. Payne one of the many benefits of the rail Service Across northeast corridor is getting cars off the road and providing air traffic in our already congested airspace. Can you elaborate how proposed Infrastructure Projects across the northeast corridor and will benefit the communities in the region economically and how these impacts will impact the global fight against Climate Change . Mr. Warner thank you. The transportation is the sector that emits the highest level of Greenhouse Gases. The more we can attract riders to northeast corridor trains which of most are electrified, the most we can reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and reduce automobile congestion and i rode down from vermont and massachusetts, connecticut through new york, new jersey, delaware this weekend and i sure wish more people were taking the train for that trip. So a lot of the work we are doing to create more frequent service, Faster Service, is going to bring more riders and take riders from automobiles and take riders from airplanes both of which submit more Greenhouse Gas emissions and roads on i95 and the aviation system. The more we can connect our plans, bring more riders to amtrak and commuter trains we will be better off from a rider perspective and climate perspective. Mr. Payne i drive down and i leave between midnight and 4 00 in the morning to buypass all that traffic between new jersey and washington, d. C. So thank you for that. This question is for both of our witnesses. I will continue to work on disadvantaged Business Enterprise for the f. R. A. Funding, but in the meantime, could you share what efforts you are making to ensure contracts are going to help create a level Playing Field for Small Businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals . I am pleased to report we have made a lot of progress on supplier diversity and d. B. E. s. We have a program which includes minority and womenowned, veterans and disabled veteran businesses, Small Businesses, et cetera. And we set a goal of 15 of our contracting and procurement from these entities and in 2022, we exceeded that goal of achieving 25 , 484 million with diverse suppliers. And so we have been working hard to do that. In 2023, we are at 27. 8 that are spent through diverse suppliers. And we have a new upgraded Supplier Diversity Office that has outreach and Small Business resource center. Many Small Businesses of all types that are out there that have important capabilities to offer, amtrak and the Rail Industry particularly as we are growing and working hard to have a supply and better quality and better pricing and redundancy. As we saw during the pandemic supply chain have challenged us. We want a base of potential suppliers. This is a goodbyes to Diverse Businesses that can allow us to succeed. Mr. Payne thank you. Mr. Warner contract with the Major Construction projects, proper screct managers. Related opportunity i might point out is in work force development. The work force needs along the corridor are tremendous to invest these new funds and we need to go out and find new workers, not the traditional workers we have always had but we have to do more job training and do this in nontraditional places so i think that is a major potential opportunity to diversify the work force, expand the work force. It creates jobs. It creates equitable jobs and helps us deliver different projects that need to be delivered. Mr. Payne thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for your consideration. Mr. Nehls i realize mr. Babin. Mr. Babin i appreciate you mr. Gardner and mr. Warner for being here today. To follow up with the chairmans line of questioning, is it legal to carry a firearm or any weapon on amtrak . By passengers snr. Mr. Gardner we do not permit firearms onboard other than in a watch, you can transport your firearm. Mr. Babin even if you have a permit to carry it through the states you are traveling on . Mr. Gardner we do not allow firearms onboard. Mr. Babin passenger screening is nothing like air travel or what people must go through here. The blank line Passenger Rail system in florida has implemented screenings to prevent persons bringing dangerous weapons on its trains and not as comprehensive as the Airport Technology but better than nothing. If you are sitting there and someone has broken the law and has a weapon and you are totally defenseless, you are up the creek. Why hasnt amtrak developed similar screening to protect passengers of amtrak . Mr. Gardner we take security very seriously and using a system to protect our passengers. And have good results. Incidents are quite rare on amtrak. But i share your concern that as we continue opportunities to increase security are really important. First a couple of things we do today already. We have random screening with t. S. A. We have a large fleet of trained dogs for both explosives and other interdiction. We partner with d. H. S. And viper teams to do inspections and federal air marshals in partnership with them to be able to be part of our Security Forces on our trains. We have increased our a. P. D. Work force and we have put many more officers on trains in the field. And we are looking at the kind of technology that you discussed similarly in many stadiums and others are using relatively unintrusive but materials to further screen. We have a network of 500 stations across america handling hundreds of thousands of americans trying to think how we can embed technology in our trains, to increase security. Amtrak receives relatively little funding from t. S. A. And t. S. A. Program has relatively little. To increase significantly, we will need greater partnerships and support. But we are interested in this and taking it very seriously. Mr. Babin if you are going to allow the private lawabiding passengers to protect themselves and you have to protect them and keep bad actors from bringing weapons aboard. Last congress, the infrastructure law gave amtrak a tremendous amount of funding and amtrak may apply for federal programs and grants and crisi grants and federal, state partnership. They are well oversubscribed already and countless more safety projects are in need of funding and 95 programs and only 30 or so will be funded and amtraks annual or legislative report you seek to get permission to use federal funds that you receive from the iija to serve. Do you feel it is appropriate that state and local governments or shortline railroads to have to compete against amtrak for these very limited funds . Mr. Gardner first, let me say we support the crisi program and class 2 and class 3 partners and the broad eligibility of crisi. Its important to understand the dollars that came to amtrak are for specific purposes. We cant use them for improving the railroad. They are focused on good repair, replacement for our fleet and infrastructure. So those dollars arent eligible for every activity. Thats what we seek to partner almost always with Host Railroads, states and carriers to find improvements and where the system is not required but where we think appropriate. Track upgrades with Host Railroads where the track is is falling below Amtrak Service. They are not things we can use to otherwise accomplish. And amtrak relatively small portion of the total crisi pot. They are going to Freight Railroads. Mr. Babin i am out of time. Mr. Nehls i recognize Ranking Member larsen. Mr. Larsen after the bill passed. One of the challenges passed to make sure enough people to hire. Can you update us on what your people plan looks like and where you are in achieving that . Mr. Gardner yes, sir. I appreciate the question. We have had Great Results so far in our hiring efforts. We are really changing the whole scale of the company and last year we hired 3700 people already this year. We have hired 2700 folks. By the end of the year, we will have hired 5,000 additional employees. Normal retirements and some of it is to create more capacity and those jobs are across america. And focused all across our different functions. A significant portion of those are craft hires and maintaining infrastructure. But we invested in our Program Management design capacity all of the professionals that are out there to help us build new projects and update our infrastructure. Mr. Larsen are there areas you lost people in a function and having to build that back up in particular . So its been a good partnership. Mr. Larsen historic investment in Passenger Rail but historic investment in hiring people in order to have Passenger Rail. Mr. Gardner we are doing the hiring that amtrak would do in a year now that we would take half a decade to have done previously because of this new capacity we need to build and chance to build new generation of rail workers. One of the most exciting about this time, we are building a new generation of skilled employees who are here to contribute to the mission. Mr. Larsen the commission, you mentioned the folks on infrastructure. Do you have a similar set of issues in hiring people to make these projects work. One of the big challenges of implementing all these projects spending the money from the infrastructure bill is hiring workers. And its critical. And tight labor market. That hiring has to be done in creating a lot of good jobs but essential these projects move forward. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on the corridor and nationwide and you have to have the work force, both management and labor to make it happen. And without the funding uncertainty of the infrastructure bill, amtrak wouldnt be hiring as much as it is right now. Funding certainty is critical to give our members the confidence to go out and train. You are hiring sometimes for a year or more. Mr. Larsen second point i want to make i made in my Opening Statement is that passengers in states want moral rail service. This is not not to say how great Washington State and northwest is, we tend to be more ahead in the statesupported system. What kind of work needs to take place in different areas of the country to get caught up on the statesupported systems . We have generally restored frequencies through all of our routes across the United States, but you are right that we have a Strong Program pest and Pacific Northwest is great. The goal would be to introduce fifth and sixth trips to increase Service Still and we are able to go back to vancouver and two trips there and current statesupported system. We have seen a lot of enthusiasm from all over. It is important to note has stayed community driven. This is a decision that states make to decide to expand or invest in service. Mr. Larsen you have to wrap up. Mr. Gardner there are a lot of places that dont have Passenger Rail service like in the cascades, the southeast, Mountain West and a lot of interest from communities right there. Mr. Nehls i yield to mr. Stauber for five minutes. Mr. Stauber mr. Gardner, i want to talk about safety and security, between 2015 and 2021, Amtrak Police department received a lot of emergency calls this is double what they received in previous years. What is the current size of the Amtrak Police force . Mr. Gardner thank you for the question, sir. And our current work force is about 406, 407. Mr. Stauber would you consider that fully staffed . Mr. Gardner our goal is 431 which we believe we will be achieved by the end of this fiscal year. We have a lot of folks in training and competitive environment to get Law Enforcement folks and working to achieve that. Mr. Stauber im glad you said this, safety is the number one priority. At amtrak. A. P. D. Suggests that you are