Politico Morning Transportation: Hail to the (Southwest) Chief

May 11, 2018
By STEPHANIE BEASLEY, With help from Lauren Gardner, Tanya Snyder and Kelsey Tamborrino, Politico Morning Transportation; May 11, 2018

HAIL TO THE (SOUTHWEST) CHIEF: A passenger rail advocates’ group is pushing back against Amtrak’s signal that it won’t provide a $3 million match to a recently awarded TIGER grant to fix up a portion of its long-distance Southwest Chief route, Lauren reports. According to an email message the Rail Passengers Association made public this week, Amtrak notified lawmaker offices that its match to the $16 million award was contingent upon states and BNSF, which owns the tracks, commit dollars “for the remainder of the infrastructure investments and associated additional maintenance costs for this route in New Mexico.” The association argued Amtrak is essentially reneging on its previous support for preservation efforts along the route.

Click here to read the full story, including BNSF’s response.

 

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