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Public Transportation, an Entitlement?
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goboard, <br /> <br />I don't believe the railroads are under any obligation to take over passenger services should Amtrak get axed. Remember, Amtrak was created while the railroads were still regulated. Once Staggers was enacted to eliminate a portion of the regulatory burden, the requirement to support passenger services kind of disappeared. <br /> <br />Your statement about liability issues arising from separation of infrastructure from operations is an interesting take. Isn't that why transportation firms carry insurance? Just because Amtrak was granted an escape clause from indementy for an accident they might have caused doesn't mean such a scenario would be transferred to other parties upon vertical separation of infrastructure from operations. The problem with the current freight railroads is that there is no divisional accountability. If a MOW miscalculation causes an operational deficit, the company doesn't sue one division for the mistake of the other, they just keep it minimized internally to their fullest extent, and their insurance company deals with it at the corporate level. As far as I can tell, railroad companies do not porportion revenues among divisions in an accountable way, otherwise there would be no such thing as deferred maintenance. <br /> <br />I agree with you that the onset of monopolistic inefficiencies (downsizing to the point of melt down just to keep up pretenses of approaching revenue adequacy, with no real rail to rail competition to keep the business senses honed) are a harbinger of bad things to come. I just don't see what that has to do with passenger service.
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