allows people who done have that much money to move around. i remember visiting colleges based on being able to use amtrak to get to philadelphia and d.c. let's remember that the likelihood of dying on an amtrak train is far less than in a car. but, of course our hearts are with those seven families who lost a member today. that does it from "the cycle" live from philadelphia. "now with alex wagner" starts right now. we have breaking news this hour. the ntsb the national transportation and safety board, confirms preliminary data this afternoon that the train in that deadly amtrak crash was traveling at a speed of over 100 miles per hour. the speed him in that section of the tracks is 50 miles per hour according to the federal railroad administration. all seven of the cars left the tracks in the crash with a force that ripped away steel tracks and tore down overhead power lines. today, one of the passengers

onboard described what it felt like before the crash. >> it felt like it was going fast. is that because it really was going fast or because of the consequence of what happened i really can't say. but it did feel fast. and it did feel like it was -- could have been speed that caused the liftoff that i felt. >> teams of investigators are on the scene in philadelphia with the ntsb set to hold its next briefing at the top of the hour at 5:00 p.m. eastern. this photo shows the train's black box, which has been recovered and is being analyzed by experts. today, cranes are at work lifting those massive cars. investigators are combing for evidence as trained dogs search for any more people who may be trapped underneath. this afternoon, the death toll rose to seven confirmed fatalities, with more than 200 injured. those killed in the tragic crash include 48-year-old associated press staffer jim gaines and 20-year-old justin zemser a

navy midshipman on leave. the crash occurred along the nation's busiest rail corridor with more than 2,000 trains every day. amtrak has modified its schedule with service shut down entirely between new york and philadelphia for what may be days to come. joining me now from near the crash side is msnbc's adam reese. thanks for joining me. we're hearing this preliminary data from the ntsb that the train was traveling over 100 miles per hour. what is the latest on the developing story? >> reporter: they won't confirm that, but they are telling us they are working on two parallel tracks. we know what happened but we're not sure exactly why it happened. the other is making sure the manifest matches with people who were on the scene, on the train, who might have gone to the hospital, who might have walked away from the crash, or who might not have even been on the train at all. the ntsb has the black box. it was taken to amtrak headquarters in delaware.

that will be very instrumental in telling them exactly how fast the train was going, when the bricks were applied, when the throttle was applied. maybe some other conditions surrounding the train. there's also a video camera in the cab of the train, and that will provide video. they just released video of the investigators on the scene, but this is actually inside the cab and may be a perspective of the engineer as he went down the track. speaking of the engineer he was injured. he's in the hospital. but he has been interviewed by the philadelphia police department. alex? >> do we have any more information on the engineer? this is the person who was actually driving the train, if you will? >> reporter: that's our understanding. there's an engineer who was driving the train, and then there's the conductor, the person who might be taking the tickets. our understanding is he is injured. he is at the hospital and he was interviewed by the philadelphia police department. now, in terms of investigation, when we might find something out, there is a 5:00 press

conference with the ntsb. we may find out some preliminary information. maybe how fast the train was going. maybe some other superficial -- what we call parameters that they found out from preliminary investigation of the scene. but don't expect any firm answers as to why this happened for at least another few weeks, possibly a month or two. >> adam reiss, thanks for that update. joining me now is former ntsb board member kitty higgins. kitty, we're hearing that the section of the track had a 50-mile-per-hour speed limit. that the train was, from initial reports, going at over 100 miles per hour. how accurately can we monitor train speeds on any given day? >> well alex, what is interesting is that this train and the asella also an amtrak train, have to follow the same

rules. the asella train has something called positive train control, or automatic train stop. so that speed is monitored, and if the engineer for whatever reason, is exceeding the speed, the train will automatically stop. you've got an amtrak train in this accident that apparently did not have that feature. so it is possible through technology to monitor speed. we will know more once we get the read out of the black box. but from my perspective, that technology ought to be on every train in the northeast corridor. >> so this was a regional train. that technology to monitor speed was not on the regional train. in terms of when you hear that the train was traveling at over 100 miles per hour possibly as high as 107, what was your initial thought? >> well clearly speed is a major factor in this accident. but we need to know why the speed was exceeded. was it operator error? did he try to apply the brakes and the bricks didn't work?

