49 U.S.C. § 24711 — Competitive passenger rail service pilot program

(a) In General — Within 18 months of the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 becoming law, the Secretary of Transportation must issue a rule creating a pilot program. The pilot lets eligible petitioners compete to replace Amtrak on no more than 3 long-distance routes (as defined in section 24102) that Amtrak was running when that 2015 Act became law.

(b) Pilot Program Requirements — (1) In general: the program must (A) let an eligible petitioner ask the Secretary to run intercity rail service over one of these routes for a 4-year period, renewable once for another 4 years at the Secretary's option; (B) require the Secretary to (i) notify the petitioner and Amtrak and publish notice in the Federal Register within 30 days of getting the petition, (ii) set a deadline of up to 120 days after that publication for both the petitioner and Amtrak (if it chooses to compete) to submit a complete bid, and (iii) after picking a winner, publish the winner's identity, the route, a detailed explanation of the choice, and other relevant information for up to 30 days of public comment; (C) require every bid to (i) describe capital needs, financial projections, staffing, and operational plans, and (ii) be made public by the winner after the award, with confidential details redacted; (D) for a route funded by a state or states, require the Secretary to get that state's agreement before picking any bidder other than the state itself; and (E) if the winner isn't Amtrak, require the Secretary to sign a contract within 270 days of the bid deadline, giving the winner (i) the right and duty to run the route under performance standards the Secretary sets, and (ii) an operating subsidy that in year one can't exceed 90% of what that route got the year before the petition (adjusted for inflation), with later years staying at that same adjusted level. (2) Limitation: the subsidy caps and terms in (1)(E) don't apply if Amtrak itself is or is part of the winning bid. (3) Eligible petitioners: petitions may come from (A) a rail carrier that owns the tracks Amtrak uses on the route, or another carrier with a written agreement with that owner; (B) a state, group of states, or sub-state transportation authority that has a written agreement with the track-owning carrier; or (C) a state or sub-state authority together with a rail carrier that has a written agreement with the track-owning carrier. (4) Performance standards: the standards set under (1)(E)(i) must match or beat Amtrak's actual performance on that route in the last fiscal year. (5) Agreement governing access issues: unless the winner already has the needed access rights, or owns the track itself, it must sign a written access agreement with the track-owning carrier before operating.

(c) Access to Facilities; Employees — If the Secretary awards a route to an outside petitioner: (1) the Secretary can require Amtrak to give that petitioner access to Amtrak's reservation system, stations, and related facilities, following the dispute process in subsection (g); (2) workers the petitioner uses to run the route count as that petitioner's employees (unless a union contract says otherwise) and are covered by the same federal rules as similar Amtrak employees; and (3) the winning bidder must give hiring preference to qualified Amtrak employees who lost their jobs because of the award, following its staffing plan, and must follow the grant conditions in section 22905.

(d) Cessation of Service — If a winning petitioner stops running the route or breaks its contract, the Secretary, working with the Surface Transportation Board, must act to enforce the contract and keep service running — including installing a temporary operator, giving that temporary operator an operating subsidy, and rebidding the contract.

(e) Budget Authority — (1) For a non-Amtrak winner, the Secretary must provide the operating subsidy described in (b)(1)(E)(ii) out of funds withheld under section 11101(e) of the 2015 Act, or later appropriations for the same purpose. (2) If the winner isn't Amtrak, the Secretary must also give Amtrak an appropriate share of funds under section 11101(b) of the 2015 Act to cover Amtrak's costs from losing that route — both the direct costs of ending its service and any indirect costs to its other routes. This money to Amtrak doesn't reduce the winning bidder's subsidy.

(f) Reporting — If the Secretary misses the deadline in subsection (a) for issuing the final rule, the Secretary must, starting 19 months after the 2015 Act and every 90 days after that until the rule is done, tell the Senate Commerce Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in writing: (1) why the rule is late; (2) a plan to finish it; and (3) an estimated completion date.

(g) Disputes — (1) If Amtrak and the winning petitioner can't agree on access terms under subsection (c)(1), either side can ask the Surface Transportation Board to decide whether access to Amtrak's facilities or services is necessary, and whether giving that access would unreasonably hurt Amtrak's other services. (2) If the Board finds access is necessary and won't unreasonably hurt Amtrak, it must order Amtrak to provide the facilities, equipment, and services, and set fair compensation, liability, and other terms.

(h) Limitation — No more than 3 long-distance routes total can be given to non-Amtrak winners under this program.

(i) Preservation of Right to Competition on State-Supported Routes — Nothing here stops a state from introducing its own competition for intercity rail service on its state-supported routes.

(j) Savings Clause — Nothing here affects Amtrak's existing rights to access railroad tracks and facilities.