@breezinup posted:As I understand it, the Northeast Corridor has been the primary (and only) "breakeven" part of Amtrak for a long time. The fact that the U.S. private railroads wanted to unload their money losing passenger service when they had it should serve as a reminder that privatizing passenger service probably isn't a viable option. It wasn't back in 1971 when Amtrak absorbed them, and there hasn't been anything that has happened since then that would change that. The U.S. needs to drop it's fixation on making national rail passenger service profitable, and accept the reality (and learn from the experience of vitually every other country in the world), that passenger rail service is a public service that needs to be subsidized by governments.
I completely agree on that sentiment. We heavily subsidize roadways and air travel to a much greater extent than we do for passenger rail. Obviously, a separate topic and some would disagree that passenger rail is a public service. However, there are communities on the long-distance trains that depend on Amtrak because there are no interstates or airports remotely close to them. The states seem to understand this better with state supported Amtrak corridor services found throughout the US.
In the private sector, Brightline is doing something right though to provide a popular service in Florida and it will be interesting to see how their CA to Vegas train will do. It seems that passenger rail is on the verge of a renaissance in this country, and I hope the momentum doesn't slowdown from both the private and public sector.