restructuring and modernizing and training. What does that restructuring and modernized training look like . Mr. Gardner i think that the core of our strategy is to deploy resources. We are date afterdriven organization and the chief behind me leads our efforts to prioritize our response and make sure we have the right assets in the right space. And to create the modern training methods and right force philosophy to serve our communities well. That means right now more train mr. Stauber did you say force philosophy . Force . What does that mean . Mr. Gardner our talking about the policing philosophy and integrate with our partners. We have to partner with local Police Forces and f. B. I. And t. S. A. And thats the key to ensure we secure by this relationship of partners across the network. Mr. Stauber and a. P. D. Is a priority for amtrak . Mr. Gardner yes. Mr. Stauber i want to get to what chairman nails was talking about. Your salary is 500,000 and you received a bonus and you said in your words great employees and retain them, you need bonuses. Did members of the a. D. P. Receive bonuses . Disbarred guard our management work mr. Stauber did any Amtrak Police force members on the line, did they receive bonuses equivalent to your percentage . Mr. Gardner those Management Employees did. The other employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Mr. Stauber did they receive bonuses . Mr. Gardner no. Mr. Stauber and to give bonuses, in order to keep great employees, bonuses were part of that. So it seems at this moment, those boots on the ground that keep the passengers safe, which is your priority, they didnt receive a dime, nothing extra, nothing extra. And you had executives that received bonuses of 200,000 a year, paid primarily by the american taxpayer. Mr. Gardner, i represent the 8th district of minnesota, who make 55,000. You received a bonus four times with the hardworking men and women i represent and some of that tax money went to your bonus. Do you think thats fair . Mr. Gardner i would say that the representative members of the a. P. D. Receive benefits with their collective bargaining agreement. We negotiate that as with all of our unions and we traded off a pension about 10 years ago almost and put compensation guaranteed for employees. Mr. Stauber i am concerned that amtrak is placing growth. Those Police Officers see that you are getting bonuses and executive board are getting bonuses paid by the american taxpayer and you cant help those Police Officers . As a former police officer, i find that extremely offensive and i yield back. Mr. Nehls i yield to mr. Moulton. Mr. Moulton are they allowed to negotiate and take it to the next collective bargaining negotiation . Mr. Gardner yes. Mr. Moulton you and i have had about efforts to decrease trip time and talk about speeds and dont focus enough how we get people faster to where they need to go. You raised speeds from chicago to st. Louis to 110 Miles Per Hour. Why did it take so long to get to 110 Miles Per Hour . Mr. Gardner thank you for the question and trip time is very important, a key piece of what is attractive about rails. This is a program led by the Illinois State d. O. T. With Union Pacific and funded by the f. R. A. And amtrak was a supporter and it took a long time to rebuild the railway which was necessary and upgrade the signal system there to handle 110 mileanhour service. Its great we have achieved it. And its an important outcome and big game changer for service in illinois. Mr. Moulton we had trains going at 100 miles an hour and fairly common in the 1930s. Any plan for chicago to st. Louis to highspeeds like 200 Miles Per Hour, twice as fast as trains are going on that corridor today snr. Mr. Gardner to go above 110 miles an hour you have to have a salaried corridor and changes in the alignment. So in certain corridors those investments are appropriate. What i think we have achieved here in illinois is to really achieve standard level of inner city for. 110 mileanhour service. And where there is demand and opportunity pursuing does make sense. Mr. Moulton commuters are going 125 Miles Per Hour and i think we could set our sights a bit higher. With regards to trip time checking your website, looks like the trip times have decreased. Mr. Gardner we are in the production season of the major capital work that is occurring on the northeast corridor and added certain trains mr. Moulton like chicago to st. Louis. Mr. Gardner chicago to st. Louis. The scheduled change has not yet taken place. We are in testing of the new speed but the Upcoming Schedule will occur here soon. The trains are operating faster, the trains are operating at the current speed. Mr. Moulton there are a lot of places in the northeast corridor where we have to improve trip times and speeds. We have talked about this in the past and sent a letter in august of 2022, have we made any improvements in trip time in the northeast corridor . Mr. Gardner we have a lot of work to do that. Major capital programs are going to be the way we can change some of the trip time. The baltimorepotomac tunnel. And 30 miles an hour and make that 100 mileanhour alignment. A number of bridges, as we replace them will give us faster speed and as we bundle with those upgrades to our infrastructure and looking to shorten curves and create faster speeds and put the new lines in the right alignment to maximize speed. Our goal is to get 160 miles an hour where the railroad permits it today with the gee om met try and signal and power. Mr. Moulton when do you think we can see timetables improve on the northeast corridor . Mr. Warner we are focused on improving trip time with projects within the existing right of way. You can straighten curves. You can replace signal systems. Mr. Moulton when i go to new york, its faster than it is today. A year, two years . Mr. Warner it will take a number of years. When you get three minutes, you have 30g seconds there. And the studies that are going on for new right of way and significant trip time improvements. Mr. Moulton i think the American People want to see those returns. Billions of dollars here and this is what weve got. Mr. Nehls i recognize mr. Burchett for five minutes. Mr. Burchett amtrak awarded sixfigure executive bonuses despite these losses. You attempted to take over Union Station that cost hundreds of millions of dollars for the sake of benefit returns, you forced unwanted routes and guaranteed annual losses, what is your projected operating loss, mr. Gardner . Mr. Gardner for this year, a little more than 800 million down significantly from the year and prior year before. Mr. Burchett according to amtraks fiveyear plan for fiscal year 20222027, amtrak expects to lose 1 billion per year, do you think amtrak will be cutting or increasing ticket prices . Mr. Gardner our plan has been updated. And we are doing it on both ends as you suggest. You have to maintain and reduce costs and difficult in this high inflation environment. We are 30 higher. And come back to revenues of 2019 there is a big gap. We are trying to build revenues and doing a good job but we are about to get to 2019 revenue levels to maintain and improving trajectory, our hope is on the train side of the business to get back to that breakeven. And amtrak with 14 years and took us a lot of work to break even before the pandemic. I know we can do it again but it will take a while mr. Burchett thats with the influx of tax dollars, correct . Yes or no . You dont need im going to run out of time. In your written testimony, you stated that you expect additional losses due to the capitalrelated operating costs through the infrastructure and jobs act. How much do you expect these operating costs to be . Mr. Gardner several millions of dollars we have to train the work force and there is a whole series of costs that are associated with the capital work that we have to bear the expense. And they hit the p. N. L. We have to double the amount of workers. And takes up to two years to train those folks and while we are training them they are expense and not capital. Those are the costs we have to take for a bit that are in support. Mr. Burchett not in my notes but memory serves me there are several exposes and i dont like that term. Is that still a problem . Mr. Warner food and bench mr. Burchett food and bench. Mr. Warner food and bench service is part of it. We heard from many members we want to see better quality. So we are focused on doing that. Mr. Burchett i would hope they would be fiscally responsible at least paying for the food. That would be fiscally responsible move and i think congress would smile upon that if we were able to smile. Ive got no time left. I yield to congressman cohen. He is my mentor in this committee. Mr. Cohen you heard about his salary being 500,000 compared to the t. V. A. Chairmans salary, isnt it cheap . Mr. Burchett i would gladly pay him half a million dollars. Im not bitter about that nor are you. Mr. Nehls i yield to representative strickland. My home state has been a long time supporter. As my time as mayor, i played a roll in the new tacoma station. Because of that experience i know it is critical to ensure local, state and federal governments to produce critical Investments Building up our work force. And i look forward to strengthening this federal partnership. And mr. Gardner, i know that Ranking Member larsen en talked about the Pacific Northwest network. The Washington State department and amtrak are working on the amtrak Cascade Development service plan and specifically at adding two more times that are going to go between seattle and portland and talk about this timeline and when we can expect these frequencies to be available to the public . And you would also stated adding these between seattle and portland is depending on having cars available and talk about the challenges they face and realities part of the supply chain . Mr. Gardner as you know, the Cascade Service retired the 6 train sets that were in service there. And horizon. And as you mentioned, the additional cars are necessary for the service, with additional frequencies coming from our midwest pool and in fact waiting on the delivery of the cars to the states. The states procured the cars and amtrak, the operator of that equipment and deliver between seimens and the state. We were supposed to start with 60 new cars with programs in service but they were delayed and they are still coming into service now. About 50 . Service. Our goal is to have 60 in service. We are making Good Progress and the manufacturer are working well together to deliver this equipment and shortage of equipment and cascaded across the network and anxious to continue those deliveries and get the equipment into service and be able to deploy equipment to support the additional frequencies in washington and he oregon. Can we better expand your service. Mr. Gardner this sets the service up for success because there is a strong vision of the service and how it can progress. Partnership to Host Railroads. Are key and working with them to get better ontime performance and continue the opportunities to expand with the Host Railroads that is the main challenge in addition to equipment. I will say our new air otrains used the Cascade Service and cascade will be the test bed for our new trains and going to be a great experience. As we look at Passenger Rail service with an aging population, people are wanting to drive and growing population we know these things will become more highly used and more revenue but going to take time because the United States isnt densely