Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Alexander, Thanks for the information about freight revenue. It is very helpful in analyzing this problem. It seems to me that there are many more RR employees involved in operating one car in an Amtrak than are needed to run the double stacks. I understand that the typical freight runs with only an engineer and a conductor. Two employees per what, fifty or seventy cars? I don't know much about Amtrak but I would guess they need one employee on the train for every two or three cars in addition to the engineer and conductor. Since labor is one of the greatest expenses for the RR industry, they are going to have to raise the revenue generated per car above the $8000. I also imagine the typical passenger car needs more maintanence beyond the typical stack car. I hate to keep going back to this but it needs to be understood. This neglects the cost of the track, ballast, grading, etc. I don't know how much the airlines get from the government for the airports. If they get anything then it is too much. The cost of the airport should be part of the ticket, in my opinion. But it appears to me that one major area for savings in the airline industry is they don't have to build and maintain any roadbed. I know they use a bunch of fuel per passenger mile, but not having to pay for roadbed skews the problem a good deal. You are the first one here willing to talk serious numbers to analyze the problem. Many of the other folks here think passenger rail is priceless. - Ed
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag