Saving Amtrak

ChronWatch ^ | Sunday, January 30, 2005 | Paul Weyrich

[Woodworker]

Amtrak is in trouble again. Congress didn’t give Amtrak the money Amtrak says it needs to solve many of its problems. Recently the majority of members of the Amtrak Reform Council, which went out of business a couple of years ago, returned to Washington to make a plea to Congress to consider the reforms which the council had recommended. (I was a member of the council.) Among the reforms was a call for public/private partnerships.

One member of the council, Jim Coston, has formed a company that could be the basis for public/private relationships not only with Amtrak but also with many of the commuter agencies around the nation. Coston’s company is called New Trains Leasing System and is an exciting step in the right direction for solving at least a part of the problem we have with under-funded rail operations.

For years we have had public/private partnerships in the automobile and airline industries. A brilliant paper on the subject by Coston’s associate, Fritz Plous, points out that the Highway Trust Fund has not always been able to pay for highway projects. ...

“The other reason large losses are accepted in the civil aviation and highway system is that the financing of these systems were [sic] ingeniously designed to make sure that whatever possibilities for profit were identified in the system, those possibilities could be exploited and realized by private entrepreneurs.”

[Woodworker]

Paul Weyrich advocates privatizing those parts of the passenger rail sytem that might be profitable, and letting the government pay for the rest, as is done with trucking, airlines, and even sports teams.

[Rodney King]

bump

[conshack]

Amtrak is a bottomless pit. Let the private rail system provide this service.

[ProudVet77]

Railroads in general are bottomless pits, with the exception of freight handling. Even local commuter rail which runs at the highest density are losers.

[peyton randolph]

Railroads in general are bottomless pits

Given the role that railroads played in Ayn Rand's writings, I wonder what she would think of Amtrak.

[1LongTimeLurker]

Give Amtrak's management the authority to shut down unprofitable routes and they'll be OK, but as long as they have to keep routes operating per Congressional rules, they have no chance of ever stabilizing.

[Charlotte Corday]

Fine with me as long as we privatize the airlines at the same time.

[KiloLima]

He concludes, “a great deal of Amtrak can--and should--be unbundled, and most of the unbundled components can be successfully relocated in the private sector. The first and most important of these--and the key to the successful unbundling of all the others to follow--is the ownership of the next generation of American passenger cars. Amtrak and the states cannot provide them. The rapid development of a privately owned fleet of railroad passenger cars for lease to Amtrak and the states that sponsor Amtrak trains must be the first priority in ‘Amtrak Reform.’ ”

I have been reflecting on Amtrak, why it can never make a profit and why it needs federal subsidization. For America's sake, I think we should save railroad transportation. We need as many alternatives as we can manage. Besides, some of us love train travel and I wish they would re-institute the Los Angeles to Salt Lake City route.

If the Democrats wanted to make themselves useful, they would take the initiative on this.

[Rockitz]

If railroads were given half of the subsidies that the trucking industry is through free roads and maintenance thereof, there would be no money problems. On a level playing field, trucks would only be used for short haul situations and railways for everything else. Railroads have practically been legislated out of business.

[Wiz]

I just hope another American pride will not be out of business. I don't want to see the evil French laughing at us for a revenge of the criticism against their Concorde.

[decimon]

Given the role that railroads played in Ayn Rand's writings, I wonder what she would think of Amtrak.

Not much. This is what she liked:

"Hill's success came from planning for the future, which other builders of that time did not do. He looked toward the future to achieve his goals and overcame the doubts of others.(16) He studied areas in close detail and planned exactly where the track would be best laid by locomotive, handcar, passenger coach, caboose, and horseback. Hill did all the analysis of grades and curves himself and often argued with his engineers and track foremen demanding changes when he felt them necessary. Hill insisted on having the best in everything he did. He wanted huge bridges made with thick granite. He wanted the biggest locomotives and the best steel, too. He was a great financier, even against J.P. Morgan."

<>

"Only one year after the purchase of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, Hill had already planned to build his railroad to the Pacific. Many people thought Hill could never accomplish such a goal. Never before had someone tried building such a railroad without government land and loans. Railroads like the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, and Northern Pacific were each given millions of acres of public land to build their transcontinental routes. People thought that even if Hill could construct his dream, how could he possibly compete with government-funded lines? Hill's idea to build a railroad to the Pacific became known as Hill's Folly.(20)"

J. J. Hill.

[rottndog]

"If railroads were given half of the subsidies that the trucking industry is through free roads..."

You've got it bass ackwards. Trucks pay far more in fuel taxes than they cost for road construction and maintenance. The problem is that most of that money is siphoned off for wasteful and inefficient things like mass transit(trains).

[peyton randolph]

Thanks for the Randian reply. Appreciate it.

[decimon]

Thanks for the Randian reply. Appreciate it.

Not actually Randian though I appreciate what she did when she did it.

I've meant to read more about Hill because he was the true railroad tycoon. The robber baron types we usually hear of were really just crony capitalists.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Trucks pay far more in fuel taxes than they cost for road construction and maintenance.

Bull! The interstate highways would last for decades if the heavy trucks weren't relentlessly tearing them to pieces. Interstate highways cost millions per mile to rebuild and repair. Enormous taxes on gasoline used in private automobiles are subsidizing the trucking industry.

When I see signs on tractor trailers bragging how "This truck pays $2,500 per year in fuel taxes," I say, "That ain't nearly enough to repair the roads it destroys."

[BurbankKarl]

Why didn't Dagny end up with Hank Rearden?

[CedarDave]

I've been a fan of Paul Weyrich for years. He talks sense on rail and transit issues. Privatizing parts of Amtrak may be the only way to save passenger rail in the US. But even that may not help it if rail capicity issues on the freight railroads aren't solved, especially on the UP.

[foreverfree]

bump

[Blue Collar Christian]

If the railroad can't make money, the railroad must die. It is just fantasy of an uncongested metropolis and uncrowded interstates that will never be, because it is not cost effective for passengers.

Motorcycles are the answer. Fuel efficient, much less road and parking space required for the same amount of vehicles, a lot more fun to ride than driving cars could EVER be, plus the added bonus of stupid people killing themselves quickly.