Amtrak Needs Major Overhaul and New Business Plan

[engine999]

Amtrak Needs Major Overhaul and New Business Plan
Tinkering with state subsidies won't solve chronic problems of the national passenger service

The Detroit News

The dispute over Michigan’s subsidy to Amtrak raises wider questions of public transportation funding. Last week, critics worried that a Michigan budget bill threatens train service between Port Huron and Chicago and in southwest Michigan.

But the central question is how Amtrak performs as a national transportation system. Its federal funding is marginal and so is its service.

The full story can be found here.

 

[Jeff O.]

Another anti-amtrak article by an ignorant member of the press-One thing I'd never heard before though-Which British Rail Companies said they would step in and run Amtrak?

 

[engine999]

I only heard virgin was interested in running florida highspeed rail.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Yes this another anti-Amtrak article full of CRAP! Competition? Well, seems to me, over thirty years ago we HAD competition amongst the railroads in the passenger business. Whoa, did somebody say "COMPETITION?" For one minor example in the East, Seaboard Air Line RR and Atlantic Coastline RR competed down to the wire on who had the fastest service between NYC/Northeast and the vacation lands of Florida! The "automobile" in my opinion, was primarily the cause of the doom to passenger rail service. And then the airlines came into play. Both of those infrastructures are heavily subsidized! During that time, most of the railroads who operated passenger service were able to OFFSET their "losses" with the revenue of their freight service! By the time Amtrak was created, most of the railroads were no longer able to afford to run passenger trains without going under in the long run. Notice the key word "losses!" Passenger rail loses money on the bottom line, period! There is no getting around that! THIS is the REASON WHY Amtrak was CREATED in the FIRST PLACE!!!! As a bailout for the railroads. Therefore, they were relieved of that money losing responsibilty. Any passenger rail infrastructure, if it is going to work properly, must be properly funded. Otherwise, the costs would be so much higher, and of course they will passed on to the consumer. If not funded (subsidized) at all, fares would be so out of reach, most members of the traveling public couldn't even think of using the service! Hell, fares are high enough now!

David Gunn has been honest as honest can be! Basically speaking, he has informed the members of our government (Congress); you created this company (Amtrak- National RR Passenger Corp)! Now either "fund" it, or we will have no choice but to shut it down! If Congress does not get off its tail and do something, then THIS is a very REAL possibilty! So folks, write your congressman, and if they don't perform then we should elect those who will! In other words we still have to send the message! So Amtrak's REAL problems will in the long run, be up to Congress!!! Mr. Gunn has stated if they follow through and give Amtrak what it deserves, then he will be able to work wonders. Amtrak has the abilty to operate a good, top-notch passenger rail infrastructure! It needs more resources! And it needs to happen soon before it gets too late. BTW Amtrak has a new "business plan," and looks to me as if it IS getting "some" overhaul! That's better than nothin' at all!

I loveD this quote in that "stupid" article! It speaks for itself!

"But the central question is how Amtrak performs as a national transportation system. Its federal funding is marginal and so is its service."

hmmmm "and so is it's service"

WELL IT SEEMS TO ME, YA GET WHAT YA PAY FOR!!!! h34r: :blink:

 

[Amtrak30]

Of all the places "Detroit" where the middle class of auto workers vanished into Japan and Korea and the Company leaders got tax breaks and bonuses to expedite the change. Yes you get what you pay for (marginal funding = marginal service) just like "free advise". The death of Amtrak is another nail in the coffin of the middle class. It seems to me that the politics of this presidential election will determine Amtrak's future. W=Bye Bye Amtrak. It will also make America a third world nation withpout a "national rail passenger system". One giant leap for the rich and another small step in the end of the middle class. I can not imagine anyone who "earns" a paycheck voting for a republican, but the song says sucide is painless and I guess a vote against ones self is the same

 

[spot1181]

AMEN , Spot

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

Just to amplify Amtrak OBS Employee…

All transportation systems in all industrial economies (and in non-industrialized ones as well) are heavily subsidized by governments. Without big-time subsidies, people and goods do not move. Period. Customers, be they passengers or folks shipping stuff, pay only a tiny fraction of what it costs to actually move people and things. Even those of us who drive cars can not do so without enormous government contributions to the effort: roads, rights of way, fuel distribution and storage, public safety, underwriting, etc. Transportation systems are a basic part of an industrial economy.

