How about profit loss on interstate highway

[jsanchez]

Since we have the figures on profit and loss for Amtrak routes, how about the profit and loss for I-95 or I-40 Or I-5, as a taxpayer I'd like to see the earned recoveries for these roads since they are the main competion to Amtrak and freight railroads, why aren't these held to the same standards? Do any of the Interstate toll roads make money or are the profits all drained repairing damage done by over weight trucks or cleaning up semi-truck accidents. At least Amtrak gets some of its money from farebox recovery, there is no such thing as a freeway...what is the earned recovery of airports also...

[wabash1]

cars dont pay highway use tax in the same manner trucks do,so there is no way to judge a profit/ loss of the interstate. and you keep saying that trucks are overweight. my question to you is what facts do you have to justify this statement? and cleaning up truck accidents who do you think pays for this. trucking companies pay for this ,most are self insured and pay out of pocket on all accidents. as a tax payer you have the right to see how the profit/loss of the interstate, it is listed in the state and feds budget.

[csxns]

At the rock quarry where i go a lot of trucks leave overweight trailers trucks and straight trucks.I watch them leave their.A cousin of mine is a DMV officer he says a lot of trucks are overweight.And these are the ones the RR'S compeet with.

[jsanchez]

Even the legitimate weight of 80,000 lbs is to heavy if you ask me, its not worth the damage to the highways it causes, many states are having serious problems with over weight trucks, especially in coal mining states West Virginia,PA, Kentucky, etc... I believe states like Kansas are having problems with Grain trucks wrecking the roads,

James

[BRAKIE]

Indeed there are alot of over weight trucks.We have scales along the major high ways here in Ohio,but a savvy trucker knows how to dodge the scales.If truck lines would play by the rules the trucks would be no faster then trains on the long haul.Every day at the warehouse I see truckers that can not hardly keep awake durning unloading,hop in the truck when they are unloaded and head off down the highway.I know many of these trucks are over loaded by the way they are loaded.Yes,if you don't load a truck right it can be over loaded even with a legal load.

[Anonymous]

They all pay the fuel tax! Amtrak pays the railroads funds to use their tracks. Airplanes pay the landing fees at airports. Trucking firms pay for state licenses. As far as I am concerned it is a wash. Usually over a period of several years, toll roads pay for themselves. However, most of the trucking industry travel on free highways and freeways. The government gets nothing in return except incomes taxes on income from the trucking firms and airlines. Since Amtrak is owned by the government it does not pay an income tax, a hoax really, since there isn't any profit at all in the passenger train business.

I suggest you surf over to the DOT budget pages at its web site. You will begin to notice that the DOT spent $33 billion last year on highways, $11 billion on airports, runways and terminals (not to mention the $16 billion in loan bailouts), $7 billion on intracity buses and rail systems, and $512 million (plus $200 in loans) on Amtrak. You will also notice that Amtrak pays the railroads for their usage of their track and that a few of the railroads received a $20 million bonus for acheiving 90 percent on time arrivals in dispatching (sadly the Union Pacific did not receive this easy money).

Amtrak is definitely the second cousin once removed when it comes to federal funding. Starved of captial, it leases just about everything: its engines, its cars, many of its stations and depots. If Amtrak was given a proper capital budget, Amtrak could then afford to purchase equipment and real estate which would eventually cost less in the long run. Who knows, Amtrak might turn a profit one year the future.

This is good and bad news. The good news is that Amtrak can easily lease new spaces and or equipment easily. The bad news is for a company with so much debt it has to pay quite a bit of interests to pay off its debts. The most interesting thing about this is just about everything else the government is involved in is in the same situation too.....; lots of debt, paying lots of interests, without much capital. It is the way government works, obviously, it is not the way most successful business work.

Some in Congress are attempting to place the blame on Amtrak's management. Yet, Congress has failed since its inception to provide Amtrak with an adequate capital budget to run Amtrak as a profitable business!
These congressmen are being hyprocrites, and they know it.

If you read some of my other posts about Amtrak, we can afford and can operate a national passenger railroad network of high speed rail with new trainsets that would be the envy of the world when we decide to fund the enterprise fully. Any half steps and efforts will fail.....

For starters, we need to run our trains on time. Luckily most of the nation's trains run pretty close to on time. Yet on Union Pacific tracks, our trains do not run anywhere near to close on time. Two trains are heavily affected by this unfortunate fact: the Texas Eagle and the Sunset Limited. While the Eagle is nearly full leaving Chicago, by the time it gets to San Antonio it is nearly empty. No one in Texas catches this train to go south, because it is usually 3-4 hours late, if not more. One can easily catch a bus to go south, and get to your destination long before the Eagle arrives. Most Texans catch this train to go either north, east, or west far past Texas. No local business means no local customers on this train. The Sunset Limited is the same story plus a twist, it gets to San Antonio in the wee hours of the morning, that is if it is on time which it never is. Sometimes the Eagle gets there in the wee hours of the morning too. Most people in Texas are more interested in sleeping at those hours rather than interested in catching a train....

[wabash1]

if you read what i said earlier i mentioned the bridge formula. in other words you want to lump the coal trucks up with over the road driver. a 30 ft coal bucket with 49000 lbs of coal will never be legal. and will in time tear up a road but a 48 or 53 ft trailer hauling 42000 to 45000 lbs of what ever can and is always under the axel limits. and well with in the bridge formulas. and when i dodged the scales it wasnt becouse of weight most of the time it was due to the fact i was going home and did not want to get caught in a inspection i would pass but take time from my driving home. yes the time spent in a inspection is taken from your allowed driving time. and ohio had some of the cheapest over weight fines anyways. now you say the truck drivers that can hardly stay awake are out there on the road going to the next destination. well what about the railroad crews doing the same thing. think of that when you try to beat the next train. they might not even see you and keep on going. not all trains have alerters or automatic train stops on them its not required. remeber the up a few years ago with its merger. tired crews. and right now on the ns there is alot of yards that have over tired crews running trains. im waiting for the big one here. and hope im not in it.

[BRAKIE]

j,I suggest you spend a day in a warehouse.You will see what I am talking about. I have called OSP several times to keep a sleepy eye trucker off the road after he left so he would not kill somebody or his self.

You need not tell me about tired train crews as I am a former railroader.I know the routine better then most.I know the dangers of railroading proberly better then you.I seen bloody ties.Mistakes does and will happen.Death will always ride the rails.Where we end up killing follow workers,truckers can wipe out a family or follow trucker over his greed and lust for money.This is unexcusable.Of course I am not talking about the good and safe truckers,just the bad apples.These are the ones who care nothing for you or your family,just the money.

I never race a train to the crossing,I have seen the aftermath of such fool hearty fools that took one chance to many.I was on a train that hit a car,it was not pretty.Pray God you never see it or even a bloody tie from a follow railroader that made a mistake...

[wabash1]

i have been a trucker over 1,000,000 safe driving miles seen more wrecks than i want to talk about some that hit close to home. i do know about the tired truckers. with out being to wordy, its not greed. its the dispatching if you refuse the load or dilevery time they starve you. so you do as ask. i have seen my share of accidents some hitting close to home. ive had my share of crossing at grade and trespasser accidents as a railroader also friends that have lost legs getting run over by the shove move they was making. as with most railroaders it dont bother me as much anymore when you hit someone. you get use to it and get a cold heart.