David Laney Admits Secret Talks to Sell NEC Options

[NickG]

From the Star-Ledger, 11/16/05:

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the board that oversees Amtrak told a House subcommittee yesterday that the board is not scheming to sell off Northeast Corridor assets, though he acknowledged conducting secret meetings with people interested in buying them.

The full story is here.

[JAChooChoo]

From the Star-Ledger, 11/16/05:

...."I've had conversations, listening to the concept" of selling off the infrastructure, Laney said. Pressed by Rep. Robert Menendez (D-13th Dist.), Laney said he couldn't recall whom he had spoken to about the idea, but promised to provide the committee with answers later."

Gee, and that lack of recall didn't make the Evening News??

This post has been edited by KevinKorell: Nov 19 2005, 01:36 PM

[ICGsteve]

Board members would be negligent if they did not investigate all of the options for what to do about the NEC. It is clear that the current political and economic conditons are making it impossible to properly capitalize the NEC, and the NEC is eating a large portion of the annual national subsidy.

I would be concerned if Laney gave any indication by his actions or his words that the board is seriously considering private ownership, but he does not. A state compact is not going to happen in the current climate, and transfering the NEC to DOT would be a good move in my opinion. I think that if the board became determined to unload the NEC from Amtrak's books that it would only go to DOT, which would make getting capital to fix the NEC easier, and it would clean up AMtrak's books. I would like to see DOt set up an agency to administer and dispatch the entire stretch, including NY.

This post has been edited by ICGsteve: Nov 19 2005, 07:58 PM

[Sam Damon]

I would like to see DOt set up an agency to administer and dispatch the entire stretch, including NY.

Steve,

I think that's what the lawmakers had in mind when they deeded it over to Amtrak when Conrail was formed.

Let's reinvent the wheel, shall we?

[ICGsteve]

Keep in mind that Amtrak does not currently control all of the NEC. I would argue that Amtrak has over the years become too much of a political football to operate the NEC effectively, and that it is not in Amtrak's interests to try. I think that Amtrak has been slimed with poltically motivated false charges about its history and abilities to run the NEC, that in an ideal world this would not have happened and that Amtrak would fight off these charges with the truth, but that at this point this is not a battle worth fighting from AMtrak's perspective. Amtrak must conserve all of its engery and political capital for bigger problems, like funding operations and modernizing American passenger rail.

This post has been edited by ICGsteve: Nov 20 2005, 06:42 PM