What continues to mystify me is why folks who write such articles, and the government officials who evidently read them do not understand this elementary fact. Worse, the way Americans regard, fund, manage, and maintain their rail systems (and the general infrastructure: bridges, damns, pipelines, power grids, etc.) is unique in the entire industrial world. It is more reminiscent of what we would expect to see in struggling economies of the third and fourth worlds. It’s an embarrassing shame.

 

[P40Power]

Im getting sick of this government always sitting at the throttle of the locomotive with Amtrak tied to the tracks threating to run it over and inching so closer so that the flanges are right at the body and all it takes is mere inches to kill Amtrak!! (My way of illustrating the whole ordeal, got the idea from a political cartoon I saw once)

But honistly, this is the richest most powerful country in the world (well maybe not richest anymore, with George Doubeya spending money left and right) you would think that we would have a decent rail system. I dont mean super high speed trains everywhere, what I call decent is reliable conventional train service to most parts of the country with the cars and equipment maintained properly as well as enough equipment to meet demands. Also having trains run on time more often would be great, this summer seems to be at a terrible low point as far as that is concerned.

But instead they still like to have Amtrak flirt with death . . . maybe they find it fun?!

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

When trying to answer P40Power’s question, it is only necessary to recall that the “Amtrak phenomenon” is not confined to Amtrak; there are similar issues within many parts of the U.S. infrastructure. Consider, also, the hidden costs of transportation in the U.S. On average, 55,000 people are killed in U.S. traffic accidents each year, but 2 million people are injured – 400,000 of them seriously each year. How much does caring for all these paralyzed and burned people for the rest of their lives cost all of us? All of us are paying for the insurance overhead. What is our dependence on foreign oil costing us these days?

How many people are seriously injured and killed in passenger rail services each year?

When finding the answers to tough questions, it helps to follow the money.

 

[Miami Joe]

Everyday, there are news reports of roads, bridges, etc., failing in this country.

The Fed's built these ammenities over many decades and did a poor job of maintaining structures and planning for the future. Rail networks are outdated, bridges are falling apart and roads are congested! :angry:

Now, the Fed's want the states and local gvt's to pick up the tab! With alot of cities and states in a fianancial crisis, travel will only get worse!!

The answer is not HSR's,SST's or flying cars! Take care of the basics and remove political corruption. Miami passed a transit tax recently, and there are concerns of corruption already.

MJ B)

 

[PRR 60]

Everyday, there are news reports of roads, bridges, etc., failing in this country.
The Fed's built these ammenities over many decades and did a poor job of maintaining structures and planning for the future. Rail networks are outdated, bridges are falling apart and roads are congested!

Now, the Fed's want the states and local gvt's to pick up the tab! With alot of cities and states in a fianancial crisis, travel will only get worse!!

The federal government is not now and never was responsible for construction or maintenance of the Interstate highway system or any highways outside of pure Federal facilities like national parks. The Interstate system was built by each state’s respective highway agency with the initial cost of the construction 90% paid by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and 10% paid by local contribution (usually the state). The FHWA sets the standards for the highways and reviews the plans and specifications, but the FHWA does not directly build the road. Once built and in service, the day-to-day cost of maintaining the road is and always has been a local responsibility. In most cases the state portion of the gasoline tax is used to fund that maintenance. Major reconstruction work, such as bridge redecking, pavement reconstruction, and other similar large-scale projects are also eligible for Federal financial participation. But, once the road is built (and paid for largely with Federal dollars), the state must maintain it.

This is nothing new. It is the way it has been since the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.