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Does bad dining car experience mean Amtrak is dying?

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[quote user="John WR"] Don,   I went back and looked up Don Phillips' column.   This is what he said:    "Sources connected to Amtrak tell me that President Joe Boardman is ignoring the terrible financial situation, assuming Democrats in Congress will find a way to see Amtrak through the fiscal year....." With all due respect to Don Phillips and his sources I suspect other sources could be found to say things that are quite different.   Joe Boardman has spent his life in government.   He understands it.   He knows that Congress has the power here and he has to accept that fact.   But he also knows that Congress can change positions quite quickly.   The issue is not what will Democrats do; it is whether or not Republicans will come to see that there are real benefits for their own states from Amtrak.   And the recent nomination of Thad Cochran in Mississippi suggests this might be happening.   So Joe Boardman is hanging in and building all the grass roots support he can.  And that is his best strategy.    Have a good summer, John [/quote] I am suspect of undisclosed sources. Who are they?  What do they know?  How do they know it?  How do they know that Boardman is ignoring Amtrak's terrible financial situation?  Why is Amtrak's financial situation today any worse than it was last year or five years ago? Net cash used for operations in FY13 was $349.3 million, down from $597.2 million in FY12 and $853.1 million in FY09.  Net cash used for operations means the cash requirements for operations that was not covered by ticket revenues, etc.  The proceeds from federal paid in capital as well as federal and state capital payments in FY 13 totaled $1.6 billion compared to $1.9 billion in FY12.   Of the $300 million reduction in federal and state payments, $247.8 million was offset by improved ticket, as well as other revenues, and $82.1 million was offset by increase purchases and refurbishments of property and equipment. In other words, most of the reduction in the federal state and capital payments was offset by better revenues. At the end of FY13 Amtrak had cash balances of $282.3 million, up from $210.8 million in FY12 and $126.8 million in FY11.  Amtrak's total operating loss in FY13 was $1,228 million, down from $1,239 million in FY12 and $1,342 million in FY11.  Based on the company's cash flows, as well as several other key financial variables, Amtrak's financial outcomes are not deteriorating.  They are improving.   In another column, if I remember correctly, Phillips claimed that Amtrak is allocating a disproportionate amount of NEC overheads to the long distance trains that traverse it. He cited an undisclosed source for his information. I sent him a snail mail letter - someone told me people pay greater attention to snail mail than email - and asked him to disclose the source.  Not surprisingly I never heard from him.  Does Phillips understand finance, especially Amtrak's finances, or is he just winging it on what he has heard from a Beltway insider? Amtrak is not going to die. The long distance trains may die. Amtrak or parts of it may be privatized. Change is inevitable, although no one knows how it is likely to play out.  One thing is sure, however. The outcomes will not be a function of lousy food and poor service in Amtrak's dinning cars.
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