the reason why it was speeding we don't know yet. can i just say, i want to say in terms of the -- yes, this is a regional train, not the asella. but there was a law passed in congress requiring that trains -- passenger trains, all passenger trains be equipped with this technology by the end of this year. we are not there yet. but there's no reason that it should not be implemented on the northeast corridor. >> what else are investigators going to be looking at beyond the black box? >> they will look at the crew. they will look at the engineer. they will look at what might have -- what he had done before he drove this train. they will look at his record in terms of his history driving trains. they will look at track. they will look at anything else. any other mechanical issues that might be considered a factor in this accident. >> and in terms of the accident itself, the reports we're hearing about the train being lifted out of the air or off the

tracks, seven i think cars were lifted off the track itself. power lines were pulled down. i mean the velocity that it must have been at and sort of the lack of obvious control. i mean, tell us a little bit about when you hear that account, what you think transpired. >> well again, we need to make sure we have all the information, which we will be getting as the investigation proceeds. but it seems to me it's the laws of physics. the train speed as reported was at 100 miles an hour. supposed to be 50 miles an hour. when you exit a curve off a highway, they tell you to slow down for that very reason. once a body is in motion, it stays in motion. that was what was happening here. basic laws of physics. >> kitty higgins, thanks for your time. temple university hospital received 54 patients following the train derailment and more than 20 patients are still receiving care. one of the victims admitted at the hospital died overnight due

to a massive chest injury. i want to bring in now dr. herbert cushing, the chief medical officer at temple university hospital. thank you so much for your time. i know you have much more important things to do. we will not keep you long. in terms of those folks who are still in your hospital what can you tell us broadly about their condition? >> temple university hospital still has 23 patients in the hospital that we're treating. we had 25 this morning, so two were able to be discharged. of the 23 still in the hospital eight are in critical care. and i expect that some may be able to go home this evening after their injuries are further monitored and we make sure that they're okay. we just had the one person that died. we're identifying him as james gaines a 45-year-old man from princeton, new jersey. and until midday today, we didn't know who he was. but after this morning's press briefing, his family came to the hospital and were able to

identify him based on his clothing. we went down to the medical examiner's office and identified his body. >> dr. cushing, you said earlier you didn't see as many head injuries as had perhaps been expected. if you could classify the injuries that you're seeing now what are they? i think we lost the audio. we will have more on this after the break. last night's accident has thrown a spotlight on amtrak's antiquated infrastructure and its finances but that did not stop congress from cutting back even more just hours ago. we will have more on that debate when we come back. and the 45 highway mpg tdi clean diesel. and last but not least the high performance gti. looks like we're gonna need a bigger podium. the volkswagen golf family. motor trend's 2015 "cars" of the year.

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i just want to convey our condolences and our prayers to those who lost their lives in the amtrak crash and those who are recovering from it. and we'll make sure to follow

through with the difficulties of what caused this. >> the republican house majority leader was hardly alone in expressing thoughts and prayers for the victims of last night's amtrak crash. but by mid-morning, the deadly accident was front and center in an escalating partisan battle over transportation funding, with democrats suggesting republican budget cuts would make riding the rails a more perilous experience. >> while we don't know the cause of this accident we do know funding will not enable safer train travel. >> they expect us to fund their priorities. they expect us to watch over their safety when they get on trains. last night we failed them. we failed to invest in their safety. we failed to make their safety a priority. >> republicans insisted funding and safety had nothing to do with each other. >> to suggest that we had not

funded this properly that that's what caused the accident when you have no idea no idea what caused this accident. don't use this tragedy in that way. it was beneath you. >> in the end, the house appropriations committee voted to cut amtrak by $250 million. amtrak will be funded at $1.1 billion annually down from $1.4 billion. as a measure of what that means, amtrak will receive a billion dollars of annual funding from congress at the same time that china is poised to invest $128 billion in its national rail service this year. joining me now from washington is congresswoman eleanor holmes norton a member of the transportation and infrastructure committee. and nbc news capitol hill correspondent luke russert. congresswoman, thank you for joining me. i know it's been a heated day on capitol hill. i guess let's first talk about the dividing line between some democrats and some republicans on this issue. do you think that there is a link between safety and funding.

