{"id":238163,"date":"2025-06-19T14:08:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T04:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=238163"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:14:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:14:53","slug":"u-s-sen-bernie-moreno-calls-for-end-to-amtrak-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=238163","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno calls for end to Amtrak funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON, D. C. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Westlake Republican, suggested the U.S. government should stop funding Amtrak<\/a>, the nationwide intercity passenger railroad company controlled by the U.S. government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing Wednesday on modernizing the U.S. rail system, Moreno unfavorably compared Amtrak\u2019s service in Florida to that of a private company called Brightline<\/a>, whose trains are faster and run more frequently than Amtrak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreno said the amenities on Amtrak compared to Brightline reminded him of \u201ca Russian car from the \u201870s versus a modern vehicle today.\u201d Brightline runs 36 trains daily between Miami and Orlando at speeds of up to 110 miles per hour, while Amtrak has two daily trains that go around 50 miles per hour, Brightline senior advisor Husein Cumber told the subcommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy are we even in this business?\u201d Moreno asked. \u201cWhy are we subsidizing or owning passenger rail in America when we\u2019re terrible at it? The government is objectively, really, really bad at running that. If we had government airlines, Holy Lord, can you imagine what that would look like? Why don\u2019t we just get out of that business completely, let the private sector run it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Association of American Railroads president and chief executive officer Ian Jeffries told Moreno the answer would depend on whether a national intercity rail service should be considered a public service or a private enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some parts of the country, like the sections of Florida where Brightline operates, Jeffries said it\u2019s profitable for private companies to run a railroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress has made the decision that it also wants to provide other services that are going to be inherently money losing, and as long as that\u2019s the point of view, then that service needs to be provided as well,\u201d said Jeffries. \u201cIt\u2019s probably not an either or.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moreno said the amenities on Amtrak compared to Brightline reminded him of \u201ca Russian car from the \u201870s versus a modern vehicle today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":238176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1304,368,35,47],"tags":[17126,11],"class_list":["post-238163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amtrak","category-association-of-american-railroads","category-breaking-news","category-rail-news","tag-bernie-moreno","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t