Bush Admin. wants to kill Amtrak

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-04-15 06:40pm

Reuters

Yet another stroke of neocon brilliance

.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-04-15 06:48pm

I find it hard to disagree.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-04-15 06:48pm

Er, with the decision to axe Amtrak. It's a giant clusterfuck.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-04-15 06:51pm

It's a cluster fuck...but I would like to hear their proposal rather them figuring axing would be the best plan.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-04-15 06:56pm

Well, that's the only bone Bush has thrown to economic conservatives since his first tax cut.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-04-15 06:57pm

Amtrak is nice to have, but only two of its routes even break even and one of those, the auto train is actually run by an independent company that simply pays Amtrak to operate the trains. Its needs to cut a lot routes, the only reason it hasn't killed some money holes is because it would leave some states with little or no service and thus harm its chances of getting its subsidy the next year in congress.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-04-15 07:12pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:Amtrak is nice to have, but only two of its routes even break even and one of those, the auto train is actually run by an independent company that simply pays Amtrak to operate the trains.

What is the other route?

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-04-15 07:13pm

Killing the Acela Express/Metroliner would royally fuck commuters in the Northeast Corridor. All that traffic is either going to have to move through the airports, which are overloaded as it is and far less convenient to the cities than the train stations, or the I-95 corridor.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-04-15 07:34pm

Ma Deuce wrote:
What is the other route?

The northeast corridor, Washington D.C. to Boston.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-04-15 07:42pm

I'd be all for cancelling Amtrak, if the bill killing it off had tax breaks out
the wazoo and lots of deregulation to allow the freight railroads to run their
own passenger/commutter services...and if the Northeastern corridor became
it's own operating company, perhaps something called...the PRR

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2004-04-15 07:42pm

The northeast corridor, Washington D.C. to Boston.

Which I'm glad is there and hope it never goes away, I already have an hour commute for a ten mile drive in the afternoons and sometimes the mornings

Frankly a Warrington/DC/Boston Bullet train would sure as hell help things

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-04-15 07:44pm

Even though I grew up riding Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor, I'd
willingly see my childhood railroad die if it meant that a lot of private railraods
started up in it's place, perhaps with CSX reviving the B&O or C&O brands
for their passenger services

Symmetry · Post by **Symmetry** » 2004-04-15 07:50pm

RedImperator wrote:Killing the Acela Express/Metroliner would royally fuck commuters in the Northeast Corridor. All that traffic is either going to have to move through the airports, which are overloaded as it is and far less convenient to the cities than the train stations, or the I-95 corridor.

If there's that much demand for it, I wouldn't worry about it going away under privatization.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-04-15 08:06pm

MKSheppard wrote:Even though I grew up riding Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor, I'd
willingly see my childhood railroad die if it meant that a lot of private railraods
started up in it's place, perhaps with CSX reviving the B&O or C&O brands
for their passenger services

Why stop there? Why not break up BNSF so that Santa Fe could bring back it's "Super Cheif" passenger service (as well as the other "Chief" routes), then we bring back the Great Northern railroad so we can have the real Empire Builder service back (not Amtrak's version of it). Then we break up Norfolk Southern so that Southern Railway would rise again (pun intended), and the "real" Southern Cresent would be in service agian.

Then, up here in Canada we kill VIA Rail (which is an even dumber name than Amtrak), and give CP and CN their passenger services back. See? the possibilities are endless

.

Seriously though, I doubt any private company could really make many of Amtrak's routes profitable without government subsidies (hell, the airlines already get that).

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2004-04-15 08:35pm

Privitization of railways was a complete clusterfuck over here, I doubt from the sounds of it, it would be much better over there.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-04-15 09:00pm

Amtrak basically sucks in just about every respect. Wiping it out completely would be a bad idea though, especially in Illinois. A lot of college kids at the University of Illinois, Illinois State University and the like travel up to Chicago on Amtrak.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-04-15 09:26pm

Durandal wrote:Amtrak basically sucks in just about every respect. Wiping it out completely would be a bad idea though, especially in Illinois. A lot of college kids at the University of Illinois, Illinois State University and the like travel up to Chicago on Amtrak.

Beg the Metra to extend their service?

Worlds Spanner · Post by **Worlds Spanner** » 2004-04-15 09:49pm

Hello??? Only two lines making a profit? Public Transit NEVER makes a profit. It exists because society (as in the government) chooses to pay for it because of a percieved benefit.

Amtrak is a clusterfuck because the federal government has starved it for decades, and only given it bailouts in extreme emergencies. Read this article for some basic information:

http://www.fair.org/extra/0207/amtrak.html

On the side: MKSheppard: I'm told that some southern frieght company is currently using the PRR plates and markings. Presumably they'd have to be bought back. But I'd be all for it!

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-04-15 10:10pm

Keevan_Colton wrote:Privitization of railways was a complete clusterfuck over here, I doubt from the sounds of it, it would be much better over there.

That's because your fucking stupid government made one company own
the trains and run them, and another company own the tracks and operate
the signalling system...which results in a clusterfuck...ever wonder why
Amtrak's only profitable and ON TIME, reliable routes are in the NorthEast
Corridor, where they own every fucking railroad tie and signal, rather than
in the rest of the country, where they lease space on Freight railroads?

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-04-15 10:12pm

I took Amtrak from New Orleans to DC once, and I must say that it sucked. It took 27 hours, cost a ton, and wasn't very confortable. I took Delta from Shreveport to National in about four hours if I remember correctly for much much less. I hate to point out the date, but this is 2003, rail travel died decades ago. Amtrak is nothing more than a bloated and ineffecient waste of tax dollars and if it can't survive on it's own than so be it. Let's heave in to the capitalist junkyard next to the telegraph where it belongs. If another private company can come in and make rail work, then fine, more power to them. If not, then let's use the saved money to inprove ATC, build runways and highways, cut taxes, etc.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-04-15 10:13pm

Actually it's 2004, but rail is still dead.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-04-15 10:16pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:Actually it's 2004, but rail is still dead.

This does not bode well for the USAF's future, if a 2LT cannot remember
the current year.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-04-15 10:17pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:I hate to point out the date, but this is 2003, rail travel died decades ago.

Tell that to the British, Germans, French, Japanese, etc, who have efficient working
passenger trains.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-04-15 10:20pm

MKSheppard wrote:This does not bode well for the USAF's future, if a 2LT cannot remember the current year.

I've been so busy lately I feel like it can't be past January. A few weeks ago I was driving into town on a Friday night, listening to the local radio station, wondering why the Del Rio High School Rams football game was not being broadcasted. I did't remember them being eliminated from the playoffs; I was just confused out of my mind. Then I remembered, it was February.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-04-15 10:24pm

MKSheppard wrote:Tell that to the British, Germans, French, Japanese, etc, who have efficient working passenger trains.

I don't find theirs and our system of rail travel to be comparible. Of course I could have said 'unmodernized rail travel the way Amtrak does it is dead' which would have been more specific.