“[Duffy] will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness, and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports,” Trump said in a statement. “He will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives] for pilots and air traffic controllers.”
Almost everyone who voted for him in those elections, also voted for Scott Walker. Duffy's district hasn't had passenger rail for 5 decades, and that's enough time for any residents to forget what they once had. Those who voted for Duffy don't use transit, and almost all of them have never taken a train trip, ever. They drive everywhere, and are highly accustomed to driving everywhere, and see nothing wrong about that. His personal views are most likely a reflection of that. Drive everywhere, never used trains or transit -- and they think that nobody uses them. During the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial race ( when Duffy was elected to office ), it was apparent that many who opposed the Madison service extension had only talk radio as their sole source of information regarding passenger train service, with the themes of passenger train = "wasteful government spending," "government waste," "government ineptitude," " Nobody rides, or will ever ride, trains," and especially "taxpayer rip off," "taxpayer boondoggle," et al., with other anti- government statements. Duffy has most likely never set foot aboard a train. His wife did, once, and probably became a "Never Again" passenger. I expect any future funding fights to be uphill battle, though I think there are more people who soured on the Duffy / Trump version of politics, and who are aware of just what was rejected in 2010, to gain some ground. However, I think it will be some tough going.
Duffy never said precisely that. I watched the hearing. This thing from politico has been going around and freaking people out, but this was never precisely said.
That response was in his written response to questions after the hearing according to Politco.
I love trains and high speed rail, but for $120bn+ there isn’t a single scenario where anyone besides the California taxpayer has egg on their face when all is said and done.
It’s not just about transportation though, it’s about long-term sustainability and expanding options for transit.
Amtrak gets its subsidy in quarterly lumpsums. So it depends on when its next quarterly payment is due.
Yeah, I am currently a Flight Attendant for one of the top 7 US airlines ..... DEI was not a safety/security issue.
IIRC, state regulations are still on the books, waiting to entangle private operators in the absence of federal regulations.
If running a privatized version of Amtrak was possible and sufficiently profitable, somebody would already be doing it. In fact, the freight railroads would still be running passenger service. And even the private railroads are subject to government regulations.
The amount that freight railroads would charge any private investor to run passenger trains over their railroad, would make it impossible for the investor to ever hope for a profit, so no, it won’t happen.
There are private rail services, like the Rocky Mountaineer, but they serve very niche markets. I don't think there are sufficient Amtrak-friendly billionaires to fund all of Amtrak.