>> there certainly is. my heart goes out to the families of those who were hurt and certainly those who died. look democrats are not -- we passed a authorization bill. we agreed we can authorize is the most x percent. it's what the appropriators give you. now, amtrak said it needed two billion just for state of good repair, who are just keeping the train going. i am very concerned that we're driving into a safety wreck, and i must say, it may be coincidence that the cut came today, but the cuts have been coming year after year, and the cuts have been coming this year in a year when what the republican budget does is to try

to raise defense spending and take it all out of defense, out of domestic spending just like the rail and the amtrak that we've had here today. there is a real link between what you're able to fund and how much safety you assure the public that it's getting. >> luke, at what point infrastructure was not a partisan issue. ronald reagan was the person who said rebuilding our infrastructure is an investment in tomorrow that we must make today. it would seem, though that the battle is as pitched as ever and decidedly on partisan lines today. what can you tell us about what happened on capitol hill? >> well, there are a few things. i think the points you make about this being a very much partisan issue now is true. it did not used to be this way. things like the highway trust fund bill were slam dunks. they were lay-ups. everybody essentially got what they wanted. and that was roughly the same truth for things like amtrak.

there has been some griping over the course of the years, but eventually people came to and said we got to move this forward. what's really happened recently it's a very important point. a lot of these house republicans, they come from districts where amtrak plays no role. so essentially their entire model is it doesn't affect me i don't hear about it at home, i don't care about it, it's another big spend government boondoggle that we do not need. if you talk to republicans from the northeast, a lot of them push back on their more conservative counterparts and say hey, this actually matters a lot to us. so it's something that should be, in fact funded. what happened today is particularly striking. in march congress came together on a $1.4 billion re-authorization, the committee of jurisdiction actually agreed got 316 votes. however, because of the caps put in place by the sequester, by the budget dating back to 2011 alex, the appropriations committee essentially big footed the transportation committee and now they brought down this budget to 1.13 billion.

so what you're essentially seeing here are the effects of the sequester four years later playing a direct role in the funding of amtrak, ironically the day after a deadly derailment in philadelphia. it shows you how much that legislation is felt in all aspects of governing here on capitol hill. >> may i say a word -- i've got to say a word on who gets funded. the fact is amtrak not only funds itself but it funds amtrak, which is located in almost 40 states. smaller versions of amtrak. they also get some money from the states. but if we can get to the floor, we do get a lot of support for amtrak. it not only funds itself, but across the nation. dealing with essentially tea party cuts and you're dealing here also with amtrak trying to do something that isn't on the tanl yet. i have written to amtrak because

i was informed that they are doing upheavals in their crew. they are beginning 12-hour days with shorter layoffs. that's something that in committee i want to look at. i wrote and asked about that. they said we're still talking with the unions. the unions told us that they wanted to begin with union station and go to these 12-hour days, to do essentially crew changes, which they believe would make the line more efficient. but obviously, i can't believe it will make it more safe. >> congresswoman, have those changes begun? have the workdays increased already? or is that happening in the future? >> some have already begun. they wanted to do the 12-hour days and the layoffs that would be shorter beginning with the union station hub. >> back to the geography politics for a minute. the ridership on average in republican districts i think is

41,000 as of last year. and democratic districts, 261,000. obviously there is a difference depending on where you are in the country as to who rides the country, but there are parts of the country, especially the middle of the country where you're seeing increased rail ridership. i wonder if you think, as industry changes, as centers of industry change whether there's any possibility that you'll have any republican interest in infrastructure once again. >> perhaps, but in the current climate, it's not necessarily something that a lot of republicans want to be supportive of at the federal level. i think a lot of that dates back to the stimulus. this was something that was deeply unpopular here amongst a lot of republicans. even though the stimulus was mostly tax cuts. they did not like it because they saw things like salindra a few of these green energy companies stealing money. a lot of that was because the

