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2005 Amtrak Funding-Bad News and Good News

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/quote] /quote]they are seeing growth on trains becouse their are less trains.... amtrak is elimiating trains....so yea..the growth will show in ridership becouse of less trains..and more people on the ones left... so is it "real" growth..or just a way to cook the books to make ridership numbers on trains grow? csx engineer [/quote] There haven't been that many trains axed. The Louisville-Indianapolis train, which didn't have great ridership, thanks to the crappy condition of the private rail line - something so-called railfans forget to state when bashing the KY Cardinal- , wouldn't account for a passenger in terms of shifting the heavy use of the Southwest Chief or California Zephyr. The books aren't being cooked. Take it from someone who has travelled on the LD trains lately: The trains are well patronized. We need more of them to more places. That's the reason ridership isn't at all what it could be. Interestingly, Amtrak had a much larger route structure in the late 70s, before a half dozen trains were aced purely for political ($$) reasons. There were additoinal trains to Texas, Seattle, CHI-Florida, PGH-St. Louis, Denver-Portland, Salt Lake- LA. Still, ridership now is the highest its ever been. Think how much larger Amtrak ridership would be if Congress gave it the resources to buy new equipment and run more trains to more place, giving the travelling public real choices that are needed. I hear Dallas to Denver is one of the most requested routes from potential customers calling the 800#. The reason there's no Texas to Colorado service: Congress only gives Amtrak scraps and what it does promise to give, it has often broken its word and reduced funding. That's no way to run a railroad.
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