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I think its time to stop the long distance routes
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by TheBriz09: [QB] [QUOTE]Originally posted by polarbearucla: [b]However, with jetblue, southwest, song, etc.... having very low priced fairs across the country it seems that trains are going to have a hard time competing. If I were to take a train from Chicago to LA it would take days, a plane would tak hours.[/b][/QUOTE] I don't think trains have ever had an easy time competing with airlines. In fact, I don't know if Amtrak has ever tried to directly compete with airlines on the endpoints, like Chicago to LA, as MP pointed out. Rather, Amtrak competes elsewhere on the LD routes. Trains magazine has had articles before to this effect, for example it appears that the single Amtrak train in Montana (the Empire Builder) is very popular among residents moving about within the state. You're right, Amtrak cannot compete Chicago to LA, and this is true when the competitors are JetBlue, Southwest, Song, as well as United, American, US Air... you name it. It's not like the appearance of low-cost airlines have suddenly thrown Amtrak into disarray. [QUOTE]Originally posted by polarbearucla: [b]Now, you question what a sound investment is - to me it is one that has any shot at one day becoming profitable. To me, Amtrak in its current form has no way of becoming profitable and cutting LD routes and focusing on more heavily traveled areas makes much more sense. Now, I'm sure that someone is going to point out that not every government agency needs to make a profit (and believe me, i sure hope that medicare and medicaid arent set up to make a profit). But if i remember correctly Amtrak was set up in the hope that one day it would become profitable and could be sold off - maybe i'm wrong and if so please correct me. However, the current form of Amtrak has no hope of being profitable. [/b][/QUOTE] Okay, I'm not going to sit here and say that not every government agency has to make a profit, because that's certainly not true. I don't expect every government agency to make a profit. So why, exactly, do you expect Amtrak to make a profit? Yes, Amtrak was indeed set up with the hope that passenger trains could become profitable - but that was more than thirty years ago, and I thought that by now we had pretty much eliminated that illusion. I know this has been said many times before, but no passenger rail corporation in the [i]world[/i] makes a profit that covers operating costs as well as capital investment. Additionally, why expect Amtrak to make a profit when none of the other modes of transportation in the United States make a profit? We spend almost $35 billion to maintain highways every [i]year[/i]. Somehow I don't think the DOT is making money on that. We spend $15 billion on airline bailout packages and maintaining the air traffic control system - we're not making money on that. I even heard an estimate somewhere - I don't remember where - that all of the airlines' financial losses over the past few years could have the potential to wipe out all of the airlines' profits ever since their inception. You're just like those many Congress people that don't study or care about the issue and are under the illusion that Amtrak should make money while no one else in the transportation industry does. Anyway, the last thing I would like to point out is that, like Mr. Norman alluded to earlier, the national system is quite protected for the time being. You realize that the Northeastern states have paid very little towards their cherished Corridor - most of the NEC funding has come from Amtrak, meaning the federal government, meaning taxpayers across the nation. And I don't believe that the Midwest and western representatives will be willing to pour money into Amtrak to pay for a Northeastern and Californian rail system. So, realistically, as long as the NEC is popular, the national system is quite protected, because you can be sure that the Northeastern states don't want to start paying for the corridor themselves, like California has done. [This message has been edited by TheBriz09 (edited 07-22-2004).] [/QB][/QUOTE]
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