populate. Thank you for being here today. Mr. Nehls i recognize. I appreciate you are looking at new routes for your riders but come to my attention that amtrak is looking at the south shore rail line over to the west and northwest indiana. Well established that it is going to a double track in the Michigan City area in order to speed up the service between south bend and chicago. One of the things i am concerned about if amtrak were to assert authority and come in on that line, my real question is would you commit to working with the south shore to ensure that it would not face any undue scheduling or burden costs should you come in and use that line . Thank you for the question, congressman. We are looking at a variety of options and no decisions how we improve our service. This is vital. And vital for the number of trains that we hope can operate in the midwest. The south shore route one potential route as you said is double tracks and comes through comprehensive upgrading and we have run into problems in the Freight Lines that are parallel to the south shore and impacts performance. We would do so cooperatively with the south shore and our conversations have been about looking to see if there is an opportunity for partnership. The frequency is relatively low. We have 24 trains an hour on the twotrack in the northeast. There is lots of capacity but we have to be utilizing it that doesnt take away from the south shores business and net benefit. We would contribute as necessary as we do. And be able to be a partner for the south shore and serve the communities that are served by the south shore with inner city which today they arent. I hope it would be collaborative that doesnt negatively affect the south shore oral putting undue cost burden on that. I will be continuing to watch this. I want to shift gears how amtrak makes decision in this service. Amtrak is starting the daily trip between chicago and st. Paul, minnesota. How long will it take for that train, what is the total commute time between chicago and minneapolis . Mr. Gardner about six hours on the current route of the empire build. This is service we have, Long Distance from chicago to seattle and portland. Between a partnership between the three states involved here, minnesota, wisconsin and illinois is take an existing service which goes to milwaukee and run that service west across the current route to the twin cities. You are looking at about 7 1 2 hours between chicago time. How much federal and taxpayer subsidies do you expect on an annual basis on this route to get it up and running . Mr. Gardner the federal subsidies will be limited as you know, statesupported services i have to get back to you. But the states pay the subsidies that is the deal. With is the total number here is 7 million per route to get that up and running. On 7 1 2 hour commute, you can drive it in six hours. We checked flights going from chicago up to minneapolis and we picked a random day, august 8, 18, nonstop flights per day between chicago and minneapolisst. Paul from 6 00 a. M. To 10 00 p. M. At a cost, lowest cost of 84 per ticket. And what im trying to understand is how is this a goodbyes and financial decision for amtrak given those facts . Rrl again, the primary financial costs or borne by the states and elect to do this because they see value. Today, between the twin cities and chicago is one of the strongest pairs. But this is a train that comes once a day. Many travelers dont find the you will schedule convenient this provides a different frequency and we see people like the train all the time for many reasons, many are too old to drive. Air service is not always reliable particularly in bad weather and this creates redundancy and gives us more options for folks to travel. I yield back. Mr. Nehls i recognize mrs. Napolitano. Mrs. Napolitano i have several comments and several questions, bear with me. The California Transportation Commission and my years here have never found the rail almost always subsidized. How long been requesting for repair and infrastructure due to the deter regulates of infrastructure. Mr. Gardner it has been a source to try to upgrade the old assets that we upgraded in 1971. Mrs. Napolitano the total cost to the Railroad Administration is 100 billion. Is that true . Mr. Warner 40 billion for the bridges and tunnels. Mrs. Napolitano we have only given amtrak 22 . Mr. Gardner correct. Mrs. Napolitano trains in china and france they have up to date equipment. Somehow we have got to speed up our systems so we can provide essentially good Service Since we have the best nation in the world, am i correct . Mr. Warner absolutely. This is the foundation for all the service having a modern, reliable infrastructure and cant do that with bridges and tunnels that were built when Teddy Roosevelt was president and William Howard taft was president. Mrs. Napolitano how ruin creasing ridership, mr. Gardner . Mr. Gardner we are working hard to increase ridership and great response. A third of all of our passengers on amtrak are new passengers, riders who never ridden it. Strong demand for Leisure Travel and Business Travel is down. But we are able to backfill that demand by creating a reliable product and using fares and promotions. Mrs. Napolitano how is the cost to travel on amtrak and how are you tracking new ridership in california specifically . Mr. Gardner the state leads the programs that established the fare policy and approach how we market those services, how they market the services. And i think as you know, i am sure, unfortunately the surf liner has been impacted by three different events, blocking event yesterday that severed the route and that has been a major impact and connecting san diego to los angeles and working hard with the Host Railroad and bring the service back and when you do this, there is a lot of frequency in california and ascrews the service in terms of the demands of working from home. Mrs. Napolitano how about the cost . Mr. Gardner the cost as it relates to passengers. The state policy is to keep the fares available so more people can use the train. Mrs. Napolitano how many people know that . Mr. Gardner is a pretty well kn bargain and you see lots of demands in various corridors but there is even more to get the word out. Mrs. Napolitano it c where does congressman carson. Lk like . Mr. Gardner thank you, congressman carson. Beach grove is an important facility to you and its important to amtrak. Its the vital hub for the maintenance of much of our Long Distance fleet and locomotive fleet. Its critical for amtrak. One of the great things come as a result of the iija investment is we have the dollars to invest in repair needs at some of our major facilities and we are doing lots of hiring in the mechanical shops. Building up that work force in beach grove is something we have been doing, theres lots of work under way. Its a critical facility for amtrak. Similarly, facilities in other parts of the country are also going to receive investment and are having more workers there because weve got to get all our equipment back in shape and keep it maintained. Mr. Carson secondly, im a big supporter of amtraks National Network, especially the cardinal line which connects northeastern cities like new york to mid western cities like minneapolis and chicago. Unfortunately, with the loss of the Hoosier State line, we lost Daily Service from indianapolis to chicago, which was critically important. Though slow. These important connections, i think they need to be restored to Daily Service. And made more consistent and reliably on schedule. Mr. Gardner, is amtrak, under your leadership, committed to strengthening Long Distance various on the National Network and are you committed, sir, to improving the cardinal lines reliability in restoring Daily Service from chitown to naptown . Mr. Gardner thank you for the question. I rode the cardinal just a few weeks ago, it was a great trip we do believe theres an opportunity for two things. One is potentially providing Daily Service on the cardinal between the northeast via West Virginia and ohio and indiana, and also to work with the state on opportunities for Corridor Service between indianapolis and chicago and of Course Service potential to the east, to cincinnati, etc. Those are going to be decisions that are driven by the states. I mentioned a couple of times today the growth of this network is going to be decision the decision that state partners make together with the u. S. Dott and f. R. A. Funding. Similarly Long Distance is a network we operate on your behalf. Its Something Congress set for us in the iiya and as part of the iija, the f. R. A. Has been charged with undertaking a study to lack at expansions and improvements and restorations to the Long Distance network so this is a great process that the f. R. A. Is leading. Amtrak is involved and will be providing information and input. The work we have applied for funding to look at Daily Service on the cardinal line and daily on the Sunset Limited between new orleans via houston all the way to los angeles. That would allow us to do some preparatory work and the f. A. A. Will ultimately decide what the future of the Long Distance network could be and recommend, i believe, to congress what those changes would need to be. We really operate that service on your behalf and so its the f. R. A. s role to look at those options and congress to consider them. Mr. Carson thank you. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Mr. Nehls the gentleman yields. I recognize mr. Molinaro for five minutes. Mr. Molinaro could you tell me how much the average amtrak ticket is subsidized . Mr. Gardner it depends on the on the route but in, for instance, on the northeast corridor theres about a net operating surplus of about 10 per passenger. On statesupported, its a subsidy of about 16 per passenger. And on Long Distance its about 148 per passenger. Mr. Molinaro i want to offer, in 2019, on a per passenger mile its 35. 6 cents. 35. 6 cents subsidized. Im not familiar with many of those freight industry, freight rails that are equally subsidized by taxpayers. But mr. Gardner, im going to quote a New York Times article that mr. Chairman, id like to submit for the record and seek unanimous consent to enter into the record. Mr. Nehls without objection. Mr. Molinaro the New York Times reported in august, stephen j. Gardner, amtraks chief executive received 600,000 in bonuses more than any other executive. Weve been discussing the bonuses received during this hearing. What id like to know because you talk about metrics and incentivizing, what metrics are you measured against to consistently receive the bonuses that amtrak subsidized by taxpayers, is giving consistent with failure to turn a profit . Where is the New York Times wrong . Mr. Gardner first off, the question of consistency, it is not consistent. We have not received bonuses many years. Mr. Molinaro im speaking 2016 to 2021. 