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The Boston Globe and Amtrak Long Distance

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[quote user="schlimm"]   <blockquote> <div><img src="/TRCCS/Themes/trc/images/icon-quote.gif" /> Sam1:</div> <div>   Several people who post to these forums claim that the sponsors of Amtrak designed it to fail.  To know that they would have to have access to the minds of the individuals involved.  Which means they would need access to the individuals thoughts, which could only be captured by a personal interview or on written documents, i.e. diaries, letters, Congressional Record, etc.  No one to my knowledge has produced evidence of these intentions. <div style="clear:both;"></div>   </div> </blockquote>     Loving, Jr., Rush (March 2009). "Trains formula for fixing Amtrak". Trains.  In that article, the author mentions that after Fortune magazine exposed the manufactured mismanagement in 1974,  Louis W. Menk, chairman of the Burlington Northern Railroad remarked that the story was undermining the scheme to dismantle Amtrak. If you can get hold of a copy of Fortune from 1974, check it out. [/quote] Was Louis Menk part of the Nixon Administration that supported the formation of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC).  Was he a member of the Congressional committee that recommend the legislation that resulted in the formation of the NRPC?  If he wasn't, how does he know that the key players formed the NRPC with the intent to have it fail and thereby kill intercity passenger rail in the U.S.?  The only people who would know whether the Nixon Administration formed the NRPC as a sham, with the express intent of killing it off, would be a member of the Nixon Administration or someone on the relevant Congressional committee who intended for NRPC to be a sham.  And the only way one would know if that was their intent would be from interview notes or documents that revealed their mind set.  It would be a challenge to get that information.  If Mr. Menk was not part of the decision making processes, then his views would be hearsay.  And if the matter was in court, his views would be dismissed. Many Americans love a conspiracy.  Forming Amtrak as a ruse to destroy intercity passenger rail is grist for their mill.  However, there is little evidence to support the theory that Amtrak was formed with the intention to kill it off.
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