Republicans say they will destroy Amtrak.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
It doesn't matter, Azazel.

Why shouldn't a profit be expected?

Slow: Did you read the part about how Congress has made it illegal for Amtrak to cut service to unprofitable lines? If Congress doesn't want to provide the money then shouldn't they at least make it legal for Amtrak to decide which lines to run and which not to run based upon which lines make money and which lose money? Isn't it extremely disingenious to claim "They're unprofitable so we're closing them" when it continues to be the Congress which makes them unprofitable?

At the very least Congress should repeal the "Amtrak may never stop oppurating any rail line" statute and then see if they are profitable or not.

[Arrian]

If one RR can't make profit, how are many RRs going to make profit. No way

RR's can do it, if they aren't forced to run routes that lose money.

The track upkeep thing is an interesting topic, and one could certainly argue that it would be good public policy to have the government (and therefore the taxpayers) cover it, leveling the playing field.

-Arrian

[SlowwHand]

Always people looking for a good excuse for failing.
They said, "Make a profit."
They DIDN'T give unrealistic guidelines, Mitchell.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Always people looking for a good excuse for failing.
They said, "Make a profit."
They DIDN'T give unrealistic guidelines, Mitchell.

Slow: If Congress told the airlines they couldn't cut unprofitable routes then how long do you think the airlines would last losing money on every plane they flew? This is exactly what the Congress has done to Amtrak; they require Amtrak to maintain and oppurate every single line in the country including the interstate route into Ceyyan (spelling), WI that only gets about 100 people per month.

Allow Amtrak the freedom to eliminate the lose making routes and you will find Amtrak will make money.

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Always people looking for a good excuse for failing.
They said, "Make a profit."
They DIDN'T give unrealistic guidelines, Mitchell.

If the things Oerdin posted are right,
i.e. they get only small funds which aren´t even enough to buy new (faster) trains or to properly upkeep their Tracks and not even are allowed to close their unprofitable routes,
how can you then expect them to make Profit?

[Dinner]

The bill hasn't passed yet and we might be able to change it if we all write our congressmen and tell them to stop it.

[Az]

Oerdin is a closet commie! nya nya nya nya.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Kidicious
The market has already shown that rail can't compete against air travel. That's why the private companies went bankrupt. I don't see how Amtrak could possibly make profit.

The reason the priviate companies went bankrupt was because of the huge expense of maintaining the rail lines when cars and planes both had their infastructure paid for by the state (in the form of state owned roads and airports). If we have state owned rail lines and priviately owned companies oppurating on those rail lines then we will have a level playing field were the economics are very favorable.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Oerdin
So how would I fix Amtrak? I would first nationalize all rail way lines in the country and create a new federal agency which would be something of an FAA but for trains. The federal government would then be responsible for maintaining all the nations rail way lines just like it is responsible for maintaining interstate highways, airports, sea ports, many canals, and the like. Next individual priviately owned companies would be authorized to oppurate trains on the rail way lines just like individual airlines are authorized to fly into certain air ports.

Such an approach would inject a great deal of competetion into the industry thus keeping down prices, but, it would remove the single biggest problem priviate rail companies have had in the past. That being how to continually pay for maintaining tens of thousands of miles of track.

What do you think? Is my idea workable?

So you want to nationalize the track, but keep the railroad cars private?

I could go for that.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Azazel
Oerdin is a closet commie! nya nya nya nya.

I've told everyone I'm a Centrist Democrat but no one believed me.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Timexwatch
Besides, the only routes that make money are on the DC-NYC-Boston Corridor. Amtrak will continue to operate that line for the foreseeable future.

70% of all Amtrak lines are profitable. I know here in California the Coaster (Amtrak's train which goes from San Diego to Santa Barbara and back 4 times a day) has broken all ridership records and is very profitable.

[DeathByTheSword]

problem with american is that they rather take the car for a +3 hours drive than sit in a train for +4 hours.

in the netherlands a lot of people take the train everday....and it is (partly) goverment owned.....oh no wait...it is private now....anyways....the trains are in bad shape and always to late....so turning from Government owned to Private companies is not always succesfull

[Dinner]

Originally posted by JohnT
So you want to nationalize the track, but keep the railroad cars private?

I could go for that.

Further once priviate rail companies are up and running we could charge them a user fee just like we charge a per plane fee which the airlines have to pay. This will help to off set the cost of maintaining train stations and rail way lines.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Interesting BBC article, especially this part:

The plan would split Amtrak into operating and maintenance companies and open both to competition from outside contractors.

I like this idea. Have Amtrak face the private sector. After all, they have a monopoly on running service between cities.

The maintainance company would be seperate and be the one that gets state funding for upkeep on the railroad network... if they do a good job.

[Sandman]

Privatising the train operators whilst keeping the track state-owned sounds like a good idea, but it sounds a lot like the utter fiasco that is Britain's experience.

The railways are now costing the taxpayer more money than when they were state-owned. Safety has declined, due to engineers being replaced by accountants obsessed with profit.

Your current system sounds fine, if you just had a more interested government.