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Why Amtrak hasn't kept up with market share

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Some have asked on this forum why Amtrak hasn't kept up with growing population. This chart from NARP shows how much money the feds have thrown at air and highways, while cconsistently cutting Amtrak funding. http://www.narprail.org/default.asp?p=resources%2Ehtm * [img] http://www.narprail.org/fund2.gif [/img] Purchasing power for federal highway programs more than doubled (increased 113%) from 1982 to 2004. It also more than doubled (increased 149%) for aviation, but passenger rail decreased 27% -- as a society we get what we pay for, so it's little wonder that passenger rail has not been able to increase its market share among the other modes. "You can't ride a train that's not there." -- Throwing money at everything doesn't solve all problems but when AIR and HIGHWAYS have had BILLIONS thrown at them, WHILE RAIL HAS BEEN CONSISTENTLY stabbed and told to be self-sufficient by politicians who take bribes from highway and aviation interests, you soon realize money's part of the problem. The above statement from NARP shows why there isn't at least TWO trains on a route like the Calif. Zephur route. Actually, there should be more, with one running through DES MOINES or because of bad track, on the line through AMES through Nebraska and North Platte to Cheyenne and on to Idaho and Seattle. Amtrak isn't perfect. It's management has made many mistakes. But in Washington, money speaks louder than words. And lack of money - and mismanagement by federal lawmakers - has harmed Amtrak. Take Pres. Carter (and later Clinton) ORDERING Amtrak to cut routes. Not because of ridership, logic or anything inherently wrong with people wanting to take the train (despite experts on this forum claiming passenger rail is outmoded. The same argument might be used against their beloved freights if RRs are compared to trucks - trucks have clearly made freight rail outmoded. Right.) , but because the DOT wanted to save money. Amtrak therefore to satisfy politicals stopped running several KEY trains in important regions - like the LONE STAR from CHI to Oklahoma and HOU. It was the 7th most popular LD train at the time that suffered from FEDERAL INTERFERENCE. Think if that train - and the CHI-FLORIDA and the PGH-STL train and the second MSP-SEA train had been in existence now, as well as the DENVER-SEA and SALT LAKE-VEGAS-LA train, there would be many more Amtrak riders and the system's losses would have been a lot smaller. But Congress and the White House continues to interfrere. Now, Bush - who can't stop dumping billions into a foreign war - is aggravating the situation by singling-out Amtrak. Let's introduce something called THE TRANSPORTATION FREE-MARKET bill that requires ALL forms of transportation to be subsidy free. See how long that idea would last. . This NARP page has a lot of good info and resources. http://www.narprail.org/default.asp?p=resources%2Ehtm I urge everyone interested in preserving and expanding passenger rail to join NARP, your state organization and get involved. ------------------ [url][/url]http://www.narprail.org/default.asp?p=resources%2Ehtm[url][/url]
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