49 USC 24711 – Competitive passenger rail service pilot program
(a)
Terms Used In 49 USC 24711
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
(b)
(1)
(A) allow a petitioner described in paragraph (3) to petition the Secretary to provide intercity rail passenger transportation over a long-distance route described in subsection (a) for an operation period of 4 years from the date of commencement of service by the winning bidder and, at the option of the Secretary, consistent with the rule promulgated under subsection (a), allow the contract to be renewed for 1 additional operation period of 4 years;
(B) require the Secretary to—
(i) notify the petitioner and Amtrak of receipt of the petition under subparagraph (A) and to publish in the Federal Register a notice of receipt not later than 30 days after the date of receipt;
(ii) establish a deadline, of not more than 120 days after the notice of receipt is published in the Federal Register under clause (i), by which both the petitioner and Amtrak, if Amtrak chooses to do so, would be required to submit a complete bid to provide intercity rail passenger transportation over the applicable route; and
(iii) upon selecting a winning bid, publish in the Federal Register the identity of the winning bidder, the long distance route that the bidder will operate, a detailed justification of the reasons why the Secretary selected the bid, and any other information the Secretary determines appropriate for public comment for a reasonable period of time not to exceed 30 days after the date on which the Secretary selects the bid;
(C) require that each bid—
(i) describe the capital needs, financial projections, and operational plans, including staffing plans, for the service, and such other factors as the Secretary considers appropriate; and
(ii) be made available by the winning bidder to the public after the bid award with any appropriate redactions for confidential or proprietary information;
(D) for a route that receives funding from a State or States, require that for each bid received from a petitioner described in paragraph (3), other than such State or States, the Secretary have the concurrence of the State or States that provide funding for that route; and
(E) for a winning bidder that is not or does not include Amtrak, require the Secretary to execute a contract not later than 270 days after the deadline established under subparagraph (B)(ii) and award to the winning bidder—
(i) subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), the right and obligation to provide intercity rail passenger transportation over that route subject to such performance standards as the Secretary may require; and
(ii) an operating subsidy, as determined by the Secretary, for—
(I) the first year at a level that does not exceed 90 percent of the level in effect for that specific route during the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which the petition was received, adjusted for inflation; and
(II) any subsequent years at the level calculated under subclause (I), adjusted for inflation.
(2)
(3)
(A) A rail carrier or rail carriers that own the infrastructure over which Amtrak operates a long-distance route, or another rail carrier that has a written agreement with a rail carrier or rail carriers that own such infrastructure.
(B) A State, group of States, or State-supported joint powers authority or other sub-State governance entity responsible for provision of intercity rail passenger transportation with a written agreement with the rail carrier or rail carriers that own the infrastructure over which Amtrak operates a long-distance route and that host or would host the intercity rail passenger transportation.
(C) A State, group of States, or State-supported joint powers authority or other sub-State governance entity responsible for provision of intercity rail passenger transportation and a rail carrier with a written agreement with another rail carrier or rail carriers that own the infrastructure over which Amtrak operates a long-distance route and that host or would host the intercity rail passenger transportation.
(4)
(5)
(c)
(1) the Secretary shall, if necessary to carry out the purposes of this section, require Amtrak to provide access to the Amtrak-owned reservation system, stations, and facilities directly related to operations of the awarded routes to the eligible petitioner awarded a contract under this section, in accordance with subsection (g);
(2) an employee of any person, except as provided in a collective bargaining agreement, used by such eligible petitioner in the operation of a route under this section shall be considered an employee of that eligible petitioner and subject to the applicable Federal laws and regulations governing similar crafts or classes of employees of Amtrak; and
(3) the winning bidder shall provide hiring preference to qualified Amtrak employees displaced by the award of the bid, consistent with the staffing plan submitted by the bidder, and shall be subject to the grant conditions under section 22905.
(d)
(1) the installment of an interim rail carrier;
(2) providing to the interim rail carrier under paragraph (1) an operating subsidy necessary to provide service; and
(3) rebidding the contract to operate the intercity rail passenger transportation.
(e)
(1)
(2)
(f)
(1) the reasons why the rule has not been issued;
(2) a plan for completing the rule as soon as reasonably practicable; and
(3) the estimated date of completion of the rule.
(g)
(1)
(A) whether access to Amtrak’s facility or equipment, or the provisions of services by Amtrak, is necessary under subsection (c)(1); and
(B) whether the operation of Amtrak’s other services will not be unreasonably impaired by such access.
(2)
(A) requires Amtrak to provide the applicable facilities, equipment, and services; and
(B) determines reasonable compensation, liability, and other terms for the use of the facilities and equipment and the provision of the services.
(h)
(i)
(j)