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[quote user="Dragoman"] In this case, maybe Amtrak is operating "as a real business".  As long as it is required by Congress to run the long-distance trains, they should maximize itheir potential.  Amtrak says (as do many observers) that sleepers are the most frequently sold out, so to add to that part of the fleet makes sense.  Also, I thought I read that many of the baggage cars are very old (not capable of the same speeds as the newer passenger cars), and dorms are also in shortage, currently requiring Amtrak to use revenue space for crew. Only Congress can get Amtrak out of the LD business (if that's a good idea).  While they're in it, they should not be turning away the customers who pay the highest fares. [/quote] According to the DOT Inspector General's 2005 Report on Amtrak's operations, the incremental costs incurred by sleeping car passengers exceeded significantly the incremental revenues generated from sleeping car passengers.   Although the data is getting a bit long in the tooth, there is no reason to believe that the overall dynamic has changed appreciably.  Sleeping car revenues have gone up but so too have the labor costs, maintenance costs, dinning car support costs, etc. associated with providing sleeping class service on long distance trains.  As the IG pointed out, half the dining car revenue on the long distance trains is embedded in the sleeping car revenues, which means that at least half of the costs of operating dinning cars is worn by the sleeping car passengers. The sleepers may sell out frequently, although no one posting to Train's forums, as far as I know, has detailed information on sleeping car occupancy.  Most of what I have read is based on subjective, non-statistical sampling or general observations whilst traveling on Amtrak or down at the station.  Amtrak does not make the information readily available.  In any case, the sleepers do not cover their operating or fully allocated costs as well as the coaches, although both of them loose buckets of money.  Representatively, the IG found that the operating subsidy for sleeping car passengers on the Southwest Chief was 155% of the subsidy for coach passengers.  On the Lake Shore Limited the operating subsidy for sleeping car passengers was 212% of the coach passenger subsidy.  On a fully allocated basis, the subsidy for sleeping car passengers on the Chief was 173% of that for coach passengers, whilst on the Limited it was 261%.   Interestingly, the IG was quite open in chastening Amtrak management for not doing a very good job of managing its costs.  I wonder what has changed?
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