2021 in the height of covid when thousands of families were unemployed or lost lives like mine. Why would, what metric, would you use to determine a 200,000 bonus is sufficiently acceptable for an industry subsidized by taxpayers . Mr. Gardner in 2020, we suspended our Bonus Program, executives like myself took a 22 pay cut for the entire year. Mr. Molinaro your answer is in 2021, since you took sacrificed in 2020, 2021, 200,000 is sufficient . Mr. Gardner the basis for the 2021 award was our Financial Performance which beat our anticipated level by working hard to do that. Mr. Molinaro lowest point of amtraks ridership. Massive folks left sitting on the sidelines while many of your employees were working damn hard. I want to turn because that to me frames my next line of questioning. In 2022, amtraks 2022 a. D. A. Progress report, amtrak addressed the responsibility, only 90 of the 387 stations were responsible for implementation. In 199, 0 the americans with disabilities act was established and established a 20year time frame for train stations to be accessible for those with disabilities. Yet in the northeast corridor i can tell you my own experience in duchess county, amtrak should be ashamed of its lack of a. D. A. Compliance. In hudson, new york, northeast corridor, amtrak should be ashamed of its consistent failure to meet a. D. A. Compliance if you think this doesnt frustrate folks like us, it does what commitment is amtrak able to make today to fully fulfill the a. D. A. Requirement departmented in 1990, knowing that at the very least in the northeast corridor, in my part of the country, we have for now two generations that have been left with individuals in wheelchairs trying to find their way over active tracks . Mr. Gardner i share your palings for compliance with the a. D. A. Mr. Molinaro but not the outcomes. Mr. Gardner we have acheed more progress than youve noted. There are 110 fully compliant stations and 60 additional compliant stations with the exception of platform work. Much of the work done today was retarded by lack of funding. Thats solved with the iija which includes money to bring all the response facilities were responsible for into compliance. We will do that. Were working hard to achieve really good results. Well have 39 additional projects completed by the end of this fiscal year. So we are on path to address this. One of the main issues is also the various ownership of these stations. We own a very small percentage of them. Mr. Molinaro my time is up. Quoting from the inch g. Report, i would like to see the same kind of commitment to achieve the a. D. A. Compliance as you suggest. Mr. Nehls i recognize mr. Cohen for five minutes mr. Cohen im a big supporter of amtrak Passenger Rail Service Throughout the country and of course i also have an interest in my area, memphis which has new orleans, chicago, city of new orleans, but also wants to expand to little rock and or nashville. Can you give me and assessment of where those possible expansions, service out of memphis, stand at the present time . Mr. Gardner thank you, congressman. Thanks for your supporting leadership on Passenger Rail issues. I know that the state has submitted a quarter identification application to the federal Rail Administration for service from memphis east to nashville, to chattanooga and atlanta. Thats a very interesting corridor, one that holds a lot of promise. And the process now will be for the f. R. A. To consider those applications for the Corridor Development program. And to make their selections. That will provide some initial seed funding to begin the planning work so thats a great step. And one that we support. Mr. Cohen could the state do more . Is the state doing whats necessary . Mr. Gardner this is the first critical stoap get in the program, to express make theirs decisions therell be a process to further study and work with Host Railroads and work with operators like ourselves to plan ou was necessary by the state. Mr. Cohen that route, i think, could be very important because ford is opening a major plant about 40 or 50 miles out of memphis. Rail getting people to and from that facility. And also further into middle tennessee, would be important. But the memphis to nashville area is not served by air transportation, commercial air. There would be, and i have heard, a great amount of support in memphis and nashville, people in memphis want to go to nashville, the state capital, for all kind of reasons. People in nashville have even more reasons to leave and come to memphis. So theres a great synergy of energy there that would be important. I urge you to look at that carefully. Also little rock. Weve had the governor of arkansas, the state of arkansas, have they done anything to get the memphis to little rock route to go on to dallas . Mr. Gardner i think there are a lot of tuns. I was just on the city of new orleans several months ago, had a chance to see the great station in memphis and the development happening there. And you know, basically, if you know, late at night, the amount of demand there is. Similar in little rock. I was recently on the texas eagle at 3 15 a. M. 30 or 40 passengers lining up to take the train. So if we could serve those markets during the day, with Reliable Service to connecticut these city pairs, we think theres a real opportunity for rail to play a bigger role. Mr. Cohen is arkansas doing anything to help that . Mr. Gardner im not sure that that corridor has been submitted forthe corridor i. D. Program but the good news is that thats a rolling process. Therell be more opportunities for states to put forward other opportunities of interest. Mr. Cohen i presume your heard about it they are gannett newspapers ran a section on summer travel, one highlight was on rail. It talked about the routes. But there were two criticisms. One was you have to wait, just get used to it. The other was dining. You know ive been concerned about the dining experience, which i experienced as a child. I think thats part of the romance of train travel. What is going to be done with the amtrak food and Beverage Group report on improving dining, making it more available, which enhances the consumers enjoyment of the amtrak experience . Mr. Gardner thank yous for that question. We have work hard to restore traditional dining and had Great Results as a result of that on our western trains. Were bringing traditional dining back to our Service Service in the east. We are looking at the as i mentioned, weve got the food and beverage recommendations here recently. Were working on going through those. Amtrak was part of that. Its a big group of folks from the culinary world from our riders, our labor partners, coming together to give us great recommendations about thousand improve the service. Well be back to congress with our take on that report and the different efforts that are under way. But were committed to improving the experience and making, as we have done, in certain instance, making the dining car available to coach passengers where we have capacity. Mr. Cohen thank you. I look forward to traveling on one of the longer trains from chicago to los angeles, to see the country and enjoy it. Last question, i dont want to harp on this at all but did Richard Anderson start the Bonus Program or was it before him . Richard anderson, did he start the idea of bonuses at amtrak . Mr. Gardner it began under c. E. O. Joe boardman. It was a response to the Passenger Rail improvement act of 2008 which encouraged that amtrak adopt a program that was performancebased. Because based on the long history of amtrak, a loft the compensation has been deferred compensation in the form of pension this took away that and actually saved taxpayers, you know, hundreds of millions, a billion dollars of future exposure and traded that for performancebased compensation. So that amtrak employees would be tied to the goals and metrics that we set. As i mentioned thats not been something that simply is awarded. Its earned and often times the company has not achieved its goals. Mr. Cohen thank you, i yield back the balance of my time i look forward to my ham and eggs in carolina. Mr. Nehls i recognize mr. Lamalfa for five minutes. Mr. Lamalfa mr. Gardner, first i want to, hen back a lit i want to hearken back a little bit to the bonus, but its not a good look when things are going so badly for the country during the covid era that even though maybe the expectations of the rail were a little better than lowball, you know hopes that shouldnt kick in big bonuses like that. Its just its about as popular as Congress Getting pay raises or Something Like that. That all said, its when staff says ridership has returned to precovid levels but how can that be when ridership in fiscal year 2022 was seen as about 85 overall, the final six months and overall for the year was 68 , how do we say were at precovid levels when you can see its 2 3 of that . Mr. Gardner congressman, thanks for the question. As of april we were at 89 of our prepandemic demand. And that essentially is on roughly 85 of our capacity so we dont have as many trains in the marketplace, we dont have as long, so we have more demand against available capacity than we did in prepandemic. Were working hard to restore capacity. Well have essentially be back to capacity levels in 2024. Thats why were confident well get back to the 32 million riders. Mr. Lamalfa so you think 100 in 2024 . Mr. Gardner about 28. 5 million is our expectation for 2023. Mr. Lamalfa has it been evenly dis beud along Long Distance routes, state routes or the corridor . They have different performances . Mr. Gardner they have different performances. We have some routes that exceeded prepandemic levels. Some that are less. I would say the routes that are having the less ridership are those that are more subject to the impact of work from home and were more subject to daily commute. Mr. Lamalfa the most important is probably the northeast corridor, how sit doing . Mr. Gardner northeast corridor, we were at 1 below riders for that same week in 2019 so theres plenty of demand on the northeast corridor and our Long Distance trains, theres Strong Demand in number of them, particularly for our sleeping class product. Mr. Lamalfa sorry, i have three committees at the same time, havent had the benefit of hearing the whole committee. I have a reference to what was known as the train ride from hell from virginia to florida, a january of this year. A normally 17hour ride added another 0 hours, i understand its because of a derailment. Several delays made a terrible ride for the passengers. So the problem i have with it is that people are not allowed to have the options to get off the train and move around or maybe just jump off if someone comes to pick them up or they get an alternate. Of course they seem to run out of food during the time on the train. So. And then just lack of knowledge of whats going on to zo people can exercise options. Whats being done to, you know, you hear that with airlines sometimes too, not leaving the gate so whats being done to give passengers a little more respect or options on letting them get off the darn train if they need to just to stretch, you know . Is there ability to be table reverse to the previous train station or appropriate area, even a good crossing that people could get off and, what do you think about that . Mr. Gardner so youre right, this is a difficult trip, we certainly apologize and refunded to all our customers. It was driven by a grade crossing accident between a train and vehicle that tbloakd route. Our train, this is a special train,s the auto train. This is a train where we have a number of cars carrying passengers and then a number of auto racks carrying their vehicles. Its an unusual train we had denarytd nerm tall and because of the configuration and throafnt train it was not possible to reverse it or turn it anywhere en route. C. F. S. Gave us information, the best information they had at the time which was to reroute the train but it turned out that routeing took much, much longer than they had expected. They were required to produce additional crew to help us navigate the portion of the route we dont normally use. As far as