Thursday, August 31, 2006
New boss at Amtrak
David Gunn has finally been replaced and the long national nightmare has finally ended. The LA http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifTimes has a anointed by the Bushites.
Gunn was forced out by the Bush administration after his failure to follow orders which would have meant the end of long distance passenger train service, which would mean an end of Amtrak service to most places west of Philadelphia, including Arkansas.
Critics claim that Amtrak is bleeding billions, while Dick Cheney's friends steal more in a day than rail subsidies get in a year. Amtrak has deep troubles and needs reform, and America needs sensible transportation policy. So long as the only factions at the table represent airlines and truckers, we are all in deep trouble. Does anybody remember 9/11?
According to the LA Times,
Of course, ALL the routes are unprofitable. Assigning and dividing expenses from common elements among routes is difficult and rather subjective. More than one airline has not been operating in the black and nobody thinks anything of it.
I wonder which interstate highway routes are "profitable?"
What America needs is a modern practical rail transportation system. The new man's background with Union Pacific does not bode well for Amtrak.
Gunn was forced out by the Bush administration after his failure to follow orders which would have meant the end of long distance passenger train service, which would mean an end of Amtrak service to most places west of Philadelphia, including Arkansas.
Critics claim that Amtrak is bleeding billions, while Dick Cheney's friends steal more in a day than rail subsidies get in a year. Amtrak has deep troubles and needs reform, and America needs sensible transportation policy. So long as the only factions at the table represent airlines and truckers, we are all in deep trouble. Does anybody remember 9/11?
According to the LA Times,
Amtrak is unquestionably a troubled system. Yet not all its problems are of its own making. The abysmal performance of the Coast Starlight, for example, has more to do with Union Pacific than with Amtrak; most of the 22,000 miles of track traveled by Amtrak trains are owned by private rail companies such as Union Pacific, which often fail to maintain them properly or force Amtrak trains to wait while their own freight trains rumble past on shared rails.
Amtrak's opponents are outraged at the taxpayer money spent to maintain a system they say should be self-sufficient, ignoring the fact that all modes of transportation make use of public subsidies, whether for roads or airports. The Bush administration, which in 2005 proposed eliminating federal funding for Amtrak, envisions a scheme in which the states share ownership of the rails on which private companies operate, though there is no evidence that all states would be willing to take on that burden.
Of course, ALL the routes are unprofitable. Assigning and dividing expenses from common elements among routes is difficult and rather subjective. More than one airline has not been operating in the black and nobody thinks anything of it.
I wonder which interstate highway routes are "profitable?"
What America needs is a modern practical rail transportation system. The new man's background with Union Pacific does not bode well for Amtrak.
