ANother "illuminating" Amtrak Story

[Philip H]

I so wish we could get the media to report on the massive involvement of other governments in their passenger rail services when they do stories about AMTRAK:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/23/politics/amtrak-spending-sightseeing/index.html

[C855B]

I expect better of CNN. Anderson Cooper might be behind this. He's expressed quite a bit of hate for Amtrak in 1-on-1 interviews when not being "a reporter".

The poor journalism issue here is being blind to just how subsidized the other modes are.

[Philip H]

Also true.  And sad.

[Catt]

Looking at the map showing the money makers versus the money losers has the Pere Marquette as both.I find that rather interesting since the Grand Rapids to Chicago train has had a steady increase in ridership every year since it's inception.

The PM started as one loco and two cars now averages nine cars and two locos daily.This time of year the average is 13/15 cars daily.No I don't ride it ,but I have friends that do sometimes weekly and the are all pretty savy to the goings on with that train.

[Blazeman]

Much can be done with creative accounting to make the numbers sing whatever song the composer wants.

Are all the crew costs assigned to the one train, or are they spread among several if the crews operate on other trains. Station costs....all on a train or a couple trains daily, or against a region or system. Track charges by the freight lines, equipment and so on.

When passenger service was provided by the RR's, so many costs were charged against passenger traffic with the aim to flooding the ICC with red ink.

Like most public transportation, the fare box hopefully covers the fuel and labor of the trip. Subsidy covers the equipment, maintenance, and management.

When these "tales" appear, the response should be: imagine if the airlines built their own terminals, runways and footed the bill for air traffic control.