letting people get off at stations, and always if theres a problem to come to a stop another at the station. The problem was separating people from their cars. If we got them off they couldnt get their cars because the cars would be stuck we had to get them to the final station. It was difficult. We did provide food and water throughout the trip. There were times later when passengers could get off but it was the middle of the night. It was an unfortunate experience, were spending a lot of time and effort on that. Mr. Lamalfa i guess in the future you got to give people opportunities to, in other situations, i was involved, we went on a trip there, its you got to give people options to be able to get out, move around, get Better Service that way. My time flew by. Ill yield back, mr. Chairman. Mr. Nehls mr. Lamalfa yields. I recognize mr. Carter for five minutes. Mr. Carter mr. Chairman, Ranking Member. Mr. Gardner, for the people of louisiana who have been very patient in waiting for rail between new orleans, baton rouge and mobile. Heres your shot. Give them the shout of confidence that this is going to happen. Mr. Gardner well, thank you, mr. Carter. And we are very confident about bringing service to the gulf coast and we have reached a settlement with our partners and our hope is to comment by the end of the year. Could be pushed a little longer depending on the construction work happening in mobile, the station there. Some other things. Were working hard. Theres strong support from the state and the commission as you know. We are really just at this point got to get all the elements in place. Amtrak is committed, has been long committed, to this service and to be a partner to the Southern Rail Commission. As it relates to baton rouge, we supported certainly the louisiana and Southern Rail Commission efforts there and have a Strong Partnership with Canadian Pacific now k. Kpkc to provide, to permit to us operate trains over that route. Therell be some investment required particularly with the spillway there to facilitate the service a good plan, both ourselves and b. P. Are soon to be in receipt of the preliminary Engineering Work for the report. Thats necessary for us to look at those tuns. But we see that service there could happen in several years and mobile to new orleans should be within the year. Mr. Carter fantastic. Thank very much. I know how hard you worked but i want to emphasize how important it is for the people of new orleans, for the region. Its something thats been longawaited and were excited about the movement. In the gulf coast working group, 2017, report to congress, they wrote, in the more than 0 years since Hurricane Katrina struck, gulf coast leaders and residents have made Great Strides in rebuilding businesses, communities and infrastructure that connects cities across the region. In the last five years more than 3 billion in private funds were invested in industrial, medical, i. T. And aerospace sectors. As mentioned earlier in this report, during the next 30 years, the gulf coast and florida populations are expected to increase by 10 million to 13. 8 million respectively. For the region to harness this projected population growth it needs multimodal Transportation Systems and provide transportation alternatives. Do you believe this route serves as the multimodal Transportation System that was called for five years ago . Mr. Gardner i think its the beginning of that service, absolutely. Theres going to be the initial Corridor Service and then certainly opportunities to strengthen connectivity between the intercity Passenger Rail service and local transit, as the report says its critical that we create a network of operations that can support people traveling without their cars. But we think this initial service is a great start. Were excited for it. And i think theres a lot of support amongst. Mr. Carter do you see the support being useful for commuters as well as vacationers . Mr. Gardner absolutely. We see it as a Strong International visitor component for new orleans that will find rail service attractive and we see rail service along the gulf coast for things that offer visitors and for workers who need to travel between the various cities for job. Mr. Carter we find ourselves in hurricane season. Share your view on it being able to be used as a mode of transportation for disasters and evacuations. Mr. Gardner we have had weve had some experience with this in the past. I think the difficulty typically with using passenger train or evacuation for evacuation, unless its well in advance, is that the Host Railroads, Freight Railroads, often curtail their operations in advance of a hurricane. If they shut down the railroad we cant operate over it. Having said that, certainly we endeavor to work with fema and work with the state Emergency Management folks about creating opportunities for service when there is a need. But its difficult when we dont control the railroad. Mr. Er i want mr. Carter i want to go back to the crisi grants we talked about earlier. Share with us the Public Benefit of you having access to crisi grants. Mr. Gardner its a unique Program Available to a broad set of eligibility parties pabts to cover rail improvements. Most of the grants we have been involved with are at the quf states or railroads who seek to gain safety investments or other improvements in their properties. Mr. Carter go back to that, safety. Safety. One of the most significant things we can do with transportation going through communities is making sure the communities are safe is that correct . Mr. Gardner absolutely. Mr. Carter i yield back. Mr. Nehls i recognize mr. Man for five minutes. Mr. Mann i represent the First District of kansas which is 60 primarily Rural Counties in western, central and a few on the eastern part of the state of kansas. Transportation infrastructure is important to us. The southwest chief route runs through the state of kansas where 53 of residents live within 25 miles of a Passenger Rail station and 75 within 50 miles. Kansas is also home at the same time to 4,600 miles of active rail which amtrak utilizes for Passenger Rail service. Mr. Gardner, the southwest chief route runs through my district and makes several stop, each night and early morning. I want to confirm that you as c. E. O. Are supportive of Passenger Rail routes like southwest chief. Mr. Gardner we are supportive of the chief. We are looking to hopefully connect the chief with the leadership of the two states, oklahoma and kansas, potential ily to other routes. Mr. Mann ive heard theyre planning to reduce the sleeper car capacity of the southwest chief route. This seems unusual, is it true and can you provide explanation . Mr. Gardner ill get back to you on specific details but our goal is to put as much sleeper capacity as we can on routes with strong dmeafnld issue we have been working through some of the overhauls that are come due and need to get done by a mechanical shop and the impacts of a number of equipment pieces we have lost in recent incident. We have a smaller fleet today because we have roughly 30 or so wrecked vehicles that cant be repaired and were working hard to get more capacity back out into all of our Long Distance routes because we see success occurring on routes like the chief. Mr. Mann as you know, next question, our country faced significant supply chain issues over the last few years. Freight rail and shortline rail have been some Major Industries that have been affect the railroad owns the track that amtrak uses and what assurances can you give our nations freight and shortline railroads as amtrak looks to expand, that amtrak will be a good negotiating partner in the development of future Passenger Rail service . Mr. Gardner its absolutely required that we be a good partner we try to find productive, mutually beneficial outcomes to both support the service we have today and achieve the results that i think you expect in terms of ontime performance and to permit growth where it is appropriate. And that, again is a calculus thats developed by us, our state partner, the f. R. A. , etc. But then we seek to negotiate and come up with a collaborative solution. Generally we have been supportive of that. I point to our agreements with Canadian Pacific as a great example of two rails working together. We have a great relationship there. And thats going to be always our goal is to find a mutually beneficial solution but also one that respects the rights that the public was given and amtrak was given through its krie creation to utilize the nations rail swesm dont do that in a way, we dont believe that significantly negatively impacts Freight Railroads. And theres a safeguard method, essentially, that ensures that our Additional Service does not come at the expension of the ability to move goods and services to the United States. Mr. Mann thank you. I think thats incredibly important. I yield back. Mr. Nehls the gentleman yields. I recognize mr. Stanton for five minutes. Mr. Stanton thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity to join the subcommittee for a hearing on a topic of great interest to the people of my state in arizona. I wanted to be here because phoenix is the largest city in the United States without access to Passenger Rail service. As other communities have gained access to Passenger Rail theyve experienced significant new Economic Opportunities but arizona thus far has missed out. Im hopeful that will change and theres reason for optimism. Amtrak applied for funds to restore Long Distance Train Service to phoenix via the Sunset Limited and arizona has submitted a proposal to the federal rail joad administrations corridor i. D. Program to advance frequent and reliable Passenger Rail service between our two large and fastgrowing metropolitan areas, phoenix and dueson. Arizonans have wanted passenger Train Service between phoenix and dueson for decades. S no surprise that this effort has significant local and state support. The mayors along the line are on board and the state has provided 3. 