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2008: A Boom Year for U.S. Passenger Railroads

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[quote user="NMRXfan"] Well Sam1, The auto nor the airline industry is workable either without massive gov't subsidies, which have dwarfed what has been given passeger rail service since the end of WWII.   [/quote] Most passenger transport systems in the United States, including intercity and commuter rail, use shared rights-of-way.  Most major railroads in the U.S. were built to carry freight and passengers, with the bulk of the profits generated by hauling freight.  Few roads were built exclusively for passengers.     Airlines pay for the use of the airports.  They buy gates, i.e. cover the capital costs associated with building the passenger terminal, and pay landing fees.  Commercial airlines use approximately 30 per cent of the airway capacity in the United States.  This includes the country's airports.  The other 70 per cent is used by military and general aviation.  The airways are open to any user who meets the operating standards. Highways, navigable rivers, ports, etc. are also open access byways.  Users pay for the right to access them.  In the case of motorists, the user fee is the gasoline and diesel tax that rides on every gallon of fuel.  Admittedly, the fee is insufficient to cover the cost of the highways, at least, so monies must be transferred each year from the federal government's general fund to the Highway Trust Fund. For FY 2007 airline passengers received a federal subsidy of .44 cents per passenger mile.  In addition to the federal subsidy, they received the benefit of the tax free financing that was used to construct most of the nation's airports.  Determining the present value of this financing is impracticable, but it is probably no more than two or three cents per passenger mile.  That brings the airline subsidy to 3.44 cents per passenger mile. Motorists received a federal subsidy of 1.4 cents per vehicle mile traveled.  It is difficult to know the state subsidies, but if we add another two or three cents per vehicle mile traveled, the total would be 4.4 cents per vehicle mile traveled. Amtrak's passengers received a system federal subsidy of 19.83 cents a passenger mile.  And its long distance passengers got a subsidy of 20.57 cents per passenger mile.  State subsidies raised the system subsidy to 24.18 cents per passenger mile.  The value of state and local subsidies for the long distance trains is difficult to determine, but it probably adds another cent or two to the long distance subsidy per passenger mile.  Amtrak's passengers also received the benefits associated with tax free financing for most of the stations that it serves.  Most of its stations are owned and operating by the cities that they serve, with the cost of buying, refurbishing, and operating them covered by tax free municipal financing.
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