products weren't shovel ready. i'll point out one example. you're originally from washington, d.c. metro is a service that a lot of republican staffers here on capitol hill desperately use to get incapital. remember, in 2009 metro had a deadly accident over nine people were killed. they want to cut that budget in half. so there really is no desire to necessarily help rail unless -- even if it's beneficial to their staff, beneficial to people who work for them because of this overarching idea of it's not in my backyard i don't necessarily care at this moment. >> well fiscal hawkishness is real. right? >> indeed. indeed. >> congresswoman eleanor holmes norton and nbc's luke russert, thank you both for your time. >> take care. coming up, another story we are following today. a life or death decision for the jury as closing arguments in the dzhokhar tsarnaev death penalty

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northrop grumman. is dzhokhar tsarnaev an indiscriminate killer or a misguided teen? that question is now in the hands of the jury. closing arguments wrapped up this afternoon as the judge told the jury we are ready for you to commence deliberations. the 12-member jury will decide whether the convicted boston bomber lives or dies. for the prosecution, the answer is clear and it comes from tsarnaev himself, written in his hand on a boat stained with his blood. now i don't like killing innocent people but in this case, it is allowed because america needs to be punished. but the defense contends that the younger tsarnaev was under the spell of his older brother tamerlan the driving force behind the attack. the jury has already found dzhokhar tsarnaev guilty of 17 capital counts. if they decide on the death penalty for any one of those counts he will face possible execution.

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we are continuing to follow the latest developments on last night's deadly amtrak train crash in philadelphia. just moments from now, investigators are expected to give an update on the potential cause of the accident at 5:00 p.m. eastern. moments ago, the ntsb confirmed that preliminary data shows the train was traveling at more than 100 miles per hour as it entered a sharp curve. the speed limit on that section of the track is 50 miles per hour. teams have now recovered the black boxes from the train's wreckage. the recorders were taken to delaware to download information including the train's speed and a video recording of the engine. meanwhile, emergency crews continue to comb the records for more survivors in victims of an accident that killed at least seven and injured more than 200. this afternoon, the mother of

naval academy student justin zemser, one of the victims of the crash, spoke to reporters. >> he was supposed to come home last night at 10:30. when i went online to see, you know, if everything was on time they said there was a derailment. and then it was all plastered on tv. and i kept on calling hospitals, but nothing. and then we got the phone call this morning that my son has passed. >> what can you tell us about the latest on the recovery efforts? >> reporter: it's still very much an active scene. the philadelphia mayor spoke a short while ago and said that they are still very much focused on trying to recover bodies and at the same time identify those who are missing. he was also saying that as a result of what happened last night, there may have been people who bought tickets who were not on the train. there may have been amtrak officials who got on the train not necessarily having tickets. so that remains the focus of

those that are currently here trying to identify everyone that was on that train. as you were mentioning, he did talk about the death toll. that death toll as of now stands at seven. more than 200 people injured. he would not put a total number of how many people are unaccounted for, though he did confirm that there is a number, at least of people that are not accounted for. in terms of the investigation, that's still very much ongoing. he did not comment on where the investigation stands. did not say what officials believe to be the main cause of this derailment. said the focus right now is on the people making sure that everybody was getting proper treatment and identifying everyone that may have been onboard, alex. >> do we have any sense of what may happen at the national transportation and safety board briefing that's supposed to happen in the next half-hour? >> we know that the national transportation and safety board obviously on the site very early on today. they have recovered what is called the data recorder or the black box equivalent of the train.

there was also a forward-facing camera that is put on the front of the train. and we know that officials here investigators here have also been speaking to the engineer. that is the individual driving the train. so all of those are going to be key pieces in the preliminary investigation of the ntsb but we also know the data box reporter, or the black box reporter has been taken to amtrak facilities in delaware. that's certainly going to be instrumental to try to determine perhaps the speed of the train as it was going around this turn of any other mechanics or any other measurements that were being calculated at the time. so all of these pieces critical to the investigation as well as the eyewitness testimonies of those that were onboard. but as of now, they have not officially said what they believe to be the cause of that. although they have described the train as going about 100 miles per hour around this turn. now, keep in mind, that is double the posted speed limit of about 50 miles an hour what the train should have been doing, when this train derailed.