5 million in state funds for the planning effort. What does this all mean for arizona . It means opportunity. Opportunity to connect our communities, make them more accessible and productive and more internationally competitive. Opportunity to boost our reeg that will economies with better access to jobs and private investment along the route. Opportunity to ease congestion along interstate 10 to help reduce air pollution. Mr. Gardner, if amtrak is successful in its application for federal funds through the bipartisan infrastructure law to restore Long Distance Train Service to phoenix, how specifically will these resources be invested and how will these investments help advance and accelerate the development of the duesonphoenixwest valley intercity Passenger Rail line . Mr. Gardner thank you very much for the question. I just had the privilege of seeing the mayor of phoenix and the mayor of mesa recently and heard their strong support for this. Its really a pretty remarkable corridor, very, very strong local support, bipartisan support for bringing service back there. As we mentioned, arizona, d. O. T. , will be the lead. Theyve submitted corridor applications to consider service between phoenix and dueson. What we are also trying to be the start is the work to connect phoenix to the west back to the u. P. Main line. The sunset route. That portion of the route was severed. Today our service, the Sunset Limited goes to maricopa, about 40 miles or so south of phoenix. It really misses the mark. As you said phoenixs growth has been huge. And it is really frankly an embarrassment that we dont serve such a major, propt innocent stism i would say that about other city, nashville included. Columbus, etc. Cities that are obviously the right size. So we think the mark in arizona is great for Passenger Rail. We are partnering with the state to support that. We are looking to undertake potentially that initial work to understand what it will take to restore the service back from phoenix west and route our Long Distance that way. Phoenix is the fifth most popular city and does not have rail service. Could you talk about some of the benefits amtrak has seen in other communities that get new intercity rail service and what ridership has looked like . Mr. Gardner were really excited for this new service, of course, on the gulf coast, coming. I would say that in general, we see very strong adoption when we introduce new service. Everywhere i go across america, communities small and big, the comment i get is how come we dont have more trains . How come i dont have more service in my community . Ive never met anyone who wasnt interested in more trains to their location. And when we see new service introduced, we get really an initial period, of course, of introduction but weve seen very strong results. We just extended, for instance, the service to burlington, vermont, up from rutland which has been a long time coming. And we already exceeded our expectation there is in terms of the ramp up of the service. We anticipate again, we can produce a reliable, frequent and competitive option that passengers will come and that the state will see real value for its investment. I think this is clear because states continue to maintain this service year after year after year. Once its installed, it becomes an integral part of the community and they elect to continue those investments to preserve the service. Mr. Stanton thank you very much, i yield back. Mr. Nehls the gentleman yields. I appreciate your very engaging, sharing your thoughts and insight into amtrak. We have a couple of members that would like to go into a second round of questioning. So i would like to yield five more minutes to mr. Lamalfa. Mr. Lamalfa thank you again, mr. Chairman, appreciate the second round here. Mr. Warren, i want to ask you about, on your northeast corridor there, do you find at this point that your passengers are utilizing all or most of the tickets for either the conventional or the high speed line . How is that performing . Mr. Gardner pangs are utilizing the amtrak regional. Mr. Lamalfa how are ticket sales for the high speed line . Mr. Gardner theyve struggled some because theyve had a shortage of trains. The regional trains have been doing well. Mr. Lamalfa but the are the high speed trains selling out . Mr. Gardner the trains i have taken have been busy because theres been fewer of them but theyve been getting more low pressure travels travelers on those trains to make up for some of the lost Business Travelers. So overall ridership as steven mentioned before on the corridor is very strong, particularly amtrak. Mr. Lamalfa im trying to compare this with the prospects of high speed rail in california. Of course its going to be four times nor cost than was sold to the voters back 10, 12 years ago, whatever it was. So i want to see the performance of, you know, of on a dense route, like, so ill ask again. Do you believe acela, the high speed trains, in and of themselves are are they performing well on tickets on sales . Are they half full . How does it look . Mr. Warren before covid they were making significant profits, operating profit. That was largely driven by the acela trains and sales made for tickets on those trains. I believe the profits were in the neighborhood of 300 million or 400 million on the operating side on the northeast corridor precovid. Since covid theyve been down but the trains have been successful and driven significant operating profits on the corridor. Mr. Lamalfa thank you. Mr. Gardner. What do you anticipate amtraks relationship will be with california with the high speed rail line, whatever portion may be completed of that . Right now its going to start in an Almond Orchard and be completed around madeira. Therell be two more giant seg pts needed after that. What do you think amtraks role will be with whatever thats going to be . Mr. Gardner congressman, thanks for the question. Thing first off the state and the authority and our partners, j. P. Will decide how the service will progress. My understanding is that there will be a connection between the San Joaquin Service to the new high Speed Service and well see if amtrak is the operator there. Were a provider of service, so its the state and authorities that will decide how the service operates but we can we will connect wherever we can with our Long Distance service of course to create opportunities for riders to connect to the service. Mr. Lamalfa ok, thank you. When were talking in general about expansion of service or line, are we talking building new tracks somewhere . For amtrak . Mr. Gardner most often not. Most often most of the expansion opportunities that we see and that many folks have applied for through this Corridor Development program are to take existing Railway Lines and upgrade them in some instances or use them if theyre already at the right class of track. Mr. Lamalfa so there might be places where youre adding parallel tracks or breaking ground on new routes . Mr. Gardner therell be instances where more track is necessary, especially in a right of way, because right of ways used to have more track but got downsized. There may be need for new track or new routes but much of the proposed expansion of service is on existing rail lines. Mr. Lamalfa how do you expect that im not trying to be a mean guy here on this i like Passenger Rail. I enjoy it on the times you get to run up and down the corridor here and susm but its got to be in the ballpark of at least breaking even or profitable. How does adding more to a situation that is not profitable or break even going to help the bottom line to not take that even in a deeper spiral . Mr. Gardner congressman, i would say that most of the, really all of the states who decide to get into this business of supporting Passenger Rail do so for broader mobility goal, the same way Public Transit operates. Operates. But it requires value that enables more economic activity, enables development in cities i think thats the rationale when people invest in Passenger Rail. Transportation in and of itself is unprofitable. Similarly on the highway system. Its a means to create value in these Transportation Systems. And so states elect to Start Service or from the service they have because they get value for their citizens in doing so. Mr. Lamalfa im going to have to yield the time here. So thank you. But sounds like the bottom line is that indeed it will add more negative costs that the federal government will have to cover. Since there doesnt seem to be the ability to have profit. Thank you for your indulgence. I now recognize Ranking Member payne for five minutes. Mr. Payne thank you, mr. Chairman. And weve heard a lot about amtrak not turning a profit today. Last month we heard from the very profitable Freight Railroads and from their customers about ongoing supply chain challenges and how the freight rail customers are still not getting adequate service. Mr. Gardner, what would happen to the Amtrak Service if you adopted a singleminded focus on profitability . Mr. Gardner congressman, i think essentially none of the National Network trains that are in Long Distance would still be in operation. They all require significant investments and the statesupported routes are by and large funded by the states. Theres a little bit of federal investment there and under the new policy we developed amtrak as providing some of the core security and insurance costs. But those routes would be at risk if the states elected not to continue to fund them. The northeast corridor, just to go to the earlier conversation, prepandemic was creating about 500 or 5 poo million in net 550 million in net surplus. Federal funding is required for this network. It always has been. It likely always will be. Our goal is to try and get as much value for the american taxpayer out of that and run the network that you all as our owners tell us that you want for the nation. This is similar for every Passenger Rail operator around the world. And we take our stewardship sponlts seriously responsibilities seriously and were trying to always balance that connection between sort of quality of service and level of service with expense and of course we still have to live every year with the dollars that are provided to us in the annual appropriations. Mr. Payne so the railroad entities around the world have the same challenges as amtrak does . Mr. Gardner they do except they receive significantly more funding typically than amtrak does. Mr. Payne thank you. Thats what i wanted to hear. Mr. Warren, how would passengers along the northeast corridor react to these changes of services . Mr. Warren [indiscernible] the improvements are going to be funded through the infrastructure bill, are going to have significant benefits to service. Going to have more Reliable Service, more frequent service, and Faster Service. So were expecting to track significant new passengers over the course of the 15 years of this plan as were able to improve the service and build new capacity. Any c2035 plan we estimate at about 60 60 million new riders over 15 years. So our expectation is, as you know, ridership in the northeast corridor is already strong and its just going to get stronger as we can improve the reliability of the trains and the frequency. Mr. Payne thank you. Mr. Gardner, now that the funning is funding is at least taken care of for the immediate future, what are some of the major obstacles to enhancing and developing rail service . Mr. Gardner thank you, representative payne. There are on the northeast corridor, and broadly, several challenges. First, of course, is work force. Weve talked about the need to ramp up the work force and train the work force. Thats a big challenge. Were working hard on that. Two, the supply chain is a challenge. Finding adequate vendors and suppliers with a domestic supply chain. Because of course amtrak, you know, 97 of our purchases are with firms here in the United States and getting the robust supply we need for not only things like Rolling Stock but just simple amounts of concrete, steel, etc. , to build these new programs is going to be a challenge and dealing with inflationary costs there. The coordination amongst the operators, let me just sort of thank mitch warren here who has been an incredible leader of the commission, came to the commission really in its inception and works hard to bring all of the entities together to come up with a common plan, we have a common plan but its not easy to execute. We have 12 Different Railway operate, over four owners in the northeast corridor. And trying to get coordinated and balanced construction work against service is a real challenge. In order to rebuild the railroad, we have to take it out of service, similar to interstate highways, you know, we all hate it in the summer, they close down a bunch of lanes to do work. We all sit in traffic. That kind of problem faces us only the corridor as well. Because weve got to rebuild the railroad and balance the different needs of operations against construction. And then finally, the partnerships for funding are required. Amtrak