As the nation's Amtrak system threatens to go off the rails financially, transportation officials in Washington and Oregon are hoping to fashion a regional passenger rail line from the wreckage. On Feb. 7 the Amtrak Reform Council, established by Congress to determine if Amtrak could support itself, will present to Congress and the White House its proposal to reorganize the system. Bruce Chapman, the council's only West Coast board member and also president of Seattle-based Discovery Institute, said the council will advocate spinning off the more successful regional operations, such as the Northwest rail service running between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C.
"Our suggestion is that Amtrak be replaced with a series of corridor-based entities," Chapman said in an interview. "Most people on the Amtrak Reform Council anticipate the Northwest would be an entity unto itself." Read More ›