>> thanks for that update. joining me now is msnbc's national correspondent joy reid, who is at temple university hospital. what can you tell us about the injuries and those in the hospital at present? >> i can tell you, it was just a press conference here earlier in which they talked about the eight people still in critical care. they also talked about one of the patients that they treated who unfortunately did not survive. his name was james marshall gaines, a 48-year-old father of two, survived by a wife of two children, age 16 and 11. he was a software architect for the associated press, who we understand was likely sitting in the quiet car, which is typically the second car back in the train. and the understanding we have here is that people who were sitting further forward in the train seemed to have suffered the greater number of injuries. james marshall gaines suffered massive chest wounds and did die

overnight despite the efforts that were made here at the hospital. the other person that we know of who did die, whose name we have heard, you played a sound byte from his mother earlier, was justin zemser a 21-year-old naval midshipman. he was on leave and headed home. as you played that sound byte earlier, his mother has confirmed that he also died. one of the questions that was asked here at this press conference was the age range and the injury range of what we were seeing and what we were told essentially was that there was one 80-year-old or 80-something-year-old patient who was here at this hospital. there were others that were in their 20s, around in that range. so while we don't have extensive biographical information, we know there were at least four people who were from outside the united states, from albania and from some other countries in europe. but they are also trying to sort out where they were from. but we do have those names of seven fatalities. >> do we know if there were any children onboard? i think i heard somewhere that

we had not heard any intelligence that there were. can we confirm that? >> that question did come up. there were no children admitted here to temple university hospital. and we still don't have that full manifest as you know. so we don't know if there were children onboard the train, but there were certainly no children that were admitted here and there are no minors among those who were admitted at this hospital. there's expected to be upwards of six or seven people who may be released tonight. many of the injuries they're seeing are compound fractures, chest fractures, some lung injuries. not as many lung injuries as expected. but as of now, no children. >> some maybe good news in all of this. joy reid thanks for that. with me now on the phone is andrew brenner, who survived the amtrak crash. andrea let me first ask how are you doing? >> i'm a little sore and bruised, but i feel really lucky, especially after hearing that report just now. >> can you tell us about what

happened? >> it all happened very, very suddenly. i was sitting in the last car about midway back on the left-hand side. we pulled out of 30th street station. about ten or 15 minutes later, there was a sudden jolt. it was clear that something was going wrong. within moments, i was thrown across the train car. i hit my back pretty hard. and people were terrified. things had become unhinged and were flying around. luggage had flown and visibly hitting people. once the movement stopped, people got up made sure they were okay. definitely a lot of blood but there was a tremendous amount of good will and people really trying to help them make sure that people were okay. and to get off the train. i mean there's no good reason for anything like this to

happen. but people were really good last night. >> how did you actually physically get out of the train? >> so we were the final car. within a few minutes, there was a police officer that somehow made his way on board and helped open the back door which was stuck and there were people from the neighborhood nearby who rushed to the scene and were helping people get out the back of the car. i had actually lost my shoes at some point. we were pulled off the train and standing off to the side. we could see the carnage in front of us which was just train cars and metal everywhere. and then officials led us to the street, even though there were some downed wires, and just a lot of people who were clearly shaken and injured. >> understandably so. i have taken that train route, i used to take it every week. one of the things that is confusing when you talk about train speed, is that it slows down and speeds up depending on

what part of the line you're on. i wonder, that notwithstanding, did it feel like the train was going really fast? >> you know, i don't know that i can tell you the difference between going 70 miles an hour or 120 miles an hour in a a train car. but what i will say is that we went around that curve, it felt almost as if you were in a car that took a curve a little too fast and your body moves just a little too uncomfortably. everything happened so so quickly, that i doubt that there was any room to make up for this really tragic mistake. and hearing in retrospect now that the train was traveling twice the speed limit is really enraging. it's infuriating. and it's just shameful. especially hearing about the lives lost and the injuries that i saw last night. i'm thankful that my injuries

were minor in the big scheme of things. it felt like it was going fast but the train always feels like it's going fast. i trust and rely on amtrak to make sure that it's going safely. >> yeah. and the train was i believe a seven-car train, and nearly everyone on it had some kind of injury, or if not physically then surely there's some psychological trauma that everyone sustained. let me just ask you, when you got off the train did you talk to other folks who were on the train, and what were they saying? >> there was a range of emotions. there were a lot of people who were calm and trying to help. and there were people who were really really upset. there was a young girl who was traveling home who was a junior at american university going back to long island to be with her family for the summer. and, you know sort of helped her get up and be able to walk to the street. she was so upset.