is an investor of the northeast corridor projects but certainly not the only investor and its Something Like the gateway where the minority investor. We need the state to come up with their local matches and transit partners to have the dollars they need to be able to partner with us on these shared benefit projects. Mr. Payne off this. And thank you. And i appreciate both of you gentlemen staying here and, chairman, as i look both sides of the aisle, it looks like its just you and me. I guess so. Mr. Payne with that ill yield back. Thank you, Ranking Member yields are there any further requests from any other members on the subcommittee . I see none. This concludes our hearing today and id like to thank each of our witnesses for their testimony. I ask unanimous consent that the record of todays hearing remain open until such time as our witnesses have provided answers to any questions, that may be submitted to them in writing, without objection, so ordered. I also ask unanimous consent that the record remain open for 15 days for any additional comments and information submitted by members or witnesses to be included in the record of todays hearing. Without objection, so ordered. The subcommittee stands adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] that play in california specifically . Mr. Gardner well, we work closely with our host partners all over america to achieve Great Results and frailty railroads to serve shippers and we see some difficulties and particularly in california on our route of the sunset, route going east and southwest and in our service both from sacramento north and between the bay area and los angeles on the coastline. Those are areas where we have had some delays, infrastructure and some related tore congestion. Mrs. Napolitano i yield back. Mr. Nehls i yield to mr. Burialeson for five minutes. I was an Investment Adviser before joining this circus. If i were your adviser and brought forward a business and that business lost billion dollars every year, since its inception which you are older since i have been alive, has your company ever made a profit in any single year . Mr. Gardner no. So if i brought that investment to you, would you consider me a good Investment Adviser . Mr. Gardner the purpose of amtraks creation was not create a dividend for the treasury but maintain and enhance Passenger Rail service as a fundamental piece of the mobility picture in the United States. And so i think congress has been pretty clear it is a service that requires investment like Public Service or rural roads, these are things that need to exist to support commerce, support our culture or connectivity. The question i think most americans ask and people in my district as has been said before, when you have a business that cannot operate and operates with a deficit such as yours, how do you justify giving bonuses in the amount of 200,000 to yourself and other executives . Mr. Gardner amtrak mission is to connect america. Congress has been clear about our Route Service and all the operations and we do so trying to balance the need of service and be big stewards. Who owns the rail . Mr. Gardner owned by another railway. We are a tenant. Do you pay them . We do. Mr. Gardner incremental. But this is set by congress. They are required to have you as a tenant . Mr. Gardner they have the obligation to run passenger trains by law and the government relieves them of that obligation. If i were to ask if they were, you as a client, are you a net loser for them . Are you a liability . Mr. Gardner we have an incremental cost structure. We use the little consumeables of the railroad and we provide incentives. Some carriers see us as a source of profit and focused on getting the incentive pay for good performance. Do something about the supply chain. Your trains what how on average, what is the percentage they are full . Mr. Gardner high 60s. 60 . Little over half full. Mr. Gardner peak periods in the 90 . It is very different than the airlines. When my constituents are trying to get goods and services timely into my district, do those freight trains have to give preference to these 50 or 60 occupied passenger trains . Mr. Gardner by law they have to give preference. I should say we run a tryweekly train across our network. 7 cars, 10 cars, they are not being able to give. Im a former train dispatcher and ample capacity and run i just want to press on you the impact you have on the taxpayers. When i calculate per taxpayers in my district, your impact, just your deficit alone costs every taxpayer in my district at least 7, that may not be a lot of money to you but people are going to whether they have netflix or amazon prime and you are draining 7 for a service that the vast majority of them will never use. So im asking you to reconsider your operation and try to become at least somewhat profitable. Mr. Gardner i appreciate that, we take very seriously our role and the stewardship of federal funds. And we recognize all of america pays for this servicement. We are looking to achieve and break even we were at break even in 2020 and would have ended had the pandemic not occurred and we are focused on improving the financials and giving the most value for the federal investment we get and that is in terms of our network. Mr. Nehls i recognize mr. Menendez for five minutes. Mr. Menendez great advocate as well and thank you for coming in. You can imagine serving the Congressional District in new jersey, this is an important issue for me and i appreciate what you are doing to bring amtrak, northeast corridor in the 21st century and bring new riders and create greater capacity and continue to grow amtrak. And increase demand for funding. Demand outpacing supply. People want more options, more rail. Definitely in new jersey and the tristate region and i imagine when people have access to amtrak and rail, that increases there as well. So i thank you for that. Mr. Gardner, your testimony describes some of the key projects which the infrastructure law has provided funding. Your testimony highlights several pieces of the gateway project and take the moment the importance of this project. How many passenger trips pass through the 10mile trips between newark, new jersey and penn station in new york city on an annual basis . Mr. Gardner thank you for that question and your interest in this program. Prepandemic about 200,000 trips a day between new Jersey Transit and amtrak. Most of those are new Jersey Transit commuters and vital lifeline for the region and our system because this is between new york and points north and west and all of our service to the south and west. Mr. Menendez how many tracks does this stretch have . Mr. Gardner two tracks and between newark and interlockenpenn station where it opens up. Mr. Menendez that compares to the northeast corridor . Mr. Gardner mess of the northeast corridor is three, four tracks. Its the most number of trains coming together and from newark, five tracks down to three and then two. We have to funnel 24 trains an hour in each direction across this segment of railroads and busiest main line in north america by far. Mr. Menendez what would happen if the hudson tunnel closes . Mr. Gardner traffic meltdown. If we were to lose this connection and when disruptions happen, you can see this in real life, huge impacts across the region because there is insufficient tunnel and bridge capacity as you well know. To get into new york city and across the hudson and many, many residents and travelers rely in this connection. Mr. Menendez the tunnel was impacted by superstorm sandy, correct . Mr. Gardner correct. And were impacted in sandy, 300 million of bracish water got into the tunnels and having flooded in from the hudson river. And they were able to remove the water and left a collection of color eyeds and salts that are degrading the concrete and metal elements of the interior of the tunnel. Mr. Menendez interior of an old asset was diminished because of sandy. How can you ensure future viability in the northeast corridor . Mr. Gardner it is essential. Future rail for passengers is across the entire east coast and our connections to the as you said the core need here is to build a new tunnel and repair the existing tunnel and give redundancy and resiliency into this vital connection. So we would be strengthening the lynchpin of this corridor, i appreciate amtraks leadership to make sure we continue to make progress on this vitally important project, the most important, project in the country, we look forward to working with you a long time to support amtrak. Mr. Nehls i recognize mr. Kaine for five minutes. Mr. Kane i would like to thank the witnesses for being here today. This is a crucial hearing because many of my constituents and all new jerseyans understand that Amtrak Service is critical to our economy and to our livelihood. It plays a credit call role in connecting communities and driving Economic Growth in the northeast region and beyond. The outline of connect n. E. C. 2023 in plairks my constituents are enthusiastic about the flyover south of penn station to eliminate atgrade crossings to reduce conflict between trains and create capacity for amtrak and n. J. Transit, allowing n. J. Transit to improve their red valley line service. Thats what i i introduced the act to introduce a cost benefittable sis, analyze the oneseat trip rather than terrors at peak rush hour. I remain ready, willing and able to ensureamtrak is available for all. Mr. Gardner, its good to see you again both at the state level and federal level. The hunter flyover is extraordinarily important and theres no space currently for it. Can i have your commitment in public that the space is reserved for that that to the hit at pace so we can ensure the one seat rider is available on that line . Mr. Gardner yes, mr. Kean. New Jersey Transit is working hard to seek funding in advance of this project. We are reserving the rideaway capability so the flyaway can be built. As you and vi discussed it does create opportunity for one seat ride for the valley passengers and it ensures that we deconflict a crossing on the northeast corridor so it doesnt interfere with other new Jersey Transit and Amtrak Service at that junction. Mr. Kean thank you. One of the other things i talked to you about is both presentton trenton and metro park. While neither are in my district, the fact thattible right now theres no isela service into trenton, new jerseys state capital, at all, as well as entries in south and metro park, can you talk about how were going to have more opportunities to trenton and net roe metro park for access to the state capital but also the Innovation Centers and communities around metro park as well . Mr. Gardner yes, congressman. You are right we have reduced some service around metro park and trenton, primarily because theres been reduction in ridership postpandemic and were working to rebuild ridership there. We do know we need to add more service there as we as you know we are a little bit down in our capacity with our current train set which is are quite old and were keeping them in service as we receive our new train sets and were table expand the fleet well be able to ramp up Service Across the corridor and include more service there. We know its important to trenton and metro park both, ill follow up with you on our schedule to ro introduce service there we continue to have Regional Service at both stops. Mr. Kean it seems to me if people know theres Predictable Service at those stops more frequently, more people would come to use them as opposed to look at