Amtrak to go private?

friscobob Jun 17, 2011

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Same old, same old. I've seen this discussion ongoing for decades now. Nobody makes a new point, no matter their proclaimed expertise.

    Never look at all the other transport modes and those grotesque subsidies they receive. Far and away more money than Amtrak now or has ever received. Look at where the money goes in air and you will quickly see waste. More than enough to fund Amtrak. You remove the infused tax dollars from air travel and that mode of transport would stumble literally over night- Along with uncountable jobs and the world economy. Those massive expenditures need to be addressed long before we worry about these puny by comparison infusions into Amtrak. But this will never happen. Nobody seems certain of the 2012 US budget number total, but it appears by some estimates this could go as high as somewhere in the 3.5 to 4 trillion dollar range, which makes Amtrak 2012, (if funded at the originally budgeted 2.6 billion- Passenger Rail Improvement and Investment Act of 2007), roughly about .0008 of one percent of that total. IOW- No matter how it is seen, anything we'd save by eliminating Amtrak would not even be noticed in the overall US economic numbers.

    The fact is that virtually everything around us in life today is continually subsidized in some way, no matter how small the amount. Few people even think about this, or even seem to realize just how deeply subsidizing has invaded our lives....

    And rail travel will continue to be a necessary part of life. Perhaps some day in the far off future more of those miles will pay their way than we see today. Which is something nobody can state with absolute certainty.
     
  2. mcjaco

    mcjaco TrainBoard Member

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    I shudder to think about how much my monthly Metra pass would be without state and federal subsidies. And I think it's expensive now!
     

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