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 [quote user="oltmannd"] [quote user="Sam1"] [quote user="blue streak 1"] [quote user="Sam1"] What we know is that Penn Central hoisted the Metroliners between New York and Washington from 1969 to 1971.  The service stared on January 16, 1969, nearly 2.5 years before the coming of Amtrak, with some funding provided through the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965.   The best time from New York to Washington was 2 hours and 59 minutes.  By the summer of 1969 the service was hoisting at least four round trips per day, including one non-stop, and they were apparently well patronized, thanks in part of a strike at Eastern Airlines that shut down the shuttle. [/quote] SAM: Sorry but the only Eastern strike during that time was July - August 1966. Metroliner service was not that good after the strike.  [/quote] The key point is that the Metroliner was up and running approximately 2.5 years before the coming of Amtrak.  It lends creditability to the argument that an NEC might have survived the dismemberment of passenger rail if the government had not taken it over through the formation of Amtrak. [/quote] The Metroliner/TurboTrain NEC project that started under the Johnson admin. was entirely Federally funded. The equipment was developed, tested and purchased with Federal funds.  The track upgrades between NY and DC (mostly ties and welded rail) were Federally funded.  I am not sure if the Feds underwrote any operating losses or participated in any operating profits, however. [/quote] The fact that the Federal Government funded the Metroliners does not refute the argument that the regional governments might have done it.  Nor does it negate the argument that the market should have decided whether passenger rail was viable in the U.S. Because the government jumped into the market place, American taxpayers have spent more than $25 billion to support Amtrak, which has never come close to covering all of its operating and capital costs.  Except in one region!
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