alternate routes and things that add time and inconvenience to commuters and families and businesses alike. One of the other issues that many people are commuting north and south seems to me for the last 15, 20 years, cell service tboas out on certain pooforts the line. Can you talk talk to me, that seems like it should be an easy thing to fix over the course of a line, over a decade and a half of service there . Can you caulk me through why thats not happening . Mr. Gardner sure. Thanks, congressman. The Cellular Service along the route is the responsibility of the various cell carriers. We have been working with the various carriers to give them the data so they can see the demand needs across the route. We have been were in active conversations with them. We have had some carriers improve or increase capacity along the route in certain dead spot, and youre right there are still some remainders out there. We are partnering to increase exas in it tunnels from another carrier. This is an area where we could use support in. Some country its a riernlt that the cellular carriers provide adequate coverage for rail routes. We dont have that here. I want to emphasize my strong support for the gatebay program, the most efficient, effective for new jersey, new york, its a time sensitive and important project, anything that i can do to ensure that that project is compleetd on time and with more funding im an ally. Thank you. Mr. Nehls the gentlemans time has expired. I recognize mr. Desaulnier for five minutes. Mr. Desaulnier thank you both chairman and Ranking Member for this hearing. To both of you i just, as someone from a long way away, a district a long way away from the northeast corridor, though im a native of massachusetts, your success is so important for the whole country. San Francisco Bay area, where im involved in transportation for a long time, sometimes we compete for federal funds, you and california. We know how important it is that you are successful. So in that context, first i want to talk, mr. Gardner, about investment this is the largest investment since the Eisenhower Administration for transportation infrastructure. The Biden Administration has been very focused and i appreciate that as a member of this committee and Senior Member of the education and Labor Committee on expanding the middle class. We have the largest disparity between wealth and inequality in the history of this country right now. This investment is the single biggest thing economists tell us we can do to expand the middle class and give opportunity to poor people to move up. So you doing a good job, sorry to put more responsibility on you but given comments about compensation is extremely important you mentioned siemens in sacramento. We have challenges with siemens in california. Theyre manufacturing product for the capital corridor and amtrak on the west coast as well as here. After the long history of being very successful in procurement but also unfortunate history of pushing limits. They were part of the largest settlement with the u. S. And the e. U. On foreign corruption charges, not that long ago. Theyre aggressive when it comes to global markets. Theyre being aggressive right now in california about procurement requirements under the infrastructure bill to make sure theres a livable wage. I wonder if you could speak to that, to make sure that we have people who are going to make money and we value them competing for it, strictly adhere to the requirements in this law starting in sacramento. Middle class americans and working americans benefit from this infrastructure and were very careful about adhearing to the requirement for livable wage when they build this product. Mr. Gardner thank you for your support. This is not just an investment in mobility its an investment in a new generation of workers, skilled and a new work force. Were focused on creating that capacity to serve the needs of the nation and to serve the needs of our network. And as you rightfully say that big increase in available funding for amtrak and our other partners, state partner, etc. Were all gearing up with greater expertise to manage the dollars welt. Part of that is managing our contracts well. Being able to oversee those many, many private sector partners and to be clear, the vast majority of the dollars spent are going to go from amtrak to a private sector partner, to a big Construction Firm or manufacturer who are going to build or deliver great things for us. So a key aspect of our capacity is creating the expertise, the knowledge, to be able to effectively manage our contractors and ensure we get good value out of them. I can assure you we are working very hard to pass on all the requirements that we received from the federal funding and the requirements that amtrak ourselves have both in policy and in law and make sure we get good follow through and compliance from all of our entities. Well do that, i can assure you, were about to go into the market again. Well do first time, were purchasing since jiaa has been active for our big fleet of Long Distance equipment. This will be the largest order of passenger equipment since the 19 40s acquisition by the new york central. So its a huge opportunity and were going to be working really hard to make sure we get good value. Im going to mr. Desaulnier im going to hold you to that. The money needs to go back to investors. Mr. Barren, we know mr. Warren, we know in successful countries like japan, connectivity to between Intercity Transit and intracity and commuter, talk to your challenges briefly about working with your partners along the corridor. Mr. Warren thank you, congressman. One of the reasons we were created is because of the complexity and there are so many different owners and operate yorns the corridor and the inner city and the commuter service. Theres a lot of tension, natural tension, between priorities that amtrak may have for Intercity Service and priorities for commuter service. Its an Important Forum to bring people together to work through those issues, determine how to share costs. That we share about . 3 billion a year in operating and capital costs. And we have a formula that does it. We have a policy that does it. It saves amtrak from doing a lot in oneoff goes of every different railroad and it makes sure all those railroads are on equal, fair footing when it comes to paying their shared costs for the use of the corridor. So its been very valuable, both in getting everybody on the same page when it comes to planning and pay for the corridor. Theres just a lot of natural tension when you have mr. Nehls the gentlemans time has expired. I recognize mr. Williams for five minutes. Mr. Williams thank you, mr. Chairman. You may have noticed we have had a recent discussion about spending in this country. And looking at the numbers, it looks like that amtrak relies on the credit card of the american taxpayers in order to stay in business, and that seems like increasingly an unviable path. The amtrak board awarded millions of dollars in performance bonuses to yourselves and others in fiscal year 2021. These bonuses were paid despite amtrak losing more than than a billion dollars in fiscal year 2021. It is projected to lose 1 billion a year for the foreseeable future. Thats a lot of credit card debt. The head of the transportation workers unions even described these bonuses as an affront to amtrak workers. Further stated that every taxpayer should be livid. And based on the conversation that we had in the house floor last week i think taxpayers are livid. And the credit card days are coming to an end. You mentioned in your testimony to take seriously the use of public funds and yet you continue to pay out what the New York Post calls a gravy train of perform ants bonuses. Mr. Gardner, have you ever worked in the private sector . Mr. Gardner yes, sir. Mr. Williams in what capacity and what time frame . Mr. Gardner as a railroader, i worked as a trackman, brakeman, train dispatcher. Mr. Williams when was that . Mr. Gardner this was in the late 1990s and prior to that i had number of retail jobs, other thing, throughout my history. Mr. Williams in the last 25 years, and i suspect before that, there is a strong correlation in the private sector between actual Financial Performance and bonuses paid to the people responsible for that Financial Performance. You know, i find it unacceptable that your organization is paig out these lavish bonuses even in the face and to the criticism of your own work force. Many other members have pointed out that the operating losses, Customer Satisfaction, Overall Service is not doing so well and i live in the northeast corridor. I actually like traveling on amtrak. But i do find that this is unsustainable. Going forward, do you think executives in companies that operate at a severe loss and declining Customer Satisfaction should or would typically receive bonuses in our economy . Mr. Gardner congressman, first off, the incentive program, again, encouraged by congress and all the entities that provided us guidance here, the g. A. O. , the o. I. G. Are triggered to improvement. We are improving Financial Performance. We are improving Customer Service scores and improving amtrak controlled delays. Thats how we achieve benefits. Again, our losses are coming down compared to the numbers you quoted. We worked over a decade to achieve a break even result, something the company had never been able to do for 50 years but my and my colleagues worked hard to do this. We did that in part because of these incentives to align the work force and achieve improved Financial Performance which is what i think companies do all over america. In fact, our peer group of railroads, absolutely. So i think it has been working to get better performance. Our Customer Satisfaction numbers are actually quite good compared to prepandemic and we are achieving better Financial Results this year than planned. In part because we are using tools to keep us all aligned and to make sure we have high quality talent available. Professional railroad, 121,000 mile network, similar size to several of the Freight Railroads, same basic number of employees, we are competing against them for talent we need to provide reasonable compensation and incentives. Cant give stock options. Mr. Williams i understand by your criteria that so long as you tried, you received your bonuses. And going back to my original question about working in the private sector, talking about 10 years of efforts to achieve break even and the mentioning the 50 years loss before that, i can assure you, as a having been in the private sector, that thats not how bonuses are paid. Thats not how other workers are measured. And the just trying is not enough. The credit card is coming to an end. Thank you for your time. I yield back. Mr. Nehls mr. Williams yields. I recognize mr. Carson for five minutes. Mr. Carson thank you, mr. Chairman. I represent beach grove, indiana, which is one of the most important rail maintenance facilities in the country. Unfortunately there have been some efforts to downsize or even outsource the work at beach grove which has caused some concern amongst hoosiers. I think if were going to improve our supply chain and rail service, we have to expand opportunities for tall inned workers and experienced rail maintenance personnel to build up the quality of service and safety. Do you think its important to strengthen our rail yards and maintenance facilities . If so, what does this look like . Mr. Gardner thank you,

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