[CedarDave]

Agreed. One problem with those who say that the private sector should operate it is that the railroads own, maintain and operate the tracks Amtrak run on except for the northeast corridor. And without their reluctant cooperation (with a hammer from the government) there would be just a Boston-NY-Washington RR.

On the issue of subsidy, an operational farebox recovery of 70-80 percent might be possible if not for labor rules and debt interest payments. A far cry from Bill Richardson's half-billion boondoggle in NM where he is building a new railroad with the current operating portion carrying only 2,500 persons per day and projected farebox recovery only 7 to 9 percent. See keyword Richardson's Railroad.

[CedarDave]

Here is a video of the NM RailRunner burning money (or is it the other way around?). No passengers were harmed in the making of the video (requires Windows Media Player).

mms://wmscnn.stream.aol.com.edgestreams.net/cnn/us/2007/04/07/vo.nm.train.through.wildfire.krqe.ws.wmv