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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by SP9033 [[quote]QUOTE: You're theory of, "The railroads used to run passenger trains, and now that the government doesn't want to, the railroads should have to." Makes no sense to me, perhaps I'm just not educated enough, but I don't see why. The railroads didn't force the government to make Amtrak, the Railroads just didn't want to run passenger service anymore. It was the government that said, ok we'll take passenger service and run it and take care of it, you railroads are off the hook. The railroads didn't say, OK government we don't want to run passenger serivce anymore, so you have to, good luck. If it were up to the railroads they would rather not have ANY passenger service, be it run by them, or run by the government. Passenger trains just get in the way and cause delay to the money making freight trains. The passenger business is not a profitable business in most cases. There may very well be cases in the Northeast where it would be profitable, and I say that those runs SHOULD be able to be kept alive by private corporations, not by the government or by the railroads being forced into it. The idea that because the Errs once ran passenger services and now the government no longer wants to, so RRs should be forced back into it is absurd, and I see no reason why that should be, it just isn't a valid argument. [/quote] Mostly it makes no sense to you because, you've never witnessed the regulation of the industry and that industry's responsibility to the community!. You have no sense of right or wrong! Much to young to understand!!! [/quote] Well, that comment didn't really help me understand you side of the discussion. All I got out of it was that the government is almighty and everyone should do what they say no questions asked. That sounds a little Fascist to me. I think the big picture we are missing here is the fact that in the vast majority of instances in previous years passenger rail is just not being utilized on a large scale by the general public. If Amtrak wants to make money, in my opinnion, they should be getting rid of passenger service where it's not making money and not being utiized, and should focus what operating cash it has on lines that will make money, and lines that are utilized. Just because they discontinue train service in some areas, doesn't mean they can't ever recontinue it, but it doesn't make sense, to me, to have trains running around and only a handfull of paying passengers on board. But to say that the government no longer wants to subsidise Amtrak, therefore it can't survive on it's own so everything has to go back to the way it was in the 1950s is just wrong. I thought it was a neat time in History when Class Ones all ran passenger trains, and they pretty much all had catchy names and were painted in honor of the railway they represented, but those times are gone, and they are not coming back, ever. At least not to the extent of the 1950s.
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