there were some tourists from abroad who had no clue what was going on. i mean there were a lot of people who were both physically and emotionally shaken. and i count myself as one of them. i had no idea what kind of mental state and trauma this is beginning to you know set off down the road but i'm thankful that i get to be in a position to have that. and it's just horrible. >> yeah and we are glad you're okay. thank you for taking the time to talk with me. and rest up. thanks for that. andrew brenner. >> thank you. coming up last night's tragic train crash was a hawning echo of another crash at practically the same site decades ago. the crash of the congressional limited is just ahead. y dog and cat foods. we start with real meat as the first ingredient. we leave out corn,wheat and soy. and we own where our dry food is made-100 percent!

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traffic from washington to boston. what has been the impact on business? jackie deangeles has the cnbc market wrap. >> definitely travelers are seeing disruptions. they can certainly take buses, but more increased traffic is going to create a little backlog there. also another option is to go to the airport and fly out, but as you know last-minute tickets can be quite expensive, so there's going to be a little spill-over effect here. back to you.

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we are getting more information from those still missing from last night's train accident. this man was traveling from baltimore to new york and his family is handing out fliers near the site of the crash. they ask that anyone with information about gildersleeve contact the philadelphia police department. last night's derailment took the lives of at least seven people

and injured another 200 and it happened just steps away from another rail accident more than 70 years earlier. on september 6th of 1943, an even deadlier railroad crash took place in philadelphia less than a mile from tuesday's accident. at the time, the doncongressional limited train was the fastest on the pennsylvania railroad line. it traveled between washington, d.c. and new york city at the then unheard of speed of 80 miles per hour. on labor day 1943 541 people boarded the limited at washington's union station. many of them were soldiers on leave for the holiday from world war ii. minutes past 6:00 p.m. after passing the north philadelphia station on broad street the train's seventh car flung upward. that sent the other cars flying off the rails. the cause? one of the train's journal boxes, which house the axles, overheated. all told 79 people were killed and 117 wounded in the

congressional limited train crash. it was the country's worst rail accident since 1918. but it wasn't the only crash on the new york-washington line. in 1996 50 years later and about 95 miles north of the philadelphia crash, an amtrak train derailed. it then sideswiped another train after crossing the 100-year-old portal bridge. 43 people were injured, though no one was killed. in this case the rails on the bridge were not returned to the right position after the bridge opened to allow a tug boat to pass. the deadly crash on tuesday night is only the latest on a rail line with a history of accidents that stretches over half a century. coming up was amtrak doomed to fail from its very outset? the rocky financial history of america's railroad. that's next. based on 6 different criteria, why did a panel of 11 automotive experts name the volkswagen golf motor trend's 2015 car of the year? we'll give you four good reasons.

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when house republicans voted today to cut the budget for amtrak just hours after the fatal train derailment in philadelphia, it was far from the first time that amtrak

funding has been a political fight. since its founding 45 years ago, amtrak and who should pay for amtrak has been the subject of perpetual debate. when amtrak was created in 1970 by the nixon administration, it was designated a for-profit corporation. the federal government would give it enough money to start and then the goal was for amtrak to become self-sufficient and eventually turn a profit. the problem, that never happened. and since its first day hitting the tracks on may 1st 1971 congress has continued to pay for amtrak to operate. another problem, it probably hasn't been funded enough. congress appropriates about a billion and a half dollars a year for amtrak. britain, a country only a fraction of the size of the u.s., spent roughly $8 billion on their private rail network last year. china spends $128 billion. according to the national journal, other public services in the u.s. like highways and airports receive about 45 times the subsidies that amtrak does.

