As you may or may not know, the National Rail Rassenger Company, popularly known as AMTRAK, is in serious financial trouble. Despite adding new "high speed" Acela trains into service, routes and trains have been cut and the agency is operating on a small federal allocation which will allow it to keep minimum services operating.

Background: AMTRAK was formed by the US government in the mid 1970s when most other freight railroads abandoned passenger service. Amtrak started with second-hand rail equipment from predecessor railroads. Although time after time the government has issued mandated required it to become self-sustaining, the company has never turned a profit. Additionally, AMTRAK owns only a few hundred miles of rail lines in the Northeast Corridor, from Washington DC to Boston, MA. The rest of its service relies on trackage rights it buys from freight railroads.


Many people think that the government should let AMTRAK die completely. Others argue it should still be funded by the government. Another option is that the lines may be split up and a few small, regional, private railroads would take over the system. What do you think?

I personally feel that we need to develop a high speed nationwide service connecting major cities. I do not feel that AMTRAK could ever successfully operate on its own, even as the operator of a high speed system. I vote to spin it off into smaller private companies, but I do not think they'll be successful.

While I think it's worthwhile personally, and I agree with General Public about high speed lines to connect major cities, private, local systems are likely the only ones that would be viable in this country. The United States is so used to everyone having their own car except in major cities where mass transit is well-developed, a passenger rail system isn't sound. Smaller local networks could likely turn a profit, once they were established for commuter traffic and the like.

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Walk Beyond...

i like amtrack i use it alot when i go places...so i dont have to fly...in the past 5 yyears i only had to fly 9times on 4 trips....but used amtrak...like 30 times on about 15 trips..

Well how's the service been? Would you rate it as "Cedar Point" or "SFNE?"

I think that major cities should be connected with each other by rail, sorta like England and France with the Eurostar. Its high speed and looks great. That is how the get around most of the time over there. We could do that here. Besides, sleeping on a train is so much easier.

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New address, new forums, better ePirate -- Gopirate.net.

I love Sidecar on Mainstreet!

True... but no one's willing to flip hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars to build a system. The Europeans have the advantage that most countried are the size of states here...

I take amtrak all the time to Milwaukee and I really enjoy the ride. It is much better than driving and I would like to see it live on.

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TV/Event Guide Editor

It's actually the high density, short routes that are making money, such as the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor, the NE Corridor between Washington and Boston, and the line one the California coast linking San Fran, LA, and San Diego.