If Amtrak IS Dismantled, Perhaps Time to Force The Railroads back into the Passenger Business

[Anonymous]

I very much fear that if the fascist Bush Administration wins reelection, Amtrak will be as good as toast. Which is why I am entertaining thoughts that perhaps consideration should be given to forcing the railroads back into the passenger busiss with the equpment now in existence and addition equipment be provided as needed. It seems to me that the railroads evaded their common carrier responsibilities once in the 1970s and in the 80s when they tried to dry up small shippers and concentrate on the big guys. If Bush can bail out airlines, some of which deserve to go out of busines, why not Amtrak? We need more trains and more routes, not fewer, besides, Greyhound has discontinued service to a sizeable portion of its service areas of the mid west and Pacific Northwest, mostly rural areas and not all of this service has been replaced by regional carriers. It is such moves by Greyhound that make keeping Amtrak as a cohesive, intact system all the more important. Bush has bankrupted many of the states by the war that he started in Iraq and yet expects the states to pick up the costs of the trains they want to keep? That is why I have brought up the alternative of forcing the railroads back to some of the very common carrier responsibilities that they seem to have evaded in the late 1960s and early 1970s. With Greyhound pulling out of service to rural America and no one else seems interested in servicing the people of Small town USA, that leaves Amtrak as the only alternative for people without cars, afraid to fly, or both.. That is why I believe the idea of forcing the railroads to take over the trains, with public funding, of course, is one that should be considered if Bush has his way and I do not hope that he does. Why should airlines that have been screwing their passengers every which way but loose in recent years deserve a bailout and Amtrak does not. For all I care, United, USAirways and at least a couple others can go under for all I care.

[Anonymous]

[#ditto]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF railfan.

Ill tell you what,Ill get over it when we TAX payers stop paying for a stupid system that makes NO profit. Every god damn I turn around the stupid government forks out millions of tax paying money to keep those EMPTY trains running. The American public will never give up their cars,"never".
What makes me so mad is, why can't amtrak stop going after the tax payers every time for help just to bail them out? Amtrak just must love to milk us tax payers to death.[:(!]

Congress designed AMTRAK to be a financial failure. Congress continues to perfect and refine the failure they have created.

[Anonymous]

It is amazing there is still such economic ignorance. There is no obligation to run passenger trains that lose money. Railroads are not going to run passenger trains that lose money and this government is not going to force them to do so. For those who want to live in a police state, there is still North Korea and Cuba. Those who think others should pay for them to ride on passenger trains are going to be disappointed. Go to an amusement park and pay your own way.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF railfan.

Ill tell you what,Ill get over it when we TAX payers stop paying for a stupid system that makes NO profit. Every god damn I turn around the stupid government forks out millions of tax paying money to keep those EMPTY trains running. The American public will never give up their cars,"never".
What makes me so mad is, why can't amtrak stop going after the tax payers every time for help just to bail them out? Amtrak just must love to milk us tax payers to death.[:(!]

I'm sorry but I see no point in your business of whining about tax dollars, especially with the benefits to society that rail transit over automobile transit (especially concerning the coming global oil deficit and rising gas prices, global-warming, etc.). You don't want your tax dollars used to bail out businesses that are turning little or no profit? How about airlines? Should they just be let to go under, too? Unfortunately capitalism is not yet refined and hasn't evolved enough to make taxes unnecessary, so I think it best you stop complaining about something so petty and deal with the dent that taxes put in your personal budget, as it stands now it just makes you sound mighty selfish. How about 217 billion dollars spent on the blunder of Iraq? Now THERE's something real to complain about your tax dollars going to. Hopefully people will wake up soon enough and realize that American Rail Passenger SErvice is not something to let slide into history due to the greed of certain people and the chinsey-ness of a cut-Happy administration.

[railman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by amtrak-tom

In 3 words: "shut us down". We've always said if this country feels we're no longer needed, then, go ahead and shut us down. Then, we'll all see what's what. Period. But, to you nay-sayers, just think about this: how much money does the USA give away in foreign aid? And, know that foreign governments fund their railroads. So, with our "give aways" to these nations, we (the tax payers) are financing the passenger railroads in other lands, either directly, or, in-directly. Yet , here in the USA we don't want to finance "our" passenger railroad properly. Then, there are some who state "well, Amtrak doesn't benefit my state". Well, ok, true as that may be, but just think about how much gasoline the people on the northeast corridor will start using because the trains they "used to ride" are no longer there. And, that will just add another "excuse" for the oil companies to raise the price for a gallon of gasoline because of the 'ol supply & demand game. And, guess what? You'll be paying that increase in gasoline prices, too. Those gasoline prices aren't just going to affect those states where Amtrak used to operate . Then, there's the issue of 22,000 railroad employees who will no longer be contributing into the railroad retirement fund. But, that's another debate.

