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Passenger Service other than Amtrak?
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jim: [QB] Interestingly, this wasn't always the case. When Amtrak formed in 1971, a very few railroads chose not to join - most notably the previously mentioned D&RGW (the Rio Grande), the CRI&P (the Rock Island) and the Southern. All three were, curiously, openly hostile toward passenger trains prior to Amtrak, and the reasons for them not joining were different - Southern had eliminated all but the most basic service, so they could afford to run the few passenger trains that remained (they were afraid, rightfully so, that if they handed their trains off to Amtrak that quality would drop off considerably, and they didn't want named trains that people associated with their railroad to be anything less than the best) the Rock Island was broke so they couldn't afford the entry fee to join Amtrak, and the Rio Grande was concerned about the provision in the law that created Amtrak that essentially forced the joining railroads to allow as many trains as Amtrak chose to run over their system - and Rio Grande wanted to maintain complete control over their own lines, which go through one of the most scenic areas of the country. (They said to Amtrak "no thanks" only five days before operations were to begin - Amtrak's first schedules had trains running "through the Rockies, not around them" - and the route had to be hastily changed to UP's "Overland" route between Denver and Salt Lake City.) A fascinating book on the last days of the private passenger railroads is called Twighlight of the Great Trains. I have read it and it is absolutely fascinating. Since Amtrak's creation, Southern ceded operations of the "Sothern Crescent" to Amtrak in 1979 (now called the "Crescent", although none of Southern's equipment is used today), and the Rio Grande ceded the "Rio Grande Zephyr" to Amtrak in 1982 (at which point the "San Francisco Zephyr" became the "California Zephyr" and the cities along the "Overland" route lost passenger service). Rock Island went bankrupt in 1980. This ended any regularly scheduled passenger service by a private company in the U.S. Incidentally, all of the companies that continued passenger operations in the post-Amtrak era lost money on them. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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