Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
There is only one intercity passenger railroad in the United States.  Amtrak requires one dollar of subsidy for every two dollars of revenue that it brings in.  Actually, that is for the operating expenses.  If the capital expenditures are included, the ratio gets even worse. Amtrak should offer whatever service can be supported by the market place.  It should charge a fare that recovers all the costs of the service, as is the case for airlines, bus companies, cruise lines, etc. This is especially true for premium services, i.e. Acela, business class, sleeper class, etc.  The only reason the Acela can charge less than the shuttle between Washington and New York or New York and Boston is because it is heavily subsidized.  If it had to cover all of its attributable costs, it would be challenged to offer the service at competitive market rates. If the country believes that passenger rail service is in the public interest, to use an over worked phrase, the subsidy should be restricted to coach class.  If I remember correctly, this is what the Inspector General was saying, at least by implication, when he recommended that Amtrak's long distance trains offer only coach service.  The airlines use approximately 30 per cent of the airport capacity and air traffic control capacity in the United States.  Most of it is used by general aviation and the military.  The airlines pay for the portion of the system that they use.  In fact, they argue that they pay more than their proportional share, and they have some studies to back-up their argument.   Most of the 525 airports the United States that are served by commercial airlines are operated by public authorities.  They are paid for by gate fees, landing fees, terminal rentals, parking lot fees, hangar fees, FBO fees, etc.  With the exception of some rural airports, most of them do not require a subsidy from the federal or state governments.  On occasion, the federal government, through the airports improvement program, makes grants and loans to airports.  Usually the airports are required to pay for them.   The biggest subsidy received by the nation's airports comes in the form of tax free financing.  Because airports are built and operated by local government authorities, they can issue tax free bonds, which bear lower rates than would be the case if they had to issue debt in the fully taxable bond market.    Passenger trains only make sense in relatively short, high density corridors where the cost to expand the highways and airways (America's core passenger transport infrastructure) is prohibitive.
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