[#ditto]

Yeah, give em' something to use for excuse. Another scam was to let them tear out all the oil tanks here in the states; so we're on a "day of" oil supply. So if ANYTHING happens we get the hammer. [soapbox]Why did we let them do this? Because we wouldn't want those poor starving oil companies to get stuck with a big supply if we all didn't need any oil one day...that'll be the day.

[Anonymous]

In 3 words: "shut us down". We've always said if this country feels we're no longer needed, then, go ahead and shut us down. Then, we'll all see what's what. Period. But, to you nay-sayers, just think about this: how much money does the USA give away in foreign aid? And, know that foreign governments fund their railroads. So, with our "give aways" to these nations, we (the tax payers) are financing the passenger railroads in other lands, either directly, or, in-directly. Yet , here in the USA we don't want to finance "our" passenger railroad properly. Then, there are some who state "well, Amtrak doesn't benefit my state". Well, ok, true as that may be, but just think about how much gasoline the people on the northeast corridor will start using because the trains they "used to ride" are no longer there. And, that will just add another "excuse" for the oil companies to raise the price for a gallon of gasoline because of the 'ol supply & demand game. And, guess what? You'll be paying that increase in gasoline prices, too. Those gasoline prices aren't just going to affect those states where Amtrak used to operate . Then, there's the issue of 22,000 railroad employees who will no longer be contributing into the railroad retirement fund. But, that's another debate.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by route_rock

Ok first of all this is not Bush's fault k.So get over it.Had enough of that already.Second the main reason it was a female dog getting homeland security money for sears tower is cause daley is a moron plain and simple.9/12 he was running around screaming that no terrorist was going to attack Sears tower(news fla***here was agroup supposed to)then he stands around and cries that they cant put up the barriers etc etc.Daely is a putz but hey I dont live in the WIndy so I can do nothing about it.

If you've ever flown much into Chicago, you know where the east-west flight paths used to go and how citical this is. Closing Meigs Field right on the lakefront was another piece of what became a highly political issue. Because of the way it's constructed, Sears Tower could probably take a hit without coming down, but it's not the most vulnerable target.

Daley was trying to reassure and calm the public about possible attacks, just like a lot of other mayors and public officials on 9/12, why does that make him a moron? After his request was turned down, it was re-requested twice by Hastert and Fitzgerald, both conservative Republicans and turned down again. It's fairly well known that Bush is one vindictive SOB and the Republicans lost Illinois big time thanks to our former Republican governor handing ourt CDLs for campaign contributions so un-qualified trruck drivers could(and did) kill people. We saw this again with the Bush admin's FERC policies towards California's energy problems and Enron, so it's not a surprise that his Transportation Department has no love for Amtrak which generally serves larger cities that are more likley to be Democrat and less likely to vote for Bush.

[Anonymous]

I think that the Northeast Corridor will always be around

[route_rock]

Now we are talking BNSF and railman good ideas both.Hell anyone that has "run"amtrak should get a vacation in paradise!!Anyone that put up with that much stress needs a break.

[CG9602]

I second Railman's sentiments. :)

[railman]

all that time, I thought that the government had to answer to us, boy was I wrong.

Either way, (here's the short solution to all our problems) give Amtrak the money it needs for a couple of years, then if it goes to the tubes, then all you cheapos who are paying doubled property taxes for all that other non-revenue stuff (roads, schools, utilities) can have a leg to stand on. What Amtrak is doing with the table scraps it gets from our "leaders" should be commended, not torn down.

[Anonymous]

I have an idea,Why not let the American People Decide Amtrak's FATE......NOT THE GOVERNMENT!

[route_rock]

Ok first of all this is not Bush's fault k.So get over it.Had enough of that already.Second the main reason it was a female dog getting homeland security money for sears tower is cause daley is a moron plain and simple.9/12 he was running around screaming that no terrorist was going to attack Sears tower(news fla***here was agroup supposed to)then he stands around and cries that they cant put up the barriers etc etc.Daely is a putz but hey I dont live in the WIndy so I can do nothing about it.Lastly Forcing a buisness is stupid.Look at what 90's era reforms did.No CEO will earn above x so they found a way around it.Now that they are deregulated railroads can screw around and lose whatever buisness they dont want.Look at where single car shipments are going right out the door.Common Carrier just means if they bring it you have to ship it but that doesnt mean you cant drive the buisness off.This discusion has been going on since it was called Railpax.Hell anyone here remember all the crying over Conrail is running off fedral tax dollars?BNSF fan dude you need to relax.You scream over amtrak funding how about other wasteful programs?How about all the money to so called scientists that make no useful contribution?Or to artists that couldnt draw a circle?Get a grip dude I would rather pay for Amtrak than most other fedral programs.want the solution?Make Amtrak a public company.Let buisnessmen run it,not congressmen.

[Anonymous]

necessary for intercity rail passenger transportation, except property of a rail carrier, a State, a political subdivision of a State, or a governmental authority;
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Um exsuse me but "Except property of a railroad carrier" how did this come into play when amtrak took property from guilford and gave it to CV?