Railroads

A House bill would require Amtrak to open at least one car of each train for passengers transporting dogs and cats.

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House Republicans and Amtrak debated on Tuesday who should be picking up the tab for long-distance rail lines in the U.S.

Each side agrees that the routes are sure money-losers. But the agreement stopped Tuesday when it came to whether or not the federal government should be subsidizing the service.

"Year after year these routes lose money," Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) said during a hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee after acknowledging Amtrak's gains in ridership on its shorter routes. 

"In 2012, they lost a combined $600 million," Denham said of the company's long-distance service. "We simply cannot afford to continue these levels of subsidized losses year after year."

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Lawmakers in Connecticut pushed Monday for a quick investigation of the accident on the state's Metro North commuter railway that injured more than 70 people last week.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted a briefing on Monday for lawmakers at the site of the accident that saw a train from New York City to New Haven, Conn., derail last Friday in Fairfield, Conn.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who was one of the lawmakers who attended the NTSB briefing, said that he wanted to balance a thorough investigation with resuming commuter rail service in his state quickly.

"I have been in close contact with National Transportation Safety Board leadership and on site investigators and am confident they will do a thorough and timely investigation to determine the cause of this alarming crash, including a careful review of the safety features of the new Metro-North cars," Blumenthal said in a statement released on Monday. 

"The NTSB understands that the quicker they are done investigating on site, the sooner the railroad can be repaired and service can be restored."

Amtrak is spending $466 million to buy 70 new electric locomotives, the company said Monday.

The locomotives will run up to 125 miles-per-hour and they will be used on Amtrak's northeast U.S. routes. The cars will be built by electronics company Siemens at a facility in Sacramento, Calif.

Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman said the electric locomotives will improve Amtrak's service in the northeast, which is its most profitable region of the country.

"The new Amtrak locomotives will help power the economic future of the Northeast region, provide more reliable and efficient service for passengers and support the rebirth of rail manufacturing in America," Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman said in a statement. "Built on the West Coast for service in the Northeast with suppliers from many states, businesses and workers from across the country are helping to modernize the locomotive fleet of America's railroad."

The man, Ahmed Abassi, allegedly plotted to derail a New York-bound train near the Canadian border. 

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Amtrak marked 42 years of service on Wednesday with a plea for more money from Congress.

CEO Joe Boardman said Amtrak remains a "vital part" of the nation's transportation system, but can't continue to fulfill its "national mission" without more money from Washington.

"Amtrak has been underfunded and has too many conflicting missions with only year to year funding to plan, build and maintain safe infrastructure and provide national surface transportation mobility and connectivity," Boardman said in a statement. "In addition, multiple layers of oversight have been added to what Congress intended to be a 'private' company that carries out public policy."