The train I'd like to see cut is the "train of thought" in Congress that Amtrak is not as worthy as the other modes of transportation that receieve $$ from the gov't.
The problem is Amtrak is ostensibly a private corporation and the RPSA of 1970 which created Amtrak required that Amtrak operate on a for-profit basis; yet Amtrak keeps requring regular cash infusions
direct from the US Government to keep operating.
Meanwhile, airlines go bankrupt and get sold off; there's no 'Uncle Sugar' to save them usually.
Sobs at the loss of Eastern Airlines
Even those indirect airline subsidies you like to rail at still have a lot of self funding:
Link
Summary as of 1 January 2011:
FAA Taxes
7.5% Government Passenger Ticket Excise Tax
$3.70 Flight Segment Tax
Taxes on Commercial Jet Fuel
EPA Taxes
Taxes for the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund
Passenger Facility Charges
Up to $4.50 per passenger emplanement to fund airport improvements via the Passenger Facility Charges program.
DHS Taxes
$2.50 9/11 Fee -- this funds the TSA.
Aviation Security Infrastructure Fee -- this funds the TSA.
International Taxes
$5.00 APHIS Passenger Fee
$70.75 APHIS Aircraft Fee
(APHIS is the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which investigates with sniffer dogs and such to keep people from bringing in illegal plants or animals that could destroy our native ecosystems.)
$5.50 Customs User Fee
$7.00 Immigration User Fee
They did a study on that page of a sample round trip from Peoria (PIA) - Raleigh/Durham (RDU) via Chicago O'Hare (ORD); and the total cost per ticket in taxes was 20.2% of the total price.
You just don't see it normally, since the taxes are all included in the final price of the ticket sold to you; unlike normal shopping, where you buy an iPad for $499, and then at the counter, get hit by a $29.94~ sales tax (6% in Maryland) that's computed as a line item on your receipt.
And yes; the US Government subsidizes railroads.
One such example is the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) program; which has been available since the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) was passed on 9 June 1998.
So let's have something a bit more productive than constantly railing about
those evil indirectly subsidized planes/buses.