USA's crumbling infrastructure: Other views

Rex Nutting, MarketWatch: America is crumbling before our eyes. Once, the U.S. was the envy of the world with its modern roads, airports, railroad bridges and other infrastructure. Everything was first-class. Now, it's third-rate. … Investing in infrastructure is as close to a free lunch as we can get. It would put millions of people to work; it would boost our productivity and international competitiveness; it would promote commerce in underserved cities, towns and counties; and it would truly be an investment that our children and grandchildren would profit from. And, of course, as seven grieving families can attest, it might save lives."

Sean Davis, The Federalist : "Amtrak has a lot of problems. A lack of taxpayer generosity is not one of them, not even close. The key to fixing Amtrak, to making it function as a 'for-profit corporation' — which is how the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak's overseer, officially describes the passenger rail organization — is not increasing the volume of federal cash it sucks up every year. The solution is not to reform this and that. ... Selling off its assets to the highest bidder won't fix Amtrak, either. No, the key to fixing Amtrak is to just give it away. Hand over the entire enterprise to whichever rail company wants it. ... Amtrak's problems have far more to do with terrible staff cost management than they do with a so-called lack of infrastructure funding. American taxpayers involuntarily dump over a billion dollars each year into Amtrak, and for what?"

Philip Bump, The Washington Post : "The constant struggle of Amtrak to get funding derives largely from the fact that not very many Americans use the rail system. Ridership is heavily centered in the Northeast, in the corridor between Boston and Washington, where Tuesday's accident occurred. But more than that, ridership is unevenly distributed politically. ... Many conservatives consider the idea of a federally funded transportation program to be anathema. And since so few of their constituents actually use the system, there's little incentive to offer political support. Tuesday's disaster could shift that thinking, just as it did after (a 2008) crash. For some, like Vice President Biden, Amtrak is 'a second family.' For people on Capitol Hill, though, it's often more of an unwelcome and voracious guest."