in the past 15 years, amtrak ridership has increased by about 50%, while federal funding has steadily declined. joining me on the phone is president and ceo of reconnecting america and former chair of amtrak's board john robert smith. thanks so much for joining me on this very busy day. as we talk about the nation's rail lines, and to the debate in congress today what do you think is the primary problem with amtrak? should it be designated a for-profit corporation? >> well first, alex as the former chairman of the board of amtrak, let me extend my thoughts and prayers to the crew, the passengers, and the families of those impacted by the accident last night. i was chairman during the illinois accident. loss of life. great injuries there. i know full well the shock and the grief and the pain of those

people. and i certainly am thinking about them now. to answer your question alex we have not adequately invested in any surface transportation for at least two decades. highways transition and especially rail. and you cannot starve a transportation system for decades and then beat it for underperforming to your high level of expectations. amtrak has not been invested in at an adequate level to sustain it maintain it much less grow it and yet even in those very stressful financial times, amtrak has shown record ridership and revenue for ten of the last 12 years. the northeast corridor carries 77% of the market share over the airlines between washington and new york. it serves my hometown of meridian, mississippi, that

needs to be connected to that system. so in spite of gross underinvestment, amtrak has continued to serve the nation. keep in mind that there is no transportation system in the world that pays for itself out of its fare box. no rail system no highway system does nor does our airway system. think of all the investment in air traffic controllers, airports runways, tsa agents. we don't think about that as an investment in air, yet it is. and we invest precious little in passage rail. and we definitely need that passage rail connection to connect our economies, large cities small cities international networks. >> i think it bears mentioning that you were a republican mayor in mississippi for 16 years. what do you say to members of your own party who have expressed a great deal of skepticism over whether we need to fund amtrak? >> well if you look at the two

leading champions in the senate the last time we authorized passage rail it was trent lott republican from mississippi, and a democrat from new jersey. so it can be a bipartisan issue. in fact, tomorrow the senate will introduce its rail authorization act, and once again, it's a mississippi-new jersey connection. a conservative republican from mississippi, and cory booker a liberal democrat from new jersey. but they each see a different face of passage rail for the people they serve and they have have worked together on a bill that i am optimistic will be a more positive bill for passage rail. >> you mentioned meridian mississippi, and the need to connect that to the broader train network. some folks say too much attention and money has been spread around the country, and the resources should really be focused on smaller intercity routes and specifically the northeast corridor. because of the fact that amtrak

accounts for 77% of all rail and air travel between washington and new york. do you think that's fair? >> well we have a national network of transportation choices. the highways of mississippi as well as new york state. we need to look at the interconnectivity of our transportation system, and they're not expecting high speed rail in mississippi. but we're expecting a conventional rail that will connect our vibrant economies to the larger economies, whether that is in new orleans or atlanta, in our region or into the nation's capital and across the country. so i think there's a place for the right scale of passenger rail, whether it's in a densely populated urban area where you want more frequencies. such as you have in the northeast corridor. or whether you're connecting in a relatively simple way other smaller towns and cities across

not only the south, but across the northwest in the far west. >> john let me ask you one more question before we let you go. as a former amtrak board chair, what would you say to amtrak in this moment of crisis as they're dealing with the aftermath of this horrible fatal accident? >> well we don't know a cause, or at least i have not heard one definitely reported yet. it's probably too early to try to affix any kind of blame, but it does -- i think amtrak has done a very good job with the resources they have been invested in and have shown a good service across this country to the people they serve. i'd tell them to keep their chin up, to you know be transparent and open to any change that's necessary to improve the system and i know they will. they're good people. >> thank you for your time.

that is all for now. "the ed show" continues our coverage coming up next. and good evening, welcome to "the ed show" from washington, d.c. breaking news. we are waiting at this moment for the national transportation and safety board. any minute officials will give us a briefing with the latest information. we'll go straight to that. seven people confirmed dead at this hour. more than 200 have been treated for injuries. officials say an estimated 243 individuals were on that train. the search for survivors continues now. we have some audio of the transmissions that have been released. take a listen. >> notify amtrak to shut down the entire northeast corridor. we have a major event here. we have people on the track and a couple cars