Week ahead in transportation: All eyes on Foxx pick

{mosads}Transportation observers expect the Charlotte mayor to easily be confirmed after even staunchly conservative senators like Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said they would support him during last month’s hearing.

“I enjoyed our visit,” Foxx said to Cruz to laughter during the confirmation hearing. “I’ve been telling people that and they seem to act surprised; I don’t know why.”

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill this week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will on rail service is the northeast U.S.

Members of the committee’s Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Material subcommittee will travel to New York City’s Penn Station on Friday for a field hearing on rail service on Amtrak’s northeast corridor.

Republicans on the Transportation Committee have pushed to privatize rail service on the northeast corridor, which is Amtrak’s most profitable region. GOP lawmakers have argued that private companies could deliver high-speed rail service more efficiently than Amtrak’s current Acela service.

Amtrak officials have countered that it is experienced in providing rail service in the northeast region, and that profits from its northeast trains subsidize long-distance trains that run in other areas of the country.