[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6688]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        AMTRAK TRAIN DERAILMENT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as I said yesterday, my heart goes out to 
those who suffered in the terrible accident of Amtrak's Northeast 
Regional Train No. 188, on Tuesday night at 9 p.m., when the accident 
occurred. As we now know, the train was going more than 100 miles an 
hour on a curve where it should have been going 50 miles an hour.
  It is very tragic. Seven people died and scores are injured. There 
were about 250 people on the train. It is unfortunate that sometimes it 
takes an event such as this before policymakers learn what they need to 
learn. But worse still would be if policymakers fail to learn anything 
at all.
  National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said there 
is technology available called positive train control that would have 
prevented this accident. That technology is in place in a few places in 
the Northeast corridor. This Northeast corridor, millions of people 
travel there, but it is not yet in place where the accident happened.
  There are Members of the Republican Senate who have for years 
denigrated, belittled, and harmed the Amtrak system. I have watched 
this, and it is really unfair. They attack Amtrak every year, every 
appropriations process. Many on the far right regularly try to punch 
the Nation's train system right in the gut. They have made it a 
punching bag.
  Yesterday, the House of Representatives approved a bill that 
underfunds Amtrak by another one-quarter of a billion dollars. The day 
after that tragic accident, they say: We are going to help Amtrak by 
cutting spending by another one-quarter of a billion dollars.
  A nation's train system can be efficient and productive. It can be a 
point of national pride, but too often neglect of Amtrak has left 
America's train system a disappointing embarrassment. Amtrak is a vital 
part of our Nation's economy, and everyone should understand that. It 
helps--I repeat--millions and millions of people get where they need to 
go. It takes cars off congested highways. It takes people away from 
airports.
  For the safety of rail passengers, for the business it helps to 
foster, and for the reputation of our great Nation, I hope we can learn 
to invest more in this important national resource. They need more, not 
less.

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